Four Ways to Sundown is the 38th episode of The New Adventures of He-Man.
Aboard the Starship Eternia and the Mutant Mothership respectively, Flipshot, Hydron, Slush Head and Flogg all recount the 'Battle of Quagmi Swamp' from their personal points of view.
Plot Summary[]
The Starship Eternia is on a medical supply mission to moon Enos after it was hit by an ion storm. Flipshot is yearning for action, but Hydron hopes it will be an uneventful trip. Flipshot begins to recount the events of the Battle of Quagmi Swamp with Hydron interjecting from his point of view. At the same time, aboard the Mutant Mothership, Slush Head and Flogg are also reminiscing about the same battle.
The Guardians needed to get some Conkleberries from the swamp to cure Master Sebrian's illness. In Flipshot's version, both Hydron and He-Man were shaking in their boots because of their fear of the planet Denebria and Flipshot had to land the Starship as well as take control of the mission. The Mutant Mothership attacked the Guardians as they flew over the swamp in a Hover-Raft.
Hydron remembered the events differently: according to him, it was Flipshot (and to a lesser degree, He-Man) who was afraid to set down on Denebria. Flogg and Slush Head recount that the Eternia was spotted by one of Slush Head's buddies in the Quagmi Swamp. Slush Head then claims that he sped to the swamp to begin his attack. In his memory, Slush Head is in charge of the Mutants and is wearing a uniform decorated with various medals.
Naturally the other Mutants are offended by Slush Head's version of history, so Flogg tells it the way he remembers it: Slush Head was very upset to learn that humans had invaded his previous swamp and begged Flogg to give the order to attack. Flipshot picks up his side of the story, in which he borrowed He-Man's pet bird Clawber to cover the Mothership's viewer screen with mud.
However, in Hydron's version of the story, Flipshot stayed in the Hover-Raft to 'defend' it while Hydron instructed He-Man how to cut down the Conkleberry bush with his magic sword. But after they had gathered enough berries and were about to leave, the Evil Mutants appeared on the waterbank, aiming their laser weapons at the Guardians. The way Slush Head remembers it, Flipshot dove into the swampwater to escape, Hydron got down on his knees and begged to become Slush Head's servant and He-Man offered to shine his boots.
Flogg picks up the story from there to recount that Slush Head was distracted by the appearance of an old swamp friend of his: a giant amphibious creature named Cazlock had been alerted to the swamp visitors thanks to Flipshot's swimming. Slush Head insisted on introducing the other Mutants to Cazlock, causing them to trip and roll down a hill, thereby freeing the captured Guardians. Flogg adds that the only reason the Guardians didn't capture any of the Mutants was because they were in a hurry to bring the medicine back to Primus.
Similarly, Flipshot claims that they were lucky not to have ended up imprisoned in the Fog Zone if it were not for his heroic action in bringing the giang swamp creature up from the water. Flipshot and Hydron are arguing so much that they fail to see that their ship is about to crash into the Mutant Mothership. Luckily, He-Man entered the bridge and shouted at Hydron to pay attention. Likewize, Flogg and Slush Head don't notice the Eternia in their sights until Skeletor draws their attention. The two ships narowly manage to miss hitting each other, and He-Man and Skeletor exclaim "I wonder if he has to go through this?" at the same time.
Moral[]
Slush Head is doing the backstroke in the Quagmi Swamp despite the fact that Flogg told him never to go swimming alone. He appears to be attacked by a creature from below, but it turns out to be Hydron piloting an Astrosub. Hydron reminds Slush Head and the viewers to always use the Buddy System when one goes swimming, and Slush Head hugs him his new 'buddy' to thank him.
Behind the Scenes[]
- Writer Jack Olesker conceived this story as an homage to Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film Rashomon.
- Adam of Grayskull does not appear in this story.
Errors[]
- After Slush Head recounts how the Guardians surrendered themselves to him, he says "And I would've had them, except..." but this part of his dialogue is animated to come out of Flogg's mouth instead.
Galactic Guardians[]
Allies[]
- Master Sebrian (mentioned)
Evil Mutants[]
- Crita
- Flogg
- Hoove (non speaking role)
- Karatti (non speaking role)
- Lizorr (non speaking role)
- Slush Head
- Quakke
Evil Warriors[]
Animals[]
Locations[]
- Denebria
- Fog Zone (mentioned)
- Gorn City (mentioned)
- Quagmi Swamp
- Enos (mentioned)
- Primus (mentioned)
Vehicles[]
- Astrosub (moral only)
- Hover-Raft
- Mutant Mothership
- Starship Eternia
Artifacts[]
Edibles[]
Cast[]
- Don Brown as Hydron
- Garry Chalk as He-Man
- Ted Cole as Slush Head
- Campbell Lane as Skeletor
- Scott McNeil as Flipshot
- Alvin Sanders as Flogg
- Venus Terzo as Crita