Yeah, I'll rewatch that intro a few times a year on youtube ... which often triggers an hour or two of watching all of the 80s / 90s cartoon intros. There's so many good ones, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers, Denver The Last Dinosaur, Dinosaucers, Wildcats, etc..
The saddest thing about the GI Joe movie is that the opening is INCREDIBLE and better than the entire rest of the movie. It never gets as good as the opening again.
I was 11 years old when an unfortunate life long issue with my right leg put me in a hospital for the first time. I was alone and scared to death and on one of my mom and dad's daily visits to see me, they gave me a GI Joe comic book, which was my first ever comic book. I read it cover to cover by the time they came back the following day and I asked for another which they went and got right then. I can feel myself choking up as I tell this story now at age 50 (and over 20 surgeries later on that leg) and I know that those comic books got me through a terrible time in my life. I went on to be an avid collector of the toys and would have my star wars toys battle against my GI Joe toys on the floor in the basement of the home I grew up in. The show, the movies, the figures, the comics and the theme music will always hold a special place in my heart.
@@edwardpayne8962 If I told you the whole story in detail, it would be a book lol. The super-short version is that I was born with something called an Arterial Venous Malformation but it's much, much bigger than most AVM's. By itself, it's nothing more than a nuisance, but it leads to other complications like weaker bone and muscle in the area. So I've broken the leg twice and had more surgeries than I can count. I've got a knee replacement in that leg and a metal rod in the other. But the good news is that I tried to take better care of myself because of this thing, so I've been into working out all my life (since about age 14). So at 52 I'm not doing too bad. I can play golf and ride a bicycle, I just can't ice skate or run or do rock climbing etc.
I was suspended from elementary school for a week for bringing my VHS of GiJoe: The Movie to 'movie day' in my class when it was my turn. We made it up to where Duke got stabbed in the chest by the snake spear and my teacher finally threw an absolute fit and got the principal to suspend me for bringing violent materials to school. So for an entire week I just got to stay home and play with my GiJoe toys lol.
Which is what you want to do in the first place. That was the day you learned how to get people to do what you wanted and make them think it was their idea the whole time. Thus a super villain was born.
It always resorted to fist fights. All the pilots bailed out to safety. Explosions never contained shrapnel. Cobra and the Joe's never lost a man only the machines. Somehow as a kid I didn't notice.
@Wiseguy 36 They used red and blue pew pews because bullets were expensive... (Yeah, they did an episode with Pentagon budget cutbacks to cripple the Joes.)
Actually the Stormtroopers were quite deadly. Just watch the 1st scene of a new hope were they massacre the rebel forces. The only ones they always miss are the main characters due to plot armor.
@@Ranecroft On the medical ship I think the stormtroopers we're good only because the hallways of the ship were narrow, and everyone was bunched up. Lol
The opening sequence of Cobra taking the Statue of Liberty while the Joes stop them was epic. The song was great as well. The movie was great, although Duke going into a coma was a bit lame.
They had to do thecoma thing with Duke because of the parental backlash after killing Optimus Prime. The animation for the entro is great but the change to the song...less so.
The opening of the movie is my favorite G.I.Joe thing ever. It still makes me smile to this day. My other favorite memory of the movie is that I watched it with a group of friends after college. Me and one of my friends used to make fake Roadblock rhymes all the time after that. That friend sadly passed away, but I think of him every time I see the movie now.
The Statue of Liberty intro sequence may be the greatest piece of toy-associated action animation made in the '80s. In 1986/1987 - for those who remember - the one-two punch of _Transformers: The Movie_ and _GI Joe: The Movie_ was almost as impactful as _Star Wars_ or _Raiders_ - simple, epic perfection. And everything a kid could have wanted from those properties.
@@JohnDoe-wq5eu Agreed, but it should be stressed that best doesn't imply only - the movie is solid all around. The thing that really gets it is the reworking of the theme song, as was the case in Transformers. Let's be perfectly honest here... the original openings for both were pretty weak. Especially when compared to Thundercats, MASK, and TMNT, which all had epic TV intros. I believe Hasbro realized this. However, with the Transformers movie, the song was over the opening credits - following the conventional motion picture format. GI JOE really pulls ahead by staying true to the formula of the series and including an opening scene. Which is how we end up with the masterpiece of an animated sequence that we have.
And of course, the original “My Little Pony: The Movie” was an absolute trainwreck. The two films were made in 1986, and “GI Joe: The Movie” was also a direct-to-video release, but it was originally planned as a theatrical release, but it went into direct-to-video territory.
No one ever talks about the post-movie mini-series where Baroness and Copperhead rounds up a small band of Cobra soldiers still loyal to Cobra Commander to form Python Patrol, take CC to an ancient temple to reconstitute him back into a man, and lure in Serpentor to do away with him once and for all.
@@AWW8472 the only good part of DIC. All that follows is cornball stories with CHEAP animation and horrible bgm. But Dragon Fire was pretty good. The Scoop story was great!
GI Joe was never my thing, but there is one thing from the show that is burned into my memory forever: there was an episode in which Shipwreck wakes up and is being tricked by Cobra to think he was in a coma. The people around him are like robots or something, and at some point his loved ones fucking melt before his eyes in the most disturbing horrific fashion!
"There's No Place Like Springfield". The last two episodes of Season 1. Still pretty crazy when you consider its 1985 contemporaries and what was allowed back then.
While Duke was announced by Doc as being out of his coma at the end of the animated film, his recovery was reinforced in the original Tiger Force TV ad. This Marvel-animated ad featured Dusty exclaiming “Duke is back,” as Duke took command of the team from a GI Joe Dragonfly (converted into the Tiger Fly). So yes, Duke returned one final time in Marvel animation before making multiple appearances in DIC animated form. His team-up with Cobra to fight drug dealers and rescue his half-brother Falcon from them was also epic Duke awesomeness.
That was an awesome mini-series, Falcon was dating the sister of one of the Crimson Guard Immortal, and she was in the hospital from an overdose of the “dust”. That was how the team up happened, Cobra can’t rule the world if everyone dies from drugs.
A few years ago, the Egyptian theater in Hollywood showed both Gi Joe and Transformers The Movie one night. It was amazing finally seeing it on the big screen with a crowd.
It would be great to watch these two films with a crowd in the way Rocky Horror Picture Show hollar, scream, shout and what have you. Duke takes a servant spear to the chest, all the guys in the audience crying out "DUUUUUUUUKE!!" Or Cobra Commander's body horror scene and the audience flips out with cries of "AAAAAAAH! MOTHER!! OH MY GOD!!" Scenes where the Joes' are victorious, people go nuts, throw popcorn, "GO JOE! TAKE THAT COBRA, YOU'LL NEVER BEAT GI JOE!!" Dukes in a coma scene, people murmur not to subtle "That's lame..."
I’ll never forget the moment I realized that the GI Joe figure that my neighbor had (Rock N’ Roll with his badass motorcycle) was sooo far superior to my coveted Star Wars figures. While I had the movies to back up my Star Wars fandom and imaginary adventures, I didn’t need a backstory for these highly articulated soldiers. The “playability” of the Joe’s was just so awesome and was the natural step up in “maturity” from Star Wars and its toys.
I would play with both together, especially since they were mostly the same size. Same with Visionaries. Also, I'd always wondered if the Yuuzhan Vong from Star Wars novels were inspired by Cobra-La.
I read that's who the prime target audience was for GI JOE toys, boys with maturing tastes. Now that market doesn't exist! Boys would rather play video games and such.
Same here. Once I received my first Joe figure, I forget if it was Grunt or Rock N’ Roll, I was all in. I completely forgot about Star Wars after Return of the Jedi came and went.
G.J.Joe: The Movie came out on VHS (ask mom and dad about video tapes, kids) around fourth grade or so and quickly became one of my favorite movies for the next few years. Having gotten nostalgic for what I watched as a kid I of course added the Blu-ray to the ever growing archive. Opening theme still tugs at the heart strings, as done hearing Sgt. Slaughter yell "we all go home or nobody goes home!"
There are some really great episodes of GIJOE that are really deep and go way beyond your avg kids cartoon. I missed these as a kid even though I watched every time I could, but as an adult have been re-watching it and oh boy there are some good ones. Worlds Without End & There's No Place like Springfield are two of my favorites.
I always liked the episode where Cobra recruited Ghosts to fight the Joes for some reason, And the Ghosts turned out to be Tragic, Sympathetic Characters.
A+ video! I watched this film at a friend's birthday party sleepover and remember how strange the whole thing seemed. It was really disturbing when Cobra Commander turned into a snake! I didn't know it was basically the end of an era I was watching. Such a high-quality video, thank you so much for making it.
Burgess Meredith just owned that role. His voice was pure malice-you knew he was bad and NOT a guy to mess with, unlike the Commander and Serpentor. They were pretty goofy in their own charming ways.
Just by watching this UA-cam video makes me feel old. Born in 78 I grew up watching all these cartoon shows. I remember playing with all the toys this definitely brought back nostalgia. I first became a G.I. Joe fan when I was about 7 years old started collecting alot of the action figures back then through the years I acquired quite the collection of action figures! Wish I still had them.
The intro was so epic then it went all the way left field but remained crucial viewing. I remember it was on prime time 7pm on WGN Chicago when I was a kid.
The thing I remember and loved the most about the movie was the opening theme. Cobra, COBRA! GIJOE was the red headed step child of early mid 80’s cartoons. But they had some cool toys.
Buzz Dixon had an alternate story he wanted to tell about the creation of Cobra before the Serpentor thing happened. He had an idea about Cobra being twisted ideas from some other political philosopher and Cobra Commander had him locked away. The guy would escape and be the Most Dangerous Man for Cobra Commander as he one time mentor. He eventually took those ideas and wrote a fanfiction story that was on Amazon Kindle for awhile. But then Amazon decided to cancel their fanfiction universe. I found out about the fanfiction story being available about 1 month after Amazon changed its policy. Damn. Damndamndamndamndamn.
@@screamerlover5781 You'd think the guy who would constantly shove random military garbage into Transformers and TMNT would have loved working on a movie series that actually HAS the military in it, but oddly no.
@@deadpilled2942 Hos insane need to turn everything into a military fetishist fan-fic probably would have worked here better than TMNT. I don't want to unpack everything wrong with that movie, we'll be here forever. And he just produced that one. Of course, the only live action Joe movie I saw was Snake Eyes, so I wouldn't be able to judge the other two.
So glad I was able to catch this in the movie theater recently for the Fathom event with my brother. We loved it when we were kids and it's just so damn quotable. It was fun viewing it on the big screen as it was originally intended, although that Serpentor TV spot has me hyped for the new Classified release during this year's Pulse Con.
Uk here, we got it on video with every reference to GI Joe changed to Action Force. Had no other references apart from the odd UK marvel comic but I absolutely loved it.
@@stewartglencrose9023 Yeah I have to admit as much as the whole teenage mutant hero turtles thing is the most well-known of the changes to US shows for the UK action force really blew my mind. It’s a tiny change really but so significant considering that particular rally cry is like probably the most well-known part of the series. I mean Yo joe, is as iconic if not more so than the thundercats hooooooooooooooooo battle cry.
🇬🇧 What's even stranger is that Action Force began life as a completely separate toyline, made by Palitoy and nothing to do with GI Joe. Then Hasbro, Joe's originator, bought Palitoy and simply started selling GI Joe toys in Action Force packets. We weren't told about the Joe connection until years later!
What are the other movies/ minis were there? M.A.S.S. Device, Pyramid of Darkness, Arise, Serpentor Arise, Operation Dragonfire, The Weather Dominator (?) . . . Valor vs. Vernon (?), G.I. Joe: Resolute
I remember seeing the film on VHS at my cousin's house when I was 11 years old in 1987. Needless to say, I was looking for the film over 30 years later to no avail, until I found it on DVD at a local library in my neighborhood. I was able to pop in my blu-ray device, and watched it with my son who was about 4 years old at the time. It was everything I imagined as a child and then some. Just the opening sequence of the Joe's stopping Cobra from destroying the statue of Liberty brought tears to my eyes, because we all know how shaky our country has been since 2015 and up, so seeing that much patriotism in one scene gave me hope that our country will be fine for decades to come. I know its a piece of nostalgia for a time long gone, but every GenXer like myself that grew up during the 80s, we still see that era with fondness and appreciation. Thank you for posting this episode.
Even as a kid I was wondering, " What kind of advancements in medicine do they have at GI Joe to have a man survive being stabbed through the heart??" But, whatever, this movie is still one of my guilty pleasures growing up. Especially seeing the transformation and downfall of Cobra Commander. "I WAS ONCE... A MAN..."
In an ironic twist of fate, he was stabbed by a Cobra, and Duke had Cobra health insurance (as mentioned at the top of this thread), so they kind of canceled each other out.
Great episode! I remember GI Joe: The Movie very fondly, but I was just about done with GI Joe by 1987. I had been collecting them since 1982. They had such a great run... the figures, the vehicles... such great memories!
The animation of this and The Transformers movie is incredibly detailed because it pretty much was animated by some of the best Japanese animation teams of it's era. I just hope we we get a 4k transfer like we did with Transformers.
Kinda ridiculous that all that animation being good and it wasn't done by American animator's at all which is lazy and the IP being a western one but the animation is amazing and detailed
Still argue with my friends to this day that this movie was NEVER released to theaters but straight to tv! I'm a bit older than they are, so I remember it's debut quite well, and if it had been in theaters, I absolutely would have been there to see it...Thanks for backing up my claim! Wish I'd caught that theatrical release this year, this is the first I'm hearing about it... I never got why they didn't kill Duke off...just because of the Optimus Prime backlash?! They...DO know that kids never bonded with Duke to the same degree that they cared about Prime, don't they? No? Okay, then...
Duke and Flint both shared the role of being the leader on missions, while Optimus was present the majority of the time. I think that might be why some people didn't connect with Duke as much as Prime. That said, I think killing characters was a bad idea for kids films...especially to the body count Transformers the movie did. Death just for shock value is cheap and in fiction it typically gets undone anyways. (as what happened to Prime multiple times now.) Death should be done sparingly, so when it happens it has actual weight. There's plenty of ways to write a character out of a story besides giving them a dirt nap.
@@Lastjustice I think it has more to do with Duke just not being that interesting! Flint was far moreso, both in appearance and personality, it's no wonder he and Lady Jaye took over the show...As for killing Prime off, it's fair to say they genuinely DID intend that to be permanent, and only reveresed it when a massive backlash set in...I agree it shouldn't be done willy nilly, but even for kid's films, it should never be entirely off the table! Otherwise, we'd never have gotten Bambi...
@@HandofOmega I agree that Flint and Lady Jaye had far more going on under the hood. Duke was cut from the same stotic personality you'd see in most DC super heroes at the time. The typical good for the sake of good character who's right the majority of the time and not much else. Your father figure insert types. Prior to the transformers movie, Alpha Trion was the only named character(He sacrificed himself to merge with vector sigma to create the Aerial bots) I can think of that died on screen. (3 unnamed Seekers were blown up in the pilot run.) It wasn't that we never saw death, it just wasn't at the crazy level they did at the begining of the 86 film. The shuttle being overtaken kills more autobots alone than the entire first 2 seasons. The movie was to blantantly in the opposite direction of the show with how ruthlessly they killed off existing characters in the beginning. Then we see the plot armor turn back on for all the new cast in the second half. Ultra Magnus gets torn to pieces and put back together, and Kup gets his limps put back on. We saw autobots die to far less than that in the beginning half, so this was extra jarring. Like why could they just brought Prime to Junkion if it was that easy to put a guy back together? It undermines the concept they can be killed and stay dead when we've seen them put back together from far worse. In city of Steel, prime was a reduced to a head, and the rest of his body was used by the constructicons for parts.(They built a robot alligator out of most of it) He was put back together in the end just fine. In Triple takeover Blitzwing literally smashes autobots flat as a tank, and uses their bodies to make a throne for himself....yet they all survive somehow?! Then we see them die to single laser blasts to center mass. Like how did these guys survive this long if that's all it took? The following shows generally have body counts happen, but it's planned out and done sparingly. I feel like they maintain the right level of balance of the most of the time.
For a few months my friends and I would finish every sentence with "THIS I COMMAND" even if it didn't fit. Getting detention for it was what got us to quit. That said, I enjoy the movie despite it flaws. Cobra-La was something different, Nemesis Enforcer looked cool, Cobra Commander had a good story arc, and Globulus actually had a sense of menace to the point where I was a bit intimidated going into the fight with him in GI Joe on NES.
Not only was Optimus Prime's death traumatic, but Iron Hide, Prowl and the rest of the Autobots on the ship deaths were as well and it was BRUTAL. Prime's death was just another layer of trauma.
@@MykeLewisMusic Yeah, that always disturbed me as a kid. "Such heroic nonsense"... Then blasts Ironhide point blank in the face. Brutal stuff for a 4 year old lol.
@@Jay-bf8yp super brutal. Looking at it now, surprisingly sophisticated for a kids’ movie. Also, kind of a kickass way for a guy like Ironhide to die. By the time OP died, I was pretty much numb 🤣
This is one of the best videos you guys have done. Congrats, guys. I never understood the narrative that GI Joe was grounded in realism and Cobra La took things too far. In the cartoon there were ghosts, magic, crazy sea monsters and Gizmo-like things that turned into giant goat-men. But a bunch of hidden snake people took things too far? Nah, I think the real reason it's disliked is the same reason why Transformers failed - it just felt unearned for a bunch of new characters to suddenly take the spotlight and push aside fan faves. That, and the fanbase aging out. Regardless, I still love this movie. Cobra Commander's redemption arc was great.
Where I lived, t on the San Francisco Bay Area they actually aired the whole movie uncut during prime time. They did the same with the 5 part mini series years earlier. I came home from shopping and only saw the last 30 minutes and was blown away...so many questions walking into it towards the end. Fortunately I caught it in whole during reruns later, and eventually I got the VHS and copied it from a rental version. Such a great film, despite it's convoluted history.
Yeah I lived around there around the same time and I think I saw this but I honestly can’t remember. Then again I would’ve only been about seven years old at the time so even if I did see it it’s hard to remember at this point.
@@JohnDoe-wq5eu Yeah I was 10 when Transformers the movie came out. I remember my mom taking myself and 3 Friends to a theater in Hayward. Then a year later, catching that last part of GIJoe on channel 2 it was a Friday or Saturday night. They played all sorts of cool stuff though. I even saw the Thundercats movie uncut, but that was during a Saturday afternoon I'm pretty sure.
I was born in 86, so I grew up watching GIJoe. I remember that around the time of the early 90s, you could join the Burger King Kids Club and send away for cartoons on tape. I did this alot and had a number of TMNT episodes on video cassette. Then one time they offered the GIJoe movie. I ordered it, loved it, and watched it till the tape gave out. I'm now 38 and still love the movie and happily own the Blu ray version.
one footnote worth mentioning, in 1989 the then still almost new Fox network aired gi joe the movie in its entirety in prime time. I remember all the kids at school talking about how cobra commander got turned into a snake the next day.
I'm a big Transformers fan, but I never really cared about G.I. Joe. I only watched it because it came on after the Transformers, and didn't read the comics because the military stuff was kinda boring to me and never cared for the action figures because of the small size and articulation ( I was more into the He-Man type figures). That being said, the cartoon didn't get interesting to me until Sgt. Slaughter and Serperntor showed up. I know alot of fans hate the Sci/fi elements, but I loved them. And the G.I.Joe movie blew my mind, especially with Duke almost dying, Cobra-La, and Cobra Commander turning into a snake ( which made a hell of alot more sense to me especially in a shared universe of giant alien robots, armored scientists fighting underground Kaiju, and hot rocker chicks with sophisticated hologram technology). Classic Awesome movie.
The opening sequence was insanely good, so was Pythona emerging through Cobra defenses, Cobra-La was a bit too much of a stretch but overall quite enjoyable
When Falcon was given Don Johnson's voice, I was at a point in the 80's where my daytime cartoons were crossing over into the new primetime adult shows I was just starting to watch. This was huge...after Hasbro got all those famous voices for The Movie, Don Johnson was hitting the apex of his career at night time and his pastel, art deco-inspired Miami coutured self was now validating my daytime obsession with G.I. Joe to all the perceived scoffing adults did at me hogging the TV in the afternoon.
Though it wasn't released in theaters, this was still a phenomenal film! I was so glad when my mom recorded the entire film on vhs back when it aired and still brings me joy to this day! I still hold this movie up in high regards like TF the movie and absolutely LOVE THAT INTRO! COBRA-LALALALALALAH!!!
I'm sad we missed out on the possible Topless Zarana scene when she was near the lake. That extra spice was certainly nice so I thank the crew for that reveal many years later at a con!
I love this movie! As a kid I remember finding the whole Cobra La thing so fascinating. For like an entire month during recess at school I ran around yelling "CobraaaLalalalalaaa!" every chance I got... during kick ball, dodge ball, TV tag, freeze tag, climbing the monkey bars, and even during a game of marbles. When I played with my action figures Duke did die (His O ring broke and so did his crotch and thumbs so I didn't want him anymore. Besides I had had him since his release and he was already in bad shape before breaking.) and Flint took his place as the field commander with Lt. Falcon and Sgt. Slaughter coming next... of course they all reported to General Hawk. Oh and fuck Beachhead. Great video Dan, your history lessons always carry me down memory lane with blissful nostalgia.
@@AntoineJenkins80sChild I was the exact opposite. Beachead was on my go to strike team with Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, and Firefly. All of the fully masked, lone wolf, bad asses on one team. Besides fitting on that team he was also a Ranger like my all-time favorite, Stalker.
This was so epic, so spectacular, & so ridiculous all at the same time to this 11-year-old back when I caught it in its 5-part miniseries form in '87. That opening theme is still amazing. The DIC version didn't air in my rural enclave (nor did She-Ra or New Adventures of He-Man), so it was fun catching up with those episodes as an adult when the DVD boom happened.
I don't care what this video or anyone else says, I remember clearly that GI Joe the movie premiered in Prime Time as a two parter. GI Joe, like Transformers , spun itself into a weird psychedelic world that kids simply couldn't get behind. The kids didn't outgrow the series , the series got too weird for kids. I remember.
Opening bit was like a Super Add for all the vehicles and figures. One thing i'll always remember is Cobra Commander slowly turning into a snake, especially the part when we finally get to see under the mask but it was all snake'ish and really neat for the time. i still remember parts of the movie way more clearly than any of the actual episodes of the show. 😄👍
I absolutely loved that movie. I watched it so many times. The addition of Cobra La took everything to the next level and those characters were brilliant.
The M.A.S.S Device, the Weather Dominator, and the Pyramid of Darkness is how I was introduced to GI Joe. Growing up, I always thought that The Transformers cartoon and movie had a better mythology than the comic book, while the reverse was true for GI Joe. As hard as I tried, I just could _not_ get into Transformers comics; while the cartoon had a fairly well-established, consistent, and fairly logical history and mythology. The mythology of the cartoon said that Cybertron was originally a planet-sized factory center built by the Quintessons to design and build two sets of domestic and military robot product lines, to be sold as hardware to humanoid aliens across the galaxy (which was why they transformed into human-sized cars and trucks and such.) Gradually these robots developed sapience and then fought off their creators to gain their freedom. After millions of years (and who knows how many generations of automated reproduction by the master design computer Vector Sigma) they forgot their own origins, and eventually internal divisions between the two original product lines lead to war between the militant military hardware line and the peaceful domestic hardware line. It seemed sensible as Science-Fiction story to me. Instead, the comic book's Cybertronians were robotic life-forms that evolved from "living metal" (or whatever it was?) and just happened to transform into human-sized cars and trucks for... some reason? As I said, I never could get into the comic books to find out if any reason was ever given for it beyond "disguise" (not disguise to the other giant robots, certainly?) The GI Joe cartoon's use of vague "lazer zap gun" instead of actual military weapons just seemed incredibly lame, especially considering that the team had _actual laser weapon specialists_ (like _Zap!)_ that the file cards made special note of, plus the whole concept of Cobra-La just struck me as _way_ too bizarre to take seriously;. But the comic book Joe's mostly used real military weapons in addition to the vehicles from the toyline (Roadblock was supposed to be a machine gunner, but he just used a lazer zap gun like everyone else in the cartoon.) The comic book origin of COBRA Command seemed plenty realistic; as a secret society assembled from a dangerously discontented underclass of people who were angry at what they considered "being trampled on by society" and "not getting what (they thought) they deserved," who were recruited into a paramilitary organization/Cult by a charismatic demagogue/slick ex-used car salesman, who promised them the chance to fight back and "take back control" by force. It seemed terrifyingly all too possible in real life. Although Chrisssss Latta made the cartoon enjoyable to watch anyway, and the original mini-series were pretty great. And the way the cartoon treated Snake Eyes after the original mini-series was such a waste; I suppose it was because he didn't talk, so the writers just didn't know what to do with him? In fact, the comic book origins of COBRA seem even _more_ terrifyingly realistic and possible these days. Q-COBRA? I'm afraid COBRA would have a _huge_ Internet following in today's world, and politicians openly aligning with them. COBRA's online followers would be spreading conspiracy theories that GI Joe secretly runs a pedophilia ring from a base hidden under the Chaplains Assistant School's motor pool at a US Army base. Extensive Enterprises would have made its fortune selling pillows. Is Rudy Giuliani a run-down old Crimson Guardsman? Is that why he went nuts? After serving his purpose as a lawyer and gaining political power for several years, the original either died or was disposed of for being uncooperative, and was replaced with a fanatically loyal/delusional Rudy IV?
I loved the cartoon. Not nearly as much as the Transformers, but I found the show, it’s silliness (apple seeds killed a blob, and a whole other episode _dedicated_ to a _pun_ about a window washer) and their fully articulated figures interesting. Getting a Joe figure was like buying a skin in Call of Duty before Call of Duty. Great Stuff, as always!
They had silly episodes. And then they had episodes so traumatic that if you saw them as a kid they're burned into your subconscious, namely "There's no place like Springfield" and "Worlds without End"
i remember seeing the gi joe movie back in the 80s/90s on VHS and in it duke dies and there is a crying scene at the end of the movie , then years later when i got a copy of the movie on DVD it was over-dubbed to have him 'be in a coma' , i wish i still had that older VHS version
Glad that Buzz gets so many shout-outs in this episode! He's told me about tons of ideas that got kicked around in the old days and it's nice to hear the Serpentor origin(s) again!
I was about 9 when this came out. First: that opening sequence with the updated theme was awesome! I didn't have a problem with the Cobra-La stuff--I thought it was intriguing. I'd already liked Serpentor's design and origin. Learning the truth about Cobra Commander reinvigorated interest in him. I got Golobulus, Nemesis Enforcer, and the Royal Guard (they came in a 3-pack, right?) over any of the new Joes, except for Law & Order.
Nicely done. I'll be back. My favorite part of the Liberty Island scene has always been the bazooka shell going between Shipwreck(?), and his hat. Have a good evening.
I'm now 42 & was a MASSIVE Joe fan as a kid. I actually started collecting again in my 30's with my son as a way to spend time together & hunt for the stuff we liked. I'll always have love for this movie. My youngest son & I now watch this at least once a year together. YO JOE!
You mean the episode where he wakes up and thinks he's in a future a couple years later after being in a coma. It turns out whole thing was some crazy plot by Cobra to trick him.
My dad was a Vietnam vet, but also a Baptist preacher. So he was extremely selective about what my brother and I were allowed to watch on TV. Going to the movies was forbidden, so Star Wars was banned in our house. Any TV shows with anything remotely magic based or “demonic” (He-Man, Thundercats, Care Bears, D&D, Smurfs, etc.) were also banned. Transformers was tolerated, since it was just robots. But when it came to GI Joe, my dad not only allowed us to watch it, but he would sometimes watch it with us. I believe it was the unapologetically patriotic themes and portraying the military in a positive light that made GI Joe so different and refreshing in the early 1980s. A lot of Vietnam veterans like my dad still had vivid memories of being spit on and called “baby killers” when they returned home. So those early GI Joe cartoons were like a breath of fresh air to men who still loved their country even through all the lies, betrayal, and slander they experienced after serving. More importantly, many of those veterans had sons who were at the perfect age for the GI Joe action figures, when they first appeared in stores. The only time my dad ever took my brother and I to a store for the sole purpose of buying us toys was to get GI Joe toys. He always encouraged us to get the figures and vehicles that were the most grounded in reality and, to this day, that’s what I see as the strength of the GI Joe brand and what sets it apart from Star Wars, He-Man, and all the copycat franchises those brands inspired. Unfortunately, with the introduction of Serpentor, that grounding in reality started to weaken and my interest waned significantly. If I wanted science-fiction/fantasy, there were already several other franchises that were offering better versions of that. When I first saw Cobra-la and Golobulus in a toy store, in 1987, my first reaction was, “Nope… I’m out.” After that, I walked away from GI Joe until 2007, when the 25th anniversary stuff started appearing in stores.
I saw it in theaters back in June. A few people arrived late, and I felt sorry for them for missing that epic open sequence, which is by far the best part of the film.
Yeah I remember the first time I saw anime and my head freaking exploded. I mean I think most kids from the 80s or even early 90s can tell you exactly the first time they ever saw ghost in the shell or Akira for the first time. Nudity and violence/blood in animated form that was crazy. You’re never quite the same after your experience anime for the first time especially uncut. The 90s were the most amazing period of my entire life because that was the decade that America finally got anime and it got it big time.
@@JohnDoe-wq5eu You're right. In retrospect, we now know that Voltron and others were technically anime. But as kids I didnt know. Plus it was censored and rebranded for american youth. My first experience with real uncut "japanime" and/or "Japanese animation" as we called it then, was "Fist Of The North Star". It blew me away, since I loved martial arts. Me and friend use to always quote, "You're Already Dead" like Ken said in the movie, lol. Then of course "Akira" visually changed the game. Although I must admit, I didn't understand the story back then, lol. And I also liked "Vampire Hunter D". In the 90s, the secret was out, and Americans were getting a ton of anime. My favorite to this day, is "Ninja Scroll"
@@Wis_Dom I mean that's the thing we all have that moment where everything just clicks into place and you suddenly understand stuff for the first time. I mean I spent more time watching cartoons during the '90s where it was much more obvious what was being added or removed. But that first time you watched some uncut japanimation it was like an awakening. Which seems like a ridiculous statement at first but it really is/was. I was lucky enough to have a local PBS channel that picked up various anime and would show it uncut late on Sunday nights. It's where I had probably the deepest experience of my young life where I saw evangelion, bubblegum crisis and dirty pair flash subbed. That has stayed with me my entire life to this point. It really did change my perception of everything I had known up to that point and it really is like walking away from your young childhood days into being a young adult. I really truly feel it was that significant. It wouldn't be a significant if it happened today because it's so prevalent but back in the 90s and late 80s when it was still kind of an underground thing it was truly eye-opening.
The first 15 minutes of the movie are awesome, Especially the opening sequence. That one Crimson Guard definitely hates the news media, Took that camera right out!! The rest of the flick. Hot garbage. Even Sarge and Don Johnson couldn’t save it. Serpentor was lame AF, and it honestly should have been Destro with overthrowing CC, but the Baroness secretly pulling the strings. Super Side Note: the Flopping Lady footage…. I live about 15 minutes away from where that lady flopped to the ground making ALL those horrendous noises. Apparently she really got hurt with that dive. Chateau Elan, just northeast of Atlanta.
I still remember Duke dying when I first watched it. I thought for years I misremembered it, but my grandmother mentioned she was mad that I was watching a cartoon that killed a character in a bloody way. When we discussed it, we both remembered Scarlett saying he was dead. That, or I have long since lost all connection to reality. Which, to be fair, is entirely plausible.
@@bryansillman3240 No clue. This was about thirty years ago when they had it on TV. Not sure if they showed the wrong one or what. Several friends at school saw it too, which caused a big argument with the kids who had it on VHS. I legit thought I just misremembered it until my grandmother told me she remembered it as well.
@@Plaprad Yeah that is crazy but honestly totally possible I guess. It’s hard to believe there would be one variation that somehow got out into the wild though as I thought they made the decision not to kill Duke before it ever made it to air so I don’t know how some thing like that could even be possible. That said I have experienced things like this myself with other things from my childhood that I still can’t really explain. Parts for movies or lines or just various things that I was certain happened that I’ve gone back and found apparently weren’t said or shown. But then you realize they do stuff like adding scenes for when a movie is shown on TV Like the famous octopus scene in the goonies. So it’s very possible that it’s not so much a Mandela effect as much as it is something more like a regional difference or something very strange like that.
That is likely an example of the Mandela Effect, where you remember something from a film that didn’t actually happen. Such as no one ever actually said the phrase “Beam me up, Scotty” in Star Trek, but everyone “quotes” it. There was never an official release of the dead Duke version.
@@JohnDoe-wq5eu Yeah. My only thought is somehow one of the original versions got sent out to a TV station and was quietly discarded after. I can't even remember what channel it was on. Though, I do remember telling one of my friends who never believed me. About a decade ago, he read that Duke was killed in the original cut. I got a message about it where he asked if I could imagine that happening. I just said "Yes, I can". His response a few minutes later was something like "Wait, you were serious about that?"
I remember waiting for a full season 3 to begin in the fall of '87 and like a breath in the wind, all hope of that was gone. The Movie's opening sequence was amazing and if Marvel/Hasbro would've stuck closer to a comic/cartoon, Military themed premise, maybe the line would've gone on for another year or so. Then again, priorities shifted due to the brash weirdness of the Turtles and that whole neon phase the late 80s/early 90s culture seemed to embrace.
6:30 Man, remember when Pizza Hut was *good* and going there was actually a treat? Sigh. Also, it's hardly surprising Hasbro loved the "hidden Cobra society" thing - it had so much more toy potential.
GI Joe was always kinda second tier to me. He Man, Transformers, even Voltron were bigger deals in my mind. I did watch it, because it was always back to back with Transformers, and I did like some of the toys, but I never loved it. I did really like the movie and saw it when it came to video. The whole thing with Duke had my ten year old eyes rolling, saying "yeah, right," but it was still a lot of fun. That whole opening sequence is spectacular. I know a lot of kids loved this more than I did, so when you built up the roll out of the home video releases and concluded with the theatrical presentation for fans who always wanted to see it in a theater, I'll say it got me a little emotional. To have something you loved for so long finally get its due must have been really rewarding for those who truly cared about it.
Dad told me he saved his daily break money for over a month to purchase GI Joe on VHS. He said it was confusing because there was no mention of this powerful super snake race prior to the movie but he still loves it. Since I inherited his awesome GI Joe figures for my first toys he of course shared this movie with me. Even now when we have Saturday cartoon marathons he will get excited to see this movie, it's the only one he sits in the floor to watch everytime.
GI Joe was one of those shows I know I watched as a kid and I had a bunch of the toys. But if you asked me to remember specific details about even a single episode I could not. It was all too samey, so when I saw the movie a few years ago I was kinda stunned by it. It's a lot
I can appreciate the throw anything at the wall spirit of the whole Cobra-La thing as an adult, but as a kid it definitely made me have a "what the heck is this" reaction.
I’m 43 years old; that opening sequence and theme music STILL give me chills.
Joey Armao, Im 47 and I still watch it every now and again. I STILL feel the chills same way I did then. YO JOE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, I'll rewatch that intro a few times a year on youtube ... which often triggers an hour or two of watching all of the 80s / 90s cartoon intros.
There's so many good ones, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers, Denver The Last Dinosaur, Dinosaucers, Wildcats, etc..
Same here.
It's why I have it on my iPod.
Cobra!!!
The saddest thing about the GI Joe movie is that the opening is INCREDIBLE and better than the entire rest of the movie. It never gets as good as the opening again.
CRASHING THROUGH THE SKY COMES A FEARFUL CRY!
🎯
I enjoyed the whole movie! The only thing I didn't like is that they barely used the older Joe's and older cobra members like storm shadow
I agree!
I still get goosebumps listening to this intro as a grown man.
The slow body horror death of cobra Commander was way more disturbing to me as a kid then duke taking a snake to the heart
Death? He doesn't die in the movie.
“I was once a man!”
"I was once a man! Yessssss, oh yesss. I wasss... once a man."
@@Aikurisu TO THIS DAY me and my friends say this randomly haha!
It traumatised me as a kid and kept me away from the franchise for so long. Even going back to watch the movie now, I still feel so disturbed by it.
I was 11 years old when an unfortunate life long issue with my right leg put me in a hospital for the first time. I was alone and scared to death and on one of my mom and dad's daily visits to see me, they gave me a GI Joe comic book, which was my first ever comic book. I read it cover to cover by the time they came back the following day and I asked for another which they went and got right then. I can feel myself choking up as I tell this story now at age 50 (and over 20 surgeries later on that leg) and I know that those comic books got me through a terrible time in my life. I went on to be an avid collector of the toys and would have my star wars toys battle against my GI Joe toys on the floor in the basement of the home I grew up in. The show, the movies, the figures, the comics and the theme music will always hold a special place in my heart.
So what happened to your leg
@@edwardpayne8962 If I told you the whole story in detail, it would be a book lol. The super-short version is that I was born with something called an Arterial Venous Malformation but it's much, much bigger than most AVM's. By itself, it's nothing more than a nuisance, but it leads to other complications like weaker bone and muscle in the area. So I've broken the leg twice and had more surgeries than I can count. I've got a knee replacement in that leg and a metal rod in the other. But the good news is that I tried to take better care of myself because of this thing, so I've been into working out all my life (since about age 14). So at 52 I'm not doing too bad. I can play golf and ride a bicycle, I just can't ice skate or run or do rock climbing etc.
I was suspended from elementary school for a week for bringing my VHS of GiJoe: The Movie to 'movie day' in my class when it was my turn. We made it up to where Duke got stabbed in the chest by the snake spear and my teacher finally threw an absolute fit and got the principal to suspend me for bringing violent materials to school. So for an entire week I just got to stay home and play with my GiJoe toys lol.
"I see this as an absolute win!"
Yo Joe!!!
Knowing is half the battle
This story rules.
Which is what you want to do in the first place. That was the day you learned how to get people to do what you wanted and make them think it was their idea the whole time. Thus a super villain was born.
It always amazed me that in a show where the screen is filled with red and blue lasers, nobody ever got shot. Basically both sides were Stormtroopers.
It always resorted to fist fights. All the pilots bailed out to safety. Explosions never contained shrapnel. Cobra and the Joe's never lost a man only the machines. Somehow as a kid I didn't notice.
@Wiseguy 36 They used red and blue pew pews because bullets were expensive... (Yeah, they did an episode with Pentagon budget cutbacks to cripple the Joes.)
Actually the Stormtroopers were quite deadly. Just watch the 1st scene of a new hope were they massacre the rebel forces. The only ones they always miss are the main characters due to plot armor.
That's why the BATS were created. It allowed the Joes to actually shoot the enemies.
@@Ranecroft On the medical ship I think the stormtroopers we're good only because the hallways of the ship were narrow, and everyone was bunched up. Lol
The opening sequence of Cobra taking the Statue of Liberty while the Joes stop them was epic. The song was great as well. The movie was great, although Duke going into a coma was a bit lame.
They had to do thecoma thing with Duke because of the parental backlash after killing Optimus Prime. The animation for the entro is great but the change to the song...less so.
Finest piece of animation of the era.
Agree that that intro was the most amazing thing I saw at the time!
Absolutely. Amazing introduction sequence
That opening sequence and that song are LEGENDARY!!!
The opening of the movie is my favorite G.I.Joe thing ever. It still makes me smile to this day.
My other favorite memory of the movie is that I watched it with a group of friends after college. Me and one of my friends used to make fake Roadblock rhymes all the time after that. That friend sadly passed away, but I think of him every time I see the movie now.
May he rest in peace.
The Statue of Liberty intro sequence may be the greatest piece of toy-associated action animation made in the '80s. In 1986/1987 - for those who remember - the one-two punch of _Transformers: The Movie_ and _GI Joe: The Movie_ was almost as impactful as _Star Wars_ or _Raiders_ - simple, epic perfection. And everything a kid could have wanted from those properties.
I’m pretty sure the Statue of Liberty sequence is by far the best part of that entire movie hands down.
Holy shit. You stole this comment from by brain.
@@JohnDoe-wq5eu Agreed, but it should be stressed that best doesn't imply only - the movie is solid all around. The thing that really gets it is the reworking of the theme song, as was the case in Transformers. Let's be perfectly honest here... the original openings for both were pretty weak. Especially when compared to Thundercats, MASK, and TMNT, which all had epic TV intros. I believe Hasbro realized this. However, with the Transformers movie, the song was over the opening credits - following the conventional motion picture format. GI JOE really pulls ahead by staying true to the formula of the series and including an opening scene. Which is how we end up with the masterpiece of an animated sequence that we have.
You accidentally added an "almost" to your description.
And of course, the original “My Little Pony: The Movie” was an absolute trainwreck. The two films were made in 1986, and “GI Joe: The Movie” was also a direct-to-video release, but it was originally planned as a theatrical release, but it went into direct-to-video territory.
I still quote cobra commander all the time. “The kids get confused.!once a man. I was once a man.”
No one ever talks about the post-movie mini-series where Baroness and Copperhead rounds up a small band of Cobra soldiers still loyal to Cobra Commander to form Python Patrol, take CC to an ancient temple to reconstitute him back into a man, and lure in Serpentor to do away with him once and for all.
Operation Dragonfire.
What?! I need to see this!
It's the beginning of the DIC series.
@@AWW8472 the only good part of DIC. All that follows is cornball stories with CHEAP animation and horrible bgm. But Dragon Fire was pretty good. The Scoop story was great!
Yeah, the DIC series was just not really good, premise was OK, art average but execution pretty weak.
GI Joe was never my thing, but there is one thing from the show that is burned into my memory forever: there was an episode in which Shipwreck wakes up and is being tricked by Cobra to think he was in a coma. The people around him are like robots or something, and at some point his loved ones fucking melt before his eyes in the most disturbing horrific fashion!
"There's No Place Like Springfield". The last two episodes of Season 1. Still pretty crazy when you consider its 1985 contemporaries and what was allowed back then.
@@sprngfldpop1 classic two-parter, definitely nightmare-fuel
That episode blew my young mind.
That episode was wild! Especially for the 80s!
That was the episode of the Synthoids.
As a 43 year old, I was perfect age for this movie and I loved it. The Serpentor storyline as well as Cobra La.
45 here. Loved GI Joe.
Same
`78, baby!
Here I was thinking his name was Sir Pentor, with serpent being a hidden-ish pun.
42 and yes!
While Duke was announced by Doc as being out of his coma at the end of the animated film, his recovery was reinforced in the original Tiger Force TV ad. This Marvel-animated ad featured Dusty exclaiming “Duke is back,” as Duke took command of the team from a GI Joe Dragonfly (converted into the Tiger Fly). So yes, Duke returned one final time in Marvel animation before making multiple appearances in DIC animated form. His team-up with Cobra to fight drug dealers and rescue his half-brother Falcon from them was also epic Duke awesomeness.
That was an awesome mini-series, Falcon was dating the sister of one of the Crimson Guard Immortal, and she was in the hospital from an overdose of the “dust”. That was how the team up happened, Cobra can’t rule the world if everyone dies from drugs.
A few years ago, the Egyptian theater in Hollywood showed both Gi Joe and Transformers The Movie one night. It was amazing finally seeing it on the big screen with a crowd.
Glad I've seen both in theaters.
Sweet!
It would be great to watch these two films with a crowd in the way Rocky Horror Picture Show hollar, scream, shout and what have you.
Duke takes a servant spear to the chest, all the guys in the audience crying out "DUUUUUUUUKE!!"
Or Cobra Commander's body horror scene and the audience flips out with cries of "AAAAAAAH! MOTHER!! OH MY GOD!!"
Scenes where the Joes' are victorious, people go nuts, throw popcorn, "GO JOE! TAKE THAT COBRA, YOU'LL NEVER BEAT GI JOE!!"
Dukes in a coma scene, people murmur not to subtle "That's lame..."
I saw the transformers in theaters on opening day in 86
My favourite line was Golobulous reacting to Serpentor's idea to throw the stricken Cobra Commander in with the Joes: "A trifle melodramatic..."
I’ll never forget the moment I realized that the GI Joe figure that my neighbor had (Rock N’ Roll with his badass motorcycle) was sooo far superior to my coveted Star Wars figures. While I had the movies to back up my Star Wars fandom and imaginary adventures, I didn’t need a backstory for these highly articulated soldiers. The “playability” of the Joe’s was just so awesome and was the natural step up in “maturity” from Star Wars and its toys.
I would play with both together, especially since they were mostly the same size. Same with Visionaries. Also, I'd always wondered if the Yuuzhan Vong from Star Wars novels were inspired by Cobra-La.
I read that's who the prime target audience was for GI JOE toys, boys with maturing tastes. Now that market doesn't exist! Boys would rather play video games and such.
Same here. Once I received my first Joe figure, I forget if it was Grunt or Rock N’ Roll, I was all in. I completely forgot about Star Wars after Return of the Jedi came and went.
You didn't...throw them out, did you?
So very, very well said.
G.J.Joe: The Movie came out on VHS (ask mom and dad about video tapes, kids) around fourth grade or so and quickly became one of my favorite movies for the next few years. Having gotten nostalgic for what I watched as a kid I of course added the Blu-ray to the ever growing archive. Opening theme still tugs at the heart strings, as done hearing Sgt. Slaughter yell "we all go home or nobody goes home!"
Why I love the autograph he did for my copy of the movie.
Fun Fact: After the series was cancelled, Cobra changed their tactics away from warfare, and started offering health insurance.
It's true! I'm under their Health Care package! Its too good to pass up!
Go Cobra !
True. Their premiums are both extortion _and_ economic terrorism.
Cobra!!
"It ssseemsss we'll have to do sssssomething about your cholesssssterol levelssss! Muwahahaha!"
The opening of G.I. Joe the Movie is by far my favorite moment of 80s cartoons. That song givea me goosebumps to this day when it plays in my head.
When I was an 80's teenager, I thought the secret society of Cobra-La lizard people was unrealistic. As an adult, I know the horrifying truth.
Are you saying you believe in that Annunaki B.S.?
@@not_brundle1742 I'm saying I believe in Serpentor
@@not_brundle1742 Nothing like sci-fi and fantasy writers from the 20's and 30's influencing modern politics.
Underrated comment
@@InventiveHarvest and he believes in you
There are some really great episodes of GIJOE that are really deep and go way beyond your avg kids cartoon. I missed these as a kid even though I watched every time I could, but as an adult have been re-watching it and oh boy there are some good ones. Worlds Without End & There's No Place like Springfield are two of my favorites.
Synthoid Conspiracy
Lights, Cameras, Cobra!
Hearts and Cannons
Twenty Questions
I always liked the episode where Cobra recruited Ghosts to fight the Joes for some reason, And the Ghosts turned out to be Tragic, Sympathetic Characters.
The two lines from this film I will alway remember are “I was onccceee a man” and “nothing like a little on the job training!”
Also "Thisss I command!"
Had a supervisor in the Air Force that used the OJT line quite often. He bought me a beer because I was the first to know where it came from.
I completely forgot “The last thing you’ll hear, is the cracking of your own vertebrae”
Don't forget the "COBRA LALALALALAAA!!!"
Me and a friend often try to do Roadblock's "Lifeline? Ahhh Lifvvvliiiiaaoorrrlifeline"
A+ video!
I watched this film at a friend's birthday party sleepover and remember how strange the whole thing seemed.
It was really disturbing when Cobra Commander turned into a snake!
I didn't know it was basically the end of an era I was watching.
Such a high-quality video, thank you so much for making it.
That is a dramatic-comedic winner when you are saying wishy-washy and making those hand movements. Keep on the lookout for imitators!
Burgess Meredith just owned that role. His voice was pure malice-you knew he was bad and NOT a guy to mess with, unlike the Commander and Serpentor. They were pretty goofy in their own charming ways.
He sure did. He has the coldest line ever and he delivered it with such malice you could feel it!
"Be silent or be silenced"
Evil Burgess Meredith is truly horrifying.
And the spliced in line from Grumpy Old Men is just perfection...
The irony was Meredith starred in a 1940's movie called "The Story of G.I. JOE".
"You have lost GI JOE! Lost!"
Just by watching this UA-cam video makes me feel old. Born in 78 I grew up watching all these cartoon shows. I remember playing with all the toys this definitely brought back nostalgia. I first became a G.I. Joe fan when I was about 7 years old started collecting alot of the action figures back then through the years I acquired quite the collection of action figures! Wish I still had them.
The intro was so epic then it went all the way left field but remained crucial viewing. I remember it was on prime time 7pm on WGN Chicago when I was a kid.
The thing I remember and loved the most about the movie was the opening theme. Cobra, COBRA! GIJOE was the red headed step child of early mid 80’s cartoons. But they had some cool toys.
"We all go home or nobody goes home!" And "Cobralalalalalalalalala" are what I remember most.
Honestly as like a 6 year old at the time, this movie/series terrified the SHIT out of me.
Hasbro brought out 2 -3Packs of "GI Joe: The Movie" figures. One was Sgt. Slaughter's Renegades, and the other one was Cobra-la Figures...
Buzz Dixon had an alternate story he wanted to tell about the creation of Cobra before the Serpentor thing happened. He had an idea about Cobra being twisted ideas from some other political philosopher and Cobra Commander had him locked away. The guy would escape and be the Most Dangerous Man for Cobra Commander as he one time mentor. He eventually took those ideas and wrote a fanfiction story that was on Amazon Kindle for awhile. But then Amazon decided to cancel their fanfiction universe. I found out about the fanfiction story being available about 1 month after Amazon changed its policy.
Damn. Damndamndamndamndamn.
I still love Maximum Overdrive. When that kid is riding his bike through his neighborhood looking at all the carnage still gives me chills.
Hell, that movie literally starts off on my birthday.
God I loved and still love the animated GI Joe movie. 500 times better than the live action Michael bay movies.
Michael Bay had nothing to do with those movies
@@screamerlover5781 You'd think the guy who would constantly shove random military garbage into Transformers and TMNT would have loved working on a movie series that actually HAS the military in it, but oddly no.
Michael Bay never worked on the two live action Joe films from the 2000's, nor did he work on Snake Eyes, as well.
@@mightyfilm You have a point. He would've added more explodie, to the films instead of relying on "story" and "jumpy fighting"
@@deadpilled2942 Hos insane need to turn everything into a military fetishist fan-fic probably would have worked here better than TMNT. I don't want to unpack everything wrong with that movie, we'll be here forever. And he just produced that one. Of course, the only live action Joe movie I saw was Snake Eyes, so I wouldn't be able to judge the other two.
So glad I was able to catch this in the movie theater recently for the Fathom event with my brother. We loved it when we were kids and it's just so damn quotable. It was fun viewing it on the big screen as it was originally intended, although that Serpentor TV spot has me hyped for the new Classified release during this year's Pulse Con.
I remembered watching this for the first time when it aired over a week and literally saying to myself "This is too damn good to NOT be in theaters."
Uk here, we got it on video with every reference to GI Joe changed to Action Force. Had no other references apart from the odd UK marvel comic but I absolutely loved it.
@@stewartglencrose9023
Yeah I have to admit as much as the whole teenage mutant hero turtles thing is the most well-known of the changes to US shows for the UK action force really blew my mind. It’s a tiny change really but so significant considering that particular rally cry is like probably the most well-known part of the series. I mean Yo joe, is as iconic if not more so than the thundercats hooooooooooooooooo battle cry.
🇬🇧 What's even stranger is that Action Force began life as a completely separate toyline, made by Palitoy and nothing to do with GI Joe. Then Hasbro, Joe's originator, bought Palitoy and simply started selling GI Joe toys in Action Force packets. We weren't told about the Joe connection until years later!
Same!!!!
What are the other movies/ minis were there? M.A.S.S. Device, Pyramid of Darkness, Arise, Serpentor Arise, Operation Dragonfire, The Weather Dominator (?) . . . Valor vs. Vernon (?), G.I. Joe: Resolute
I remember seeing the film on VHS at my cousin's house when I was 11 years old in 1987. Needless to say, I was looking for the film over 30 years later to no avail, until I found it on DVD at a local library in my neighborhood. I was able to pop in my blu-ray device, and watched it with my son who was about 4 years old at the time. It was everything I imagined as a child and then some. Just the opening sequence of the Joe's stopping Cobra from destroying the statue of Liberty brought tears to my eyes, because we all know how shaky our country has been since 2015 and up, so seeing that much patriotism in one scene gave me hope that our country will be fine for decades to come. I know its a piece of nostalgia for a time long gone, but every GenXer like myself that grew up during the 80s, we still see that era with fondness and appreciation. Thank you for posting this episode.
Even as a kid I was wondering, " What kind of advancements in medicine do they have at GI Joe to have a man survive being stabbed through the heart??"
But, whatever, this movie is still one of my guilty pleasures growing up. Especially seeing the transformation and downfall of Cobra Commander.
"I WAS ONCE... A MAN..."
In an ironic twist of fate, he was stabbed by a Cobra, and Duke had Cobra health insurance (as mentioned at the top of this thread), so they kind of canceled each other out.
Great episode! I remember GI Joe: The Movie very fondly, but I was just about done with GI Joe by 1987. I had been collecting them since 1982. They had such a great run... the figures, the vehicles... such great memories!
The animation of this and The Transformers movie is incredibly detailed because it pretty much was animated by some of the best Japanese animation teams of it's era. I just hope we we get a 4k transfer like we did with Transformers.
Kinda ridiculous that all that animation being good and it wasn't done by American animator's at all which is lazy and the IP being a western one but the animation is amazing and detailed
Still argue with my friends to this day that this movie was NEVER released to theaters but straight to tv! I'm a bit older than they are, so I remember it's debut quite well, and if it had been in theaters, I absolutely would have been there to see it...Thanks for backing up my claim! Wish I'd caught that theatrical release this year, this is the first I'm hearing about it...
I never got why they didn't kill Duke off...just because of the Optimus Prime backlash?! They...DO know that kids never bonded with Duke to the same degree that they cared about Prime, don't they? No? Okay, then...
Duke and Flint both shared the role of being the leader on missions, while Optimus was present the majority of the time. I think that might be why some people didn't connect with Duke as much as Prime. That said, I think killing characters was a bad idea for kids films...especially to the body count Transformers the movie did. Death just for shock value is cheap and in fiction it typically gets undone anyways. (as what happened to Prime multiple times now.) Death should be done sparingly, so when it happens it has actual weight. There's plenty of ways to write a character out of a story besides giving them a dirt nap.
@@Lastjustice I think it has more to do with Duke just not being that interesting! Flint was far moreso, both in appearance and personality, it's no wonder he and Lady Jaye took over the show...As for killing Prime off, it's fair to say they genuinely DID intend that to be permanent, and only reveresed it when a massive backlash set in...I agree it shouldn't be done willy nilly, but even for kid's films, it should never be entirely off the table! Otherwise, we'd never have gotten Bambi...
@@HandofOmega I agree that Flint and Lady Jaye had far more going on under the hood. Duke was cut from the same stotic personality you'd see in most DC super heroes at the time. The typical good for the sake of good character who's right the majority of the time and not much else. Your father figure insert types.
Prior to the transformers movie, Alpha Trion was the only named character(He sacrificed himself to merge with vector sigma to create the Aerial bots) I can think of that died on screen. (3 unnamed Seekers were blown up in the pilot run.) It wasn't that we never saw death, it just wasn't at the crazy level they did at the begining of the 86 film. The shuttle being overtaken kills more autobots alone than the entire first 2 seasons.
The movie was to blantantly in the opposite direction of the show with how ruthlessly they killed off existing characters in the beginning. Then we see the plot armor turn back on for all the new cast in the second half. Ultra Magnus gets torn to pieces and put back together, and Kup gets his limps put back on. We saw autobots die to far less than that in the beginning half, so this was extra jarring. Like why could they just brought Prime to Junkion if it was that easy to put a guy back together?
It undermines the concept they can be killed and stay dead when we've seen them put back together from far worse. In city of Steel, prime was a reduced to a head, and the rest of his body was used by the constructicons for parts.(They built a robot alligator out of most of it) He was put back together in the end just fine. In Triple takeover Blitzwing literally smashes autobots flat as a tank, and uses their bodies to make a throne for himself....yet they all survive somehow?! Then we see them die to single laser blasts to center mass. Like how did these guys survive this long if that's all it took?
The following shows generally have body counts happen, but it's planned out and done sparingly. I feel like they maintain the right level of balance of the most of the time.
@@Lastjustice Flint and Lady Jaye were canonised as a couple in Transformers. Marissa Fairborn from Season 3 is their daughter.
Your Grumpy Old Men/Golobulous joke is the best one you've ever had. Pure genius.
For a few months my friends and I would finish every sentence with "THIS I COMMAND" even if it didn't fit. Getting detention for it was what got us to quit. That said, I enjoy the movie despite it flaws. Cobra-La was something different, Nemesis Enforcer looked cool, Cobra Commander had a good story arc, and Globulus actually had a sense of menace to the point where I was a bit intimidated going into the fight with him in GI Joe on NES.
Detention? For that?! Maybe the administration was saying, "You will comply. THIS I COMMAND!"
Not only was Optimus Prime's death traumatic, but Iron Hide, Prowl and the rest of the Autobots on the ship deaths were as well and it was BRUTAL. Prime's death was just another layer of trauma.
Ironhide being shot in the face was WAY more traumatic to witness than Optimus Prime dying with dignity surrounded by loved ones.
@@MykeLewisMusic Yeah, that always disturbed me as a kid. "Such heroic nonsense"... Then blasts Ironhide point blank in the face. Brutal stuff for a 4 year old lol.
@@MykeLewisMusic, Prowl dying as smoke poured from his mouth and his eyes dimmed was...excessive.
@@MichaelMartin-qe5ye yeah, that and the pool of acid near the end. I loved it, but it definitely freaked me out as a kid!
@@Jay-bf8yp super brutal. Looking at it now, surprisingly sophisticated for a kids’ movie. Also, kind of a kickass way for a guy like Ironhide to die. By the time OP died, I was pretty much numb 🤣
This is one of the best videos you guys have done. Congrats, guys.
I never understood the narrative that GI Joe was grounded in realism and Cobra La took things too far. In the cartoon there were ghosts, magic, crazy sea monsters and Gizmo-like things that turned into giant goat-men. But a bunch of hidden snake people took things too far? Nah, I think the real reason it's disliked is the same reason why Transformers failed - it just felt unearned for a bunch of new characters to suddenly take the spotlight and push aside fan faves. That, and the fanbase aging out.
Regardless, I still love this movie. Cobra Commander's redemption arc was great.
Where I lived, t on the San Francisco Bay Area they actually aired the whole movie uncut during prime time. They did the same with the 5 part mini series years earlier. I came home from shopping and only saw the last 30 minutes and was blown away...so many questions walking into it towards the end. Fortunately I caught it in whole during reruns later, and eventually I got the VHS and copied it from a rental version. Such a great film, despite it's convoluted history.
Yeah I lived around there around the same time and I think I saw this but I honestly can’t remember.
Then again I would’ve only been about seven years old at the time so even if I did see it it’s hard to remember at this point.
@@JohnDoe-wq5eu Yeah I was 10 when Transformers the movie came out. I remember my mom taking myself and 3 Friends to a theater in Hayward. Then a year later, catching that last part of GIJoe on channel 2 it was a Friday or Saturday night. They played all sorts of cool stuff though. I even saw the Thundercats movie uncut, but that was during a Saturday afternoon I'm pretty sure.
I was born in 86, so I grew up watching GIJoe. I remember that around the time of the early 90s, you could join the Burger King Kids Club and send away for cartoons on tape. I did this alot and had a number of TMNT episodes on video cassette. Then one time they offered the GIJoe movie. I ordered it, loved it, and watched it till the tape gave out. I'm now 38 and still love the movie and happily own the Blu ray version.
one footnote worth mentioning, in 1989 the then still almost new Fox network aired gi joe the movie in its entirety in prime time. I remember all the kids at school talking about how cobra commander got turned into a snake the next day.
I'm a big Transformers fan, but I never really cared about G.I. Joe. I only watched it because it came on after the Transformers, and didn't read the comics because the military stuff was kinda boring to me and never cared for the action figures because of the small size and articulation ( I was more into the He-Man type figures). That being said, the cartoon didn't get interesting to me until Sgt. Slaughter and Serperntor showed up. I know alot of fans hate the Sci/fi elements, but I loved them. And the G.I.Joe movie blew my mind, especially with Duke almost dying, Cobra-La, and Cobra Commander turning into a snake ( which made a hell of alot more sense to me especially in a shared universe of giant alien robots, armored scientists fighting underground Kaiju, and hot rocker chicks with sophisticated hologram technology). Classic Awesome movie.
The opening sequence was insanely good, so was Pythona emerging through Cobra defenses, Cobra-La was a bit too much of a stretch but overall quite enjoyable
When Falcon was given Don Johnson's voice, I was at a point in the 80's where my daytime cartoons were crossing over into the new primetime adult shows I was just starting to watch.
This was huge...after Hasbro got all those famous voices for The Movie, Don Johnson was hitting the apex of his career at night time and his pastel, art deco-inspired Miami coutured self was now validating my daytime obsession with G.I. Joe to all the perceived scoffing adults did at me hogging the TV in the afternoon.
Though it wasn't released in theaters, this was still a phenomenal film! I was so glad when my mom recorded the entire film on vhs back when it aired and still brings me joy to this day! I still hold this movie up in high regards like TF the movie and absolutely LOVE THAT INTRO! COBRA-LALALALALALAH!!!
The constant references to the grape stomping video were priceless!
For real... It's golden 😂😂😂
I'm sad we missed out on the possible Topless Zarana scene when she was near the lake. That extra spice was certainly nice so I thank the crew for that reveal many years later at a con!
“Be silent or be silenced.” -Golobulus
Hearing that line, in Burgess Meredith voice, delivered that way, still gets me to this day!
I'm extremely happy that Toy Galaxy is covering G.I.JOE THE MOVIE, because I have always loved this movie
After all these years, the Intro to Gi Joe the Movie gives me goose bumps. One of the best intros of all time
I love this movie! As a kid I remember finding the whole Cobra La thing so fascinating. For like an entire month during recess at school I ran around yelling "CobraaaLalalalalaaa!" every chance I got... during kick ball, dodge ball, TV tag, freeze tag, climbing the monkey bars, and even during a game of marbles.
When I played with my action figures Duke did die (His O ring broke and so did his crotch and thumbs so I didn't want him anymore. Besides I had had him since his release and he was already in bad shape before breaking.) and Flint took his place as the field commander with Lt. Falcon and Sgt. Slaughter coming next... of course they all reported to General Hawk. Oh and fuck Beachhead. Great video Dan, your history lessons always carry me down memory lane with blissful nostalgia.
Fuck Beachead?! I’m going to have to ask you to step outside.
@@wolfprime something about Beach Head just bothered me.
@@AntoineJenkins80sChild I was the exact opposite. Beachead was on my go to strike team with Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, and Firefly. All of the fully masked, lone wolf, bad asses on one team. Besides fitting on that team he was also a Ranger like my all-time favorite, Stalker.
You forgot to mention how they turned Cobra Commander into a snake. A literal snake, LAME!
14:00 i rented the movie as a kid, I literally shut off the movie when Prime died and never watched the original series again. To this day.
It had its moments afterward, but I agree you picked the absolute perfect moment to tune out!
U missed out!
I understand your reaction.
"To this DAY! To THiS DAY!"
This Movie is another integral knot tying GI Joe and Transformers together in my heart
This was so epic, so spectacular, & so ridiculous all at the same time to this 11-year-old back when I caught it in its 5-part miniseries form in '87. That opening theme is still amazing. The DIC version didn't air in my rural enclave (nor did She-Ra or New Adventures of He-Man), so it was fun catching up with those episodes as an adult when the DVD boom happened.
Just watched all of the first series this week. Great memories. And I’m 44.
I loved this movie back in the day. The whole Cobra La thing was dope & Nemesis Enforcer is the greatest name for a villain period lol!
I don't care what this video or anyone else says, I remember clearly that GI Joe the movie premiered in Prime Time as a two parter.
GI Joe, like Transformers , spun itself into a weird psychedelic world that kids simply couldn't get behind. The kids didn't outgrow the series , the series got too weird for kids. I remember.
Season 3 of Transformers was baffling if you didn't see the movie AND why did they jump 20 years ahead?
Opening bit was like a Super Add for all the vehicles and figures. One thing i'll always remember is Cobra Commander slowly turning into a snake, especially the part when we finally get to see under the mask but it was all snake'ish and really neat for the time.
i still remember parts of the movie way more clearly than any of the actual episodes of the show.
😄👍
I absolutely loved that movie. I watched it so many times. The addition of Cobra La took everything to the next level and those characters were brilliant.
Absolutely 💯
Now I know the sad truth of GI Joe: The Movie and knowing is half the battle!
I see what you did there. Yoooo Joe!
Thanks Shipwreck!
GI Joeeee
The other half is violence.
The M.A.S.S Device, the Weather Dominator, and the Pyramid of Darkness is how I was introduced to GI Joe.
Growing up, I always thought that The Transformers cartoon and movie had a better mythology than the comic book, while the reverse was true for GI Joe. As hard as I tried, I just could _not_ get into Transformers comics; while the cartoon had a fairly well-established, consistent, and fairly logical history and mythology.
The mythology of the cartoon said that Cybertron was originally a planet-sized factory center built by the Quintessons to design and build two sets of domestic and military robot product lines, to be sold as hardware to humanoid aliens across the galaxy (which was why they transformed into human-sized cars and trucks and such.) Gradually these robots developed sapience and then fought off their creators to gain their freedom. After millions of years (and who knows how many generations of automated reproduction by the master design computer Vector Sigma) they forgot their own origins, and eventually internal divisions between the two original product lines lead to war between the militant military hardware line and the peaceful domestic hardware line. It seemed sensible as Science-Fiction story to me. Instead, the comic book's Cybertronians were robotic life-forms that evolved from "living metal" (or whatever it was?) and just happened to transform into human-sized cars and trucks for... some reason? As I said, I never could get into the comic books to find out if any reason was ever given for it beyond "disguise" (not disguise to the other giant robots, certainly?)
The GI Joe cartoon's use of vague "lazer zap gun" instead of actual military weapons just seemed incredibly lame, especially considering that the team had _actual laser weapon specialists_ (like _Zap!)_ that the file cards made special note of, plus the whole concept of Cobra-La just struck me as _way_ too bizarre to take seriously;. But the comic book Joe's mostly used real military weapons in addition to the vehicles from the toyline (Roadblock was supposed to be a machine gunner, but he just used a lazer zap gun like everyone else in the cartoon.) The comic book origin of COBRA Command seemed plenty realistic; as a secret society assembled from a dangerously discontented underclass of people who were angry at what they considered "being trampled on by society" and "not getting what (they thought) they deserved," who were recruited into a paramilitary organization/Cult by a charismatic demagogue/slick ex-used car salesman, who promised them the chance to fight back and "take back control" by force. It seemed terrifyingly all too possible in real life. Although Chrisssss Latta made the cartoon enjoyable to watch anyway, and the original mini-series were pretty great. And the way the cartoon treated Snake Eyes after the original mini-series was such a waste; I suppose it was because he didn't talk, so the writers just didn't know what to do with him?
In fact, the comic book origins of COBRA seem even _more_ terrifyingly realistic and possible these days. Q-COBRA? I'm afraid COBRA would have a _huge_ Internet following in today's world, and politicians openly aligning with them. COBRA's online followers would be spreading conspiracy theories that GI Joe secretly runs a pedophilia ring from a base hidden under the Chaplains Assistant School's motor pool at a US Army base. Extensive Enterprises would have made its fortune selling pillows.
Is Rudy Giuliani a run-down old Crimson Guardsman? Is that why he went nuts? After serving his purpose as a lawyer and gaining political power for several years, the original either died or was disposed of for being uncooperative, and was replaced with a fanatically loyal/delusional Rudy IV?
I loved the cartoon. Not nearly as much as the Transformers, but I found the show, it’s silliness (apple seeds killed a blob, and a whole other episode _dedicated_ to a _pun_ about a window washer) and their fully articulated figures interesting. Getting a Joe figure was like buying a skin in Call of Duty before Call of Duty. Great Stuff, as always!
The viper!!!!
They had silly episodes. And then they had episodes so traumatic that if you saw them as a kid they're burned into your subconscious, namely "There's no place like Springfield" and "Worlds without End"
i remember seeing the gi joe movie back in the 80s/90s on VHS and in it duke dies and there is a crying scene at the end of the movie , then years later when i got a copy of the movie on DVD it was over-dubbed to have him 'be in a coma' , i wish i still had that older VHS version
Glad that Buzz gets so many shout-outs in this episode! He's told me about tons of ideas that got kicked around in the old days and it's nice to hear the Serpentor origin(s) again!
I still sing the movie theme out loud randomly to this day, heavily emphasizing the “COBRA!” part
Crashing through the sky
Comes a fearful cry
Co...bruhhh... Co...BRAAAH!!!
Co...bruhhh... Co...BRAAAH!!!
Great video! Thanks for the rundown! Keep up the great work!
I was about 9 when this came out. First: that opening sequence with the updated theme was awesome! I didn't have a problem with the Cobra-La stuff--I thought it was intriguing. I'd already liked Serpentor's design and origin. Learning the truth about Cobra Commander reinvigorated interest in him. I got Golobulus, Nemesis Enforcer, and the Royal Guard (they came in a 3-pack, right?) over any of the new Joes, except for Law & Order.
Nicely done. I'll be back. My favorite part of the Liberty Island scene has always been the bazooka shell going between Shipwreck(?), and his hat. Have a good evening.
I liked the movie but always thought the name "Cobra La" and the "Lalalalalala" battle cry was dumb. I'm glad my instincts on that were right.
You were correct. It felt phoned in because it was.
I'm now 42 & was a MASSIVE Joe fan as a kid. I actually started collecting again in my 30's with my son as a way to spend time together & hunt for the stuff we liked. I'll always have love for this movie. My youngest son & I now watch this at least once a year together. YO JOE!
I don't care what anybody says that intro to GI Joe the movie 1987 is so damn patriotic.
After the opening scene I want to drape myself in the American flag and make out with a bald eagle.
I can't lie, decades later, it still chokes me up!
@@exoarchyanubis9528 😄😄😄
@@officialonyxobsidian yeah that intro is so badass.
Grew a full beard and 'stache after watching it back in the day.
The whole Shipwreck mindf%%k storyline still sticks with me to this day. That was INSANE for a kids' show. Especially back in the 80's.
You mean the episode where he wakes up and thinks he's in a future a couple years later after being in a coma. It turns out whole thing was some crazy plot by Cobra to trick him.
@@Lastjustice Yep. That was brutal.
Cobra La La La La La La! I enjoyed this movie. Great story and cool new characters. Still have it on VHS! 😁 Yoooo Joe!
It’s the illusion of good vs evil that died in the 90’s. -Everyone who wasn’t there doesn’t believe in everything that happened there…
"This is doc at headquarters! Great news, EUGH EGH EUGH AEH EH" 🤣 This just broke me.
My dad was a Vietnam vet, but also a Baptist preacher. So he was extremely selective about what my brother and I were allowed to watch on TV. Going to the movies was forbidden, so Star Wars was banned in our house. Any TV shows with anything remotely magic based or “demonic” (He-Man, Thundercats, Care Bears, D&D, Smurfs, etc.) were also banned.
Transformers was tolerated, since it was just robots. But when it came to GI Joe, my dad not only allowed us to watch it, but he would sometimes watch it with us.
I believe it was the unapologetically patriotic themes and portraying the military in a positive light that made GI Joe so different and refreshing in the early 1980s. A lot of Vietnam veterans like my dad still had vivid memories of being spit on and called “baby killers” when they returned home. So those early GI Joe cartoons were like a breath of fresh air to men who still loved their country even through all the lies, betrayal, and slander they experienced after serving. More importantly, many of those veterans had sons who were at the perfect age for the GI Joe action figures, when they first appeared in stores.
The only time my dad ever took my brother and I to a store for the sole purpose of buying us toys was to get GI Joe toys. He always encouraged us to get the figures and vehicles that were the most grounded in reality and, to this day, that’s what I see as the strength of the GI Joe brand and what sets it apart from Star Wars, He-Man, and all the copycat franchises those brands inspired.
Unfortunately, with the introduction of Serpentor, that grounding in reality started to weaken and my interest waned significantly. If I wanted science-fiction/fantasy, there were already several other franchises that were offering better versions of that.
When I first saw Cobra-la and Golobulus in a toy store, in 1987, my first reaction was, “Nope… I’m out.” After that, I walked away from GI Joe until 2007, when the 25th anniversary stuff started appearing in stores.
I still go back and watch this movie and I'm nearly 40.
I saw it in theaters back in June. A few people arrived late, and I felt sorry for them for missing that epic open sequence, which is by far the best part of the film.
The blood coming from Duke was revolutionary to me as a kid. And then, I discovered unedited anime movies.
Yeah I remember the first time I saw anime and my head freaking exploded.
I mean I think most kids from the 80s or even early 90s can tell you exactly the first time they ever saw ghost in the shell or Akira for the first time.
Nudity and violence/blood in animated form that was crazy. You’re never quite the same after your experience anime for the first time especially uncut. The 90s were the most amazing period of my entire life because that was the decade that America finally got anime and it got it big time.
Not sure where you lived but Robotech was a stark contrast to Joe
@@JohnDoe-wq5eu You're right. In retrospect, we now know that Voltron and others were technically anime. But as kids I didnt know. Plus it was censored and rebranded for american youth. My first experience with real uncut "japanime" and/or "Japanese animation" as we called it then, was "Fist Of The North Star". It blew me away, since I loved martial arts. Me and friend use to always quote, "You're Already Dead" like Ken said in the movie, lol. Then of course "Akira" visually changed the game. Although I must admit, I didn't understand the story back then, lol. And I also liked "Vampire Hunter D". In the 90s, the secret was out, and Americans were getting a ton of anime. My favorite to this day, is "Ninja Scroll"
@@Wis_Dom
I mean that's the thing we all have that moment where everything just clicks into place and you suddenly understand stuff for the first time.
I mean I spent more time watching cartoons during the '90s where it was much more obvious what was being added or removed. But that first time you watched some uncut japanimation it was like an awakening. Which seems like a ridiculous statement at first but it really is/was. I was lucky enough to have a local PBS channel that picked up various anime and would show it uncut late on Sunday nights. It's where I had probably the deepest experience of my young life where I saw evangelion, bubblegum crisis and dirty pair flash subbed. That has stayed with me my entire life to this point. It really did change my perception of everything I had known up to that point and it really is like walking away from your young childhood days into being a young adult. I really truly feel it was that significant. It wouldn't be a significant if it happened today because it's so prevalent but back in the 90s and late 80s when it was still kind of an underground thing it was truly eye-opening.
In the Japanese version of the movie Duke actually dies and Falcon takes over the Joe's. The sequel was pretty good as well.
The first 15 minutes of the movie are awesome, Especially the opening sequence. That one Crimson Guard definitely hates the news media, Took that camera right out!! The rest of the flick. Hot garbage. Even Sarge and Don Johnson couldn’t save it. Serpentor was lame AF, and it honestly should have been Destro with overthrowing CC, but the Baroness secretly pulling the strings.
Super Side Note: the Flopping Lady footage…. I live about 15 minutes away from where that lady flopped to the ground making ALL those horrendous noises. Apparently she really got hurt with that dive. Chateau Elan, just northeast of Atlanta.
I still remember Duke dying when I first watched it. I thought for years I misremembered it, but my grandmother mentioned she was mad that I was watching a cartoon that killed a character in a bloody way. When we discussed it, we both remembered Scarlett saying he was dead.
That, or I have long since lost all connection to reality. Which, to be fair, is entirely plausible.
You saw the original cut? I could never find this. Point me in the right direction please. This I Command!
@@bryansillman3240 No clue. This was about thirty years ago when they had it on TV. Not sure if they showed the wrong one or what. Several friends at school saw it too, which caused a big argument with the kids who had it on VHS. I legit thought I just misremembered it until my grandmother told me she remembered it as well.
@@Plaprad
Yeah that is crazy but honestly totally possible I guess.
It’s hard to believe there would be one variation that somehow got out into the wild though as I thought they made the decision not to kill Duke before it ever made it to air so I don’t know how some thing like that could even be possible. That said I have experienced things like this myself with other things from my childhood that I still can’t really explain. Parts for movies or lines or just various things that I was certain happened that I’ve gone back and found apparently weren’t said or shown. But then you realize they do stuff like adding scenes for when a movie is shown on TV Like the famous octopus scene in the goonies. So it’s very possible that it’s not so much a Mandela effect as much as it is something more like a regional difference or something very strange like that.
That is likely an example of the Mandela Effect, where you remember something from a film that didn’t actually happen. Such as no one ever actually said the phrase “Beam me up, Scotty” in Star Trek, but everyone “quotes” it.
There was never an official release of the dead Duke version.
@@JohnDoe-wq5eu Yeah. My only thought is somehow one of the original versions got sent out to a TV station and was quietly discarded after. I can't even remember what channel it was on. Though, I do remember telling one of my friends who never believed me. About a decade ago, he read that Duke was killed in the original cut. I got a message about it where he asked if I could imagine that happening. I just said "Yes, I can". His response a few minutes later was something like "Wait, you were serious about that?"
I remember waiting for a full season 3 to begin in the fall of '87 and like a breath in the wind, all hope of that was gone. The Movie's opening sequence was amazing and if Marvel/Hasbro would've stuck closer to a comic/cartoon, Military themed premise, maybe the line would've gone on for another year or so. Then again, priorities shifted due to the brash weirdness of the Turtles and that whole neon phase the late 80s/early 90s culture seemed to embrace.
"Cobra-La-La-La-La-La!!!"
~ Serpentor, 1987
Another great retrospective, Dan! You make some of the best nostalgia based content on the net. Thanks for making these!
It’s funny though the movie memory holed us into believing that the show was more violent but in reality everyone had storm trooper aim.
6:30 Man, remember when Pizza Hut was *good* and going there was actually a treat? Sigh.
Also, it's hardly surprising Hasbro loved the "hidden Cobra society" thing - it had so much more toy potential.
This channel has superb content editing and presentation. Paced well and entertaining information. Good job. Been viewing a while.
GI Joe was always kinda second tier to me. He Man, Transformers, even Voltron were bigger deals in my mind. I did watch it, because it was always back to back with Transformers, and I did like some of the toys, but I never loved it. I did really like the movie and saw it when it came to video. The whole thing with Duke had my ten year old eyes rolling, saying "yeah, right," but it was still a lot of fun. That whole opening sequence is spectacular. I know a lot of kids loved this more than I did, so when you built up the roll out of the home video releases and concluded with the theatrical presentation for fans who always wanted to see it in a theater, I'll say it got me a little emotional. To have something you loved for so long finally get its due must have been really rewarding for those who truly cared about it.
This movie did so much stuff
Never have I seen this much plot handled so well in one movie
Dad told me he saved his daily break money for over a month to purchase GI Joe on VHS. He said it was confusing because there was no mention of this powerful super snake race prior to the movie but he still loves it. Since I inherited his awesome GI Joe figures for my first toys he of course shared this movie with me. Even now when we have Saturday cartoon marathons he will get excited to see this movie, it's the only one he sits in the floor to watch everytime.
For some reason, Golobulous scared the crap outta me when I was a kid.
GI Joe was one of those shows I know I watched as a kid and I had a bunch of the toys. But if you asked me to remember specific details about even a single episode I could not. It was all too samey, so when I saw the movie a few years ago I was kinda stunned by it. It's a lot
I can appreciate the throw anything at the wall spirit of the whole Cobra-La thing as an adult, but as a kid it definitely made me have a "what the heck is this" reaction.