MELAKTHA'S APPRENTICE
Stanlan
Stanlan is Melaktha's young apprentice, an eager student of archaeology whose curiosity repeatedly puts him in danger. His defining story, the two-part "House of Shokoti," ends on a quiet reversal: the boy who spent Part I disobeying every instruction is the one the Sorceress trusts, in Part II, to end the villain's spell.
Stanlan is Melaktha's young apprentice, an eager student of archaeology whose curiosity repeatedly puts him in danger. His biggest episode, the two-part "House of Shokoti," ends with him overcoming his fear at the Sorceress's urging to free He-Man and the others with the Power Sword. He returns a year later in "A Bird in the Hand," still apprenticed to Melaktha. He is voiced by Linda Gary, confirmed directly by that episode's own cast-credit line.
The record
The facts
MELAKTHA'S APPRENTICE
A student whose curiosity gets ahead of him
Across his run in the Filmation series, from late 1983 into late 1984, Stanlan is cast the same way each time: a boy apprenticed to the royal archaeologist Melaktha, braver than he is patient, and more interested in what's behind a sealed door than in what he was told about it. "House of Shokoti Part I of II" introduces him in the Royal Palace library, where an ancient map leads Melaktha's expedition into the desert, and it is Stanlan who persuades Ram Man to force open the House of Darkness rather than wait for a safer answer.
That impulsiveness has real consequences. Shokoti's stone guardian drags him into her pyramid for it, and the two-part story spends its second half making him pay for the choice he made in the first, right up until the moment it decides his curiosity is also the thing worth trusting.
Stanlan in House of Shokoti, playing at being a hero.
Clipped from our own copy of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, House of Shokoti Part I of II (1983), 9:58 to 11:26, 1 minute 28 seconds. Nothing is added and nothing is sped up. Copyright Mattel.
HIS BIGGEST EPISODE
The boy who breaks the spell
"House of Shokoti Part II of II" leaves the save to somebody other than He-Man. He-Man gets the spectacle, a running fight with Shokoti's stone guardian that ends with an entire temple statue dropped on her, but the actual turning point belongs to Stanlan. Bound, used as bait and about to be fed to a creature conjured from pure dread, he is reached by the Sorceress of Castle Grayskull directly. Her instruction is simple: the power of Shokoti is the power of fear, and the only way to beat it is to stop being afraid.
He does, picks up the Power Sword, and frees He-Man, Teela and Battle Cat from the spell that had them beaten. The redemption comes straight out of the mistake he made in Part I: the boy who ignored every warning is the one who ends up proving the warnings right and getting himself out of the trouble they caused anyway.
HIS SEASON 2 RETURN
A password he can't quite remember
"A Bird in the Hand" brings him back nearly a year later, still working alongside Melaktha and still getting into trouble close to home: Orko breaks an ancient statue while helping him dust the collection, and the map that tumbles out sends the whole group chasing the Ancients' Book of Spells through the Temple of the Wolf. Stanlan is the one who holds the two secret words needed to open the statue guarding it, and the episode's best scene is watching him forget them completely the moment Skeletor starts jeering from the sidelines.
It's Holly the Hollywag, the mimicking creature Orko and Stanlan found sealed in a bottle earlier in the episode, who ends up saying the password correctly, the same uncritical repetition that tipped Skeletor off to the map in the first place now working in the heroes' favor. Stanlan doesn't get a second redemption moment here the way he did in "House of Shokoti," but the episode leans on the same idea: the trouble he causes and the trouble he gets out of tend to come from the same place.
IN BRIEF
Stanlan, episode by episode
"House of Shokoti Part I of II" is his first appearance
Joins Melaktha's expedition to the vanished pyramid against instructions, and persuades Ram Man to force the door of the House of Darkness.
"House of Shokoti Part II of II"
Captured and used as bait, he overcomes his fear at the Sorceress's urging and takes up the Power Sword to free He-Man, Teela and Battle Cat.
"A Bird in the Hand" brings him back working alongside Melaktha
Forgets the Temple of the Wolf's secret password under pressure; Holly the Hollywag's mimicry retrieves it before Skeletor can.
Questions
Stanlan questions, answered
Who is Stanlan?
Melaktha's young apprentice, an eager student of archaeology whose curiosity repeatedly puts him in danger, seen in three Filmation episodes from 1983 and 1984.
What is Stanlan's biggest episode?
"House of Shokoti Part II of II," which ends with him overcoming his fear, at the Sorceress's urging, to take up the Power Sword and free He-Man, Teela and Battle Cat.
Who voices Stanlan?
Linda Gary, who voices Teela and the Sorceress in the same episodes.
When does Stanlan first appear?
"House of Shokoti Part I of II," joining Melaktha's expedition to the vanished pyramid against instructions.
Does Stanlan return after "House of Shokoti"?
Yes, once: "A Bird in the Hand," where he is still apprenticed to Melaktha and forgets a secret password under pressure.
Is there a Stanlan figure to buy?
No. No toy has ever been made of this character.
Compiled by the heman.org desk from the episodes "House of Shokoti" (Parts I and II) and "A Bird in the Hand," with their on-screen credits, morals and production notes. Base character record: heman.fandom.com (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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