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American Version

A Hairy Escape: The Wolf-man is Revealed! (毛深い脱出: オオカミ人登場!)

ElamenSTAR, Episode 116

Aired 20th September, 1996

Summary

Having narrowly escaped the rebellious Cohoris Cult of Joshua the Deliverer, the Four Underdogs continue their journey, this time following the advice of the oracle at the Sacred-but-Unimpressive Woodpile and heading for Mount Wor.

A roadside tavern provides ample distraction, when an inattentive barkeeper lets Zula, Wendel, and Blunder get thoroughly soused. But when Lander starts to ask random patrons how they might reach Mount Wor, the Wizbits run afoul of a very strange, very drunk Knight Moon Roar of the Epic Wolf Men of Mount Wor! He challenges them to a game of Agash, but passes out before the game can be played. When he regains consciousness, a sympathetic Phila gets the emotional Wolf Man to tell her why he is so far from Mount Wor--and more importantly, how the Four Underdogs can get there!

Notes

This episode introduces the major goal of traveling to Mount Wor, which the Four Underdogs do not reach until episode 208, The Sickle and the Sword. By providing a generic "travel and have adventures along the way" theme, the writers were free to engage in more episodic storytelling, which proved more fruitful plotwise than the "maybe this rumored mystic item will help us defeat Char!" motif seen several previous episodes.

Unfortuantely, that is about the only redeeming event this episode has going. "A Hairy Escape" is considered a mildly disappointing episode due to a complete lack of action despite several excellent openings. Zula starts a drunken dance on one of the tables, but when she starts to go really crazy, the scene changes. Wendel brags at length about his impressive power over fire, shows off a few tricks, then takes some of his newfound fans outside to show them "the big one"--and the audience stays inside the tavern. There is the suggested game of Agash which never happens, as well as several abortive attempts at tavern brawls by Blunder. In the end, the whole point of the episode in encapsulated in some emotional bonding between Phila and Knight Moon Roar.

But despite the uncharacteristically tame nature of this episode, the copious amount of alcohol, served to adults and minors (and their animals), depicted in an extremely positive light ("Boy, how does anyone have any fun when they're sober?" Zula asks at one point) necessitated a radical rewrite for the American version. It is perhaps for this reason that James Langomedes attempted to remake this episode into a Halloween Special (which aired in mid-September for some reason).

Unfortunately for American audiences, the American version of this episode marks the first in a string of wild departures from the original ElamenSTAR episodes, effectively shattering the cohesion and coherence of the plot.