Reign of the Monster

Skeletor visits the Torgs and King Von in their cave, promising to free their prince of destruction, Molkrom. In order to accomplish this feat, Skeletor needs the Staff of Avion, which is endowed with the same power of the Elders that imprisoned Molkrom. The Torgs attack Avion during the bird people's annual celebration. Several of the Heroic Warriors are in attendance and leap to Avion's defence. Teela and Man-At-Arms mount Photon Cannons while He-Man takes flight using a Sky-Sled but gets shot down by one of the Torg Ships. King Von, in another Torg ship, uses a clawed tentacle to kidnap Stratos holding the Staff of Avion and orders his soldiers to fall back.

He-Man and the Heroic Warriors visit Grayskull to ask the Sorceress information about Molkrom. Stratos' sister Delora insists she goes along. The Sorceress recounts the history of Molkrom, and warns that after the staff is used for evil, it must be used quickly to undo it, or it will explode, taking half of Eternia with it.

As they travel to the caves of the Torks in an Attak Trak, they face a fearsome creature with a long snout. Meanwhile, Skeletor has put a spell on Stratos, forcing him to explain how to use the Staff of Avion. The heroes continue their journey and foot and face not only the Torg army, but also a cluster of duplicates of Stratos, all under Skeletor's spell. Delora manages to get through to the real Stratos. He regains his senses, which causes the duplicates to disappear.

But Skeletor has had enough time to successfully free Molkrom and orders the demon to vanquish his enemies. He-Man and friends find themselves trapped behind a stone wall, and Skeletor heads for Grayskull, riding Molkrom like a steed. There, the Sorceress tries to hold Molkrom at bay using her powerful magic. Meanwhile, He-Man has broken down the wall using one of his classic punches, and hurries to Grayskull with Man-At-Arms and Ram Man. He tells the others to find the Staff of Avion before it explodes.

He-Man uses two strong cables from the Battle Ram to restrain Molkrom while Man-At-Arms and Ram man face Skeletor. He uses his Havoc Staff to make a gnarled tree trunk come alive and grab the heroes. Back in the caves, Teela has located the treasure room where the Torgs are keeping the Staff of Avion. She tells the others to distract the guards, but ends up facing King Von inside the treasure room. Molkrom breaks free from his restraints, pulling the Battle Ram into the sky. He-Man ejects the Sky-Sled before the vehicle crashes into the abyss.

The Sorceress comes to his aid in the guise of Zoar, but is hit by one of Molkrom's tentacles. Skeletor is using his staff to force the draw bridge open. Back at the cave, Delora and Orko take command of one of the Torg Ships and win the battle. Teela has defeated Torg, but warns that the Staff of Avion is about to explode. Stratos flies the staff to Grayskull and throws it at He-Man. Just as He-Man commands the staff to undo the evil it did, Molkrom shoots lasers form his eyes and knocks the staff out of He-Man's grasp. He-Man manages to pick it up and throw it into orbit, where it explodes, and simultaniously imprisons Molkrom in a crystal once more. It then somehow regains it original form and lands safely back next to Grayskull.

But Skeletor has managed to open the jawbridge, and the Sorceress is too weak to oppose him. The Lord of Destruction is about to enter Grayskull when He-Man pulls him into a bearhug from behind. Admitting defeat, Skeletor teleports to safety. The heroes return to Avion to resume the festival. He-Man hears Orko call for help: a teenage bird-person is using a remote control model of a Torg Ship and has it chase Orko around.

**Orko:** "Boy, the fruit on that tree looks good enough to eat, doesn't it? That's like a lot of things you might find around your house or in your neighborhood. But looks can fool you. Sometimes things that look or smell good can make you very sick. Remember, never taste or eat anything if you're not sure what it is. The best thing to do is ask a grown up who knows. remember, it's better to be safe than sorry. Until next time!"

John Erwin as He-Man and Ram Man

Alan Oppenheimer as Skeletor, Man-At-Arms and Battle Cat

Linda Gary as Teela, the Sorceress and Delora

Lou Scheimer (credited as Erik Gunden) as Orko, King Von and Torg Guard

Norm Prescott as Stratos

"Ram-Man, Man-At-Arms, I'll need your help at Grayskull. The rest of you: get that staff, before it explodes."

― He-Man

1. Behind the scenes: Script was approved on January 26, 1983 and final script revision was finished on August 25, 1983. The original title was "Reign of the Monster God", but censors did not allow the word god to be part of the title. This is the only episode out of 130 in which Prince Adam does not appear. In this episode he is in He-Man form for the full duration.
2. Only Filmation appearance of Delora. Here she is depicted as the sister of Stratos, whereas in the mini-comic version of the same story, "Siege of Avalon", she is his human wife. A third version appeared in a storybook published by Ladybird titled "Wings of Doom". Here Delora is both married to Stratos and a member of his species, the Avionians. Elements from this story were adapted into a mini-comic written by Michael Halperin and illustrated by Alfredo Alcala that came with several Masters of the Universe action figures titled _Siege of Avion_. In this version, Delora is Stratos' human wife instead of his sister and it is she who is kidnapped rather than Stratos. Further more, the Torgs are replaced by a race called Ilkorts and the monster Molkrom is replaced by the demon Haramesh. In the original script, He-Man battled the Torg in the Talon Fighter instead of the Sky Sled. The Torgs used large walking machines instead of flying machines to attack Avalon and the Heroic Warriors battled Cavern Bats as well as the two Cavern Monsters. The character of King Von was designed by Gerald Forton.
3. Continuity: The animated sequence of He-Man and Teela looking up at the fireworks would be reused at the end of The Greatest Show on Eternia. The Photon Cannon weapons from this story can be seen in the background in Eternal Darkness when Prince Adam and Teela run through the Palace to their Sky Sleds. The Cavern Monster's character model was reused as the Tracker in One for All. The character model of the Cavern Monster can be seen as part of the Keeper's menagerie in The Heart of a Giant.
4. More continuity: The animation of Orko casting a spell to distract the guards was seen earlier in The Dragon Invasion before he created doubles of himself. The magic cauldron that Skeletor uses at the start is seen as one of the artifacts in Scare Glow's collection in the Masters of the Universe: Revolution episode Even for Kings.
5. Animation errors and goofs: Outside Castle Grayskull, when Skeletor says "The castle is strong, but not strong enough", he has the Staff of Avion in his hand instead of his Havoc Staff. King Von grabs the Staff of Avion with his right hand, but is next shown holding it in his left while his right hand is carrying a large club.

A first-wave Filmation script using the rampaging-monster trope. The script’s containment-rather-than-defeat resolution became one of the show’s signatures.

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