Artax and Bastian take off after the flying ship (well, okay, they don't "take off" so much as "Artax runs after it") and Bastian leaps off the horse to climb up a large chain dangling from the back of the ship. Artax, in full-on "support" mode calls out "I'll always be near!" and then breaks off and runs off into the distance.
Thanks a lot, Artax.
Bastian scales around the outside of the ship (you know, like children can do) to see Atreyu confront the individual that captured him and stole away all of the purple buffalo. Now, if you had guessed it was Xayide, well, then you remember that there just weren't that many villains from the movies they could use unless they wanted to bring Jack Black back into play.
Ugh. Just remembering that made me feel ill.
Xayide, for reasons unknown, has captured the buffalo in an effort to bring "an end" to Atreyu's people as well as destroy the green fields that they naturally roam in, though I'm not sure how that's supposed to work. Oh, and she's holding a massive herd of thousands of buffalo in a crystal about the size of a cantaloupe.
Because, to paraphrase Marvel Comics, "It's magic, we don't need to explain it!"
Atreyu gets taken to where other prisoners are being forced to work on making the ship fly through the time-honored tradition of "pulling levers back and forth for no real reason," but when Bastian sneaks in to help, he winds up having the guard seal the bolt in the door behind him. A large, burly guy angrily points out that "their help just got captured" and wonders what "a pale child could do against Xayide."
Apparently this guy never heard about the Acharis.
Bastian presents Atreyu with the ornate horn, and I have to admit that I really love how Bastian explains where it came from.
Atreyu: "Where did you get it?"
Bastian: "If you know what it is, then you know who gave it to me."
That sure beats "well, I was trying to sleep against your horse who, by the way, has abandoned us both to our fate, and suddenly a giant glowing buffalo appeared and spoke in riddles to me before unceremoniously dropping this on the ground."
Atreyu is suitably impressed, since the "buffalo spirit" has been a legend amongst his people but nobody has ever seen it before. Bastian tries to pawn off the rescuing of the buffalo to Atreyu, but Atreyu states that the buffalo spirit chose Bastian, and who are they to question its wisdom?
Bastian: "Yeah, he sure can pick them. I'm the one who got himself locked in here."
It's like I think it and he says it!
Bastian manages to sneak into Xayide's room and starts sprinkling the powder inside the horn on the jewel ("use the powder, free the buffalo")...and nothing happens. In fact, he tries it twice and nothing happens. You'd think the buffalo spirit would have left directions or something.
Xayide confronts Bastian (I love how she knows his full name, it really gives the conflict a more personal feel) and because summoned winds indoors tends to defeat "blue hoodie" every time, she manages to capture him.
So, just what is Xayide's plan? She plans on transforming all of the buffalo into buffalo-sized locusts and unleashing them on Fantasia to destroy all plant life. This...is actually really clever, and pretty diabolical.
Bastian gets tossed back below with the others, but manages to use the classic trick of "playground taunting" to get one of Xayide's deadly robots to chase him around so one of the others can shove it into the bottom of the flying ship. It immediately saws a hole in the floor for everybody to escape through, and I almost choked on my drink at the exchange that happens next.
Other Prisoner: "Wait, you aren't coming with us?"
Bastian: "Not yet."
Other Prisoner: "So be it!" *leaps in the hole*
Bastian talks Atreyu into trying one more time to save the buffalo, so Atreyu decides to cause a distraction. He walks over to a giant lever on a wall and pulls it, causing all of the machinery to shudder to a halt. That's...really an ineffective means of keeping a ship going, Xayide, keeping the giant on/off switch where the prisoners have easy access to it.
Xayide is momentarily distracted by the escaping prisoners, giving Atreyu and Bastian just enough time to go up to the deck, sneak into her room, steal the crystal, sneak back out of the room, and start climbing up the rear of the ship to get away. Speedy little buggers.
Atreyu decides the best thing for Fantasia is to shatter the crystal, letting his people and the buffalo perish (again, Atreyu, there are these things called "soybeans" that you could grow...), and Bastian tries one more time to puzzle out what the buffalo spirit had in mind by "use the powder."
I think I have a new favorite reaction image.
Bastian suddenly gets an idea and grabs the crystal from Atreyu. He slides down a rope and gives it back to Xayide, with Atreyu making calls of "traitor!" the whole time. Xayide takes the crystal, not suspecting at all that it might be a trick, and uses her magic to unleash giant purple locusts on the countryside.
Bastian, never one to waste an opportunity, pulls out the horn and dumps the contents over the side of the ship, and when the powder hits the giant locusts, it turns them all back into buffalo. Xayide, in true villain fashion, does a half-hearted chase while Bastian gleefully runs around the ship.
Bastian and Atreyu head back down below deck and jam up the gears of the once-again running ship (?) causing it to crash into the ground. Using the little musical instrument he made before, Bastian summons the herd to destroy the ship, thus ending Xayide's menace...well, until she shows up again.
The Good:
Xayide, for the most part, is a pretty effective villain. Her plans are devious and not too obvious, and tend to go above simple "kill everyone with my magical powers" like so many evil villains have done. Plus, she knows how to rock a really right dress. Not sure about the mask, though.
The story was also engaging, with a riddle that wasn't too blatantly obvious while still able to be solved by anyone who gave it a minute of thought. The voice work was well done, and the animation was pretty smooth all around.
The Bad:
Unlike her last appearance, this is one of those instances I wonder why the villain simply can't show back up again later and do it all over again. The plan almost worked once, what are the odds a child will be visited by a giant buffalo spirit and presented with the key to her defeat twice? There were a few moments where I felt like the writers were stuck thinking of how to get something done and simply went "well, let's not over think this, just put a giant lever in there and we'll worry about some other details for now."
Plus, I'm so used to how Atreyu looked in the movies that to see him with green skin was just distracting the whole episode.
Overall:
While not as fun as the first episode or with as much personality as the second episode, no episode so far has been "bad" by any means. Each episode has so far built up the legend and landscape of Fantasia, leaving me wondering if anybody ever drew a complete map of the entire land. I'd buy it as a poster for my wall.
As an overall series, this is so much better than I ever expected it to be. Again, I found this in a clearance bin and bought it out of morbid curiosity, fully expecting to have to suffer through something terrible for the enjoyment of everybody, but now I'm left wondering if the rest of the season is on DVD or if I can catch the episodes on YouTube.
But, that's the final episode for now, which means I have to find a new source of entertainment to look at on Mondays. I have a few ideas, but I'm torn between another childhood classic or perhaps something a bit more... Japanese.
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