SHE-RA - 1985

Troll's Dream

Troll's Dream synopsis still

A troll named Grox walks into the rebel camp with a message for She-Ra and is attacked by Spragg, Sprocker and the others before he can give it. Adora stops the fight, scolds the Twiggets and orders them to travel with She-Ra to King Ahgo, who has dreamed of shadowy figures breaking into the mound that seals the Spider of Crystal. On the road through Skull Path, Duke Drear's bonebats seize Bow and a Twigget, and Grox saves them and is captured. The rebels, ashamed of how they treated him, go to Drear Keep, smash the duke's wand, shut him in a room and free Grox. Meanwhile Shadow Weaver and Scorpia open the door to the Spider and wake it. The rebels lure the monster into a narrow pass and Ahgo's magic seals it back in stone, and a Twigget finally tells Grox how sorry he is.

Troll's Dream Official upload, Masters of the Universe channel

Loo-Kee: "Hey, it's Loo-Kee again! Did you find my hiding place today? If not, look now. Find me yet? Here I am! In today's story, the troll had a dream. And when I think of dreams, I think of sleep. The next time you're told it's bedtime, remember that getting enough sleep is a very important part of your good health. Pleasant dreams!"

Adora: "Spragg, I've never been so ashamed of you in all my life!"

Duke Drear: "You twits, I don't need a wand to deal with the likes of you!"

Grox: "That there is an end to the hate between us is more than enough, my little friend."

Who is the monster in Troll's Dream? The title points at Ahgo's disturbing dream and the plot at a Spider of Crystal, but the first six minutes belong to a troll with a message and a camp of Twiggets who attack him before he can deliver it. A Twigget spots him peeking out of the pink flowers and gasps "Worse than a monster", and the camp charges. Grox sends the Twiggets flying, shrugs off the lassos, and finally hoists a stone table over Bow and the others. Adora walks in and settles it by asking him to put the table down. "I promise no one will attack you," she says, and then has to keep her own side to it.

The argument that follows is the sharpest writing in the half hour. Adora asks the question nobody has thought of, "Did any of you ask him why he was here?", and gets stammering, then a Twigget's flat defence: "He's a troll. That's reason enough." She reminds them that Ahgo helped She-Ra find the Crystal Castle and save Bright Moon from the Horde. Nobody argues the facts and nothing changes, so she does what a commander does and gives an order: go with She-Ra to see Ahgo, or leave the Rebellion. Nobody leaves. Everybody sulks.

Here is what the episode is about: you cannot talk a person out of contempt, but you can put them in a place where the contempt costs them something. Adora's speech fails and her ultimatum only moves the bodies. Ahgo's stated hope is that the rebels will see "trolls are not quite what they think", and the script spends the next ten minutes arranging for that to be proved by Grox rather than argued by anyone. The Spider of Crystal, Ahgo's dream and the Horde's dig at the stone mound are the machinery that gets everyone onto the road to Skull Path together.

The bonebat attack is where the idea pays off. Duke Drear, watching from his cave, raises the bats from old bones, and they wreck the rebels' arrows before a pale claw lifts Bow and a Twigget into the air. The rescue itself is quick and slightly off to the side: Grox swings in on a rope, gets them down, and is carried off himself. What makes it work is how little the script asks of the rebels afterwards. Someone tells them what happened, and the apology fits in one line, "We know we made a mistake, She-Ra", before one of them volunteers the rebels to go after Grox while She-Ra heads for the mountain. The conversion is a single scene long, but it is placed right, and the rebels get to be brave on the troll's behalf rather than on their own.

The weak point is the Horde half. Shadow Weaver and Scorpia open the stone door, wake the spider with a spell, and then leave the story; neither speaks to a hero. The Spider, which Ahgo built up as a monster that lived only to destroy, covers a village in crystal and is lured into a narrow pass and sealed in stone in a couple of minutes, with Bow, Grox and the Twiggets provoking it and Ahgo reciting the magic. Duke Drear fares worse: his wand is smashed, he is shut in a room, and he is never mentioned again. A threat this old deserved at least the length of the rebels' change of heart.

The closing tag makes the mismatch plain. Loo-Kee announces that the troll had a dream, drifts from there to sleep, and delivers a health tip about bedtime, while the real lesson went to Grox moments earlier, who tells a repentant Twigget that the end of the hate between them is more than enough. It is a modest episode with one good scene and the right idea: among the rebel-centred stories of the first season, it is the one where the Rebellion has to be rescued from its own habits, and the troll does the rescuing.

Continuity: Adora tells the rebels that Ahgo, the king of the trolls, helped She-Ra find the Crystal Castle and save Bright Moon from the Horde. The Crystal Castle has that one.
Continuity: The Spider's mountain lies in the Shadow Kingdom of Skull Path, named as Duke Drear's kingdom, and he "supports the Horde". Later Shadow Weaver and Scorpia arrive to take the Spider's power for the Horde.
Continuity: The episode opens with Adora away in Thaymor to get information from one of the rebels' spies, and Bow and Kowl are in the camp when the Twiggets spot Grox.

Princess Adora

Princess Adora

She-Ra

She-Ra

Bow

Bow

Kowl

Kowl

Swift Wind

Swift Wind

Shadow Weaver

Shadow Weaver

Scorpia

Scorpia

Loo-Kee

Loo-Kee

Bow sits far off in a red-rock forest clearing while Kowl flies near him.

A round Twigget in a green hat hugs two baskets of pink berries.

A troll in a brown vest parts pink flowers and spies ahead with his back to us.

A round Twigget with a berry basket stands beside a thin Twigget who gasps.

Bow sits on a log in the red-rock forest.

A thin Twigget leaps through the air among blue leaves with his arms spread.

A troll's face peeks out from a thicket of pink flowers.

Kowl dives through blue leaves with his tail streaming behind him.

The troll stands before red rocks as an arrow strikes near his foot.

Three rebel men swing lassos in the forest clearing.

Kowl peeks out from between blue leaves with a sleepy look.

The troll lifts a stone table with both hands.

The troll holds a stone table at his side in the camp clearing.

The troll raises a stone table over Bow and two rebel men.

The troll scowls with his fangs showing.

The troll hoists a stone table above Bow and the rebels, who step back.

The troll raises an arm while Adora stands beside him with her eyes closed.

The troll holds his arm up while Adora and Bow stand nearby.

The troll looks to the side with a weary frown.

A round Twigget in a green cloak crouches beside a tree root.

The troll stands before Adora and a thin Twigget, while Bow turns away.

A thin Twigget scowls with a hand at his chin.

The troll points a finger straight at us.

Adora stands with a hand on a tree while a thin Twigget crouches at her feet.

Kowl flies toward us with his arms spread and his eyes wide.

Bow stands with his arms at his sides while Kowl perches above and a Twigget crouches below.

Bow puts his hands on his hips while Kowl perches above and a Twigget stands nearby.

Adora looks off to the side beside a red rock wall.

Bow stands with his hands on his hips while a Twigget sulks beside him.

A thin Twigget shouts with his mouth wide open.

Adora puts a hand on Bow's chest while Kowl and a Twigget look on.

Tiny figures walk along the far rim of a spiked blue pool in the desert.

King Ahgo sits on his stone throne holding a spiked mace.

King Ahgo's bearded face rises above his cross-strapped chest.

A stone doorway in a cave wall bears a blue spider web symbol.

King Ahgo sits grim-faced with his mace beside him.

Grox raises a fist as he frowns in a dark cave.

She-Ra listens with a serious expression in front of a dark cave wall.

King Ahgo leans forward with his mace and speaks gravely.

She-Ra looks ahead with a calm, serious face.

Grox clenches his fist and looks surprised.

Grox looks to the side with a doubtful frown.

Kowl and a Twigget look up with startled faces beside a red cape.

Bow rides a horse with a Twigget on the saddle behind him and Kowl flying above.

Grox scowls beside She-Ra's red cape.

She-Ra rides Swift Wind beside Grox under a purple sky.

A gate of piled skulls and bones arches over a dark path.

Skulls and bones lie heaped in a twisted pile beneath a smoky orange sky.

Bow rides a horse past a skull-covered rock column with Kowl above him and a Twigget behind.

Bow rides ahead with Kowl flying over him and a Twigget clinging behind.

Skulls with glowing eyes cover a tall rock column.

A small figure in red stands before a huge skull-shaped cavern.

Duke Drear gasps in a cave with his red hood and yellow vest.

A figure in a red cape stands among three stone gargoyle skeletons.

Bow grins with a sly look.

Four skeletal bats with spread wings fly through orange smoke.

She-Ra on Swift Wind and Grox stand together in a bleak rocky valley.

Swift Wind rears up with She-Ra on his back while Grox stands beside them.

Bow draws his bow aimed upward beside his horse while a Twigget crouches below.

A pale claw lifts Bow and a Twigget into the air.

A skeletal bat swoops across the valley with its wings spread.

Grox's boots dangle as a rope sweeps across the frame.

Grox swings through the air on a rope.

Kowl flutters with his rainbow wings spread and his eyes wide.

She-Ra rides Swift Wind, who turns his head with a worried look.

She-Ra raises her sword on Swift Wind against dark smoky clouds.

Kowl flies with his wings spread against dark clouds.

A thin Twigget looks worried in front of a giant skeleton's ribs.

Bow rests a hand on his chin while Kowl flies above and a Twigget stands beside him.

She-Ra smiles and looks to the side.

Bow and a Twigget stand beside She-Ra on Swift Wind among twisted black roots.

Swift Wind stands with She-Ra beside Bow and a Twigget while Kowl hovers overhead.

She-Ra looks to the side with a thoughtful expression.

Shadow Weaver in her red hooded cloak watches beside a rock wall.

Shadow Weaver raises both fists with her yellow eyes glowing.

Shadow Weaver and Scorpia stand before a stone door marked with a spider web.

A Twigget stands with a hand on his hip under a purple sky.

A fortress of bones and skulls rises behind spikes under an orange sky.

A skull-faced fortress with a huge claw at its base looms in the mist.

Bow holds a red-tipped arrow while Kowl hovers beside him in the mist.

Bow draws his bow and aims upward with a line tied to the arrow.

Kowl flutters in thick fog.

Bow holds his bow beside a Twigget who points while Kowl hovers above.

Fog drifts over a blue rock as a tiny Kowl flies below.

Bow climbs a rope up a blue rock with a Twigget on his back.

Bow, Kowl and a Twigget stand on a ledge in a blue cave.

Duke Drear frowns and reaches out with a pale blue hand.

Bow crouches on the cave floor with one hand pressed down.

Duke Drear strides toward a Twigget lying on a bench.

A grinning Twigget holds a glass mug above his head as sparks fly.

Bow stands with his hands on his hips beside a Twigget while Kowl hovers by a wooden door.

A blue stone cave floor holds a shallow pool of water.

Bow, a Twigget and Kowl face Grox, who sits on a cell bench.

Shadow Weaver and Scorpia flank a small crystal spider on a hovering stone cone.

Shadow Weaver raises her hands while Scorpia steps through a ruined doorway.

A mound of purple and pink crystal spikes rises beside a wooden ramp.

A giant crystal spider towers over the rocky ground.

Bow rides a horse with a Twigget and Kowl while Grox walks bent beside them.

Grox stares with an anxious look.

King Ahgo sits on his throne with a glowing orb beside him.

Two rebel men stand in a rocky village, one holding a trident.

A figure turned to glittering pink crystal stands on a dark plain.

Kowl stands with his wings behind him and his eyes wide.

Grox walks forward with Kowl at his side.

Bow draws his bow beside Grox, who raises both arms, while a Twigget aims a small bow.

Tall purple rock walls close in on a narrow pass.

The crystal spider strides forward on its thin legs.

The crystal spider crouches in front of a rock wall.

Bow rides a horse with Grox running beside him through a narrow rock pass.

The crystal spider walks across a dim cave floor.

King Ahgo stands on a rock ledge holding his mace with Kowl at his feet.

White lightning crackles around King Ahgo's arms and chest.

A mass of white lightning crackles across the frame.

King Ahgo looks down with a weary expression against a blue rock wall.

Rebels, trolls, Kowl and a Twigget cheer in a crowded red-rock clearing.

A thin Twigget in a green hat speaks to Grox beside him.

Grox looks off to the side with a frown.

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