I recall watching the first commercial promoting the 1st comic book issue of G.I.JOE from Marvel Comics and all the toy commercials with animation. I also remember watching the M.A.S.S Device mini series followed up but the Revenge of Cobra the following year. It was not until somewhere between 1985 and 1986 that I finally found myself watching this awesome series and really getting interested in G.I.JOE and eventually reading some of the comics.
Marvel and Sunbow productions did an excellent job with this series. Great story lines and great characterizations of both Joe and Cobra characters. For anyone whose never seen G.I.JOE, I highly recommend seeing this series. The best of G.I.JOE, namely the first two mini series and the entire first season are now on DVD. Back in the first season, you had lots of memorable characters, but among my favorites (and I'll save my top favorite for last) are Flint, Lady Jaye, Gung Ho and rhyming Roadblock, Shipwreck, Scarlett,Snake Eyes, Mutt and Junkyard, Alpine, Bazooka, and Quick Kick. I also love all the original Joes who only appeared in minor roles, but were prominent in the first mini series in 1983 like Stalker, Flash, and Rock N Roll, etc etc. But perhaps my all time favorite character who most symbolized G.I.JOE for me was Duke. He was my favorite right from his debut in the M.A.S.S. Device mini series. To me, Duke was the leader of G.I.JOE and in my honest opinion, the best leader, though I will give Flint credit as an excellent second in command. I really hated it in season two when Duke's role was greatly reduced to cameos.
In season one, Duke and Flint were the established leaders. You had the maniacal Cobra Commander and Destro. I always enjoyed their scenes as well as the romance between Destro and the Baroness. Speaking of romance, the Flint and Lady Jaye pairing was one element that kept this show fresh along with Shipwreck as a scene stealer with his annoying parrot Polly. Other memorable villains included Zartan and his Dreadnoks, the Crimson Twins and Storm Shadow not to mention Major Bludd, who was all but eliminated in season two.
In the comic books, Scarlett had a romance with Snake Eyes, who is clearly the most popular character in Joe history, but surprisingly, not in the cartoon. And in the cartoon, it seemed that Duke was Scarlett's potential love interest, which I didn't mind. My top favorite episodes had Duke and Scarlett together with Duke as the team leader in charge. My favorite episode focused on Duke and it was a 2 part episode called Synthoid Conspiracy. Other fun elements were interactions between Joes that were paired up together on missions like Alpine who was always annoyed by the show witted Bazooka. The there's Quick Kick, martial artist and stuntman and movie buff extraordinaire, and when Dusty and Footloose bickered and competed with each other over an attractive female scientist in Hearst and Cannons. Like I said, give season one and shot. This was the best era.
But season two was a whole different matter. The mini series that told of how Serpentor, the Cobra Emperor was created and the second season were just not as good to me as season one. Hasbro definitely wanted to sell the new toys, so the new Joes and Cobras got too much emphasis. I got tired of Dr, Mindbender and Zarana very quickly, Zandar was new but barely featured. The only new Joes who were memorable were the new marine and navy seal, Leatherneck and WetSuit who were always bickering with each other. Action minded pilot Lift Ticket always in conflict with the pacifist medic known as Lifeline. And that's it. I felt Serpentor, his creation story and plainly the character himself was when the show was starting to get waaaay out there. The inclusion of Sgt. Slaughter was the only entertaining aspect and he was only in a couple of episodes and not used all that much. The G.I.JOE chain of command had changed. For reasons unknown, they finally included Hawk who in the comics was the real G.I.JOE leader and revamped his appearance so he wouldn't be mistaken for Duke. He's known as General Hawk in the cartoon. Duke is second, Flint's in third and fourth in command is shared by 2 drill sergeant types, Sgt. Slaughter and the annoying and arrogant Beach Head. The only veteran characters who remained the most active were Flint, Lady Jaye, Shipwreck and Roadblock because of his change in uniform. Duke, Scarlett and all other veteran Joes were either in the background or eliminated all together.
Finally, the G.I.JOE PSA's were good and enjoyable. And most of the popular Joes were in them, some like Flint, Shipwreck, and Deep Six did more than one. I can understand why the likes of Bazooka did not do any PSA's due to his limited IQ ( and yet I heard he was very intelligent in the comics.) But the BIG question for me is, Why wasn't there a PSA with Duke?!!! Even General Hawk did a PSA I can recall.
In closing, check out the first three mini series, the MASS Device, Revenge of Cobra, and the Pyramid of Darkness and the first season of the series. If you can, bypass the second season and the movie that followed. But even season two is better than that horrible series animated by DIC in 1990. Yo Joe!!
Marvel and Sunbow productions did an excellent job with this series. Great story lines and great characterizations of both Joe and Cobra characters. For anyone whose never seen G.I.JOE, I highly recommend seeing this series. The best of G.I.JOE, namely the first two mini series and the entire first season are now on DVD. Back in the first season, you had lots of memorable characters, but among my favorites (and I'll save my top favorite for last) are Flint, Lady Jaye, Gung Ho and rhyming Roadblock, Shipwreck, Scarlett,Snake Eyes, Mutt and Junkyard, Alpine, Bazooka, and Quick Kick. I also love all the original Joes who only appeared in minor roles, but were prominent in the first mini series in 1983 like Stalker, Flash, and Rock N Roll, etc etc. But perhaps my all time favorite character who most symbolized G.I.JOE for me was Duke. He was my favorite right from his debut in the M.A.S.S. Device mini series. To me, Duke was the leader of G.I.JOE and in my honest opinion, the best leader, though I will give Flint credit as an excellent second in command. I really hated it in season two when Duke's role was greatly reduced to cameos.
In season one, Duke and Flint were the established leaders. You had the maniacal Cobra Commander and Destro. I always enjoyed their scenes as well as the romance between Destro and the Baroness. Speaking of romance, the Flint and Lady Jaye pairing was one element that kept this show fresh along with Shipwreck as a scene stealer with his annoying parrot Polly. Other memorable villains included Zartan and his Dreadnoks, the Crimson Twins and Storm Shadow not to mention Major Bludd, who was all but eliminated in season two.
In the comic books, Scarlett had a romance with Snake Eyes, who is clearly the most popular character in Joe history, but surprisingly, not in the cartoon. And in the cartoon, it seemed that Duke was Scarlett's potential love interest, which I didn't mind. My top favorite episodes had Duke and Scarlett together with Duke as the team leader in charge. My favorite episode focused on Duke and it was a 2 part episode called Synthoid Conspiracy. Other fun elements were interactions between Joes that were paired up together on missions like Alpine who was always annoyed by the show witted Bazooka. The there's Quick Kick, martial artist and stuntman and movie buff extraordinaire, and when Dusty and Footloose bickered and competed with each other over an attractive female scientist in Hearst and Cannons. Like I said, give season one and shot. This was the best era.
But season two was a whole different matter. The mini series that told of how Serpentor, the Cobra Emperor was created and the second season were just not as good to me as season one. Hasbro definitely wanted to sell the new toys, so the new Joes and Cobras got too much emphasis. I got tired of Dr, Mindbender and Zarana very quickly, Zandar was new but barely featured. The only new Joes who were memorable were the new marine and navy seal, Leatherneck and WetSuit who were always bickering with each other. Action minded pilot Lift Ticket always in conflict with the pacifist medic known as Lifeline. And that's it. I felt Serpentor, his creation story and plainly the character himself was when the show was starting to get waaaay out there. The inclusion of Sgt. Slaughter was the only entertaining aspect and he was only in a couple of episodes and not used all that much. The G.I.JOE chain of command had changed. For reasons unknown, they finally included Hawk who in the comics was the real G.I.JOE leader and revamped his appearance so he wouldn't be mistaken for Duke. He's known as General Hawk in the cartoon. Duke is second, Flint's in third and fourth in command is shared by 2 drill sergeant types, Sgt. Slaughter and the annoying and arrogant Beach Head. The only veteran characters who remained the most active were Flint, Lady Jaye, Shipwreck and Roadblock because of his change in uniform. Duke, Scarlett and all other veteran Joes were either in the background or eliminated all together.
Finally, the G.I.JOE PSA's were good and enjoyable. And most of the popular Joes were in them, some like Flint, Shipwreck, and Deep Six did more than one. I can understand why the likes of Bazooka did not do any PSA's due to his limited IQ ( and yet I heard he was very intelligent in the comics.) But the BIG question for me is, Why wasn't there a PSA with Duke?!!! Even General Hawk did a PSA I can recall.
In closing, check out the first three mini series, the MASS Device, Revenge of Cobra, and the Pyramid of Darkness and the first season of the series. If you can, bypass the second season and the movie that followed. But even season two is better than that horrible series animated by DIC in 1990. Yo Joe!!