Skeletor's Revenge

At the unveiling of Primus's new Master Computer, which will link every machine on the planet including the protective shield, Mara urges Sebrian to take the rest he promised. The exiled hacker Mikros has already broken in for Skeletor and released a computer creature, the Argazoid. Scientists are digitized and beamed inside to catch it, but the shield is sabotaged anyway, and Skeletor and Flogg declare that they control Primus. Inside the machine, He-Man and the scientists befriend the creature, who calls itself Argy, and with a companion named Artilla they turn the machines against Skeletor. Skeletor slips away and leaves Flogg to stay on as king, the prisoners are freed, and Gleep closes with a road safety tip.

Look both ways before crossing the street, so that you know it is safe.

What happens when a community ties every machine it owns, its protective shield included, to one new computer, and then lets two speakers at the unveiling each claim the credit for the design? "Skeletor's Revenge" opens at the unveiling of the Master Computer, where Mara tells Sebrian that the system will finally let him rest and Sebrian answers that there is still much to do, and the announcement that one interlinking system will now run the protective shield along with everything else is the kind of line that invites trouble.

The first person to exploit it is Mikros, a hacker exiled from Primus years earlier, who reports to Skeletor that he has broken the access code and then goes one better than a virus by presenting a computer creature he calls the Argazoid. Mikros is a welcome kind of villain: a local with a grudge and a skill, who spells out his motive to the people who exiled him and needs no speech about conquering the galaxy. Revenge is called one of the loveliest words in the dictionary when the motive comes out, and Flogg, watching the creature loose inside the computer, remarks to Skeletor that it is about time one of his schemes actually worked.

Stripped down, the story is about a machine that answers to whoever can speak its language, and the language passes from hand to hand until it lands with the people who ought to have it. Mikros has it first, since he built the creature and says it will do as he commands. Then the scientists, who protest that they are thinkers and not fighters, are talked into being digitized and beamed inside to catch it, with a warning that damaging the microcircuits could destroy the volunteers along with the machine. By the time Skeletor and Flogg stand in front of Mara demanding to know where He-Man is, Mikros is able to report that he is inside the Master Computer.

The turn comes when the creature introduces itself to the trapped heroes as Argy and agrees to help, and someone points out at once that if it leads them to the right circuits they can turn the computer against Skeletor. With Artilla alongside, the rescue becomes a matter of persuading a machine, a lovely change from the usual fisticuffs. Skeletor, meanwhile, settles in to enjoy his victory, ordering something cool to drink and lamenting that he will not get to gloat in He-Man's face, and the comedy of the second half is that the machines start taking orders from somebody else: a request for a nice big bowl of something comes back as fertilizer, and the squirting and scrubbing begin.

The writing is sharpest in the exits. Skeletor announces that he is about to make his grand exit, and when Flogg asks what about him, he points out that the king has a royal duty to stay until the bitter end, a real gem of a betrayal line! Flogg is left behind as king, the prisoners are freed, and the credit goes to the Argazoid, who is thanked as the real hero of the hour.

The weakness is how much of the rescue is handed to the new arrivals. He-Man asks the right questions inside the machine, but Argy and Artilla supply the means; with a cast this large, somebody had to give up the spotlight, and the script chose the star. Mikros fares no better, since the revenge that drives the opening is wrapped up in a closing clause about Argy keeping an eye on him.

Verdict: a quick, funny, gadget-minded caper, light on the sort of stakes a lost shield ought to carry but good company throughout. It sits comfortably among the comic episodes of the run, and it ends where it began: when the machine is the battlefield, the side that can speak to it wins.

1. Behind the scenes: According to the He-Man wiki, co-writer J. Larry Carroll reused much of this story, and its title, from an earlier script he wrote for Filmation's Ghostbusters called Cyman's Revenge.
2. Continuity: The He-Man wiki describes the hacker Mikros as one of the few villains from Primus itself, banished years earlier for hacking computers.
3. Continuity: Per the wiki's appearance list, the living virus Argazoid, nicknamed Argie, shows up in this episode and nowhere else.
4. Voice cast: Garry Chalk voices He-Man, Artilla and Alcon here, according to the He-Man wiki cast list.
5. Homage: The wiki says the closing safety segment pairs Gleep with another robot named Man-E, who is taught to look both ways before crossing a street.