A Friend in Need

Ileena, a young but self conscious friend of Teela's who despairs at her lack of strength, falls prey to the evil wizard Jarvan, who uses an addictive potion to make her part of an attempt to get his hands on Eternia's Transmutator. He-Man tells viewers drugs can not make their problems go away, and will often cause more.

**He-Man:** "In today's story, Ileena tried taking a magic potion which she thought would help her. Well, she found out there aren't any magic potions. And you know what? There aren't any magic drugs either. Any time you take one from anybody but your parents or your doctor, you're taking a very big chance. You're gambling with your health, maybe even your life. Drugs don't make your problems go away, they just create more".

John Erwin as He-Man/Prince Adam and Zikran

Alan Oppenheimer as Man-At-Arms and Jarvan

Linda Gary as Teela, Evil-Lyn, Ileena, and Old woman

Lou Scheimer (credited as Erik Gunden) as Orko and Door security

1. Behind the scenes: Script was approved March 9, 1983 and final script revision took place August 11, 1983. The character model sheet for Ileena indicated that her midriff was covered by armor. But the colorists decided to make this section flesh-colored, giving her a much more revealing outfit than originally meant. When summoning Jarvan with the ring he gave her Ileena says "Em ot emoc" which is "Come to me" said backwards.
2. After He-Man saves himself from falling by grabbing onto a tower, his lips are moving but no words are heard. In the original script, the line was "Thank goodness!". After Ileena confesses she gave the Transmutator to Jarvan, the script originally indicated that there was supposed to be the sound of an explosion. This is why Man-At-Arms looks so startled and Prince Adam immediately runs off. This is one of the very few episodes to not feature any of the main villains.
3. Continuity: When Orko informs Adam that Teela and Ileena aren't back yet, Adam and Cringer are sitting at Man-At-Arm's Memory Projector from Teela's Quest. Jarvan assumes the same old woman disguise previously used by Evil-Lyn in The Curse of the Spellstone and again in The Royal Cousin. A slightly altered version appears as the good witch in the She-Ra: Princess of Power episode Brigis and then as a disguise used by Catra in Portrait of Doom. The animation of Orko wiggling his fingers when he recounts Jarvan's history is a sequence previously seen in Diamond Ray of Disappearance. Jarvan's character model was reused as Zem in The Return of Granamyr and partially as Spyster in the She-Ra: Princess of Power episode The Inspector.
4. More continuity: Zicran's character model was recolored and used as Brindle in The Return of Granamyr. The android horse is seen again in The Royal Cousin & Pawns of the Game Master, where it is called 'Strider' by Adam. However, it is not the same character as the toy based Stridor that would be seen in Origin of the Sorceress. The Royal Palace courtyard where Jarvan re-materializes is seen again in Eternal Darkness when He-Man and Teela jump onto their Sky-Sleds to go to the Crimson Valley. The background used for the geyser field will again be seen as the landscape of Spikeheart in She-Ra: Princess of Power episode The Crystal Castle. Ileena was supposed to make an appearance in the Masters of the Universe: Revelation episode Poisoned Chalice, voiced by Kevin Smith's daughter Harley Quinn Smith. Although her lines were recorded, the scene was cut. It would have been revealed that Ileena had become the new Captain of the Eternian Guard, taking Teela's place. Together with a battalion of Royal Guards, Ileena was posted outside Castle Grayskull/The Hall of Wisdom to make sure nobody would enter it. Teela and Andra would end up fighting Ileena and the guards while Evil-Lyn snuck into the Castle during the battle.
5. Animation errors and goofs: Ileena's character model is too large in proportion to the table and chairs she is standing behind when she summons Jarvan. Later, she collapses in front of the table and now she is the right size. When Ileena is about to summon the old woman for a third helping of the potion, the part of her forehead that is visible between her hair above her tiara is colored yellow like her hair by mistake. After He-Man jumps over the fire created by Jarvan, it cuts to a close-up of Jarvan, but the background plate remains the same. During the Palace shrinking scene, Man-at-Arms' hand is flesh-colored instead of green.

Orko’s young friend Kor experiments with a forbidden potion and falls into a coma. The episode is famous for being one of the earliest cartoon stories to address drug abuse directly.

Catalogue source: heman.fandom.com (CC BY-SA 3.0).