The opening shot gives us a distant silhouette of the Ice Castle, then pans down to reveal a deep chasm, at the bottom of which is a cave.� There, behind a set of elaborately carved doors, lies the temple where the Cave Apes worship the frozen sorceress Amber.� Why she was frozen in the first place, we don't know or really care, because she isn't going to stay that way for long.� The Overlord, accompanied by that champion bootlicker, the Vizir, and some of his guards, decides to pay a neighborly visit to this frigid babe (pictured, left, from the original storyboard) and see if he can't warm her up a bit.
The problem is, he doesn't have an invitation and doesn't exactly knock politely on the door.� Nor is he holding a bouquet of flowers, but his Powersword, for as he puts it, the Cave Apes may worship Amber, but they fear him.� The ice melts, Amber opens her eyes and no sooner does she get a look at her date than does he open fire.
For a newly-awakened sleeping beauty, Amber is pretty powerful, thanks to the magical ring she wears on the claw of her left hand.� The Overlord does a double take when she resists his advances, but the Vizir quickly steps in to help, and together they manage to subdue this feisty lady.� Now with her under mind control, she will lead them to the lost city of Tamboriyon and the scrolls of the Ancient Ones.
Blackstar and Mara are sitting together in the branches within throwing distance of the laboratory. They're certainly close enough to hear what's going on, so the question is: why don't they?
(The original script at this point called for the two of them to engage in a deep personal conversation; only the last bit of dialogue, Mara's "I wonder if this planet will ever get back to the peacefulness of ancient times," remains in the episode's final cut. You can look at the original scene here).
An explosion from Balkar's laboratory startles our heroes and sends them running to the window.� Inside, they see Poulo and Burble cowering in each other's arms as a menacing orb floats above them.� And within the orb, a real-time image of the Ice Castle.� On the Ice Castle balcony, Mara is shocked to see Amber standing with the Overlord.� She engages in some quick telepathy, trying to break through to her old friend, but the Overlord isn't having any of it.� A bit of mind control and Amber's eyes are once again a spaced-out evil black.
You may have noticed by this point that Amber has unusually big black bug-eyes.
Amber lifts her hand with the ring and a comet shoots out toward the Sagar Tree, striking the unsuspecting Klone and six of the seven Trobbits.� Balkar is the next to go flying through the air, until Mara and then Blackstar grab onto him.� Some quick deflecting action with the Starsword and the comet retreats, taking seven of their friends with it.
Klone and the six Trobbits end up inside Amber's ring, in a crystalline world where they quickly find it isn't their lucky day.�
(The script at this point calls for Klone to engage in a brief but unsuccessful battle with a crystalloid monster. Instead, this scene was cut and Klone is merely frozen in place. You can view the deleted storyboard scene here).
Poulo, who's obviously wised up to the fact that this big fuck-up is his fault, whistles them to freedom.� Yes, the little bastard whistles, at a high enough pitch to shatter the crystalloid and its evil work.�
In the meantime, Blackstar, Mara and Balkar fly off in pursuit of Amber and the Overlord, who apparently knows what kind of date Our Hero is and doesn't want him stealing his girl.� A quickie sandstorm forces them to land, where Blackstar uses the Starsword's heat to fuse the sand into a glass dome, giving them cover from the storm while Mara and Balkar use their magic to stop it.� Simply amazing what this guy can come up with, given half the chance.
We have a bit of a quibble here with the journeys of the Overlord and then Blackstar through the Flame Mountains. On both occasions, the characters go straight through gaseous plume of an erupting volcano. Amber shields the Overlord's barge from harm, so perhaps it doesn't matter to him one way or the another, but why doesn't Blackstar simply go around the volcano instead of through it? We understand that the volcano is a bit of foreshadowing for the episode's climatic battle, but a little logic wouldn't have hurt the script.
The heroes are too late to stop the Overlord from reaching Tamboriyon, which is a ruined city standing in the middle of a lake:
In the Sanctum of Wisdom, the Overlord removes the scroll of the Ancient Ones from its chest.� Another brief quibble in that we're never told exactly what secrets the scroll contains.
However, the Overlord doesn't have time to unroll it and start reading, because a frightened Amber warns him of the impending approach of the city's guardian, Sumaro.� Yep, a fifty-foot robot.� Filmation goes mecha with this guy.
In the confusion, the Overlord's mind control spell begins to slip a little.� While Blackstar and company are occupied with Sumaro, the Overlord wants to make good his escape.� He urges Amber toward the floating pavilion, but Mara has finally broken through to her and she resists.� Furious, the Overlord hurls her into the wall, where her ring smashes against the rock, releasing Klone and the Trobbits.
Together, the two sorceresses do what the guys couldn't: smash the conveniently placed jewel in the back of Sumaro's helmet and send him toppling.� The Overlord takes off, but Blackstar, on Warlock, goes after him.
And here's where the fun really begins.
The Overlord raises his sword....
The volcano beneath them rumbles, erupts in a geyser of flame and the Overlord is thrown to the floor.� Blackstar falls back, the scroll flying out of his hand and into the boiling crater.� Furious, the Overlord gets up and aims his sword, snarling, "You will pay for that."
Another blast....
Warlock swoops down on the pavilion as a fiery blast engulfs it, extinguishing the magical orb that's been keeping it aloft all this time.� Blackstar knows it's time to get the hell out of there, but another blast sends him over the railing toward the crater.� As Warlock catches him, we get a glimpse of the pavilion, with the Overlord still inside, sinking into the lava.
Wow, what a hell of a climax!!� But Blackstar knows, as we all do, that this isn't the end of the Overlord.
We could have done without the cheesy resolution, with Balkar offering Poulo Amber's shattered ring as a token of his esteem for his bravery (i.e.: humiliation for his big screw-up) and everyone bursting into inappropriately intense gales of laughter when he runs away.�
This was the first episode to be scripted, though not the first to be aired.
In the Did You Know Department: In 1983, Michael J. Reaves published a novel called The Shattered World, in which he reused several elements from this episode.� There is a city called Tamboriyon, a sorceress with a demon hand, a beautiful lady named Amber and references to "the hilt of the fabled Starsword" and "the runestone of Sagar."