An interesting phenomenon is taking place in Hollywood. There are two summer releases connected to extremely popular action figures of the 1980s. The first is the sequel to The Transformers, which premiered earlier in the season. The second, which enters the fray on August 7th, is G.I. Joe. Not the G.I. Joe that featured the Kung-Fu Grip,but the G.I. Joe that faced the international terrorist organization known as Cobra.
While G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra barely resembles the original ’80s cartoon, it does give us a chance to recall the heyday of Duke, Flint, Cobra Commander, Destro, Scarlett, and, my favorite, Shipwreck.
Like Transformers and GoBots, the inception of the G.I. Joe cartoon began with the release of new G.I. Joe action figures. After the original 12-inch version of the character ended production in 1976, the line was revived by Hasbro in 1982. Instead of a one-man fighting force with real-life hair and beard (very hard to cut, by the way), multiple 3 3/4-inch scale action figures were created under the “A Real American Hero” banner.
The new line of G.I. Joe characters were an instant success (during a resurgence of action figures in the early ’80s) and eventually led to a Marvel comic book series that lasted a whopping 155 issues (one of the longest runs based on a toy line). Shortly afterward, Sunbow TV, in conjunction with Marvel Comics, produced three animated mini-series based on the toy line, followed by two regular seasons.
G.I. Joe was unique in a number of ways. First, it was downright Red, White and Blue, Reagan Presidency, Beach Boys not permitted to perform in Washington D.C., patriotic. There was no question of who was good and who was evil in this show. The operatives that comprised the G.I. Joe team were true blue Americans, while the folks that made Cobra were definitely eeevvvvilllll. Except, perhaps, Storm Shadow; but, he was just confused.
Then there was the violence. Violence of any kind was persona non grata in the world of children’s cartoons at that time. However, thanks to the world of syndication, G.I. Joe didn’t need to live up to the standards of the network censors. Thus, the reason why we got to see Joes bitch-slapping a bunch of Cobra soldiers around during the opening credits. Granted, no one actually died when their plane was shot down by a missile or a building fell down around them, but it was a small step towards a more realistic portrayal in cartoons (if you call a guy whose head was metal and called himself Destro realistic).
Finally, there were the famous PSAs that aired at the end of each episode. In a 30-second morality play some stupid kid would learn a lesson from a member of the Joe team who was just passing by their neighborhood on their way to kicking Dr. Mindbender’s ass. Rather than reporting the kid to the proper legal authorities the Joe would usually lecture him or her on what they did wrong and how to correct it. The kid, realizing this Joe could kill him in a second, would respond, “Now I know,” which would lead to a Joe response of, “And knowing is half the battle.” What the other half of that battle was is still unknown.
Like Transformers, G.I. Joe lost its way as more members were introduced. After getting used to the many characters that the show carted in during the mini-series and first season, the show was turned on its edge in season two when folks like General Hawk, Sgt. Slaughter, Serpentor, and Dial Tone were introduced. While some say this was the peak of the series I tend to feel like it was the beginning of the end as many of the personalities fans loved were pushed aside for these new recruits with wimpy names.
The end came very quickly after Sunbow decided not to renew the series at the end of 1986. The last gasp of the initial run was the release to video and TV of G.I. Joe: The Movie in 1987. While not a bad movie (actually, probably better than the Transformers movie) it further degraded the original vision of the series by introducing a mystical and ancient race called the Cobra-La. The last gasp for the Joe team was in 1989 when DIC took the reigns to produce G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. Strapped with a lower production budget, DIC’s version of the series focused more on the new cast of Joes rather than the old favorites.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIjANMSs880
Now that over a quarter century has past, one can look at G.I. Joe as a snapshot of history. While it may have been developed from a series of 3-inch action figures, it really showed the strength of American military power at that time. Today, with America so fractured across many boundaries, it would be hard to produce a show like this that wouldn’t seem parody. We’ll have to see if the live action movie of the same name will modernize the classic cartoon or update it for these scarier and more skeptical times.
Clacked by Richard Keller 
on Jul 30, 2009 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
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From what I’ve seen, the movie seems to draw much more from the comic book than the cartoon. There will be more violence, and probably some deaths as well even if Cobra’s superweapon is as silly as ever. There’s some aspect of the Snake-Eyes/Storm Shadow rivalry, and the Joes operate covertly out of an underground Pit instead of that giant fortress base, so they won’t be shooting music videos or holding neighborhood barbecues.
I grew up with the comic book first, so I was attached to Col. Hawk, and was annoyed when they replaced him with Sgt. Duke. It was only later when the cartoon came out that they reversed that.
Oh, and the Joes are drawn from many Western nations now to make the unit not seem so American.