The Sleepers Awaken

When Teela took Prince Adam on a "wild horse roundup", they came upon an ancient castle, where Teela recounts the legend of Lord Tyrin and Lady Valtira, who went to sleep two hundred years ago after using up all the energy of the trees and the forest around their castle. Teela ends her tale by warning that according to the story, Tyrin and Valtira should be waking up just about now. Adam asks her if she will protect him if they meet the legend turns out to be true, and they both laugh. Then they spot what they were looking for: two horses and Adam is surprised to see the horses have wings. From a distance, Lord Tyrin, already awake, also sees the horses and remembers that Valtira always liked to see them. He hopes their neighing will at last wake his wife. Indeed, both Valtira and her pet Sago (who had been frozen into stone by Tyrin for all these years) awake from their slumber.

Adam manages to lasso a winged horse, is soon pulled onto it's back and taken for a ride. Because Adam is acting clumsy, Teela lassos a horse of her own and follows him. Valtira ventures into the regrown forest to regain her power and beauty, which she feels has not completely been restored. She takes the life force from one of the trees and vows to make the local people her and Tyran's slaves, like she had done all those years before. Adam falls off his horse, but lucky for him, a tree breaks his fall. Valtira walks up to him and is impressed, as she was never able to get close enough to one of the horses to ride them. He reminds her of her handsome husband and Adam realizes who she is, before she turns him into her first new slave. Tyrin sees this from a distance and jealously assumed his wife prefers Adam over him. He orders his spider to grab Sago with a strand of it's web. Adam persuades Valtira to release him from her spell so he can help get her pet back. When he runs off, Valtira thinks he's betrayed her. But Adam transforms himself into He-Man as soon as he's out of sight.

Valtira tries to rescue her pet, but is caught in the spider's web as well. She fails to recognize her husband because he looks old and withered. She does, however, think his voice sounds familiar. He-Man appears and uses his Grappling Hook to climb up in a tree and rescue Sago from Tyrin's grasp. Tyrin teleports to a branch above He-Man and Sago, absorbes the trees energy and fires a bolt from his hands that knocks He-Man off his perch. Tyrin teleports back to his previous location before the drained tree collapses and falls over. He-Man, who does not like to see any living thing hurt, catches the tree trunk. Tyrin teleports down to face Valtira and is shocked to realize she doesn't recognize him. His spider pulls her up to by his web, and He-Man uses his grappling hook to catapult himself up to their location. He-Man grabs Valtira and takes her back to the ground, where she reunites with Sago. She takes him to a secret entrance that leads into her castle.

Valtira leads her to the central hall in her castle. He-Man inquires why she hasn't tried to make him her slave like she did Adam. She tells him it is because Sago trusts him, and she is starting to learn she'd rather have friends than slaves. Teela is still searching for Adam on her winged horse. When she spots the horse Adam was riding near the old castle, she decides to investigate. Inside, she finds two empty coffins and realizes the legend of Tyrin and Valtira could be true and Adam is probably in danger. Valtira vows to use her power to make her castle as beautiful as before. She takes the energy from the overgrown thorns, which instantly vanish to reveal her old throne room. A Giant Snake, who had been living behind a wall, awakens and attacks Valtira, crushing her throne. He-Man grapples with the snake, uses his sword to cut down a large curtain and traps the snake in it by tying a knot in it.

Valtira thinks that she should have found her husband by now, and wonders if he may have fallen victim to the snake. He-Man does not think so. Valtira then puts the blame on the old ugly man they met in the forest. Suddenly, He-Man hears Teela crying for help. A large vine blocks their way. Valtira wants to use her power and reduce it to ashes, but He-Man notices the vine is supporting the entire castle. Valtira shows him another way to get to Teela. They find her captured in a web with Tyrin standing by. He reveals that he has been awake for several years and has been using his power to rebuild their kingdom and has been warped by the power itself. Now Valtira realizes he is her husband, but Tyran still assumes she is more interested in He-Man than him. He orders his spider to grab the hero and capture him in another web. He-Man escapes and evades the spider. Tyrin runs out of the hall and begins to drain the giant vine of it's power. Valtira, knowing the danger of destroying the vine, tries to stop him. Tyrin realizes his mistake and Valtira assures him she still loves him.

Valtira shows her husband, Teela and He-Man a safe way out. But Sago has been trapped beneath a large rock. Tyrin goes back to help him, followed by He-Man, who not only helps to free Sago, but also rescues the giant snake before the castle completely collapses on itself. Outside, Teela thinks He-Man is still inside when the castle crumbles. Tyrin and Valtira renounce their evil ways, tear their magic amulets from their necks and smash them on the ground. After this, they are both restored to their youthful beauty. Suddenly Adam appears and tells them he just helped He-Man to rescue the giant snake, and that both are all right. He also claims that He-Man helped him down from a two hundred foot tree after giving horseback riding one last try. A winged horse appears behind Adam, and Valtira is finally allowed to touch one. Valtira and Tyran both climb onto a horse and happily fly off. Adam says he'd prefer to walk home and Teela vows to some day make a hero out of him, just like He-Man.

**Orko**: "Hi, today we met some people who had slept for over two hundred years. Well, we don't need that much sleep, but it is important to get enough sleep. So here's some things to remember: don't eat a lot before going to bed. A glass of milk or a piece of fruit makes a good bedtime snack. Try to go to bed at the same time every night and avoid any exercise or excitement before going to bed. Well, good night... Oh, good night Cringer." (Cringer is snoring)

John Erwin as He-Man/Prince Adam

Linda Gary as Teela and Lady Valtira

Lou Scheimer (credited as Erik Gunden) as Orko (moral only)

George DiCenzo (uncredited) as Lord Tyrin

1. Behind the scenes: Script was approved March 25, 1983 and final script revision took place May 5, 1983. In the script, Lord Tyrin had more interactions with the large spider that does his bidding, treating it like an oafish sidekick. Originally, after He-Man ties the giant snake up in a tapestry, Sago was scripted to approach the sack and poke it.
2. Continuity: The facial features of Lady Valtira would be used as the character model for the 'Gorgeous Woman' in The Return of Granamyr. The character design for Sago was reused as Batty in One for All. If one goes through the sequence in which He-Man picks Lady Valtira up from the ground frame by frame, He-Man appears to cup one of her breasts for a single frame. The animation of He-Man tying up the large snake in the tapestry would be reanimated in One for All to show He-Man fashioning a lasso from the Permavine.
3. More continuity: The shot of Teela holding He-Man's shoulder will be used again in The Problem with Power. A version in wich Teela is replaced by the Sorceress is seen in Origin of the Sorceress and yet another version in which Man-At-Arms takes the place of He-Man is seen in Orko's Return. The shot of He-Man picking up the Sword of Power would be used again, but with Adam replacing He-Man, in One for All.
4. Animation errors and goofs: When Valtira awakens from her 200 year sleep, her bare legs are colored red like her dress. Near the end, Lady Valtira is not wearing her amulet moments before she takes it off and destroys it.

A straightforward Bob Forward script using the ancient-sleeping-evil trope. The episode is notable for an early Sorceress spotlight in which she explains the seal-and-containment magic that governs much of Eternia’s pre-history.

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