The Time Wheel

While exploring an ancient site with He-Man, Orko accidentally brings a barbaric king called Tamusk, from Eternia's ancient past, to the present. Confused by his time slip, Tamusk mistakenly believes King Randor is a magician who has taken over his kingdom and attempts to take his kingdom back by force. He-Man tells viewers books are the closest thing they have to a working time machine, while holding three fiction books: _Moby Dick_, _Huckleberry Finn_ and _The Time Machine_.

**He-Man:** "I hope you enjoyed today's adventure story. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we did have a real time wheel? We could turn it back to the Stone Age and meet some real cave people. Or into the future where we could see some of the wondrous things yet to come. Well, we don't have a magic time wheel, not yet anyway. But we do have some things just about as good. They're called books. Reading books can be your time wheel to just about any time or place you choose. Why don't you give them a try? You'll be glad you did."

John Erwin as He-Man/Prince Adam

Alan Oppenheimer as King Tamusk

Linda Gary as Teela and Queen Marlena

Lou Scheimer (credited as Erik Gunden) as Orko and King Randor

1. Behind the scenes: Script was approved June 25, 1984 and final script revision took place September 13, 1984. The animation model for King Tamusk was designed by character artist Charles Zembillas, who also designed the different costumes that Orko conjures up for King Randor at the end of the story. During the moral, He-Man is seen holding three fiction books: Moby Dick, Huckleberry Finn and The Time Machine.
2. Continuity: The character model for King Tarmusk is a recolored and reused version of King Barbo from The Shadow of Skeletor. The effects animation used for the Time Wheel will be seen again when the Earth visitor's ship hops dimensions in Visitors from Earth. The footage of the Royal Guards attacking King Tamusk on their Sky-Sleds is reused from the episode Diamond Ray of Disappearance and once again shows the Guards with bare legs instead of the usual green leggings. The first half of the animated sequence that shows He-Man punching the wall is based on the punch animated by Tom Sito first seen in the episode The Heart of a Giant.
3. Animation errors and goofs: When Tamusk escapes from the lab, the turn crank for the time wheel is blue, while in all other shots it is yellow.

A time-distortion script using the alternate-Eternia premise. The brief return to a barbarian-fantasy era lets the writers reference the original 1982 mini-comic register without committing to it.

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