SHE-RA - 1985

The Time Transformer

The Time Transformer synopsis still

At a summer fair at Valley View Castle, held to celebrate the day She-Ra saved it from Hordak's Doom Balloon, the talk turns to fortunes, while in the Fright Zone Professor Tempest unveils the Time Transformer, a machine he says will turn Hordak's losing battles into wins. Tempest rewinds the Doom Balloon's defeat, adds another energy beam, and Horde troopers suddenly appear inside Valley View Castle. Razz and Kowl warn Adora and Bow, and talk turns to history being changed. Adora and Bow head for the Fright Zone through an old ventilation pipe. Hordak wants the machine to destroy Bright Moon by replaying an eclipse with a meteor storm added. Adora and Bow are captured, break loose, are caught again, and escape with sneezing powder before Adora becomes She-Ra and smashes the console. The machine has already started, so She-Ra and Swift Wind circle Etheria in reverse to travel back in time, and she turns her sword into a bat to knock the meteors away. Bright Moon is safe, and Loo-Kee closes with Madame Razz's fortune: work hard, be honest and treat others kindly.

The Time Transformer Official upload, Masters of the Universe channel

Loo-Kee: "Hi! It's Loo-Kee again. Did you find where I was hiding today? If not, take another look. See me? Here I am! In today's story, Madame Razz told a villager that if he worked hard, was honest, and treated others kindly, he would have a happy life. That's a good fortune! And it's one we can all have. Remember work hard, be honest, and treat others kindly. See you soon!"

Professor Tempest: "This machine will solve all your problems with the rebels."

Hordak: "That's not possible."

Hordak: "The Doom Balloon was the most beautiful ship of evil I ever had."

She-Ra: "Sorry, Professor, but you boys aren't grown up enough to play with this toy."

She-Ra: "Let's see if some batting practice will do it, Swifty."

Everybody who has lost wants a second try, and Hordak gets one. The Time Transformer is a machine built for a sore loser: it replays his defeats and lets him change the ending. Professor Tempest unveils it with a promise, "This machine will solve all your problems with the rebels." Hordak's first answer is the sensible one: "That's not possible." The rest of the story is a test of whether he is right, and the answer turns out to be partly.

The Fright Zone scenes carry the writing. Before the first replay, Catra and Imp are trading insults over her habit of running from She-Ra, and Hordak breaks it up with a warning about teasing Imp. Then he remembers the Doom Balloon as "the most beautiful ship of evil I ever had," which is a loser's fondness for the thing that failed him. Tempest works the console, but he is the one with the wand, and Hordak needs him. When the first replay works, Hordak grins, then asks for Bright Moon.

The structure is two replays. The first rewinds the Doom Balloon's loss at Valley View Castle, adds another energy beam, and wins at once. Horde troopers turn up on the castle walls in the present, and Madame Razz and Kowl see them arrive. That gives Adora and Bow their clue, and the talk turns to history being changed. The second replay is the eclipse over Bright Moon, with a meteor storm added to block the moon. The rebels crawl through an old ventilation pipe, get caught, break out, and get caught again, and Hordak explains the plan to Adora as his prisoner. It is neat. The villain narrates his own scheme to the people who can wreck it.

The standout comes at the end. Once She-Ra has smashed the console and learned that the machine has already started, she tells Swift Wind that the only way back is "circling Etheria in reverse at high speed." The two of them fly in reverse around the planet and arrive in time for the eclipse and the meteors. Then she announces, "Let's see if some batting practice will do it, Swifty." The sword becomes a bat. She connects with the first few, and the last one is the big one. It is a silly picture, and it works because nobody in the scene pretends otherwise.

The weakness is the time logic. The first rewrite sticks, while the second does not, and the line that settles the matter is "the Time Transformer has not changed what happened." That sits badly beside the troopers in Valley View Castle, who are never mentioned again. Razz and Kowl raise the alarm there, Adora and Bow set out because of it, and then the story drops it. The moral is a second loose piece. It praises hard work, honesty and kindness, and those belong to Madame Razz's fortune-telling, not to the machine at its centre.

Still, this is one of the lighter She-Ra adventures. The sneezing powder, the "vacuum cleaner" threat to the robots and the batting scene are the kind of thing a children's show can do well. The plot is held together by a sword that changes shape on demand, and nobody asks the viewer to mind. As a Hordak story it is slight. As a half hour of Filmation, it moves.

Continuity: The summer fair at the start celebrates the day She-Ra saved Valley View Castle from Hordak's Doom Balloon, and the Time Transformer's first replay targets that battle.
Continuity: She-Ra's sword changes shape twice, to a chain at the replayed eclipse and to a bat at the finish, with the call "Sword to chain" and "Sword to bat".
Continuity: Madame Razz's broom crashes her into a tree and she blames a moved oak, the same excuse she uses in When Whispering Woods Last Bloomed.
Production: Written by Don Heckman and directed by Lou Kachivas; first aired 1986-11-01.
Note: Loo-Kee's closing talk is built on a fortune Madame Razz gives a villager, not on the Time Transformer plot.

She-Ra

She-Ra

Hordak

Hordak

Princess Adora

Princess Adora

Bow

Bow

Madame Razz

Madame Razz

Kowl

Kowl

Swift Wind

Swift Wind

Catra

Catra

Imp

Imp

Loo-Kee

Loo-Kee

Queen Angella

Queen Angella

Entrapta

Entrapta

A purple stone castle wall slopes down beside a green hillside.

A boy talks with two couples outside a tent at the summer fair.

Kowl lounges on the tent roof above a seated fairgoer and a man at a table.

Fairgoers gather in front of colorful tents under strings of bunting.

Professor Tempest gestures toward a console as Hordak and Catra watch.

Hordak stands with Imp on his shoulder as Catra folds her arms beside him.

Catra frowns and looks off to the side.

Imp perches on Hordak's shoulder and grins.

Hordak clenches his fist while Catra looks on from the right.

Catra raises one clawed hand, frowning.

Professor Tempest faces Hordak beside the control console.

Hordak sneers with Imp clinging to his shoulder.

Professor Tempest and a large Horde figure stand before a screen of blue static.

Blue sparkling static fills the screen.

A Horde airship hovers over a path lined with purple plants.

The airship hangs overhead with a small plane under its belly.

Blue sparkling static fills the screen.

She-Ra stands on a cliff edge beside the airship's hull, sword in hand.

She-Ra stands on a rocky ledge below while Hordak's hand fills the foreground.

White lightning traces the outline of an airship on the blue screen.

Professor Tempest and Hordak, seen from behind, face a dark screen.

Professor Tempest shakes his fist, mouth open.

Hordak glares as sparks fly from a console behind him.

Professor Tempest holds up a glowing blue wand and grins.

Professor Tempest points a wand at the screen, where She-Ra stands on a cliff.

Hordak, Catra and others gather around Professor Tempest by the glowing console.

Hordak smiles, his red eyes bright.

She-Ra raises her sword in a flash of white light.

Dark storm clouds fill the sky.

Professor Tempest laughs with his mouth wide open.

A Horde trooper holds a staff before a castle wall as another stands behind.

Hordak frowns with Imp resting on his shoulder.

Hordak watches a screen showing a grey Horde face with glowing eyes.

Hordak sits grim-faced before a dark console screen.

Hordak grins widely, his fangs showing.

Kowl points off to the side as Madame Razz stands beside her broom.

A dark forest of twisted trees is dotted with red berries.

Bow looks at Adora, who is turned away at the left.

Pink bushes and a wall of rocky spikes stand in a forest clearing.

Madame Razz sits splay-legged on the forest floor beside her broom.

Striped blue tree trunks rise above pink bushes.

Bow and Adora look off together in the forest.

Madame Razz gestures with both hands as her broom stands beside her.

Madame Razz and her broom stand in a clearing with Bow and Adora.

The spidery towers of the Fright Zone rise under an orange sky.

Dark Horde machinery glows with red ports.

Hordak stands with Imp perched on his shoulder.

Professor Tempest stands frowning with his hands at his sides.

A faint Hordak face peers from behind machinery with glowing red ports.

Broken machine parts and a purple dome lie scattered on the ground.

Bow and Adora look off with serious faces.

A Horde trooper stands in front of a dark wall.

A red tunnel of pipes runs toward a small vent grate.

Bow holds Adora's arm as they hurry down a dark passage.

Grizzlor and a tusked teal Horde brute stand in a red corridor.

Adora and Bow peer through a barred grate at a Horde figure.

Adora gasps and Bow frowns as they look through the grate.

A Horde trooper with glowing red eyes stands beside another trooper.

Bow and Adora grip the legs of a Horde trooper from below.

Two Horde troopers stand side by side in a red corridor.

An empty red corridor is lined with black pipes.

Bow and Adora stand together in the red corridor.

Adora crouches beside an open floor drain as Bow stands nearby.

Adora looks off with a determined frown.

Red Horde machinery with angled pipes fills the frame.

A Horde trooper stands with red glowing eyes and clenched fists.

A golden palace tower rises from purple foliage as a pink beam streaks past.

Adora stands between two Horde troopers who hold her arms.

Bow and Adora stand held between Horde troopers on a dark floor.

Professor Tempest works the console beside Hordak, who has Imp on his shoulder.

Blue sparkling static fills the screen.

She-Ra rides Swift Wind through a starry sky.

She-Ra grips Swift Wind's mane as a chain trails behind them.

She-Ra rides the winged Swift Wind through space, a chain trailing behind.

Blue sparkling static fills the screen.

Professor Tempest talks while Hordak and Imp watch from the left.

Bow and Adora stand surrounded by Horde troopers.

Professor Tempest points a wand at a screen showing a moon in space.

Bow and Adora stand with shackled wrists in a dark red hall.

Bow and Adora stand side by side in the red Horde hall.

Bow holds up a small object between his fingers and grins.

A Horde trooper stands in a red corridor.

Hordak stands with Imp on his shoulder.

Hordak glares with Imp looking over his shoulder.

Professor Tempest and Hordak stand on either side of a dark console.

Hordak scowls while Imp clings to his shoulder.

Bow and Adora look off together in profile.

Adora looks off in a dim yard of rusted machinery.

Bow sits on a tan horse beside Spirit as Adora stands nearby.

Adora stands with her hands held out at her sides.

Adora raises her sword as golden sparks burst around her.

A figure with a raised arm glows against a bright yellow background as Adora becomes She-Ra.

Spirit glows in a white burst of light as the transformation begins.

She-Ra looks off beside Swift Wind's pink armoured head.

She-Ra hangs upside down from a pipe in the red Horde machinery.

Hordak sits stiffly beside a purple console, his eyes glowing red.

She-Ra looks off with parted lips in the red Horde chamber.

The console screen is smashed, exposing the machinery inside.

She-Ra walks toward Professor Tempest, who works at the smashed console.

Hordak glares ahead against a red wall.

She-Ra stands facing Hordak and Professor Tempest, who have their backs turned.

She-Ra looks off beside a heap of rubble.

She-Ra pats Swift Wind's neck as the unicorn nuzzles her.

She-Ra leans against Swift Wind, who bows his pink masked head.

She-Ra rides Swift Wind at speed through space, motion lines trailing.

Etheria floats in space, a white orbit line circling the planet.

She-Ra rides Swift Wind through the dark, his wings spread.

She-Ra rides Swift Wind through a starry sky.

Pink and red rock fragments drift through space.

Swift Wind gallops through space as swirling white streaks spin overhead.

Swift Wind leaps forward through space as She-Ra's boot shows at his side.

She-Ra clutches Swift Wind's mane as they fly through space.

A dark starfield with faint galaxies fills the sky.

Madame Razz stands with her back to the camera in an orange village yard.

Kowl perches on a barrel beside Bow, who leans on a table.

Madame Razz scratches her chin as her broom stands next to her.

Kowl sits on a barrel with his wings folded and arms crossed.

Madame Razz holds a hand to her chin and leans to one side.

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