G.I. Joe: The Movie DVD Review

G.I. Joe: The Movie (2000, Rhino Entertainment)
Original Release: 1987
Run Time: 94 minutes

Special Features
* 25 Original G.I. Joe Public Service Announcements
* 2 Theatrical Movie Trailers
* 2 Vintage Commercials

Yes, there is a “Special Edition” of this movie that was released in 2010 by Shout! Factory but I don’t own that one. Besides, doesn’t “Special COLLECTORS Edition” sound better anyway? I’m not sure what the 2010 edition comes with but I got a pretty cool stitching of the American flag that can be used as a sticker.

I remember buying this back in 2002 when I worked at a video store. There was a company called Ingram we could call up and if there was any video under the sun that was in print, they could get it for us. We took special orders all the time for customers but I also used it for myself and always got really cool, hard to find movies at a good price thanks to my employee discount. I think I paid about $7 or $8 for this when it was going for $15-20 retail. A quick look at Amazon.com shows it going for about $18 brand new these days but it’s out-of-print and is only being sold by third parties.

So after the 1986 season of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero wrapped up, it was time for a movie. Initially, it was going to be released in theaters but after Transformers: The Movie and My Little Pony: The Movie failed to light the box office on fire, G.I. Joe: The Movie ended up getting downgraded to a direct-to-video release and later was released into the Joe cartoon’s syndication package as a five-part mini-series (where I remember watching it in addition to renting it multiple times from the local library and electronics store Curtis Mathes).

The movie takes on a darker tone than the show did and also continues to delve more into the sci-fi/fantasy realm just as Season Two was doing as opposed to strictly being military-based like most of Season One. Personally, I think the existence of Cobra-La is a bit hard to swallow when it had never even been referenced up to this point. The movie rewrites Cobra Commander’s origin as well, recasting him as some disfigured blue-skinned reptile man secretly sent by Cobra-La leader Golobulus (voiced by Mickey/The Penguin Burgess Meredith!) to the surface world in order to destroy all humans. It’s been obvious for quite some time in the series that Cobra Commander was just some white guy under a mask who sought out power & money — not the end of mankind. Oh well.

Despite those inconsistencies, the movie is still pretty enjoyable and centers on Cobra & Cobra-La trying to get their hands on the B.E.T. No, they don’t want rerrange programming on Black Entertainment Television, I’m talking about the Broadcast Energy Transmitter! Golobulus’ great plan is to use the B.E.T. in order to heat up some giant plant spores so that they’ll hatch and turn mankind into mindless beasts.

Just about every single Joe & Cobra member of note makes some type of appearance — even if they don’t have dialogue, even if they are just the size of an ant in the background, even if they only appear in the movie’s opening sequence. Speaking of that opening sequence, does it get any more epic than that? The movie’s theme song will get stuck in your head for days.

Of course, the whole idea behind a property like this one is to sell merchandise, so we get to see a number of new Joe recruits: Duke’s half-brother Lt. Falcon (voiced by Don Johnson here), the bad luck ninja Jinx, the silent Hawaiian shirt-wearing Chuckles, the MP known as Law (with his dog Order), ex-basketball player Big Lob (what?) and Tunnel Rat. Also debuting are “Sgt. Slaughter’s Renegades”. With Slaughter as the leader, the team comprised of ex-Cobra Viper Mercer, former circus performer Taurus and ex-football player Red Dog. Most of these characters would later go on to appear or at least be referenced as a part of the Joe’s comic book continuity. Many have since faded into obscurity with only Falcon, Tunnel Rat, Jinx and Chuckles really having any prominent time in the comics (if only temporarily) while Tunnel Rat & Jinx have become fixtures throughout the various animated G.I. Joe revamps.

One widely reported fact about this movie is that Duke was originally intended to die at the hands of Serpentor. This was actually planned before Optimus Prime’s death in the Transformers movie but since that movie ended up getting released first and there was backlash over Prime’s death, the dialogue was changed so that Duke is said to only slip into a coma and by the end of the movie he is said to be okay. Put it on mute though — it’s obvious he died.

So with this movie, it was the end of an era. The “true” G.I. Joe series was over but it ended on an epic and enjoyable note even if I can nitpick over certain characters not getting as much screen time I would have liked. And yes, DIC may have continued the show in 1989 but they only loosely followed the events of the movie and the two Sunbow seasons as they revamped entire appearances of characters, their relationships and personalities! It just wasn’t the same and lacked the quality and heart of the Sunbow episodes but that’s a discussion for another time if/when Shout! Factory releases those two DIC seasons on video…

Buy ‘G.I. Joe: The Movie’ [2010 Special Edition] at Amazon.com!

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero – Season 2.0 DVD Review

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero – Season 2.0 (2010, Shout! Factory)
Originally Aired on TV:  September 15, 1986 – November 20, 1986)
Run Time: 660 minutes

Special Features
* Greenshirts: The Legacy Of G.I. Joe
* Knowing Is Half The Battle: PSAs
* Archival Hasbro Toy Commercials

So I’m late on talking about this one but I’ve been kinda busy and I just recently bought it, okay? Of course, that’s not to say I haven’t owned part of Season 2 on DVD before…

So anyway, in 2010 Shout! Factory had the license, desire and know-how to finally give us the complete second season of the original G.I. Joe series. They could’ve been jerks and split the season up but I like to think that they were making up for Rhino’s error and building goodwill throughout the Joe community by giving all 30 episodes to us in one volume.

I was surprised when watching this just how few episodes I remembered. I remember just about every episode from the first season but during this ’86 season there were only a handful I could recall. Plus, just the fact that the first season was around in syndication longer is probably why I was more familiar with it.

Of course, I remember the epic 5-part season opener “Arise, Serpentor, Arise!” though. After that, “Once Upon a Joe” is my next most remembered episode from this season but “Cobrathon”, “Last Hour to Doomsday”, “The Spy Who Rooked Me”, “Sink the Montana!” and “Grey Hairs and Growing Pains” also brought back memories. Much of the rest was almost like watching for the first time (though I’m sure I probably saw most if not all of these episodes as a kid).

Without the benefit of nostalgia on the majority of Season 2, I have to say it is quite inferior to Season 1. The whole series is goofy and held some far out there schemes by Cobra and solutions by the Joes but the 1986 season holds some pretty bad episodes and just goes over-the-top with the brainless plots. Episodes like when Lifeline, Dial-Tone and Shipwreck are all promoted to colonels in “The Most Dangerous Thing in the World” and run the Joes into the ground while General Hawk is away or “Second Hand Emotions” where Dr. Mindbender basically makes a keyboard that can play with people’s emotions don’t do the series any favors.

And while I’m on the subject of characters, this was a new season with new toys to promote so while a lot of the previous season Joes get cameos as background characters, they are no longer the focus and very few have dialogue. The only real holdouts from Season One with any significant screen time are Flint, Lady Jaye, Roadblock and Shipwreck with Duke and Gung-Ho to a much lesser extent. Much to my chagrin, personal faves like Duke, Quick Kick and Spirit are seriously down-played. Duke does have some lines but has basically been reduced to a supporting character while Quick Kick and Spirit (who were prominent characters in the first season) don’t utter a single line and are barely seen.

This season definitely focuses on the new characters: General Hawk, Sgt. Slaughter, Beach Head, Dial Tone, Mainframe, Wet Suit, Leatherneck, Lifeline, Sci-Fi, Low-Light and Slip Stream basically ARE the Joes at this point in the series and appear in the majority of the episodes with a few others like Ice Berg and Cross Country being featured at times. The good thing is — the 1986 line of Joe toys is my favorite year. Duke will always be my favorite Joe but all of the characters mentioned above I love (except Slip Stream… Why’d he get so much face time?!) and I have great memories of playing with their figures when I was a kid.

Cobra was going through some change this season as well with the exception of Zartan and the Dreadnoks (they are still heavily featured). Storm Shadow, who I always loved, is practically non-existent (making only two appearances by my count with one line of dialogue) while Cobra Commander, Destro, Baroness and Tomax & Xamot have extremely reduced roles on the show. Even Serpentor, the great new big bad guy, doesn’t seem to show up as much as you would think. A lot of the season seems to focus on the Dreadnoks carrying out missions for Cobra or Dr. Mindbender’s crazy inventions.

There is a loose story arc throughout the season of Cobra Commander wanting to overthrow Serpentor. In fact, in what ended up being the original series’ final episode (“Into Your Tent I Will Silently Creep”), Cobra Commander (with Storm Shadow and Destro at his side and Tomax & Xamot too, I believe) is seen lording over a secret cult called the Coil whose sole purpose is to destroy Serpentor. Would’ve been really cool to see where Sunbow Productions could’ve taken the third season as the plan was G.I. Joe vs. Cobra vs. The Coil.

From what I understand, the show was getting to be too expensive for Hasbro  and that’s why after G.I. Joe: The Movie, the license rested for a few years before returning in 1989 with DIC Entertainment producing the show on a lower budget.

Overall, Season 2 is a fun ride but I wish it featured a smoother transition from the characters of the first season to the new class. The show is a lot more silly and at times I think the animation was actually slightly inferior to Season One. It’s been a few years since I’ve watched Season One though so maybe it’s actually on par. I was hoping the special features would be something new but from what I can tell, they are just recycled from the Rhino releases. What a pity.

This is a no-brainer pick up for fans of G.I. Joe. Now here’s hoping Shout is going to release the DIC series (as sad as it is) like they’ve hinted at.

Buy ‘G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Season 2′ at Amazon.com!