The Greatest Magic

Orko is pulled to Trolla by a spell from his uncle Montork, and She-Ra is dragged along with him. Montork explains that the Crimson Council, the wizards who keep Trolla's magic running, has vanished. A machine attacks the High Muck Muck's Unfortress and throws their spells back at them, and She-Ra wrecks it with strength alone. The trail leads to Flotsam Prison, where the inventor Dr. Zoog, who hates magic, has taken over with his Electroid robots and holds the Council in his ship. Zoog snatches Orko's girlfriend Dree Elle and threatens to fire a ray that would send the Unfortress to another planet. She-Ra moves the Unfortress out of the way, and Orko then reaches Dree Elle through the power of love, so that she can bring down the countermagic shield. The heroes beat the Electroids, Zoog is trapped, and the High Muck Muck awards them the Ook-Lump Cluster.

Loo-Kee: "Hi, here's Loo-Kee again! Did you find where I was hiding today? If not, look for me now. See me yet? Here I am! Today, I'd like to talk to you about dogs and cats and birds, about pets. If you have one or are thinking about getting one, remember, they require a lot of care. If you have any questions about pets, have your parents call your local Humane Society. And remember, always give your pet love, and you'll get more back in return."

Dree Elle: "You're not going anywhere without me. Especially with her."

Dr. Zoog: "It's that pest, Orko, and that meddling musclewoman."

Montork: "When a Trollan magician is in love, he can sometimes work magic through his loved one."

Orko: "Say no more, Unk. How do I start?"

What do you do about a villain whose entire machine is built to throw magic back at you? The Greatest Magic hands that problem to Orko, the magician, and to She-Ra, the strong one, and the title promises a ranking. The episode's answer is that magic fails, strength helps and runs out, and the thing that finally gets through is neither of them. The spine is the climb from one resource to the next, with love at the top.

The opening sets up the trade. Madame Razz thanks Orko for "trading magics," the camp waves him off, and something arrives before he can leave. She-Ra works out that it is not after her but after Orko. The portal drops them both on Trolla, where Montork's spell had been meant for his nephew only, and the first scene of the episode is two relatives greeting each other while She-Ra waits to learn why she is there. Her answer to Montork's offer to send her home is "Orko is my friend. I'll stay."

Orko says Trolla works entirely on magic, and that Zoog hates magic and thinks machines should run the place. His first machine absorbs the Trollans' blasts and returns them, and She-Ra beats it with "a little muscle." His second line of defence is Flotsam Prison, ringed with a countermagic shield and patrolled by Electroids that drain the strength of anything they touch. Each obstacle removes one of the heroes' tools in turn. The script also keeps Dree Elle useful as well: jealous of She-Ra at first, with her arms folded and a pointed "Especially with her," she is taken hostage and then becomes the one the whole plan depends on.

The standout scene is the move of the Unfortress. Zoog is about to fire a ray that will send the building to a far planet, and the plan is to "move his target." Someone objects that nobody can do that, the answer is that they will find out, and then a pair of boots shows above a green brick tower as She-Ra strains. The shot misses, Zoog splutters that it is still there, and She-Ra drops to her knees, spent. It is a cheerful bit of problem solving: a threat aimed at a building, answered by relocating the building.

The weak point is the rule for how magic is allowed to work. Orko explains that the shield is why they could not use magic to reach the island, yet once inside a rhyme opens Warden Umpty's cell door, and the shield stays up until Dree Elle later brings it down. The love mechanism arrives with the same convenience. Montork says a Trollan magician in love can work through his loved one, and Orko chants her name. When Dree Elle asks how he got through, Orko stammers, She-Ra supplies the answer, and a second voice agrees that "Love was the key," a line the script has by then given nobody time to earn.

It is still an Orko episode wearing She-Ra's title, and a decent one to hand a doubter on Orko. Loo-Kee closes on pets, ending with giving them love and getting more back. Love gets the last word twice.

1. Continuity: The episode opens with Madame Razz thanking Orko for "trading magics" while Bow, Kowl and the rebels wave goodbye, so his stay in the Great Rebellion camp is over before the plot starts.
2. Continuity: Montork introduces himself at the Unfortress as head of the Trollan Academy of Magic, and Dree Elle, meeting Orko, asks who She-Ra is and complains "You never hug me like that."
3. Continuity: Fighting the green spiked machine, She-Ra says it has "more arms than Multi-Bot," borrowing a He-Man character as her yardstick.
4. Continuity: She-Ra is in the Whispering Woods when the portal takes Orko, the same place as The Peril of Whispering Woods.