Just
what were the first and last episodes of the He-Man
and She-Ra series?
He-Man
and the Masters of the Universe debuted in 1983 and
ended production in 1985 after 130 episodes. What started
out initially as a toy advertisement, the people that worked
on the show put more effort into it and created an entire
world of varied and interesting characters. The show was
so successful that She-Ra Princess of Power was
launched in 1985, but instead of the two years of production
that He-Man had, She-Ra only managed one
year's worth of production, 93 episodes, and ended in 1986.
The two series were fortunate to manage a huge grand total
of 223 episodes, 3 specials "The Greatest Adventures
of All," "Skeletor's Revenge" and "A
Christmas Special," and one animated film "The
Secret of The Sword." Below we list how the series
began, and how the series finally came to an end.
The
first episode? MU4
- "Diamond Ray of Disappearance"
First episodes tend to stick out like sore thumbs because
they do not fit the accepted continuity of the rest of the
series. "Diamond Ray of Disappearance" was a rare
exception to the rule. While there were small hints that
this was the premiere, they are few in number and were easy
to miss. The episode carried on with an average storyline.
Most miraculously of all, the characters already seem established
in the episode. They act as they would in any other episode.
The writer made sure though that the characters were all
named, because after all this was Mattel's first big venture
into the animated world of toy advertising. While this episode
was not an in-depth explanation of He-Man, it was
the springboard for all the other episodes. Some stories
are better than "Diamond Ray of Disappearance"
others are worse. "Diamond Ray of Disappearance"
has the honor of being the first, and being the episode
that created another 222 20-minute episode adventures!
The
first approved episode?
MU1 - "The Cosmic Comet"
"The
Cosmic Comet" had the honor of being the first script
to be approved. This has however created a few problems
when people desire to know what the first episode of He-Man
and the Masters of the Universe was. Once all the episodes
of He-Man had been produced, most stations aired
the episodes in production order, hence "The Cosmic
Comet" would be first, "The Shaping Staff"
second, "Disappearing Act" third and fourth would
be "Diamond Ray of Disappearance." However in
terms of the first episode to be aired on TV in most countries,
fortunately it was "Diamond Ray of Disappearance."
The episode was the premiere, and one of the first episodes
to be animated, packaged and shipped. "The Cosmic Comet"
just got lucky.
The
last episode?
MU130 - "The Cold Zone"
The
final episode of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
was sadly "The Cold Zone." A disappointing episode
focusing on the background story of Kobra Khan and his people,
with not one appearance from Skeletor or his original villains.
J. Michael Straczynski wrote a fairly average episode with
no real great moments in, and while it had a few clever
lines in the script, it was by no means a great way to end
the series.
The
preferred last episode?
MU110 - "The Problem With Power"
A
lot of the He-Man and She-Ra fan base,
along with the people who worked on the show always want
"The Problem With Power" to be the final episode
of He-Man. A truly amazing and gripping story,
it features so many plotlines from past episodes that it
would have been the best way to tie up the series, especially
with the final shot of He-Man carrying Teela off into the
sunset.
The
first episode?
PP1 - "Into Etheria"
"Into
Etheria" was She-Ra's first ever episode,
in terms of production order and airing order. Also known
as part one of "The Secret of the Sword," this
episode, like He-Man's "Diamond Ray of Disappearance,"
introduces us to most of the cast, and sets up the main
storyline for the rest of the series. One must remember
that the She-Ra Princess of Power series was a
spin-off of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
So as with any spin-off, in order to introduce the strange
and new, the show had to start with the old and familiar,
hence the first few minutes are set on Eternia. Larry DiTillio
and Bob Forward created a more interesting story with this
episode. As it was the first part of five, She-Ra did not
even appear. It was not until the third part "She-Ra
Unchained" that she actually made her debut.
The
final appearance?
PP91 - "Assault On The Hive" She-Ra's
"Assault On The Hive" episode was the final ever
appearance of He-Man and Skeletor. Being produced at 91
and written by Bob Forward, the characters from Masters
of the Universe were given an entertaining final appearance.
There is no real indication from the script that this is
the final episode, but certain lines carry a memorable weight
with them, as one of Skeletor's final lines to He-Man is,
"You ought to know me better than that by now!"
The
last episode?
PP93 - "Swifty's Baby" She-Ra's
final episode was the surprisingly interesting "Swifty's
Baby." It was the last ever Filmation cartoon associated
with the worlds of Eternia and Etheria. Fortunately for
She-Ra fans it was a very good and very big episode.
There was no real indication that it was the final episode,
but it dealt with the birth of Swift Wind's child. Some
strange things about the episode do make it appear to been
the final episode. Such as the odd inclusion of Arthur H.
Nadel's name as a co-writer, odd because he had never written
an episode before, and the episode also contains a lot of
stock footage mainly from the first season episode "The
Unicorn King." "Swifty's Baby" has the honor
of being episode 223, the last ever episode of He-Man
and She-Ra.
