G.I. Joe: The Movie

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G.I. Joe: The Movie
Directed by	Don Jurwich
Produced by	Joe Bacal Tom Griffin
Written by	Ron Friedman
Starring	Don Johnson Burgess Meredith Sgt. Slaughter Bill Ratner
Release date(s)	1987
Running time	93 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

G.I. Joe: The Movie is a 1987 animated film spun off from the animated series G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, based on the original Hasbro toyline.

Created at the height of the G.I. Joe craze in the 1980s, G.I. Joe: The Movie was intended as a theatrical release to be closely followed by Transformers: The Movie. However, the G.I. Joe film encountered unexpected production delays which allowed the Transformers feature to be released first. Due to the poor box office performances of the Transformers film and the My Little Pony film, G.I. Joe: The Movie was relegated to direct-to-video status before later being split into a 5-part mini-series for television syndication.

[edit] Synopsis

In the film, it is revealed that the COBRA organization was created by Golobulus, the ruler of an ancient race of pseudo-reptillian people in the secluded kingdom of Cobra-La, which held dominion of the Earth ages before humanity's rise from barbarian ignorance. Their culture, based in advanced organic tooling, was nearly extinguished with the arrival of the ice age, but they found haven in the Himalayan mountains even as humanity evolved to develop its own material technology. Biding his time to reclaim the Earth, Golobulus finally sent a Cobra-La citizen — who turns out to be Cobra Commander — to embark on a mission to overthrow humanity.

After years of failed results, Golobulus presently decrees that Cobra Commander is to be punished by exposure to mutative spores, devolving him into a mindless snake. It is further revealed that Golobulus inspired the plan for Serpentor's recombinant genetic assembly, whose idea was seeded in Dr. Mindbender's brain with the assistance of a "psychic motivator". The remaining COBRA heavyweights — Destro, Baroness, Dr. Mindbender and the Dreadnoks — agree with Serpentor to help Golobulus conquer the world in exchange for their preserved humanity.

Golobulus seeks to acquire the experimental Broadcast Energy Transmitter (BET) kept under G.I. Joe's guard, intending to use its power to accelerate the orbital ripening of his mutative spores, which will then shower the entire planet to devolve all humanity into thoughtless beasts, leaving only those protected within Cobra-La to survive unharmed. Only the heroic determination of G.I. Joe stands in their way.

[edit] Cast

[edit] New Characters

Beachhead (far right) breaks in the new recruits: Chuckles, Tunnel Rat, Big Lob, Jinx, Law (minus Order).

G.I. Joe: The Movie was intended to bridge a gap between the end of the second season of G.I. Joe's animated series and leading into a third season. Among new characters introduced in the film were the Rawhides:

• Lieutenant Falcon, a Green Beret and Duke's reckless half-brother.
• Jinx, a female Asian martial arts expert with a reputation for bad luck (and alternately, 'blind luck').
• Law, a military policeman, and his bomb-sniffing canine companion, Order.
• Tunnel Rat, infiltration expert without pause.
• Chuckles, here played as silent (minus the frenzied yelling), contrary to his filecard description and his comic portrayal.
• Big Lob, who speaks in sports commentator jargon; apparently created solely for the film, having no action figure or comic book counterpart, although it is possible he is an early concept of Hardball, a baseball attired Joe character introduced in 1988.

Sgt. Slaughter (left foregound) and the Renegades clip Falcon's wings.

There were also the Renegades, a trio of reformed bad apples under the supervision of Sgt. Slaughter, consisting of:

• Mercer, antagonistic ex-Cobra Viper.
• Red Dog, roughhousing ex-football player.
• Taurus, a musclebound former circus acrobat.

These new characters were intended to become prominent players in the third season, but due to behind-the-scenes production issues, they only went on to appear in the comic books.

Pythona.		To what extent agents of Cobra-La were to factor into the third season is unknown, but its characters included: Golobulus, serpent-tailed ruler of Cobra-La. Nemesis Enforcer, the bat-winged mute menace. Pythona, formidable femme fatale assassin. Apparently created for the film (no action figure exists) Royal Guards, arthropod-themed soldiers of Cobra-La.

[edit] Overview

The G.I. Joe film has been a subject of much debate among fans of the series. Some consider it an underrated masterpiece that should have warranted a theatrical release, while others regard it as a slap in the face to story continuity for wandering too far from military roots into science fiction territory.

Many fans were disappointed by the lack of screen time afforded to veteran favorite characters from the TV series. Of the G.I. Joe regulars who are featured, only Duke receives any significant treatment. General Hawk is seen only sporadically, although he does participate in two major battles. Flint spends most of the film off-screen, searching the Himalayas for Roadblock's captured unit, putting in a marked appearance only in the final battle against Cobra-La. Scarlett and Lady Jaye, G.I. Joe's two most prominent heroines, are also given sparse showings — Lady Jaye actually spends the majority of the story out of commission as a prisoner of Cobra-La — while Cover Girl is only seen from a distance and offers no dialogue.

Some have complained that the film spent too much time focusing on the cocky Lt. Falcon, as voiced by Don Johnson, whereas others felt his smart-aleck persona brought a necessary spirited contrast to darker elements of the story, along with "star-appeal" that Johnson's presence provided. Lt. Falcon was originally meant to replace Duke's leadership role in the cartoon; consequently, the two characters were identified in the movie as siblings (more on this below). In earlier drafts, Lt. Falcon was penned as the son of General Hawk, going some way toward explaining their closer dark-haired resemblance and their sharing of avian-themed names.

Another frequent point of contention is that the origin of Cobra Commander as a member of the Cobra-La population did not fit previous series continuity, where closeups in his hooded attire had revealed Caucasian skin and human eyes, not the inhuman blue colorings of the movie's unmasking.

The writers did not originally intend for "Cobra-La" to be the name of the rival civilization; this was merely a placeholder name in the drafts until a more alien label came to mind, but Hasbro executives fell in love with the name and asked the writers to keep it.^[1]

Duke in dire straits.

The biggest point of controversy surrounds Duke's circumventing death following a critical chest injury. In the film, Duke, laying bloodied in the embrace of the distraught Falcon, gasps a frail "Yo...Joe..." with his final breath before slumping motionless. Scarlett is then heard (in off-camera dialogue) despairing that Duke has "gone into a coma", to which General Hawk later assures they'll do everything possible to save him. By the end of the film, another line of overpasted dialogue assures that Duke is recovering in time for the closing credits... In the original script, however, Duke was meant to die, and according to series writer Buzz Dixon, if the scene is viewed without dialogue, judged merely on the expiring movements of Duke and the tearful reactions of the Joes, it plays fairly obviously as a death scene. Fans have also pointed out that Serpentor's snake javelin struck Duke roughly where his heart would be, and in real life it is generally impossible to survive such a gory impaling — not to mention that a comatose state rather corresponds to brain injury.

Duke was scheduled to die for a number of reasons:

1. Duke was being phased out of the toyline by Hasbro and they did not want the TV show to waste time advertising a character whose action figure had been discontinued. (It should be noted, however, that a new Duke action figure was released in late 1988 and almost every year thereafter, guaranteeing his continued presence.)
2. The series promoters decided they were tired of enduring criticisms for their depiction of "sanitized violence", especially when compared to rival militant series Robotech. The decision was made to kill off one of the series' main characters, and Duke was selected, having been the central hero in the "Mass Device" animated premiere (1983 mini-series) and regarded by fans as the poster-child for G.I. Joe. This scripted sacrifice to save his half-brother would serve as the plot catalyst inspiring Falcon to become a responsible Joe.

However, the demise of Optimus Prime (which, ironically, was due in part to the scripted death of Duke^[1]) in the Transformers movie was met with scorn from parents who complained that the death scene had upset their children. The producers decided they did not want a similar protest with G.I. Joe, so Duke's cinematic death was mitigated to a coma in last-minute audio alterations.^[2] Some fans have speculated that if the G.I. Joe movie had been released first with Duke's death left intact as planned, perhaps Optimus Prime would have later been spared instead. (The public backlash ultimately resulted in Optimus Prime being resurrected in the Transformers TV series and comics.) Although Duke's character had been slated for elimination in the film depiction, his death would not have carried over to the G.I. Joe comic book universe.

Fans generally agree that the movie's action sequences are well done. The opening scene (infamously known by fans as "G.I. Joe: The Musical"), featuring G.I. Joe fighting to save the Statue of Liberty from COBRA invaders and set to a hard-hitting redux of the G.I. Joe theme song, is considered one the film's greatest moments. In early drafts of the script, this action sequence was set as the film's climax.

[edit] Notes

• The concept behind the "Broadcast Energy Transmitter" has a real-life counterpart in wireless power transmission through microwave frequencies, with experiments demonstrating up to 30 kilowatts sent over more than a kilometre. In the 1980s, Canada powered its Stationary High Altitude Relay Platform, or SHARP aircraft using microwaves beamed from the ground.
• In the Japanese language release of this film on Laser Disc, the issue of Duke's death was actually left unedited. The same scene in which Scarlett is cradling Duke as he speaks, his final "Yo...Joe...", Scarlett repeatedly states, "He's dead...He's dead.".
• Regarding the "impalement scene", it might be further noted that the snake striking Duke was venomous and, having landed in close proximity to his heart, the venom would have quickly spread to the brain, making survival impossible.
• Several scenes were storyboarded but never animated. One featured recurring character Hector Ramirez reporting from the UN building after the spores are launched into orbit. Another scene featured Jinx with her blindfold on and holding a sword, trying to stop the Thunder Machine from escaping with Serpentor: Falcon sees her and pushes her out of the way; they start to argue, but then they quickly notice smoke coming from the stockade, which leads to Falcon running into Hawk.
• There are several instances where the sound effects used were directly lifted from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, the two most notable being Pythona's infiltration into the Cobra fortress, and the arctic attack on the BET. The first contains audio from the duel between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi, while the second contains audio from the final Death Star battle. During the shot of Duke hanging from Serpentor's glider, the sound of TIE Fighters, instrument panel beeps, and even Darth Vader's breathing can clearly be heard.
• Presumably, if the film had received a theatrical release, it would have featured an original music score, just as The Transformers: The Movie did. However, the version that was eventually released on video featured re-used music cues from the tv series (some of which had also been used in the Transformers tv series).
• It is assumed early in the movie that Lt. Falcon and Jinx were engaged in something more than a professional supervisor/subordinate relationship and is particularly obvious with the kissing scene at the end of the movie. In real life military affairs this would have been against the Uniform Code of Military Justice as Falcon is an officer and Jinx is an enlisted member. Both would not have been "open" about this relationship or would have been court martialed. Take note however that GI Joe does not follow standard Military conduct, as Duke's official rank is Master Sergeant, while Falcon's is Lieutenant yet Duke is his superior officer, therefor it can be reasonably assumed that they let some things slide.

[edit] External links

• Internet Movie Database entry

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} G.I. Joe Interview - Buzz Dixon
2. ^ G.I.JOE - A REAL AMERICAN F.A.Q. at YOJOE.COM