G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987) revisited

[Earth 2 Chris]

I posted this on the Pod Stallions Facebook group, but I thought I'd share it here:

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On a snowy winter’s morning, I decided to rewatch G.I. Joe: The Movie from 1987, in its entirety. I have loved the opening sequence at the Statue of Liberty since it first aired on TV in 87, and have rewatched it many times. It encapsulates what I loved, and still love about the franchise. The rest of the film has left me bewildered for over 35 years. The swerve into Lovecraftian horror seemed extremely wrong-headed to 12 year old me. Sure, the animated series was always less grounded than the comic, but to shoehorn Cobra-La and it's ancient biomechanical society into the series backstory seemed sacrilegious to me at the time. Cobra Commander was a blue guy, who got multiple eyes through spore exposure? And now he’s a semi-humanoid snake? What was I watching?

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But today I came in with an open mind today, and it wasn’t bad. It’s well made, with good animation for the time. The voice acting and character writing papers over the standard “Cobra is after a new techno McGuffin they want to weaponize” plot. Joe going up against supernatural forces is actually pretty intriguing, I just wish they hadn’t made them part of Cobra’s backstory. But it is painfully obvious Duke was supposed to die and the creators got cold feet due to the death of Optimus Prime reaction.

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It’s still pretty bonkers, but for what it is, it was well done. I’m glad I finally made peace with it.

What do you all think of it?

[palitoy]

Has anyone ever interviewed anyone at Hasbro on the thinking behind Cobra-La? It's a weird departure for the line and I'd love to know why they were this convinced it would work.

[Werewolf]

I think RAH had already jumped the shark when they added Sgt Slaughter.

The animation is top-notch and the intro is fantastic. But it all goes downhill amazingly fast. I don't even mind the idea of Cobra La horror stuff. RAH had always been pretty out there and that was the fun of it. It was just done so poorly. Also, replacing so many popular characters with new D-listers Hasbro wanted to push didn't help and killing off Duke was stupid idea.

The Dic series gets a lot of, probably fair, criticism for its reduced budget. But at least they tried to clean up the mess of the movie. Cobra Commander returned to being human and Cobra La was never spoke of again. They also got rid of Serpentor and Sgt Slaughter. Which were two more pluses in its favor.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Has anyone ever interviewed anyone at Hasbro on the thinking behind Cobra-La? It's a weird departure for the line and I'd love to know why they were this convinced it would work.

I believe Buzz Dixon, who rewrote the film uncredited, said that the name Cobra-La was just a placeholder name, but Hasbro liked it, so it stuck. He also tried to give them a new battle cry after hearing Dick Gautier's Serpentor utter the oft-derided "Cobra LALALALALALALALA!". They turned him down on that, too. Not sure where the idea for Cobra-La originated.

I think RAH had already jumped the shark when they added Sgt Slaughter.

The animation is top-notch and the intro is fantastic. But it all goes downhill amazingly fast. I don't even mind the idea of Cobra La horror stuff. RAH had always been pretty out and that was the fun of it. It was just done so poorly. Also, replacing so many popular characters with new D-listers Hasbro wanted to push didn't help and killing off Duke was stupid idea.

The Dic series gets a lot of, probably fair, criticism for its reduced budget. But at least they tried to clean up the mess of the movie. Cobra Commander returned to being human and Cobra La was never spoke of again. They also got rid of Serpentor and Sgt Slaughter. Which were two more pluses in its favor.

I agree, there's quite a few oddball episodes in the series itself. But they never tied them so directly into the mythos as they did in the movie, and thats why I think it sticks out so badly. Full disclosure, I had the mail-in Sgt. Slaughter, but I came to loathe how superhumanly indestructible he was in the animated series. I wish they'd explained he was like a Project: Rebirth candidate or something. It always bugged me, because previously they'd kept the Joes pretty falliable and human. The Serpentor idea was pretty cool, but the execution in the animated series was very poor. He was no better than the increasingly buffonish Cobra Commander.

[B-Lister]

I was the exact right age for this when it came out.
I was 7 in 1987, and the 1987 lineup is my favorite year for ARAH.

I was always a sci fi geek, so the movie going in that direction didn't swerve me or upset me in any way. I enjoyed it, because it felt like we were moving the plot forward. Finally, some backstory, and mystery revealed! It wasn't great, but it wasn't the sacrelige others call it.

[KingKickass1983]

I love the movie. Than again...I'm a big Sgt Slaughter fan so....yeah.

[tmthor]

I always felt they were trying to link with Inhumanoids in some way. Kinda like a back door pilot they were trying to create a new world to play in. I know my friends and I played that way. I have often thought that Cobra-la and the Inhumaniods together could be the basis of a combined universe.

[palitoy]

I think RAH had already jumped the shark when they added Sgt Slaughter.

Yeah I couldn't bear him either but given the time, it was probably a good business decision for the brand to tie into the WWF.

At least Savage had a soldier persona, the Fridge was truly bizarre to me at the time.