The Final Invasion

Having won the games, the Galactic Guardians prepare to leave Rintor, but the hosts, Roika and Maldon, announce that the reward is to stay forever as the first new specimens in the Zoo of Champions. In their cell the Guardians use the ore from their wrist lasers to blast an exit, and a call on the way of the magic shows that a wrecked ship is an illusion. Roika and Maldon admit they are lonely and let them go. The Mutants launch a massive invasion of Primus, and Starship Eternia arrives as Flogg surrenders; Skeletor then fights He-Man at the ruins near the Oasis and ends sealed in a shuttle pod.

What do you do with an enemy who only wants company? "The Final Invasion" starts by answering that with a cage, and then, a little later, with something gentler, and the contrast between the hosts of Rintor and Skeletor is what holds the finale together. It is an unusual way to close a series, and it deserves credit for caring about opponents it is letting go.

The first stretch belongs to Roika and Maldon, who admit they promised the Golden Ring would decide the games, and add that the reward is to remain on Rintor forever. The Zoo of Champions, we learn, once held the greatest warriors in the universe, but Skeletor freed them and they took their ships from the Museum of Space, so the hosts must start over, with the Guardians as their first new specimens. The cell scene makes good use of the cast: Spinwit sleeps through everything until someone wakes him for chow, one Guardian recalls how their weapons were disarmed, and another points out that the ore in their wrist lasers is still ore, so the chambers can be pulled out and set off at the weak point beside the food slot to blast an exit.

The reminder that the hosts can make people see things that are not there is the best beat in it. The Guardians find their ship apparently wrecked, but a call on the way of the magic to show the truth reveals that nothing is wrong with it. The confrontation that follows is gentle: Roika admits they had no right to lock anyone up, that they are lonely, and that nobody would stay unless they were made to. A Guardian suggests making friends, the hosts promise to try, starting with the Guardians, and they let them go so that they can save their planet.

In plain words, the story is about the difference between a captor who can be talked down and one who cannot. Roika and Maldon change because someone listens to them, while Skeletor tells Flogg that He-Man will find a way out of the zoo but too late, and that all he will find on Primus is Skeletor waiting.

The invasion sequence is brisk to the point of being a list: the mothership penetrates the shield, fighters cross the Guardian Sea, the Oasis reports landings, and Nathan's villagers cannot hold them. The Sorceress tells He-Man to be patient, his time will come, and his destiny is to be in the battle, whether he wins is in his hands. When Starship Eternia shows up on radar and the Guardians go after the mothership, Flogg decides it is wiser to submit and declares the Mutants' surrender, while Skeletor refuses to share it and sets up a last fight, just the two of them, at the ruins near the Oasis.

The weakness is the finish. The battle reaches us largely through reports and radio calls, the surrender is a gag more than a turning point, and the duel ends with He-Man saying that Skeletor, without his staff, will be sealed in his ship by the way of the magic, a rule that earlier episodes did not follow. Skeletor's swearing that he will be back leaves a door open for a second season that was planned and did not happen.

Per the wiki there is no safety tip at the end, which suits a finale; the series closes on the villain.

Verdict: a hopeful, hurried last episode that gives its best scenes to the hosts and leaves Skeletor swearing he will be back.

1. Production: The He-Man wiki says this was the final episode, wrapping up the Games story and the series, ending with the apparent defeat and exile of Skeletor.
2. Toys: The He-Man wiki says this was the last New Adventures story material until the characters turned up in the Masters of the Universe Classics line more than twenty years later.
3. Behind the scenes: According to the He-Man wiki, writer Jack Olesker has said on record that a second season was planned in which He-Man returned to Eternia, but it never happened.
4. Edit history: The He-Man wiki calls this the only episode of the series without a moral segment, ending on Skeletor's laughter instead.
5. Voice cast: Per the He-Man wiki, this is the only episode in which Nocturna has a speaking role.
6. Homage: The He-Man wiki again compares the Rintorians' captive menagerie to the Talosians in the Star Trek episode The Cage.
7. Continuity: The He-Man wiki notes that characters from the series were not seen in animated form again until Mara appeared in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power nearly thirty years later.
8. Continuity: Per the He-Man wiki, He-Man says Skeletor will be trapped in the shuttle pod without his staff, though earlier episodes showed Skeletor using magic without it.