NEW ADVENTURES - 1990

Zone of Darkness

Zone of Darkness title card
E34

Official Synopsis

Skeletor grins widely, his red eyes glowing.

Master Sebrian and Mara lose control of their ship and head for Denebria, a Mutant stronghold, because Skeletor has jammed it with magic. He-Man, Sagitar and Tuskador race to rescue them, but the ship comes down on Freon, where, a voice warns, no one has ever come out. The people of Freon, led by Corax, offer help and say they are humans who changed after hiding. The heroes suspect a trap until they find a machine healing Sebrian and Mara, and see their own eyes starting to change. Skeletor and Flogg arrive and are driven off. Back near Primus, He-Man hopes people judge others by what they are, and an earthquake safety tip follows.

Morals by closing safety lesson, paraphrased from the episode audio

The closing lesson is about earthquakes: indoors, get under a table or stand in a doorway; outdoors, stay in the open away from power lines and buildings; and practise an earthquake drill at home.

heman.org Episode Review

What do we owe people who look like our enemies? "Zone of Darkness" answers with a rescue mission that turns into a lesson in not judging by appearances, and it has the good manners to let the heroes be wrong first.

The setup is brisk. Master Sebrian and Mara are aboard a ship that has lost its controls and is drifting toward Denebria, a Mutant stronghold, and Skeletor boasts to Flogg that there is more to his magic than meets the eye, since the jam is his work. His plan is to take the pair hostage and force He-Man to surrender when they crash. One of the pair asks that the people of Primus carry on the struggle, He-Man calls for a volunteer, and Sagitar and Tuskador go along, but the ship comes down on Freon instead, a place from which, a warning says, no one has ever come out. Staghorn, sent to look into it by his own side, objects that nobody knows what lives there.

The middle of the story belongs to Freon. Its people greet the heroes by saying they will lead them to their friends, and they claim to be humans too, who started to change after they hid there, and who raid the mutant warehouses for supplies because the Mutants are too frightened of the surroundings to follow. They want to go to Primus because that is where they are from, and it is home. In plain words, the episode is about the cost of trusting looks over words, and it states the idea more than once: the Freon people offer food and one of the heroes declines it in case it is drugged, and the Sorceress warns that things are often different from what they seem.

That repeated hint is both the craft and the weakness. The Sorceress tells He-Man to let his heart guide his quest for truth, and later to open his heart, and by that point most viewers will have guessed that Corax is honest. The gap between what we suspect and what He-Man believes is where the drama is meant to come from, and it is handled with some care, but it makes the heroes slow to catch up, and the story asks us to enjoy the reveal rather than be surprised by it.

When the reveal comes it lands with some force. One of the heroes finds Sebrian and Mara beside a machine, tells Corax to shut it off and accuses him of turning them into mutants; Corax answers that the machine is keeping them alive and healing their injuries, that it happens to every human who comes there, and that he sent Flogg off on a wild goose chase. Then someone notices that Tuskador's eyes and the others' have begun to look like theirs, and they apologise: they did not trust Corax because he looked different, and that was wrong. A detail on the heroes' own faces persuades them better than any speech from Corax could.

The finish is a fight with Skeletor, whose forces find the camp, and a ride home. As the ship nears Primus, Corax worries aloud that the people will meet his family with suspicion and hatred, and He-Man answers that he hopes people judge others by what they are, not how they look. Someone then welcomes the newcomers to the Primus family, and the closing safety tip, about getting under a table or in a doorway during an earthquake, sits oddly beside it but suits the tone.

Verdict: a sincere message episode with a clean idea and a transparent plot; it sits in the upper middle of the run and says one thing well.

Notes of Interest

  1. Continuity: The He-Man wiki lists Corax and the Freon Mutants as first and only Jetlag appearances.
  2. Continuity: Per the He-Man wiki appearance list, Slush Head appears in a non-speaking role in this episode.
  3. Continuity: The wiki appearance list shows Flogg, Quakke and Staghorn among the Mutants, with Skeletor the only Evil Warrior.
  4. Voice cast: Don Brown voices both Quakke and Werban here, per the He-Man wiki cast list.
  5. Voice cast: According to the wiki cast list, Ted Cole voices Staghorn, and Venus Terzo voices Mara and the Sorceress.
  6. Voice cast: The wiki cast list gives Campbell Lane as Skeletor and Sagitar, and Alvin Sanders as Flogg and Tuskador.

Cast Appearances

Full roster →
He-Man
Good

He-Man
Skeletor
Evil

Skeletor
Flogg
Evil

Flogg
Staghorn
Evil

Staghorn
The Sorceress of Castle Grayskull
Good

The Sorceress of Castle Grayskull

Episode screenshots

A glittering cloud of stars hangs in space beside a swirling blue planet.
A glittering cloud of stars hangs in space beside a swirling blue planet.
A lilac-haired man in a brown robe and pale collar smiles faintly beside tall pink crystals.
A lilac-haired man in a brown robe and pale collar smiles faintly beside tall pink crystals.
A lilac-haired man in a brown robe looks ahead beside tall pink crystals.
A lilac-haired man in a brown robe looks ahead beside tall pink crystals.
A robed man walks away across a gold stage lined with glowing pink crystals.
A robed man walks away across a gold stage lined with glowing pink crystals.
A white ship's hull with a glass hatch and a red floor panel.
A white ship's hull with a glass hatch and a red floor panel.
A tusked gold-armored warrior stands beside a red-armored man in a blue visor who gestures with one hand.
He-Man smiles as he looks off to the side inside a metal cockpit.
He-Man smiles as he looks off to the side inside a metal cockpit.
A red-vested warrior in a visor and headset sits in a vehicle as He-Man rides behind.
A red-vested warrior in a visor and headset sits in a vehicle as He-Man rides behind.
A white spaceship with blue trim glides through a starfield.
Master Sebrian and Mara sit side by side at the controls, Mara looking worried.
Skeletor laughs with his mouth wide open while Flogg sits scowling beside him.
Skeletor laughs with his mouth wide open while Flogg sits scowling beside him.
Skeletor stretches out one arm and laughs against a starry sky.
Skeletor stretches out one arm and laughs against a starry sky.
Flogg, seen from behind, faces Skeletor, who holds his staff in front of a row of oval windows.
A grid radar screen glows blue beside a muscular arm.
He-Man speaks urgently from the cockpit with stars behind him.
A red-vested warrior in a visor glances ahead while He-Man and a brown-haired man sit behind him.
He-Man looks ahead intently from the cockpit.
A white spaceship crashes into dark water in a spray of white splashes.
A pale jellyfish-like creature with trailing tentacles floats above a dark swamp as eyes glow in the bushes.
He-Man, a red-vested warrior and a brown-haired man crowd the cockpit and look ahead.
Skeletor grins widely beside Flogg, who scowls in the seat next to him.
The back of Skeletor's helmet and shoulders fill the frame as small figures float in water beyond.
Skeletor points at a viewscreen showing the crashed ship while Flogg and three mutants stand on the deck.
Skeletor grins and grips his staff close to the camera.
Skeletor stares ahead with a toothy grin.
A huge spiny green creature with a red eye swims through a starry sky.
A hazy alien swamp of purple plants drifts in mist behind a ship's red nose.
He-Man walks through an alien thicket with red bulbs growing on the plants.
A white ship's cockpit sits half hidden by misty swamp plants.
Three pale mutants with bat-like ears and yellow goggles aim guns from the bushes.
A pale finned man and two smaller pale mutants with yellow goggles crouch with guns in the swamp.
He-Man looks worried beside a red-vested warrior and a tusked gold-armored warrior in a swamp thicket.
Corax, a pale man with green fins, speaks as He-Man and a visored warrior stand behind him.
A pale man with green fins and sagging eyes talks, his head bowed.
He-Man stands in the blue swamp between Corax and a tusked warrior.
He-Man looks to the side as a finned pale man stands behind him in the thicket.
A finned pale man speaks with his mouth open, green fins fanned behind his head.
Three pale people in a thicket share food, one holding a yellow fruit to his lips.
A group of pale people and the heroes sit among tall blue trees and purple plants.
He-Man holds a pale green fruit as a red-vested warrior in a visor frowns beside him.
A finned pale man smiles and gestures toward a tusked warrior seen from behind.
Corax puts a hand on a tusked warrior's shoulder as a visored warrior looks on.
A tall finned pale man in a brown tunic walks through the blue swamp.
He-Man speaks with a suspicious look.
A woman in a pale blue helmet and white gown is reflected in a large eye, arms raised.
A woman in a pale blue helmet and white gown is reflected in a large eye, arms raised.
A red-vested warrior and a tusked warrior wade through plants as green vines drift past.
He-Man looks down with a calm half-smile, the red shoulder of a warrior beside him.
Corax stands among armored mutants, including a spotted yellow one and a gold one.
A blue metal wreck lies half hidden in a misty red-rock canyon.
A visored red-helmeted warrior and He-Man look ahead as a masked man in a green hood peers up.
A tusked gold-armored warrior peers out from behind rocks, eyes narrowed.
A red-helmeted visored warrior peers over two green barrels.
Four small figures stand together on a ridge of red rock in a misty canyon.
He-Man, seen from behind, looks across the rocks with the Power Sword on his back.
He-Man stands in the canyon with one fist raised, looking ahead.
A woman in a pale blue helmet and white gown is reflected in a large eye, arms folded.
A woman in a pale blue helmet and white gown is reflected in a large eye, arms folded.
A rock arch opens onto glowing blue light.
Two long capsules with sleeping figures inside rest on a blue metal disc.
A glowing crystal shines inside a dark cave.
Flogg sits in a green chair, speaking with his mouth open.
Flogg sits in a green chair, speaking with his mouth open.
A small caped figure floats over a misty purple swamp under a heavy blue sky.
A red-vested warrior in a visor clasps his hands in front of his chest in a dark cave.
He-Man speaks with his mouth open beside a tusked warrior in a cave lit by glowing orbs.
Corax holds out an open hand as a pale mutant in a lilac robe stands behind him.
He-Man looks to the side with a calm face.
A visored warrior and He-Man look on beside each other in the cave.
Corax, a tusked warrior, a red-vested warrior and He-Man stand in a row in the cave.
He-Man gestures with an open hand toward Corax and a tusked warrior.
The group stands in the cave around a domed grey machine, with the Power Sword on He-Man's back.
A crashed grey ship lies on the red desert floor with glowing pink spots on its hull.
Two tiny figures drop from a streak of white smoke in the sky above a red rock face.
Two figures stand beside a grey dome at the foot of a red rock tower.
A white skull with an open jaw sits on purple shoulders as wind blows across the frame.
A tusked warrior swings a long gold cape across the red desert floor.
A tusked warrior stands alone on the canyon floor between rock towers.
A purple skull-shaped helicopter hovers beside a red rock tower with a figure clinging to it.
He-Man holds his sword low and glances to the side in the canyon.
A tusked warrior walks across the red desert floor.
A man in gold armor with a glowing chest panel and dark red face scowls.
He-Man sprints across the desert as Skeletor leans out of a skull-shaped helicopter behind him.
A purple skull-shaped helicopter with spinning blades flies past a red rock tower.
A bearded mutant in a blue hood and overalls glares sideways in front of a green wall.
A gold-helmeted head and a bearded head in a blue hood poke out of white foam.
He-Man smiles and looks aside with his shoulder strap showing.
Skeletor falls with his staff beside a skull helicopter that carries a large orange boulder.
Skeletor drives a brown buggy across the red ground.
A grey figure's back fills the frame as a tiny skull helicopter flies in the distance.
A pile of wrecked brown and purple vehicles lies in the canyon.
A dark buggy bounces away across a green plain.
He-Man smiles and looks to the side beside Corax.
Pale mutants and the heroes sit and stand around a blue control desk, seen from above.
Corax looks down with a worried frown beside He-Man's bare shoulder.
He-Man speaks gently with a slight smile against a starry sky.
He-Man, Corax and the pale Freon people look out from a ship's rail into space.
A row of pale Freon people with yellow goggles lean over the ship's rail.
A red-vested warrior, He-Man and a brown-haired man stand with their backs turned, looking at bright lights.
A dark-haired woman sleeps in a bed under a lilac blanket.
Corax gives a small smile, his green fins fanned behind his head.
He-Man gestures toward Corax and the Freon people with an open hand and a warm smile.
Corax smiles shyly at the rail of the ship.
A large crowd gathers before a landed white spaceship with red engines at dusk.
He-Man and a gold-armored figure with a purple boulder stand on a green hillside.

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