Skeletor sulks over his kingdom of rocks until the Mutants throw him a party and hand him a gift, the creature Grr. Skeletor gets hold of a crystal whose power makes Quakke far stronger. Flogg distrusts it, but Skeletor sends Quakke to Goron City, where Hydron and Flipshot are buying oil for the Vasionic Resonator and a fight breaks out. Master Sebrian explains that the crystal came from Moon Nordor, once part of Primus, and must be destroyed. He-Man travels to Nordor in an Astrosub, tells Skeletor the crystal controls him, and the crystal is destroyed. Skeletor boasts that he keeps its power.
The closing lesson is a safety tip about rides: take a few minutes to make sure your ride is in good condition first, because that can make the difference between a safe ride and a bad ride.
What becomes of a villain who has been handed a kingdom of rocks and a pet as mean as he is? Skeletor opens this story complaining that he wanted to rule Eternia and ended up with nothing but dumb rocks, and the Mutants answer the sulk with a party in his honor, a creature named Grr as a present, and, before long, a crystal of dangerous power that the script treats with a seriousness the first scenes do not prepare us for. Skeletor tells Quakke he can show him how to use the power he has been given, and a few scenes later Flogg is being told that Quakke is better than before. Flogg, to his credit, is the one who objects: he says the crystal is too dangerous, that the strength it gives does not last long enough, and that Skeletor is blinded by it, and he will not have his mutants under its power. It is a pleasing turn to hear the mutant leader talk sense while the villain from Eternia argues for the shortcut.
Put plainly, the story is about a power that ends up using whoever uses it, and everything on both sides of the war is arranged to show that. Master Sebrian supplies the history, explaining that Nordor was once part of Primus, that the people there found a crystal of such evil power that the land itself was blasted away from the planet, and that exposure gives an incredible but brief strength. The Sorceress then gives Adam the line that carries the moral weight: fight by being right, but you must know what is right for you to win. Sebrian calls it a battle not against man or mutant but against a substance that controls them, and that is the idea the rest of the episode builds on.
The writing around Skeletor is the best craft in the half hour. Once the crystal's power is in him he announces that he can feel its power in him, that he can feel his greatness, and then that he is greater than the universe, and the words get bigger as the scene goes on, which is the right way to write a man who is being swallowed. When He-Man arrives on Nordor and says he came looking for a partner, what he says next decides the fight: he knows its evil, he will not let it have him, and the crystal controls Skeletor. It is a hero winning by understanding something.
The Goron City stretch is a pleasant detour, and a welcome one. Hydron and Flipshot are there for oil for the Vasionic Resonator, Hydron tells Meliac that a friend named He-Man spoke of a miner who fought with courage tempered by wisdom, and the visitors from Primus are called either very brave or very foolish before they are invited to dinner. Later a fight with a Mutant breaks out, and afterwards Sagitar introduces himself to Hydron and the others, a lively scene that shows what the crystal can do before Sebrian explains it.
The weakness is the crowd. Between Grr, Meliac, Sagitar, the sensor Alcon and Krex build from a piece of the crystal, and the history lesson, the cast is large for a single episode, and He-Man does not reach Nordor until the closing stretch, which leaves the confrontation that the build promises with very little room. The destruction of the crystal arrives quickly, and Skeletor's last boast, that he has gained its power for ever, is followed by a cackle that tells us little.
Verdict: a thoughtful entry that puts its theme in plain sight, a power that controls its owner, and lets Flogg, Sebrian and He-Man each say it from a different angle. The crowding holds it back from the top of the run, but it is clear about what it means.
- Continuity: Sagitar, Quakke, Grr and Zep all make their first Jetlag productions appearance in this episode, according to the He-Man wiki.
- Continuity: Per the He-Man wiki, the Mutants hand Grr to Skeletor as a gift expecting he cannot tame it, and Skeletor sends the creature cowering with a single glance.
- Continuity: The He-Man wiki says Skeletor opens the barrier to the Nordor Crystal's cave by playing tic tac toe against it.
- Continuity: According to the He-Man wiki, Nordor was once part of Primus and was blasted away because of the crystal, and a small piece left behind in the University of Knowledge vaults lets Krex and Alcon build the Crystal Sensor.
- Toys: The wiki says Sagitar joins the Galactic Guardians after beating the crystal powered Quakke here, though his toy biography instead places him on the planet Palomar and has He-Man free him from slavery in the Denebrian mines.
- Toys: Quakke's toy biography, as quoted by the He-Man wiki, gives him a Grabatron meteormace and a mission to steal the secret of the Vasionic Resonator, the device whose oil Hydron and the others are fetching in this episode.
- Voice cast: Don Brown voices Hydron, Optikk and Quakke here, Scott McNeil voices Flipshot and Krex, and Venus Terzo voices Crita and the Sorceress, according to the He-Man wiki cast list.
- Behind the scenes: The He-Man wiki says the closing safety moral has Hydron telling Flipshot to check his Astrosub before driving and then telling viewers to check their bikes.
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