NEW ADVENTURES - 1990

Fading Star

He-Man faces Skeletor, Flogg and Slush Head across a western street.

A hologram of the old hero Dukan is on show when Master Sebrian calls Adam to an emergency: an ancient distress signal not heard in centuries. He-Man and Hydron find a life support pod holding Dukan, a hero of Primus's past, and bring him home while Skeletor and Flogg watch the rescue like a film. Dukan tells a tall tale of the swamps, with Gleep on cue, then declares he could beat Skeletor with one hand tied behind him. The boast turns into a challenge to a showdown on Denebria, and Skeletor plans to shake Primus's confidence by crushing him. Dukan loses heart after the ambush until He-Man talks him round, and he comes back to drive off the Mutants.

Caz offers Meldoc some grapes and the closing lesson is that a balanced diet should include protein, grains, fruits and vegetables.

What is a hero when the cheering has stopped? "Fading Star" tests the question on Dukan, a legend of Primus whom the planet remembers and has not heard from in centuries, and the answer it offers is that a legend counts again the moment he stands back up.

The structure leans on a running joke. Skeletor and Flogg watch the rescue as if it were a picture show: today's feature is called He-Man Bites the Dust, there is talk of popcorn, one of them gives the heroes' escape two thumbs down, and later Skeletor promises a final fade out while one of the villains heads off to the snack bar for bonbons. The joke fits a rescue about an old Western hero, because Dukan, whose name the He-Man wiki traces to John Wayne's nickname, the Duke, talks in the manner of a Western and Skeletor later calls his heroics only a short subject.

The arrival is the gentlest part. A distress signal that Sebrian says he has not heard in centuries reaches Primus, Skeletor has been quiet lately, so the pod could be a trick, and still it must be investigated. He-Man and Hydron find a life support pod, and when the pod opens it is Dukan, who says he did not need help before and does not need any now. Sebrian greets him as an old friend after a long time away.

Put in plain words, the story is about whether a former hero can be a hero again, and Dukan's tall tale shows why the question matters. He tells it with Gleep supplying the cues, a creature in the swamps and a whirl and a shot, and the effect is a cheerful piece of tall-tale theatre. When he learns of Skeletor he scoffs, saying he could whip the bag of bones with one hand tied behind him, and that He-Man could not carry his saddlebags. Someone tells him that he could not whip cream. Skeletor answers with a challenge to an abandoned mining town on Denebria at High Suns, Dukan accepts, and Skeletor explains the point: crush the hero Primus loves and its confidence breaks, and when He-Man arrives, destroy him too, two legends for the price of one.

The best scene is the collapse. Dukan walks into the showdown, Skeletor's side cheats, and the old man goes down; afterward he calls it the bragging of a silly old timer who used to be a hero, and says that Skeletor took him out pretty well. He-Man answers that Dukan has been knocked down before and kept getting up, and Skeletor, watching, mocks him as a phony. Then Dukan comes back, a voice says that a heroic heart is more powerful than a hundred weapons, and the Mutants are driven off, with Skeletor scolding his troops for letting a walking antique get the best of them. It is a familiar shape, handled with warmth.

The weakness is the turn itself. Dukan goes from despair to a fighting man after a short pep talk, and the dialogue gives us no more than a few exchanges between the two moods. The likely cause is the 22-minute slot, which has to also fit a rescue, a tall tale and a safety tip; a longer scene of doubt would have made the return land harder.

Verdict: a warm, jokey Western pastiche that treats an old hero kindly and gives the villains something funny to do while he recovers. When He-Man asks him to stay and teach the recruits, Dukan declines but promises to come galloping back if called, and that is the right note on which to leave him.

Homage: The He-Man wiki says Dukan's name is a nod to John Wayne's nickname, the Duke.
Continuity: The He-Man wiki marks Dukan's appearance here as his only one in the Jetlag Productions series.
Voice cast: Ted Cole voices Gleep, Slush Head and Karatti in this episode, per the He-Man wiki cast list.
Voice cast: Scott McNeil voices both Flipshot and BH, and Doug Parker voices Adam of Grayskull, according to the He-Man wiki cast list.
Continuity: The He-Man wiki lists most of the Scientists of Primus, plus Drissi and Mara, as non speaking roles in this episode.

He-Man

He-Man

Skeletor

Skeletor

Flogg

Flogg

Prince Adam

Prince Adam

A brown hat sits behind a white railing against a wall of wooden planks.

Adam crawls across a wooden floor in a light robe.

An old man in a wide-brimmed hat and an orange neckerchief stands with his hands on his hips.

Adam looks off to one side with a firm face.

Adam stands beside a blonde woman in a pink dress, who looks worried.

A hand holds a small blue communicator that shows the grey-haired elder on its screen.

Adam raises one arm as a bright beam of light streaks past him.

He-Man reaches one arm overhead inside a grey room.

He-Man stands behind the seated elder while the red-haired and brown-haired pilots lean in at the front.

He-Man and the grey-haired elder look the same direction in a purple hall.

The grey-haired elder sits in a tall green chair, looking calmly ahead.

He-Man and the red-haired pilot look out ahead from a cockpit.

A white and blue ship flies close above a drifting wreck in space.

A white ship flies over pieces of metal floating in space.

A small white ship with a blue engine tube flies above a far-off wreck.

Flogg sits grinning in the foreground while Skeletor works a console behind him.

A broken ship with a curved arm drifts in space amid scattered debris.

He-Man stands in a dark corridor facing a pilot in a clear dome helmet.

A pilot in a dome helmet with a yellow backpack presses both hands against a pod's glass.

A pilot in a dome helmet and red face mask looks down as He-Man stands beside him.

He-Man grabs the pilot in the dome helmet as white steam billows around them.

A green radar screen with a grid sits in a blue console.

A white and blue ship tumbles in space as an orange explosion blossoms beside it.

Skeletor crosses his arms and grins to one side.

Skeletor throws his head back and laughs with his eyes shut.

Pilots, a grey-haired elder and several scientists stand together in a lab with a red light overhead.

A bald scientist and the bespectacled one look down at a figure lying under a pale sheet.

The bald scientist smiles slightly while the bespectacled scientist peers over a console.

The old man in the wide-brimmed hat looks down with a sad, tired face.

Adam and the grey-haired elder stand with the old man in the wide hat, who looks sideways.

The grey-haired elder smiles as Adam and the old man in the wide hat look at each other.

The scientists, a pointed-cap elder and a figure faded in blue crowd together in the lab.

Adam walks out through a doorway in a blue corridor.

An old man in a hat hops off a tree trunk toward three boys sitting on the grass.

Three boys stand with their backs to us as the old man in the hat climbs down.

The old man in the wide hat leans against the tree with arms crossed, grinning.

The old man holds up a small pistol and blows at its barrel.

Three boys press their hands together and look up excitedly.

A boy holds a small blue device while a faded image of the old man appears beside him.

A boy with dark hair holds up the small blue device and looks surprised.

The old man in the wide hat and Adam face each other beneath the tree.

The old man in the hat, Adam and a boy with a small device stand beside the tree.

Skeletor holds his staff and points at the boys, Adam and the old man under the tree.

The old man in the wide hat points to one side with Adam standing behind him.

A green armored creature with curved blue claws floats in space beside a lit city.

Flogg rubs his chin and looks off to the side.

Skeletor spreads one arm beside Flogg inside a round pod.

A pale desert horizon with flat mesas lies beneath a cloudy sky.

The old man in the hat speaks, standing in a ship doorway.

A grey-haired elder, a boy and Adam stand in a desert.

The old man in the hat frowns as he looks ahead.

Adam, a boy and the grey-haired elder stand at a ship hatch as the old man steps out.

A small ship descends through a cloudy sky beside two suns.

The grey-haired elder, Adam and a boy look off with calm faces in a desert.

The old man in the hat sits at a ship window beside a small green robot.

The old man in the hat steps down from the ship, his face hidden by the hat.

A smooth ship hatch looks out onto a hazy sky.

The old man in the hat sits on a metal horse beside a small green robot.

A small green robot with one big eye waves an arm.

A white ship with a blue engine tube tilts over a desert hill.

A small robot waves its arms while He-Man and two pilots walk down a ramp.

A pilot in a white helmet and one in a dome helmet and red face mask look ahead.

A distant town sits at the edge of a desert beneath red mesas.

The old man in the hat rides a metal horse past a window.

The old man in the hat slides down off the metal horse in front of a saloon.

The old man in the hat frowns beside a sign in a western street.

Skeletor stands in a dusty street, seen from behind, as the old man waits far ahead.

A blue-suited robot with several thin arms raises one hand and winks.

The old man in the hat speaks with a stern face in front of a building.

Skeletor holds his staff beside Flogg and Slush Head as they stand ready in a western street.

The old man leaps through the air in a dusty street as a pink blast strikes near him.

Skeletor, Flogg and Slush Head stand on a porch in a western town.

The old man in the hat frowns beside a rock wall at dusk.

He-Man looks down at the old man in the hat beside a rocky outcrop.

He-Man and the old man stand by a metal horse before a rocky bluff.

He-Man talks, looking off to the side, against a rock face.

The old man in the hat sits on a metal horse and looks across at He-Man.

The old man in the wide hat looks down with a worried frown.

The old man in the wide hat appears faded, overlapped with a second image of him.

He-Man smiles slightly against a dusky sky and rocky bluffs.

He-Man looks off to the side with a calm face.

A boy in a yellow tunic speaks excitedly beside a dark-haired woman.

Skeletor grins in a cowboy hat, holding his skull staff.

Skeletor, Flogg and Slush Head stand at the far end of a street, with He-Man's boots in front.

Skeletor, Flogg and Slush Head fire pink blasts from a porch.

A pilot in a dome helmet and yellow backpack crouches beside a wooden crate.

The pilot in the dome helmet is thrown back by a pink blast, his yellow gear flying.

He-Man raises his sword and shields himself on a balcony.

Skeletor grins widely with his red eyes wide and a red scarf around his neck.

The pilot in the blue suit jumps backward out of a doorway as blue sparks fly.

A boy in a yellow tunic smiles warmly with a green bush behind him.

The old man in the hat rides a metal horse past a wall.

Flogg shouts with his fist raised and a hammer-like tool held in the other hand.

Skeletor grins and swings his staff low in a cowboy hat.

A cloud of white smoke rises above a western street front.

Several old men on metal horses ride up behind pilots and a large green armored figure.

Flogg stares wide-eyed beside a masked pilot in a green vest.

A green-skinned mutant with orange hair levels a blaster that glows pink at the tip.

A line of old men in hats fire at figures lying on a white slab in the street.

The old man in the hat sits tall on a metal horse in front of a building.

Blue electric loops wrap around the figures lying on the slab in a street.

A group of struggling figures is lifted into the air, bound by a glowing blue ring.

An empty desert landscape with a cactus and orange bushes lies under a pale sky.

The old man looks up at He-Man, who holds a brown saddle.

A boy, the old man in the hat and He-Man holding a saddle stand together at sunset.

The old man and a boy stand together under a red sky.

A boy with dark hair smiles while a large arm rises beside him.

The boy in the yellow tunic raises one arm high and smiles.

A figure on horseback rides away toward a large setting sun, partly faded.

A bald scientist holds a small screen up against his face in a blue room.

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