NEW ADVENTURES - 1990

Attack on Onnor

Attack on Onnor title card
E04

Official Synopsis

Skeletor leers and seizes the purple-haired man, who clutches the necklace at his throat.

The Mutants are inside the shield and heading for the Underground City of Onnor, and Skeletor's plan is to let someone on Primus open the way for them. His target is Werban, an elder who believes the planet should seek peace with the Mutants. Skeletor lures Werban out, hands him a gift and a story, and Werban takes the key to the shield from the Vastianic Resonator and lowers it as a gesture of goodwill. The Mutants pour through. He-Man races to recover the key while Gepple's goo clogs the tunnels that lead to Onnor, and Werban finally understands what he has done. The shield goes back up, and Master Sebrian tells him that difficult lessons are still worth learning.

Morals by Closing safety lesson spoken at the end of the episode. Paraphrased from the audio.

The closing gag has Grot struggling to carry too much, and the lesson for viewers is that it is always safer to make two trips than to overload yourself.

heman.org Episode Review

The mutants have a plan for Onnor, but the real story is Werban. "Attack on Onnor" is about what happens to a decent man's decency when a clever enemy gets hold of it, and the way it plays out is better than the premise suggests.

Skeletor is the one who sees it first. Listening devices pick out the elder who disagrees with Master Sebrian, and the plan that follows is simple: he doesn't need to break the shield, he needs someone to open it for him. The conversation between Skeletor and Werban is the best scene in the five, because Skeletor does most of it with a smile. He says he wants peace, he hands over a present, he asks only that Werban lower the shield, and the script lets the villain sound reasonable for far longer than the viewer expects. The effect is quietly chilling, since everything Skeletor says could be said by a sincere man.

Werban's side of it is just as well judged. He goes before the council and argues for contact, he is told no by people he respects, and he takes the key anyway. The moral weight of the episode sits here; the man who lowers the shield is a pacifist and no traitor, and the tragedy is that his best intention is the one thing the enemy needed. Werban pushes past Master Sebrian to take the key, and the scene is short enough to stay in the memory.

The rest is a rescue, and it is competent. He-Man is sent after the key, Flogg's forces invade, and the planet answers with something clever: Gepple's goo, poured into the tubes, makes the route to Onnor impassable. It is a gag with a purpose, because the thing the old scientists do best is invent, and the goo is a weapon that turns the Mutants' haste against them. The earlier garden scene, where He-Man meets Grot and fights Karatti, is a pleasing diversion that doubles as an introduction to Primus' food supply, and it is the best piece of worldbuilding in the run so far.

The flaws are small. The question of why a simple merchant should be the one to contact He-Man is a good flag for the audience, and then nobody follows it up. And the stand-off between He-Man and Skeletor over the key is staged more as a joke than a fight, with the villain asking politely for the key and the hero politely declining. It is charming; it also wastes a chance to show the stakes.

The close is the strongest part. Werban admits to He-Man that he was wrong about Skeletor, about Sebrian, about everything, and at the close he gives the key to Sebrian, who answers that difficult lessons are worth learning. It is a graceful ending for a children's show, and the ending gag with Grot and a pile of books about making two trips takes the edge off. The advice is a nice one: carry less, make two trips.

Verdict: the best episode in the opening run, and the first place where the series has a character with a real arc. Werban's mistake gives the cast something to build on, and the show is better for letting a good man be wrong.

Notes of Interest

  1. Edit history: As in the previous episode, the recap that opens this one begins with a shot from the finale of The Ultimate Challenge, per the He-Man wiki.
  2. Continuity: Skeletor and Crita meet here for the first time, and the wiki says her immediate fascination with his cunning foreshadows a later romantic angle.
  3. Continuity: The episode introduces Gepple's Goo, which the wiki says is used several times through the rest of the series.
  4. Continuity: Kayo, Vizar and Nocturna appear here for the first time outside the opening sequence, silent and without introductions, per the wiki. Nocturna was a second-wave toy in 1990, according to The Toy Collector's Guide.
  5. Continuity: Mara asks why she must contact Adam, a simple trader, to help find He-Man, which the wiki marks as the start of her long suspicion that Adam and He-Man are the same person.
  6. Behind the scenes: Grot debuts here, voiced by Garry Chalk. The wiki says the series bible gave him a backstory of being rescued from alien slavers that the show never used.
  7. Dubbing: Karatti's voice is mistakenly dubbed over footage of Lizorr, which the wiki says is the only time Lizorr effectively speaks in the series.
  8. Continuity: Werban pilots a vehicle here, the only time the series shows him doing so, per the wiki.

Cast Appearances

Full roster →
He-Man
Good

He-Man
Skeletor
Evil

Skeletor
Flogg
Evil

Flogg

Episode screenshots

Skeletor stands with arms spread, grinning, red cape behind him.
Skeletor stands with arms spread, grinning, red cape behind him.
A scowling spacesuited mutant in a green cap and spotted yellow armor points forward.
A scowling spacesuited mutant in a green cap and spotted yellow armor points forward.
Skeletor grins in profile beside a round yellow-windowed ship, staff in hand.
Skeletor grins in profile beside a round yellow-windowed ship, staff in hand.
Two mutants sit in a purple ship cockpit while a caped figure stands in front.
Two mutants sit in a purple ship cockpit while a caped figure stands in front.
A blue-faced mutant in grey hooded armor stares wide-eyed to one side.
A blue-faced mutant in grey hooded armor stares wide-eyed to one side.
The blue-faced helmeted mutant glances back over his shoulder from a ship interior.
The blue-faced helmeted mutant glances back over his shoulder from a ship interior.
Skeletor grins down at the blue-faced helmeted mutant beside him.
Skeletor smirks beside a ship window, staff held behind him.
Two tall rock spires rise over a green desert plain under a bright sun.
Two tall rock spires rise over a green desert plain under a bright sun.
He-Man rests a hand on a dark-haired boy's shoulder and reaches out with the other hand.
He-Man rests a hand on a dark-haired boy's shoulder and reaches out with the other hand.
A dirt path runs between rows of fruit trees in a garden.
A dirt path runs between rows of fruit trees in a garden.
He-Man and the boy talk with a grey-skinned ape-like gardener among fruit bushes.
He-Man and the boy talk with a grey-skinned ape-like gardener among fruit bushes.
A brown walking tank on tracks with two riders stands among trees.
A boy and the ape-like gardener stand in the bushes while He-Man walks with a sword in hand.
Pink energy glows at the barrel of a machine pointed across the garden.
The ape-like gardener lifts a huge tree trunk overhead while He-Man kneels nearby.
The brown tracked walker stands on the garden path with riders on top.
He-Man stands at the far left edge of a sky and treeline view.
He-Man advances with his sword drawn on a mutant in a helmet standing on a machine hatch.
The ape-like gardener hauls a large machine part up onto a dark hull.
The legs and tracks of the walker tower over the garden path.
The gardener kneels beneath the walker, holding a machine part at its foot.
He-Man stands with arms crossed against a plain blue background.
He-Man turns toward a helmeted mutant on top of a dark machine among fruit trees.
A teal reptilian mutant in a red turban and striped vest snarls.
He-Man heaves up the underside of the walker, straining beneath it.
A pink and brown machine hull with round fittings fills the frame.
The gardener raises both arms overhead with a roar while He-Man stands behind.
Fruit trees frame an empty garden path under a cloudy sky.
He-Man gestures with an open hand as he talks with the ape-like gardener.
He-Man stands between the boy and the gardener among the trees.
A small ship flies across a starry night sky above a dark desert.
A small ship tilts through the night sky above a grid of landscape lines.
A purple-haired man in a long robe stands beside a landed ship at night.
The purple-haired man looks on with a calm expression under the night sky.
Skeletor holds out a sparkling gold necklace to the purple-haired man at night.
The purple-haired man gasps as Skeletor raises the gold necklace.
Skeletor beams with wide eyes and a toothy grin.
Skeletor and the purple-haired man stand with backs to the camera beside a ship.
The purple-haired man and a bald elder in a blue robe stand in a crystal hall.
Two robed men stand on a gold platform before a cluster of red crystals.
A small flying robot hovers before a pale curved wall under a row of red crystals.
A gold necklace with a glowing pink gem fills the frame.
The bald blue-robed elder looks alarmed, gripping a wooden staff.
A dark-haired woman in a white robe looks on with a worried face.
The dark-haired woman in white listens as the elder speaks beside her.
The blue-robed elder and the white-robed woman stand on a gold platform in front of crystals.
A small figure in a pink cape walks across a purple ship interior.
Skeletor grins wide-eyed with his head tilted.
A red-haired woman in a pink top stands beside Skeletor in a ship.
Skeletor gestures excitedly in front of a view of the planet from the ship.
Skeletor stands with his back to the camera facing a planet view with targeting marks.
Skeletor stands arms spread above a pink ship console as a helmeted figure looks on.
Targeting brackets frame a silver spired ship above clouds.
Skeletor stands behind a teal reptilian mutant and a dark mutant in a purple ship.
Skeletor snarls in the foreground while a helmeted mutant clenches red fists behind him.
A tree and a computer desk sit on a pink-walled terrace with a figure seated far back.
A dark-haired woman in white speaks to Adam, who has a red headband.
A dark-haired woman in white speaks to Adam, who has a red headband.
The dark-haired woman in white looks up with a worried expression.
Two bookcases flank a pale blue arched door in a library.
Adam turns with a serious look, a red headband across his long blond hair.
Adam turns with a serious look, a red headband across his long blond hair.
He-Man raises his sword high in front of a wall of flames.
A robed man raises his arms before a large crowd beside a fountain.
The purple-haired man spreads both arms wide, grinning.
The purple-haired man sprawls across a pale floor, arms outstretched.
Two hovering craft fly above a silver fountain statue in a bright plaza.
Three dark hover craft with purple canopies sit open on a landing pad.
A man in a round helmet fires a pistol at a masked figure in a glass helmet.
A brown craft sits at the edge of a blue plaza under a hazy sky.
A helmeted man in blue looks aside next to a masked figure in a glass helmet.
A small man with tall orange hair and round glasses holds up a stretch of white goo, smiling.
Four people stand at a control console covered in white goo.
A balding man and the orange-haired man in glasses pull at white goo on a console.
A bald man in a white robe leans on a console beside spilled white goo.
Four people in a control room are splattered with blue-white goo.
A bald man in a grey vest stands smiling with hands behind his back.
He-Man peers over a purple ship hull with an annoyed look.
The purple-haired man stands beside a crashed purple ship in the desert, smoke rising behind.
Skeletor raises his staff in the air against a cloudy sky.
Two bright suns shine with lens flare in a blue sky.
The purple-haired man walks across a desert plain toward Skeletor's cape at the edge of frame.
Skeletor holds out his open gloved hands in front of his chest, a skull on his cape.
Skeletor leans forward with arms out and a wide smile, staff at his side.
Skeletor grabs the purple-haired man's clasped hands as he clutches his necklace.
Skeletor grins in the desert with his hands held out in front.
He-Man stands in the desert as a silhouetted figure on a staff is flung through the sky.
He-Man stands with arms loose on a rocky desert slope, looking ahead.
He-Man swings a raised arm with a determined look on a dusty slope.
A purple armored mutant with white claws lies on the slope while He-Man runs far behind.
He-Man swings a clawed sword in front of a burst of white spray against a rock.
He-Man runs with his sword past a dark boulder as water sprays beside it.
He-Man holds his sword up between desert cacti.
The purple-haired man looks to the side with a stern face in the desert.
A dark shape hangs at the top of a view across empty desert sand.
A dark spade-shaped object lies in the sand among small tufts of grass.
Skeletor stands in the desert holding his staff across his body.
He-Man stands holding a sword near a pool of water as the purple-haired man looks on.
He-Man and the purple-haired man stand together, He-Man gazing off to the side.
A dark mutant and a caped woman stand by a blue pod as a green mutant crawls.
A white and blue ship flies past as flakes scatter in the air above a treeline.
A caped figure runs across a field while others carrying white bundles walk behind.
Workers and vans with hoses stand outside a blue domed building as small figures sit on the plaza.
An open dark doorway in a blue wall with He-Man at the right edge.
A white-haired elder with a staff stands beside the purple-haired man, who holds a gem to his eye.
The blue-robed elder smiles in front of a worker in a blue cap and a purple-haired man.
He-Man holds the boy close beside the dark-haired woman and a blonde woman in pink.
The ape-like gardener smiles holding a basket of red fruit among the trees.

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