Primus prepares security for a meeting of wizards at Master Sebrian's home, while the wizard Ramlin, on his way, boasts that only Sebrian is a force to be reckoned with and then freezes the Mutants who attack his ship. At Sebrian's house he dazzles Mara with illusions, and Dagar calls them cheap parlor tricks. Ramlin later confronts Dagar and drains his magic. Next morning Dagar is missing, Zontos accuses Ramlin, and Ramlin answers by producing Dagar's guardians and urging He-Man to use his power. It is pieced together that Ramlin gains strength from those who attack him, and He-Man refuses to. Ramlin leaves with a threat, and a litter lesson ends the story.
A character about to drop trash is reminded that if you do not clean it up, someone else has to: put your trash where it belongs, because heroes do not litter.
What do you do with an enemy who grows stronger every time you hit him? "The New Wizard in Town" works toward the answer, and the answer is a decision about restraint.
The setup is a security briefing. Primus is making its third pass over the oasis, the shield reports normal, and Master Sebrian wants absolute security for a meeting of wizards. Elsewhere Ramlin complains about crossing half the universe to attend, insists that the other wizards are insignificant bugs with puny spells, makes an exception for Sebrian, and senses a force on Primus even mightier than Sebrian's. Mutants then attack his ship, and the encounter goes badly for them: a Mutant orders the ship to kill its engines and prepare to be boarded, Skeletor warns that they do not know Ramlin, and takes his fighter and leaves. Ramlin remarks that someone has the good sense to run, and his ice finds the rest.
In plain words, this is a story about a villain whose power depends on being fought, and a hero who beats him by declining to fight. The clues are planted early. Ramlin says that working magic drains him and that he feels the magic draining from him, he promises that soon he will be the most powerful wizard in the universe again, and a later remark notes how tired he was after his illusions. Dagar's quarrel with him ends with Dagar realizing that he has been tricked into giving up his magic. That the drain follows an attack is the detail the rest of the plot depends on.
The Primus scenes are the most enjoyable, because they let a magical story be funny at home. Gleep scans a sofa and reports four molecules of dust, is asked if he is trying to be cute, and the reply is that no robot with a vacuum attachment for a hand could manage it; Sebrian, fussing, says that if the place is not ship-shape he will never hear the end of it. Ramlin's illusion with floating fruit is turned into something worthy of Mara's beauty, and she calls him a true master magician, until Dagar says that these are cheap parlor tricks and has to be reminded by Sebrian that Ramlin is a guest in his house.
The turn comes after Dagar disappears. Zontos accuses Ramlin of casting a spell on him, Ramlin invites him to ask Dagar himself, and guardians appear; Ramlin urges He-Man to use his power on him, telling him that only he can stop him. It is then pieced together aloud that when Dagar and Zontos attacked, Ramlin absorbed their power. He-Man answers with the spine of the episode: he will not attack, so Ramlin cannot take his power, and without it Ramlin will grow as weak as before. Ramlin leaves with a promise to return, and the closing remark of the story proper is that true power comes from having friends.
The weakness is the Mutant frame, which has a lively game in which one of them demands to be He-Man, but drops out after the freezing until a radar blip near the close. The likely reason is that the regular villains are part of the show's format, though the wizards' story would have run without them.
Verdict: a neat, talky entry that builds to a good idea and trusts its hero to win by doing less. It is a story won by holding back.
- Continuity: Per the He-Man wiki, Adam of Grayskull does not appear in this episode.
- Continuity: The He-Man wiki says Ramlin can only drain a victim's magic when they attack him, and that he once served the side of good alongside the wizards Dagar and Zontos.
- Edit history: The wiki's errors list says Staghorn is heard reporting to Flogg while not visible on the Mothership bridge, and that one of his lines is animated as spoken by Flogg.
- Voice cast: Don Brown voices Quakke and the wizard Dagar, and Ted Cole voices Slush Head, Staghorn and Gleep, according to the He-Man wiki cast list.
- Voice cast: The wiki's cast list for the episode credits Doug Parker only as 'Various'.
- Continuity: The wiki lists Caz in this episode as a non-speaking role.
- Fan observation: Wikipedia's summary calls Ramlin an Opaque magician and says he plans to steal everyone's magic.
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