The Rainbow Warrior (Sometimes an old dog can teach new tricks)
[All images are owned by Mattel and Filmation DreamWorks Animation. Please don’t sue me]
(Thanks to psychelynx for the suggestion)
As I previously mentioned, Prince Adam’s mother, Queen Marlena, originally came from Earth. At the time, I didn’t remember how she came to Eternia. Thanks to a good friend, I have learned her origin story. It was briefly told in the episode Teela’s Quest, but it was expanded upon in the following episode. If you would like to watch it, it’s available on Roku, YouTube, or behind your favorite paywall.
We open with Skeletor brooding about not being able to capture Castle Greyskull. However…
His Goons-On-Duty, Beast Man and Trapjaw, are busy looking at something on Skeletor’s scrying device. Finally, Skeletor has had enough and attacks his goons, demanding to know what they’re looking at that’s more important than him.
This gives Skeletor an idea (after he beats his minions a bit more):
…since his robot army is ineffective and his minions are morons.
Meanwhile, at the Joust (fought using flying one-man transports called Sky Sleds), the Royal Family (King Randor, Queen Marlena, and Prince Adam) and Duncan (the King’s Man-At-Arms) look on.
On the “pitch” above, Teela (the Captain of the Royal Guard) is matching her skills against her men. However, she loses her joust and is VERY upset about it (why? She obviously trained her men well!) as she felt she couldn’t defend herself against the attack from above that defeated her.
Marlena offers to teach her the maneuver, but Teela blows her off.
Later, Randor finds Marlena in the Royal museum with her ship, the Rainbow Explorer
…as she remembers her final mission and the remember her arrival on Eternia.
The Rainbow Explorer was caught in a meteor storm that caused her to crash.
Randor found her and offered to help repair her ship…only she never left.
(Just out of curiosity, exactly how far is Earth from Eternia? That ship doesn’t look like it was equipped for deep space travel)
Randor tells Marlena that the Royal Entourage will be leaving for a picnic after the joust, but Marlena decides to remain.
Later at Snake Mountain (Skeletor’s not-so-secret lair), Skeletor spots the Royal Entourage (Randor, Adam, Duncan, Teela, and *sigh* Orko) and changes his plans slightly (while browbeating his inept lieutenants that they lack imagination)
After all, if he has the King and the Captain of the Royal Guard, the troops will be demoralized, making for an easy victory!
Later, at the beach, Skeletor strikes!
Stopping them with his freeze ray. They are so frozen that Adam can’t reach his sword (just as well, since if he transformed into He-Man his secret would be out)
Back at the Palace, Queen Marlena receives word that the picnic didn’t go as planned. However, she is unwilling to give up so easily.
Marlena orders the ranking guard to mobilize every soldier they have for an assault on Snake Mountain (why haven’t they done this before? They could wipe Skeletor off the face of Eternia!) As the Guard prepares to attack, Marlena makes preparations of her own.
Soon, the entire Royal Guard is mobilized (leaving the Palace defenseless. Let’s hope Skeletor isn’t bright enough to send in a token force to test their defenses or the government will quickly fall!) with a strange craft leading them.
Meanwhile at Snake Mountain, Skeletor prepares for his assault. He has his prisoners chained up outside Snake Mountain so they can’t see all of his Evil Plans (why bother? He’ll be running the planet soon and they won’t matter). However, they’re chained so tightly that Adam still can’t reach his sword (you mean Skeletor let him stay armed? Talk about arrogance!)
About that time, the Royal Guard shows up and attacks! Skeletor quickly mobilizes his robot army and his Goons. The Guard proves to be more than a match for the robots, but the strange craft is easily outshining the guard!
…the ship fires, freeing Adam from his chains! He goes to free the others, but Teela tells his to go find He-Man. Somehow, I don’t think that will be an issue.
As the battle rages on (and Skeletor’s forces become thinner) Teela is increasingly impressed with the pilot of the craft as Randor merely smiles ever more broadly. Suddenly, He-Man shows up to help with mop-up.
Eventually, Skeletor gets the upper hand on the craft, positioning himself over the craft (much like Teela was trapped in the Joust. However…
…the ship does a roll around to the back of Skeletor and shoots him down, forcing him to teleport away to avoid capture.
You know, the Royal Guard could press the attack and level Snake Mountain, severely crippling Skeletor’s capabilities. Just sayin’…
When the ship lands, Teela is heavy with the compliments to the pilot of the ship as the pilot removes their helmet. I’m sure you can guess who the pilot is.
The next morning, Marlena teaches Teela the maneuver she used on Skeletor. Marlena and Adam look on as Teela practices.
In other words, Adam’s secret may not be as secret as he thinks!
The moral of the story is “Listen to your elders; they may know more than you think!”