SVES Talkback: He-Man- "History" (Spoilers)

[The Clown Prince]

History (Episode #38)
Written by Larry DiTillio (Season one's Lessons, The Monster Within, Seperation, and season 2's The Price of Deceit)


Episode description- He-Man tries to stop King Hiss from reaching the Well of Darkness, unaware that Evil-Lyn is planning something catastrophic.

Being written by ol' Larry DiTillio, this one shouldn't disappoint. This season's The Price of Deciet sure didn't disappoint.

To refresh everyone's memories, The Well of Darkness was the place in the season one episode Seperation that Two Bad went to to try and split themselves back up. The same place that Hordak created the light and dark hemispheres on Eternia. Could Hordak be somehow in this episode? Evil Lyn was there when Skeletor destroyed Hordak's temple. Is she gonna pull a Snake Men and set Hordak free?

The Clown Prince

[seiya1729]

who knows, but I'm watching it.

[Anime Guy]

I wonder if this episode will be as good as the Home Movies episode that goes by the same name.

[Obi]

There's too much Hordak for a show called "Masters of the Universe Versus the Snake Men".

[Artimus Gigan]

There is no such thing as too much Hordak...

[Obi]

There is when he's taking away the hype from the supposed "main villains" of this season.

[wrenchien]

but enough with that.

.. Boy, kobra khan was pretty low on the totem pole, wasn't he?

fisto's ride was pretty phat, too bad it crashed, aww. :)

i see evil lynn is trying to get hordak out.. good luck. you'll need it. better get that mardo guy or whoever to help you this time out.

oh my, adam can't punch a snake dude!?! heh , one more for the snake guys.

looks like that dude with a lot of faces got some time. that mossman guy, too.

down they're trashed! up they rise, to be blinded and kicked down again. they should have gone to the beach today.

it's nice for cringer to realize he can be brave when he's not battlecat.

i don't see why those snakes wouldn't eat their veggies... but i guess veggies are just... bad for them.

and it's neat to see the calvary arrive in time....

that is such a cool river of lava.. very bold even for bad guys to ride the lava waves. just be careful not to tear apart the rock you're on with your head. or owch, your head. owch.. so that's why battlecat wears a mask?? nah, can't be that, he'd be pretty attractive to female tigers with a face like that.

and mardo and evil lyn can't get along. OMG, magical nuclear bomb spell! @_@

about time someone rocked hordak's world. literally.

and once again , the good guys think they've won...and hordak is almost freed..

say.. how could hiss survive his lava bath!?!? must have been a burned skin that protected him, i guess.

a good episode.

just keep hissing,

wrenchien

[Artimus Gigan]

Kobra Kahn seems to be the equvelent to Starscream(and sounds like him too)

[Animation Otaku]

Neat episode. Seemed to really be setting up for both the Snake-Men finale, and Season 3 with Hordak. Cool. Funny how Adam started the transformation, and then someone stopped him. That had to suck.

[Artimus Gigan]

IF there is a seaon 3 because currently the IF is very big

Mattel has screwed up with the figure line majorly to the point where there is no profit....

But they have hired some new people to head the line so maybe things will turn around

[wrenchien]

Neat episode. Seemed to really be setting up for both the Snake-Men finale, and Season 3 with Hordak. Cool. Funny how Adam started the transformation, and then someone stopped him. That had to suck.

maybe for he-man. but the snake man found it very hilarious. :)

[ComicPhanatic]

"History" was loads of fun to watch, from beginning to end. While this viewer misses the appearance of Skeletor and watching He-Man fend off his fiendish schemes, the Snakemen (and King Hiss in particular) does grow on you. It's clear that King Hiss and He-Man are total opposites (one is evil and desires total power and the other is good and desires peace). Their fight scenes are always entertaining, especially this one at the end by the lava flow (He-Man got some strong shots in and basically overwhelmed his foe). I like how the Snakemen's all-consuming power can be overcome cleverly by He-Man and his allies. The fight scene in the words best describes this. Fisto (who is still aiding his brother and the rest of them) along with Man-E-Faces (whose voice is portrayed excellently) overcome the Snakemen. The appearance of the 'moss-man' was unexpected but terrific, because it gave the good guys the edge to victory they so desperately needed. Seeing Cringer rush in to save Adam from Tongue Lasher was perhaps the best moment of the show; what was starting off as a frightening moment (helpless Adam maybe getting his secret identity exposed) ended up as a 'stand-up-and-cheer scene' when the normally fearful cat overcame his weakness (and perceived stereotype by the viewers) and saved his friend. Evil-Lynn was downright devillish with her secret plan to free Hordak, thanks to the aid of Marzo. She nearly succeeded, but He-Man arrived and saved the day at the last minute (enraging the nearly freed Hordak and delighting King Hiss who plans to free a person of his own, Servos). I liked how Marzo turned the tables on Evil-Lynn by getting control of her mind-influencing amulet. Also, bad blood and jealousy still exists between General Rattlor and Kobra Kahn (which will no doubt continue and intensify). The end of "History" was satisfying and typical (evil was thwarted temporarily, and the battle goes on).

[All-Star 1.5]

IF there is a seaon 3 because currently the IF is very big

Mattel has screwed up with the figure line majorly to the point where there is no profit....

But they have hired some new people to head the line so maybe things will turn around


Not to mention that the show isn't doing very good in ratings. I mean it didn't make the October or November top telecast on SVES or Toonami; and CN promoted the heck out of it. I mean at least Zoids:Fuzors made the October top telecast.

[seiya1729]

Not to mention that the show isn't doing very good in ratings. I mean it didn't make the October or November top telecast on SVES or Toonami; and CN promoted the heck out of it. I mean at least Zoids:Fuzors made the October top telecast.

But Heman is is good show, it's better than dexter and those other shows.

How many new episodes are left?

Do they will aired the whole snake men saga?

[Obi]

How many new episodes are left?


One.

[WingZombie38]

An okay episode. I expected it to be much better considering who's wrote it but hey. I don't think the episode title fit the episode. With "History" I was expecting some flashbacks or something.

It was nice to get to see Morzo, MEF, and Mossman back. When Battlecat's mask melted off I expected people to be able to finally connect him to Cringer somehow. But that wasn't going to obviously happen.

I hope somehow down the line we'll get at least an OVA movie [with Hordal] or something.

[GMB]

Decent episode, though I don't think there was much "History" in it.

Cool to see Marzo back and the nod to "Separation" was pretty cool, tho I hope the next time they pull the "Hordak returns . . .almost" thing, they leave off the "almost" part. It's the kind of gag with a short shelf-life.

Here's what worked:

-Evil-Lynn recruiting Marzo to help her bring back Hordak. Obviously Marzo has taken lesson from Goku, given the "instant transmission" gag he used on the mob.

-King Hiss vs He-Man round . . .er . . .I forget now. Hiss must have taken a few lessons on "instant transmission" himself.

-Despite the antipathy most people have for He-Man's new armor, I really dig that capture-claw thingy he uses. Oh heck, the whole fight on the lava was pretty wicked.

-Moss Man. *L* He's like the Stinkor of the good guys. They find every possible outlet to use him despite the fact that he's incredibly silly.

-The Snake Men actually seemed like something of a serious threat this week instead of the reptillian equivalent of loser potheads with the munchies. Seriously, the last 3 episode have been about, for the most part (seems like, anyways) "where sssshall we have lunch?" Nice to see them actually doing big villianous stuff.

What didn't:

-OK, I'm officially sick of Fisto. Being the brother of Man-at-Arms is bad enough, having a big stupid fist that everyone is idiotic enough to stand there and get punched with a big freaking metal hand when most everyone else on the show can blast a hole in a mountain by waving their hand is. . .well, he's just stupid. If either him or Man-at-Arms don't make it through the season I wouldn't be sad.

-Man-E-Faces new look. Brown is not flattering.

-OK, uhm. . .wasn't Skeletor in this show once upon a time?

In all, better than the norm. A-

[Razor]

inconsistant power levels abound. Why doesn't Evil Lyn use that spell ALL the time?

[David the Joker]

"History" was a very good episode. I was happy to see the return of Man-E-Faces and Moss Man as the Masters captured the snake men. Also, on the villians side of the show, I was pleased of the reappearences of Evil-Lynn and Count Marzo. Kobra Khan is still not trusted as one of the official Snake Men and gets alot of abuse from Rattlor, he proves many times over that he is a true snake men; however, their was fear in his eyes when the other snake men wanted him to eat the humans. I think in a future episode he was rebel against his own kind. Fisto was proven he is a good fighter in this episode, when he is going one-on-one with Kobra Khan. I also enjoyed how Tongue Lasher grapped Adam while he was changing and said "What power?". This episode He-Man/Prince Adam was knocked out twice, but good old Cringer/Battle Cat helped him (it was good to see Battle Cat again). Evil-Lynn was finally without Skeletor, her skills of deception and treachery against Count Marzo was beutiful, since she wants Hordak to be free. Will she ever learn, she helped free Snake Men and King Hiss was about to eat her, do you think Hordak will be even kinder. When Hordak returns the Snake Men will be done, I'm guessing season 3. Marzo is now all powerful since he got the mediation from Evil-Lynn, he will face the Masters a few for times this season. He-Man was foolish and did not destroy the temple, because King Hiss will relase the snake god (and it was cool and they were all burnt by lava and got new skin). In conclusion, it was great to see the reappearences of older characters proving no matter who He-Man faces in always needs alot of help.

[Anime Guy]

This is a good episode. It kept me interested the whole time. Fisto's punch is getting really old. I wish they'd give him a new attack. Cringer biting Tongue Lashor's tongue was great. He was playing tug-of-war with it. He should've bitten it off. The whole lava sequence had me on the edge of my seat. This episode had continuous action and it didn't disappoint. A+

[Mysteryinfoman]

Was not as good as I would expected, it did have great action scencs and it's neat to see Marzo back but it would be intersting to see maybe a bit of twist. Also what has happened to Skeletor, he just left for some reason, it would be cool seeing him fight King Hiss.

[Wounded_Dragon]

Interesting episode. Only real flaw is the title itself. 'History' had very little to do with history except in roundabout ways.

I'm thinking maybe He-Man should've let Skeletor kill Evil-lyn for being stupid. She was betrayed by Skeletor so she backstabs him with King Hiss who attempts to eat her. She had to be saved by He-Man before Skeletor decided to not kill her. And now she wants to release an evil potentially more powerful than Marzo, Evil-lyn, and Skeletor combined?

She's like an ant at a picnic. She feeds off the sweet food, but it's only a matter of time before she gets stepped on.

Ok, so I guess it was called History because that was the class Evil-lyn obviously failed in at school.

[Hyper Shadow X]

Would have been nice to see Hordak come back though he didn't. But if there's a season 3 maybe he will in some weird way.

[Roger Smith]

He man is boring now...

[AlphaPrime]

He man is boring now...

Not completely but its definitly not great and the kids must be noticing, i really have to wonder if the sells of the toys was hurt mainly by the case assortments or if the show itself is the main reason*i'd vote the show but thats just me*

Tonights ep was OK but still nothing compared to the Unicron Battles of Armada, Evil-lyn is still better looking with out that darned crown thingy though i wish she'd just learn to go somewhere and stay there for a long long time. No Skeletor still brings the show down really low IMO he's way better then King Hiss. Kobra Khan kinda makes up for no Skeletor or Mer-Man but not enough for both :P He-Man is still an overpowered hero. Fisto really adds to the boring characters. And the whole Hodak is coming back but isn't thing is stale already. B- i want Skele and Mer-Man back!!!

[Roger Smith]

im bored because its only KING HISS LETS ALL TALK ABOUT KING HISS
move on to another thing!

[Wounded_Dragon]

Not completely but its definitly not great and the kids must be noticing, i really have to wonder if the sells of the toys was hurt mainly by the case assortments or if the show itself is the main reason*i'd vote the show but thats just me*

Tonights ep was OK but still nothing compared to the Unicron Battles of Armada, Evil-lyn is still better looking with out that darned crown thingy though i wish she'd just learn to go somewhere and stay there for a long long time. No Skeletor still brings the show down really low IMO he's way better then King Hiss. Kobra Khan kinda makes up for no Skeletor or Mer-Man but not enough for both :P He-Man is still an overpowered hero. Fisto really adds to the boring characters. And the whole Hodak is coming back but isn't thing is stale already. B- i want Skele and Mer-Man back!!!


Oh please. Unicron Battles is nice but it doesn't excuse the shoddily executed piles of crap episodes that comprised Armada's beginning and middle. This is a show where, when Jet Convoy (or whatever they finally decided to call him, yet another Armada flaw) debuted, his debut episode, they managed to screw up a shot of him landing triumphantly, replacing it with a floating Super Optimus Prime. And the whole "Stop the Hate, Stop the Unicron" thing reminded me of "Return of Optimus Prime", which I absolutely loathe.

It's good that Skeletor can take a break. Otherwise it makes him look even more the buffoon when he gets beaten.

The show is definitely not boring so I'd point the finger at the toy line. With two main suspects: Infinite Variants and Deluge of Deluxes.

For all the effort put into season 1 to introduce all the characters, you have a devil of a time finding anything besides a mutated He-Man or Skeletor.

To make matters worse, they sell vehicles. Vehicles which aren't even used that much in the show, nor are they ever prominently featured. If they are featured, it's often a one-shot. Even the Grayskull Castle set doesn't move that well. And yet Mattel keeps pushing them.

Kids can't get the toys to roleplay with the show. The show suffers. The toys suffers.

[The Clown Prince]

Here is my response that I posted over at He-Man.org...

With one episode left, has Snake Face just been completely forgotten altogether?

King Hiss has all this power, Kobra Khan has the very useful acid, and Snake Face uses magic to turn anyone to stone. A very useful ally who they let sit in prison. Snake Face i think being the more powerful Snak Man than Rattlor, Tung Lashor, and Sssqueeze. In the last episode, why didn't Rattlor take him with him? Hiss could have reversed the spell.

Eh, I'm really begining to think that when next week's finale airs, we are NOT going to be happy with how it ends. It'll be cliff hanger style and more than likely the show will not return. Nothing will be wrapped up. The Snake Men will still be loose, and if we're all lucky, Hordak and The Horde will return, but that will introduce them and that's it. It'll just be one big tease.

Plus IF Skeletor is in next week's episode, it'll probably be minor. But who knows. He has been one of the greatest characters in the series. So it would be nice to see him one last time if this does happen to be it for the cartoon.

But I must think happy thoughts. I must think optimistically. At least the comic will take over pretty much where the cartoon ends. Not exactly the same story from what the cartoon writers have been building, but the same effect will happen.

The Clown Prince

[Mysteryinfoman]

Eh, I'm really begining to think that when next week's finale airs, we are NOT going to be happy with how it ends. It'll be cliff hanger style and more than likely the show will not return. Nothing will be wrapped up. The Snake Men will still be loose, and if we're all lucky, Hordak and The Horde will return, but that will introduce them and that's it. It'll just be one big tease.

Wait a moment. Next week is the final episode of the show, did you not report that season 2 would have 26 episodes but would be called season 3?

[The Clown Prince]

Wait a moment. Next week is the final episode of the show, did you not report that season 2 would have 26 episodes but would be called season 3?Ah, yes I did. And unfortunatley it was Mattel's fault for getting everyone's hopes up.

Over at He-Man.org there is a Q&A session that goes on periodically with members of the site and a rep from Mattel. That Q&A is called What Fans Want To Know. The most recent one as of late October/early November had a rep from Mattel who is pretty high up on the food chain. His cryptic words had us all believing that a season 3 was in production and/or done. He had said that if you all liked the 2 part Council of Evil and The Last Stand, and you liked Rise of the Snake Men, then you would really like what we have coming up with episodes #38(History), #39(next Saturday's Awaken the Serpent) and episode #40 which would have kicked off a third season.

Also at Wizard World this past summer in Chicago, two Mattel reps had said that season 2 would have 26 episodes. Apparently that is not the case, and is highly disapointing right now.

The next WFWTK is supposed to be coming very soon and should have some critical information for fans.

There is NO season 3 currently in production. Things at Mattel appear to be quite screwy right now. Hopefully answers will come from Mattel about the future of the cartoon and the toy line next month at Toy Fair. The good news at least for now is that there has been no confirmation that the toy line/cartoon is cancelled. It's believed that Mattel isn't quite ready to give up on He-Man, but in order to make it work, things may change.

More good news is that the comic book which is REALLY good returns next month with Volume 3 issue #1. The stories in the comic now break off from cartoon continuity and begin to go their own way in a matter of speaking. The stories and the comic itself have really been more aimed towards the long time die hard fans and collectors. More adult stories are coming our way. And the art, as always is simply beautiful and top notch.

King Hiss and the Snake Men are still around, and Hordak is set to return in the comic as well (which is where the image of my avatar comes from), along with more stories about Eternia's history. The good part is that everything that has been established in the cartoon will follow over into the comic. Like King Hiss and Hordak being enemies as well as King Grayskull existing. Hordak's return story has taken a little bit different path than what the writers of the cartoon have taken.

What's odd about the comic going it's own way is that (and this comes from Val Staples, owner of He-Man.org and writer of the comic) Mattel is actually having problems with Val taking the stories on their own and not following cartoon continuity. But Mattel either doesn't know what to do about season 3 yet or won't tell him. But Val and the people at MV Creations have a living to make and they do have the license for He-Man and they do need to go on. So Val has been working with Mattel on this issue that they have. The first two issues are solicated in February and March's Previews and sound really good.

Cross your fingers that a season 3 does eventually happen.

The Clown Prince

[seiya1729]

What do you mean there is only 1 new episode left ? :sad:

[Artimus Gigan]

Mattel has seriouisly F'ed the fans over, with poor timing, and bad case ratios(heck alot of the figures havn't even shipped out to stores), the rest of MOTU vs The Snakemen probobly won't even happen and it will be like Sonic The Hedgehog and end unfinished....

[oranthal]

But Heman is is good show, it's better than dexter and those other shows.
Agreed. He-Man episodoes aren't great, but I think they are better than a lot of other shows that CN has to offer. I am rather surprised that He-Man doesn't do better in the ratings. The stories and action scenes are well done and the 20 minute toy commercial is really not that apparent except for a few occasions. I'm glad the continuation of JL is not based on sales of its toys.

I don't like that Skeletor is MIA. There should be three way power struggle for Eternia during this story arc: Snakemen, Skeletor, and the Masters. Skeletor really needs to show up and make his presence felt. With the Masters being occupied by the Snakemen, Skeletor needs to be shown that he is plotting for his own plans; otherwise, it kind of feels like villains are waiting for their turn in game.

[PaQ]

Watching it on Sunday doesn't change the lack of History in the "History" Review:

Marzo returns. Again. How the heck his amulet keeps surviving is beyond me. This time Evil-Lyn needs him to help free Hordak. Kobra Kahn finds out and the SnakeMen attempt to prevent them. The Masters, including a few rarely used, ransack a SnakeMen hideout. He-Man and a maskless BattleCat go and stop King Hiss, stop Evil-Lyn, and destroy the well of darkness. All is good in Eternia. Till the next episode. B-.:shrug:

No Skeletor Again.. Weird trend for the series with the season finale looming.

I liked how Hordak looked all huge, yet his return is teased and taken back again.:sad:

[Mek]

All I can say is...

IT'S ABOUT FREAKIN' TIME!

Way to go, Count Marzo! :D

Otherwise, 3.5/5 for the episode.

Man, next week is going to be really bittersweet... :sad:

[Twilight]

Story was okay. I so want to see more of Hordak though, being a bigger fan of She-Ra than I am of He-Man, honestly, and Hordak and the Horde are just awesome villains.

Nice guest stars. Marzo was a surprise and so was Moss Man.

Fisto - I missed his debut, but from watching the last two episodes I don't much like this new characterization of him. His redesign is great though.

Cringer moment! Go Cringer! :D

[Crinos]

Marzo giving Evil lynn a long over due pimp slap when he gets his amulet back.

also, saturdays episode marks the third appearence of moss man on the show. (where the hell is that guy half the time?)

Also, the reason snake face is in prision still is because he is a lifeless statue, and presumably they dont have any way to revive him.

(besides which, having a guy that can petrify with his gaze would make any fight between the masters and the snake men pretty short lived. then we'd all be watching he man and the masters of the front lawn :p )

[Mysteryinfoman]

There is NO season 3 currently in production. Things at Mattel appear to be quite screwy right now. Hopefully answers will come from Mattel about the future of the cartoon and the toy line next month at Toy Fair. The good news at least for now is that there has been no confirmation that the toy line/cartoon is cancelled. It's believed that Mattel isn't quite ready to give up on He-Man, but in order to make it work, things may change.

That really makes me sad, He-man, has improved alot from the first season. Mattel has done an amazing job on this show for a toy company. Also Mike young has done a really good job on the animation as well. Hopefully a new season will come through.


More good news is that the comic book which is REALLY good returns next month with Volume 3 issue #1. The stories in the comic now break off from cartoon continuity and begin to go their own way in a matter of speaking. The stories and the comic itself have really been more aimed towards the long time die hard fans and collectors. More adult stories are coming our way. And the art, as always is simply beautiful and top notch.

You know, I think I am going to go buy the comic, becasue it really sounds great. It'll be intersting what Val Staples can make up for the comic, can't wait.

[lostrune]

1. Again, like Hordak's Sanctuary, if the good people of Eternia have no use for the Well of Darkness, why hasn't it yet been destroyed all this time? Unlike the Sanctuary, there's no doubt the Sorceress et al know where the Well is. It's almost like the Eternians are making things harder for themselves on purpose. What did they do during the times of peace? :rolleyes:

2. When Man-E-Faces got poison on his eyes, couldn't he just switch faces?
Robot eyes should work nicely. :shrug:

3. How come Marzo knows ancient spells that not even well-studied Evil-Lyn knows?
What's Marzo's history anyway?

4. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned! :D
I've always wondered who'd win in Evil-Lyn vs. Marzo, mostly magic user vs. magic+fighter. Marzo put the beach in her place! :cool:

5. Too bad He-Man didn't know Evil-Lyn was just lying there, unconscious and helpless....
To arrest her, if that's what you're thinking! :sweat:
He-Man should really tell Skeletor that Evil-Lyn has been a power-mongering whore lately, to break up the team. But then, where has Skeletor been AWOL lately? :moon2:

[Rabi~en~Rose]

I'm sad about the no S3 news :( :( :( :(

its just no fair.

really good show of powers by the baddies here. kobra khan is a real good annoyer. marzo fought alot better then before. evil-lyn really exploded with power! and king hiss also fought well. its a shame the snakemen keep being overshadowed though. they're a cool group with interesting abilities. I had enough Skeletor and his weak crew last season. :)

http://members.aol.com/kimminakochan/chicken.gif

[Wounded_Dragon]

1. Again, like Hordak's Sanctuary, if the good people of Eternia have no use for the Well of Darkness, why hasn't it yet been destroyed all this time? Unlike the Sanctuary, there's no doubt the Sorceress et al know where the Well is. It's almost like the Eternians are making things harder for themselves on purpose. What did they do during the times of peace? :rolleyes:

2. When Man-E-Faces got poison on his eyes, couldn't he just switch faces?
Robot eyes should work nicely. :shrug:

3. How come Marzo knows ancient spells that not even well-studied Evil-Lyn knows?
What's Marzo's history anyway?


-1. I'm going out on a limb and saying they don't want to disrupt Eternia's magical balance by rampantly destroying centers of power, good or evil. Look at the spell used and noticed how it ripped along the lines that the Spell of Separation caused. Turning the Well into a pile of rubble may be harmless...or it may not be. Destroying it may cause ripple effects. Better to leave Places of Power alone unless you absolutely need to do something about them.

-2. Perhaps he didn't want to get the poison inside his headpiece, where it might do even worse damage.

-3. Marzo's far older than Evil-lyn and Skeletor, having been defeated by one of Adam's ancestors during the time of the Coucil of Elders' rule.

[Dr Kain]

After complaining about Toonami taking off He-Man, I was overjoyed today to find out my dad forgot it was on on Friday's and put my tape in to record this episode on Sat.

Anyway, it was a great episode. The more I see the Snake-Men, the more I want to get the figures. Would be nice if they would come out though, at least in my area. I'm still waiting for Whiplash and Roboto to come out here. The last set of figures to be seen was Two-Bad (which I got), Man-E-Faces, and the robot armor He-man and Skeletor. Mattel really needs to get their shipments into gear because I'm not going to pay $40 off ebay for a damn Kobra Khan.

Can't wait to see figures of the Horde though. Can't wait for Season 3. I just hope this season doesn't end on a cliff hanger.