The Rock People

Hordak sees three objects in space that move in formation and sends Catra and her Force Squad to the Valley of the Lost to collect them. A message from Rigolo in Pine Town tips off the rebels, and Bow, Madame Razz, Broom and Kowl go ahead while Adora changes into She-Ra; she floors the monster King Liz, then talks to it and learns where Catra is. The space rocks are people of stone from Geolon, and the Force Squad fights the rebels and carries off one of them, Rokkon. His companions Stonedar and Granita refuse She-Ra's offer of an alliance, because their people want only peace, and go to Hordak themselves to ask for him back. Hordak demands the secret of how they travel in space without a ship, and when they have none to give he tries to chain them; Shadow Weaver starts melting them until Bow's flash arrow drives her off and Madame Razz reverses the spell. After one of the Rock People stops Hordak from firing on She-Ra, they escape together, and She-Ra settles the Rock People at Spikeheart under King Ahgo and his Trolls.

Loo-Kee: "Hi, it's me, Loo-Kee. Did you find my hiding place? If not, take another look. See me now? Here I am. Today, I'd like to talk to you about fighting. You know, some people think fighting is a way to prove how brave they are. Fighting doesn't prove anything, and it usually doesn't solve anything, either. It takes more courage to walk away from a fight. Bye now. See you next time."

Granita: "We Rock People want peace more than anything else."

She-Ra: "Not wanting to fight doesn't make you a coward, Kowl."

Bow: "Sometimes it takes more courage not to fight."

Stonedar: "So you see, we want no part of your fight."

Can a hero respect people who will not join her fight? The Rock People puts that question to She-Ra by way of two stone visitors from a dying world, and then spends most of its length on fights anyway. It starts with Hordak watching three drifting objects on a viewscreen, one voice insisting that "Ordinary meteors don't fly in formation" and Hordak deciding they are not meteors and that he wants them. Catra and the Force Squad are sent to the Valley of the Lost; Madame Razz arrives at the rebel camp with word from Rigolo in Pine Town that Catra has passed through in a Scavenger looking for rocks from outer space; and She-Ra is given the job.

The first scene that carries the idea is the one with King Liz. She-Ra reaches the mist-choked valley entrance just as the monster is cornering Bow, Madame Razz, Broom and Kowl, and her opening move is to knock it flat against a boulder, after which she says she is sorry and Kowl says he is not. Then she speaks to it, saying "I mean you no harm", and the creature, who has heard of her, tells her where Catra is. In one small scene that is the show's habit: force first, parley second. The Rock People are the first to refuse that order.

They turn up in a crater, three of them, blue and green and rounded, and the Force Squad turns on them at once. Rokkon is taken in a scramble in which Leech drains Bow, Scorpia grabs She-Ra and Madame Razz's broom lifts Leech into the air and lets him fall. The two who are left, Stonedar and Granita, say they are explorers from Geolon whose sun is about to explode, and that they want a new world for their people. They also say that She-Ra's side is "too violent" to ally with. She-Ra answers that Hordak will not listen to reason, that she respects what they say, and that she will try to free Rokkon anyway; they decline, and leave. Kowl calls them cowards and gets a short, clear answer, with Bow adding that "Sometimes it takes more courage not to fight."

The standout scene is the parley in the Fright Zone, where the Rock People walk in and ask Hordak for their friend. Hordak offers to let Rokkon go in exchange for the secret of how they travel in space without a ship, and they tell him, truthfully, that there is no secret; it is natural for them. His answer is chains. One of them admits that "This Hordak is most unreasonable," and the pair smash the troopers sent to bind them, with a quick "Forgive us for this violence" afterwards. This is the scene where the story lets peaceful people fail at peace, and the apology comes right after the troopers go down.

The weakness is that the respect for pacifism lives in speeches while the plot runs on arrows and spells. Shadow Weaver melts the Rock People; Bow's flash arrow drives her off, his oil arrow sends the Force Squad sprawling, and Madame Razz reverses the melting after reaching first for a spell meant for changing toads. Even the finish, when Hordak lines up a shot at She-Ra, is settled by a Rock Person acting against him, one of the people who spent the episode refusing to fight. The Rebellion never has to give anything up to honor their refusal.

What it does give them is a place to go. She-Ra settles them at Spikeheart, where King Ahgo and his Trolls are there to keep the Horde away, and in the last exchange the rebels agree that peace is the Rock People's way of life, that they have to respect it, and that the Rebellion is about the right to live in peace. Loo-Kee follows with a short talk on fighting. Nobody in the camp wins the argument; Stonedar keeps saying no, and the show lets him.

1. Continuity: Catra is addressed as Force Captain and leads Grizzlor, Leech, Scorpia and Mantenna; in Welcome Back, Kowl, aired the day before, She-Ra refers to "my days as Force Captain Adora".
2. Continuity: Madame Razz reaches for the wrong spell ("That's for changing toads") before finding the right one, as her spells also misfire in Welcome Back, Kowl.
3. Continuity: In the next day's episode, Huntara, She-Ra tells the warrior Huntara that "Fighting doesn't solve anything", close to Loo-Kee's closing talk here.