The Mines of Mondor

Hordak suspects King Duplis of feeding the Rebels information, and his son Prince Hazar, who says he is a friend of the Rebellion, is captured and sent to the mines of Mondor on the planet Kyrtis. Duplis asks Queen Angella for help and swears to support the Great Rebellion if his son comes home. Angella opens a dimensional gate that will close in three days, and She-Ra, Bow, Glimmer, Madame Razz and Kowl cross to Kyrtis, buy a ship in the seaport of Grador, and sail with Hordak on their trail. Shadow Weaver's storm wrecks the ship and strands them on an island, where She-Ra heals a bird whose wing is hurt. She rallies the slave miners, Hazar among them, and they escape in a stolen Horde ship, and when they are trapped the same bird brings others to carry them to the gate. Back at Bright Moon Duplis tries to break his promise, and Angella talks him round.

Loo-Kee: "Hi, did you find where I was hiding? Take another look. Here I am. Today's story was about helping others. She-Ra helped heal a bird whose wing was hurt. That made her feel good. Later, the bird helped her, and that made the bird feel good. Maybe there's someone you can help today. Helping others always makes you feel good. Bye, now!"

She-Ra: "We can't turn our backs on it when it needs help."

Madame Razz: "Hmm, so I did, so I did."

She-Ra: "All this attention for me? I'm flattered."

Queen Angella: "Every parent wants to keep his child out of danger."

Is it a waste of a rescue mission to stop for a wounded bird? The Mines of Mondor puts the question to She-Ra in the middle of a race against a closing dimensional gate, lets a companion call the bird a waste of "valuable time," and then arranges its ending so the answer is on screen: the bird comes back with others at the one moment the heroes have no way out. The episode is built to earn its closing moral, and it does so by plotting rather than by speech.

The opening is political. Hordak leans on King Duplis about someone feeding the Rebels information, and Duplis swears it is not him. Prince Hazar tells a crowd in a swamp forest he is a friend of the Rebellion, is taken by Horde troopers, and is sent to work the mines of Mondor on the planet Kyrtis. Duplis brings the news to Bright Moon, and Glimmer asks the fair question of how they can trust him not to go on helping the Horde. Angella adds that they do not help in return for promises. He swears he will always support the Great Rebellion if they bring his son back, and the deal comes with a clock: the gate home closes in three days.

The middle is a comedy of errors that moves briskly. Bow sings to a dock full of dockworkers with clubs who do not appreciate it, nobody will sail to Mondor, and the party buys a ship for 100 gold pieces and names it the Bright Hope while someone observes that "No Hope" would fit better. Madame Razz promises three or four spells that might work and picks the one that turns the ground to rubber. Meanwhile Hordak watches from his own ship, and She-Ra's unease that the trip has been too easy is the right instinct. Shadow Weaver's storm breaks the Bright Hope apart, and the party ends up on a raft and an island of rock spires.

The scene that matters is on that island. A teal bird attacks, She-Ra ends up on its back while Glimmer tumbles through the air, and when it crashes She-Ra turns to help it because its wing is hurt. Someone snaps that it tried to kill them. She-Ra's answer is short: "We can't turn our backs on it when it needs help." The other rebel gives in at once. The scene lasts about half a minute and costs the plot nothing. The bird is gone from the story while She-Ra rallies the miners with Hazar among them, Razz's rope spell ties up the slave driver, and a miner pilots a stolen Horde ship. When Hordak finally pins everyone down, the teal bird is the reinforcement.

The weakness is the last scene. A king whose son has just been returned tries to break his promise in the hall, and Angella talks him out of it with one speech, noting that Glimmer is her only child too and that her love for her is why Hordak must be driven from Etheria. It is a good speech, the one place the story ties a parent's fear to the fight, but Duplis reverses in under a minute, and the spy plot the episode opened with, Hordak hunting whoever informs the Rebels, is never mentioned again.

It is a modest rescue story with a fable at its centre, and the fable is the better part. Loo-Kee's closing summary of it is exact: the bird was helped, and later the bird helped back.

cereal:geek's commentary on The Mines of Mondor, with behind-the-scenes detail on how the episode was made.

1. Continuity: Imp is again spying for Hordak, announcing "Wait till I tell Hordak" as the rebels leave for Kyrtis, as he did at the harvest festival in The Crown of Knowledge.
2. Continuity: Catra and Scorpia appear with Hordak in the Horde party that questions Hazar and later fires on the escaping rebels.
3. Continuity: Queen Angella's magic opens the dimensional gate to Kyrtis, and the party must return within three days or be stranded.