THE GOBLIN GENERAL FOR HIRE
General Tataran
General Tataran sells Skeletor an army in one episode and a corpse in the next. The second job is the one that matters: a goblin has no heartbeat, so a goblin can lie under the rubble and pass for dead.
General Tataran is a goblin mercenary general in Filmation's He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Skeletor hires his army in "The Arena," and in "The Problem with Power" Tataran, disguised as a human, fakes his death so He-Man believes he killed an innocent man.
The record
The facts
WHO HE IS
A general who sends an invoice
Most of Skeletor's allies want something from Eternia. General Tataran wants to be paid for it. Filmation introduced him in Warren Greenwood's "The Arena," first aired in September 1984, as a goblin commander Skeletor has called in for a night attack on the Royal Palace, and the meeting in Snake Mountain plays like a contract negotiation.[1] Tataran reports that he has raised an army of goblin warriors "from the land of Myrrh," describes it as "laser-armed airships, jet-pack paratroopers, thunder lizard cavalry, robot assault walkers, and 500 goblin infantry troops," and gets to the point: "And the payment?" Skeletor promises each soldier ten thousand gold pieces, half in advance, and makes Tataran governor of Eternia in his name.
The army is the most impressive thing he brings, and the episode spends it quickly. The goblins storm the palace walls under their banner, the Royal Guard holds them off, and the defenders are told to drive the goblins back without hurting them, since "the goblin warriors are but innocent pawns in Skeletor's game." Then Om, the non-corporeal visitor the king has been hosting, freezes the battle and settles it with a duel between He-Man and Skeletor instead. Tataran's war ends without him, and his goblins are sent home.
[1] ^ The episode guide gives September 28, 1984, for "The Arena" and November 9, 1984, for "The Problem with Power"; TVmaze lists both a day later, September 29 and November 10.
THE EPISODE
"The Problem with Power"
The second time Skeletor calls him, in November 1984, the goblin army barely matters. Skeletor is building a dimensional gate near the village of Zak on the Crystal Sea to bring the goblins to Eternia, and Tataran comes, as he says, because he heard Skeletor had a plan to defeat He-Man. What Skeletor needs first is a body. He asks Tataran a string of odd questions, and the answers are the plan: goblins have no hearts, so a goblin has no heartbeat to find.
General Tataran matters because of what he lacks. Skeletor dresses him as a bald, red-bearded laborer, rigs one side of the gate to fall, and baits He-Man into knocking it down. Tataran lies under the rubble, He-Man digs him out and finds no heartbeat, and a disguised Skeletor tells him he has killed his brother. He-Man walks away, drops the Sword of Power into the abyss beneath Grayskull and goes back to being Prince Adam for good. Lou Scheimer, credited as Erik Gunden, voices him in both episodes.[2]
The trick is Tataran's, but the episode belongs to the people it hurts. Orko saw the two villains drop their disguises, is thrown into a cell in Snake Mountain, and shrinks himself to get out and tell Adam the truth, while Teela carries a Mesatronic bomb to the gate on foot. He-Man recovers the sword, reaches her in time, and the blast destroys the gate. "With the gate gone," He-Man reasons, the goblins "must have returned to their own dimension." The story came from Tom Tataranowicz, one of Filmation's own artists, and the general carries a version of his name.[3]
[2] ^ The cast lists for both episodes credit Lou Scheimer, as Erik Gunden, with General Tataran, King Randor and Orko, among others.
[3] ^ The title card of "The Problem with Power" credits the teleplay to Bob Forward and Leslie Wilson and the story to Tom Tataranowicz. The episode guide for "The Arena" says its writer, Warren Greenwood, named the general after Tataranowicz; the guide for "The Problem with Power" gives the naming to Bob Forward. "The Arena" aired first.
General Tataran in the classic series, called in by Skeletor.
Clipped from our own copy of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, The Problem with Power (1984), 2:03 to 3:40, 1 minute 37 seconds. Nothing is added and nothing is sped up. Copyright Mattel.
AFTER 1984
Two episodes, then gone
Tataran never came back. She-Ra, the 2002 series, Revelation and Revolution have no goblin general, neither film uses him, and Mattel never made a figure, so these two Filmation episodes are the whole of him. That suits the character. A hired general has no reason to stay once the contract is done, and the one time Skeletor got real value out of him, it came from the heartbeat a goblin was never going to have.
IN BRIEF
Two jobs for Skeletor
"The Arena"
Skeletor hires Tataran's goblin army for a night attack on the Royal Palace, and the alien Om stops the battle.
"The Problem with Power"
Tataran plays dead under a collapsed wall, and He-Man throws away the Sword of Power.
Questions
General Tataran questions, answered
Who is General Tataran?
A goblin general who commands a mercenary army and works for Skeletor when Skeletor pays. He appears in two 1984 episodes of Filmation's He-Man.
Which episodes is he in?
"The Arena" and "The Problem with Power," both from the second season of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
What does Skeletor pay him?
In "The Arena," ten thousand gold pieces for each soldier, half in advance and half when Eternia falls, and the governorship of Eternia for Tataran himself.
How does he trick He-Man?
Disguised as a human laborer, he lies under a wall Skeletor rigged to collapse. Goblins have no heartbeat, so when He-Man digs him out he seems dead, and Skeletor, also in disguise, blames He-Man.
Why does He-Man give up the Sword of Power?
He believes he has killed an innocent man through his own carelessness, so he throws the sword into the abyss beneath Castle Grayskull. Orko later tells him it was a trick.
Who voices General Tataran?
Lou Scheimer, credited as Erik Gunden, who also voices Orko and King Randor in both episodes.
Who is he named after?
Tom Tataranowicz, a Filmation artist who also wrote the story for "The Problem with Power."
Where do his goblins come from?
In "The Arena" Tataran tells Skeletor he raised them in the land of Myrrh. In "The Problem with Power" the goblins wait in another dimension, and the gate is meant to bring them through.
Is there a General Tataran figure?
No. He was created for the cartoon and Mattel never made him.
Compiled by the heman.org desk from the Filmation episodes "The Arena" and "The Problem with Power": their subtitles, title cards, cast lists, synopses and episode guides, and TVmaze's air dates.
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