#41 –G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
(28 Points) 5 of 13 Lists - Highest Ranking - #10 – McDonald’s
Knowing is half the battle
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/tCqQ_pUz-58" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/tCqQ_pUz-58</a>]]> Release Date: 1983
Just the plagarismG.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is a half-hour American animated television series based on the successful toyline from Hasbro and the comic book series from Marvel Comics. The cartoon had its beginnings with two five-part mini-series in 1983 and 1984, then became a regular series that ran in syndication from 1985 to 1986.
Ron Friedman created the G.I. Joe animated series for television, and wrote all four miniseries. The fourth mini-series was intended to be a feature film, but as noted subsequently was released as a television mini-series instead because of production difficulties
Following the initial two mini-series, the regular series began airing on September 16, 1985 concurrently in line with the second season of The Transformers, debuting with a third five-part story, The Pyramid of Darkness. A public safety lesson was usually featured at the end of each episode, using G.I. Joe characters in brief scenarios to impart safety tips to children. These lessons gave birth to the catchphrase: "And knowing is half the battle". The majority of the episodes centered around the relationship between Flint and Lady Jaye.
In each episode's opening title sequence voice actor Jackson Beck states that, "G.I. Joe is the code name for America's daring, highly-trained, Special Mission force. Its purpose: To defend human freedom against Cobra, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world".
Because the cartoons were produced as a vehicle to sell the toys, each episode typically focused on a particular G.I. Joe character.
In order to cut production costs for the animated series, Hasbro dropped Sunbow and contracted DiC to continue the series. Story editor Buzz Dixon explained in an interview: "Hasbro had been funding G.I. Joe out of their own pocket; they got a ridiculous deal from DiC to take over the series and they pretty much let them."
The DiC series is a continuation of the Sunbow show, though it chose to focus primarily on new characters of the period. Hawk was retained as G.I. Joe commander and at times shared his duties with Sgt. Slaughter as head of the G.I. Joe team. Captain Grid-Iron was given field commander duties in Season 1, with Duke regaining his old position in Season 2. Storm Shadow was also now a member of G.I. Joe, as he had been sold as a Joe rather than a Cobra since 1988, keeping in line with the story of the comics, where he had abandoned Cobra in 1986-87.
The first season centered almost exclusively on the 1990 Joes; meanwhile, Cobra, having a less extensive cast, was augmented by select characters from 1989 and the yet-to-be-released 1991 figures. This new ensemble had a much wider variety of Cobra Officers as viewers were introduced to the Night Creepers and their leader, and many different forms of Vipers.
The first season of the DiC series was mainly standalone episodes that focused on establishing new team members and plots. The second season of the DiC show lowered the animation budget but began a series of two part episodes, which often told a deeper story involving more dramatic life and death situations for the Joes. Theme song and underscore by Stephen James Taylor.
Also a casualty of the animation company changeover, was the extensive voice cast Sunbow employed, which largely consisted of voice actors employed by West Coast American companies. Because this DIC series was produced in Canada, an almost entirely new cast was assembled. Only a few actors from the Sunbow series returned for the DIC series; including Sgt. Slaughter, Chris Latta (the voice of Cobra Commander), Ed Gilbert (General Hawk) and Morgan Lofting (Baroness). But with Season 2, those holdover characters & actors were either retired or recast with new voices.
Quantum Vagina’s take - I probably overuse the word awesome, but this(these) show(shows) was(were) AWESOME, and not just because Sgt. Slaughter is a complete badass. I wish I was a kid in the 80’s. You guys got all the best toys. I had to deal with floam and crap like that.
Topic: LOC 74- Top 50 Cartoons of the 80's (Read 28993 times)
