The Return of Orko's Uncle

On Trolla, Orko's Uncle Montork captured the evil wizard Azrog and his pet Karg in a magical cage, but before they could be arrested, Azrog used his magic to escape to Eternia to meet up with his partner in evil, the witch Spydra. Montork attempted to follow Azrog as he escapes in a magic beam, but his interference caused the beam to split in two. Montork arrived at Spydra's Castle while Azrog and Karg sped past it, on to the Royal Palace.

Adam (taking the seat normaly reserved for his mother), Teela and Orko were sitting at the Banquet table, with Cringer lying underneath. Cringer was scared by thunder, which was followed by the arrival of a purple transport beam. Orko assumed it would be his Uncle Montork, but soon recognized Azrog, who claimed that Montork had messed up his magic again. Orko was held back by electricity emiting from the still active transport beam. Teela told Adam she would take care of Azrog, but the evil wizard used his magic to cover her in a blue blanket, momentarily disorienting the Captain of the Guard. Adam remembered he 'had an appointment' and left the room, but when he came back as He-Man, Orko had already freed Teela from the blanket and thrown it over Azrog, leaving him sitting helpless on the ground. He-Man complimented Orko on a job well done, and Teela was about to call her guards to have Azrog locked up, but suddenly karg grew to enormous size, enabling Azrog to ride on it's back. A blinding light emited from the creature as he grew. Azrog shot a lightning bolt from one of his fingers at He-Man, who deflected it with his sword. Then Azrog ordered Karg to quickly go take them to Spydra's Castle, and they exited the palace through the wall, leaving a large hole. He-Man quickly realized that Montork must have ended up at Azrog's destination by mistake, and took a Wind Raider to the Mystic Mountains together with Teela and Orko.

Meanwhile, Spydra had captured Montork in a spider's web, but he freed himself once he learned that she and Azrog planned to combine their powers and placed Spydra in a large bubble before leaving. Outside the castle, Montork soon found He-Man, Teela, and his nephew, who had just parked their Raider. After a short reunion, they spotted Azrog arriving on Karg. Azrog freed Spydra from Montork's bubble while Karg kept watch outside the castle. However, Azrog did not intend to share his powers with Spydra. Instead he turned her into an obedient slave, then ordered Karg to seek out He-Man and the others. Montork conjured up another large bubble to protect himself, He-Man and Teela from the creature, while Orko slipped into the castle on his own, looking to impress his uncle. He picked up Spydra's Wand and used it on a jar of magic beans. Outside, He-Man grabbed Karg's legs and flung him away. Then Montork noticed that Orko was missing. Azrog ordered Spydra to bring him her wand from her storeroom, where she found Orko entagled by beanstalked. She freed him and took her wand back. Azrog stopped Orko from fleeing and wanted to know exactly how much magic Orko had learned from his uncle. He then sensed the arrival of other heroes and ordered Spydra to meet them at the entrance.

Seeing no other way to enter the castle, He-Man pulled the gate of Spydra's Castle off it's hinges. When Spydra confronted him, he used what was left of the gate as prison bars to capture her. Before Spydra could use her wand, Teela grabbed it from between the bars and broke it's handle in two. When Karg picked up Teela and flew off, He-Man used his grappling hook to snatch the creature and force it to land on one of the castle towers. He-Man then climbed up to the tower using the rope attached to the grappling hook. On top of the tower, Karg shrank back to his original size and was put in a sack by He-Man. He and Teela then went looking for Montork inside the castle, hoping he could keep Karg from enlarging itself once again. Montork was quickly found and used his magic to keep Karg small. Then Azrog arrived on the scene and introduced the 'new', evil version of Orko. Orko attacked the heroes with such speed that he crashed through one of the castle walls. Montork used his magic to bind Azrog with magic bonds around all four of his limbs. Azrog ordered Orko to use Spydra's wand against his uncle, but Montork tried to reason with his favorite nephew to bring him back to his normal self.

Montork persuaded Orko not to be evil by reminding him that love is the most powerful force there is, while He-Man silenced Azrog. Orko managed to break free from Azrog's spell and was complimented for it by his uncle. Azrog then called the magic wand into his hand and managed to escape from He-Man's grasp. But Teela used her lasso to grab the wand out of his grip, and as it flew into the air, He-Man used his sword to destroy the wand. Azrog admited he was ruined, as Orko explained to him that love had been his undoing. Soon, Montork was ready to return to Trolla, taking Azrog and Spydra with him in a magic proof cel. Montork promised to tell everyone back home what a fine magician Orko had become, causing his nephew to get so excited he caused an explosion that ruined Spydra's entire castle. Noticing what was about to happen, He-Man shielded Teela from the explosion with his body and laughed at the situation as the three of them stood in the rubble and ruin.

**Orko:** "Boy, I sure got myself in trouble today. And it all started when I fooled around with something I didn't really understand. When you're growing up, it's natural to be curious. But when you fool around with things you don't understand, it's downright dangerous! Things like electricity, pills, or berries in the forest. Play around with them, and you're playing with trouble. Handle only the things you know are safe and you'll be taking a big step toward avoiding accidents. Bye!"

John Erwin as He-Man/Prince Adam

Alan Oppenheimer as Azrog and Cringer

Linda Gary as Teela and Spydra

Lou Scheimer (credited as Erik Gunden) as Orko and Uncle Montork

"Orko, love is the most powerful force there is. We, you and I, we have that for each other. You, you're my very favorite nephew."

― Montork

1. Behind the scenes: Script was approved May 20, 1983, and final script revision was done May 23, 1983. Although this is the first episode produced featuring Montork, it is in fact a sequel to Orko's Favorite Uncle, referring to events from that story. The original design for Spydra had her sporting a Mohawk hairstyle.
2. Storyboard artist Barry Caldwell had fun changing the symbol on He-Man's harness in his storyboards, substituting the Superman insignia, the Bat symbol, an exclamation point and a question mark.
3. Continuity: The interior backgrounds of Spydra's castle were reused for Castle Fear's interiors in Search for the Past and again inside Castle Landros in Bargain with Evil. The sequence of Teela putting her hand to her mouth and giggling was first seen in Diamond Ray of Disappearance. The animation of Orko waving his arms in excitement would be seen again in Search for the VHO. Azrog's dragon, Karg, shares his name with the most prominent of the three new evil warriors featured in the live action feature.
4. Animation errors and goofs: When Cringer runs out of the dining room after being frightened by thunder, the door is much too small in relation to his body. He-Man enters the Wind Raider on it's right, holding on to the controls. But in all subsequent shots, he is sitting on the left, and Teela is on the right. When Orko first picks up Spydra's wand and uses it on magic beans, it has talon like fingers sculpted around the crystal orb. The next time we see him, as he is stuck in the beanstalk, the design of the wand has been altered, the talons are now much simpler triangular shapes. This is especially noticeable during the moral segment, where both scenes are shown in order as part of a recap. Teela grabs Spydra's wand and snaps it's hilt in two. But later Orko somehow produces the intact wand from his sleeve. When Montork says "It worked, didn't it" to Teela, he turns his head but his beard remains in the same place.

A continuation of the Trolla-Orko mythology. Larry DiTillio’s script uses Montork’s return to develop Orko’s family history without overexplaining.

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