| 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 Michael Bell Chris Latta |
| Studio | Hasbro Marvel Productions (20th Century Fox) Sunbow Productions (Sony Pictures Entertainment) Toei Animation |
| Release date(s) | April 20, 1987 (Home Video Release) |
| Running time | 93 min. |
| Language | English |
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.[1] It was produced by Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions and was animated in Japan by Toei Animation.
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 The 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 My Little Pony: The Movie, G.I. Joe: The Movie was instead released direct-to-video as well as aired on television in syndication, first in feature length format and later split into a five-part mini-series format as part of the show's syndication package.
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While Cobra Commander and Serpentor blame each other's stewardship of Cobra as the root cause of the organization's failures, a mysterious woman breaks into the Terrordrome. Cobra Commander leads the counter-attack, but in an attempt to rid himself of Serpentor, allows the intruder to escape. Reaching Serpentor, the intruder reveals herself as Pythona, who comes from a secret civilization known as Cobra-La. Pythona states that they were responsible for inspiring Doctor Mindbender to create Serpentor through dream manipulation. At her urging, Serpentor plans to capture G.I. Joe's newest weapon, the Broadcast Energy Transmitter (BET), a device that, when activated, sends out surges of electrical power.
Cobra assaults the Joes as they test the BET in the Himalayas. The Joes use the BET to activate their automated weapons systems and defeat the Cobra forces. Serpentor is captured and Cobra Commander orders a retreat. Cobra Commander leads his troops into the mountains, promising them a safe haven. A small detachment of G.I. Joe forces follow them.
As the Joes celebrate their victory, a new group of rookie Joes are brought onto the team, including the allegedly clumsy kunoichi Jinx, military police officer Law and his dog Order, former basketball player Big Lob, EOD specialist Tunnel Rat, undercover officer Chuckles, and the rebellious slacker and half-brother to Duke, the green beret Lieutenant Falcon. Falcon and Duke dislike each other due to Falcon's immaturity and irresponsibility.
Pursued by a cadre of G.I. Joe troops, Cobra Commander leads his forces to Cobra-La. An army of insect-armor wearing soldiers attack the Joe forces and imprison them within the Lovecraftian living environment of Cobra-La. The Cobra soldiers are met by Cobra-La's leader Golobulus.
Golobulus orders Cobra Commander arrested as the rest of the group learns the secret origin of both Cobra-La and Cobra: Cobra-La was an ancient civilization that ruled the Earth, in part due to their advanced scientific knowledge that allowed them to manipulate and convert living creatures into advanced bio-organic technology. Their society was devastated by the onset of the Ice Age, forcing the survivors into caverns within the Himalayan mountains. As centuries passed, Cobra-La rebuilt their society in secret. Golobulus, hating humanity due to their polluting technology and ecologically unfriendly ways, vowed to wipe them off the face of the Earth, and found an agent in the form of a former nobleman who was working on biological weapons of mass destruction. A lab accident caused the nobleman's face to be permanently disfigured with eight additional eyes. Equipping him with a featureless silver facemask that allowed his multiple eyes to work normally, as well as a uniform that allowed him to pass for human, the nobleman became Cobra Commander and was charged with conquering the world for Cobra-La. However, Cobra Commander's repeated failures led Golobulus to arrange for Serpentor's creation as he used a "psychic motivator" on Doctor Mindbender to create Serpentor. Golobulus punishes Cobra Commander for his repeated failures, exposing him to the biological weapon Cobra Commander disfigured himself developing years earlier: mutative spores that slowly transform Cobra Commander into a large snake. He escapes and makes his way to the Joes' camp with Roadblock, blinded in hand-to-hand combat with Golobulus' huge henchman, the Nemesis Enforcer.
Zarana is sent to the Joes' main base in disguise, where she seduces Lt. Falcon into letting her view Serpentor's holding cell. Duke catches him in the act and having abandoned his training. Duke ends up putting Lt. Falcon on guard duty until he says otherwise. After Falcon abandons his post to flirt with Jinx later that night, the Dreadnoks free Serpentor with the aid of the Nemesis Enforcer. Lt. Falcon is scolded by General Hawk for abandoning his post which led to some of the G.I. Joe members being hospitalized. General Hawk ends up condemning Lt. Falcon to his quarters until court-martial.
With Serpentor freed, Golobulus orders the rest of Cobra to aid him in his scheme to destroy humanity. Golobulus intends to launch mutagenic spore pods into orbit and use the BET to hatch the spores, mutating all of humanity into mindless animals to be controlled by Cobra-La.
General Hawk is convinced by Duke to spare Lt Falcon a harsh punishment. The other generals reassign Lt. Falcon to the "Slaughter House" where he is to be whipped back into shape by Sergeant Slaughter and his "Renegades" consisting of ex-Viper Mercer, former football player Red Dog, and former acrobat Taurus. While on a recon mission to the Terrordome (where they bring no weapons, at the suggestion of Falcon), Slaughter and his crew learn of Cobra's plans. The Joes mobilize to protect the BET, leaving Falcon and the new recruits behind. When Cobra attacks, the recruits take it upon themselves to help the Joes.
Cobra mounts a large offensive and steals the BET device. Serpentor nearly kills Falcon, but he is saved by Duke at the last moment. Taking the attack meant for Falcon, Duke falls into a coma. Falcon, the Renegades and the new recruits head to the Himalayas to stop Cobra-La. The G.I. Joe team is led to Cobra-La's lair by Cobra Commander, who loses his mental faculties as he mutates. The new recruits prove themselves as valuable soldiers as the Joes rescue their captured teammates and foil Golobulus's plans as he gets away. Old scores are settled as Jinx defeats Pythona, Sgt. Slaughter battles and defeats the Nemesis Enforcer and Falcon causes Serpentor to lose control of his air chariot and is sent hurtling out of Cobra-La.
Together, Slaughter and Jinx enable Falcon to reconfigure the BET to incinerate the spore pods in space, destroying them. The machine overloads, destroying Cobra-La. As the Joes celebrate their victory, Doc announces that Duke has come out of his coma.
Seen under the charge of Beach Head, the Rawhides are probationary recruits for G.I. Joe that have yet to complete their training for the team.
Led by Sgt. Slaughter, the Renegades are a loosely-affiliated Joe team used for unconventional warfare as well as a form of training and punishment for Lt. Falcon.
A race of ancient, humanoid creatures and the supposed origin of Cobra Commander.
Golobulus, the Royal Guard, and Nemesis Enforcer were afterwards all marketed as action figures in a single packaging.[2]
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 forced the writers to keep it.[3] The film did not feature a soundtrack. The background music comes from either earlier G.I. Joe episodes or other Sunbow Cartoons such as The Transformers.
In the film's original script, the character Duke dies in battle. This decision inspired the killing of Optimus Prime in The Transformers: The Movie while both films were in production.[3]
After Optimus Prime's death sparked backlash among fans and parents, Hasbro backtracked on allowing Duke's death and had new dialog inserted, stating Duke was only in a coma. He recovered by the end of the film.[4] Writer and Story Editor Buzz Dixon has stated that if you watch just the visuals, it is clear that Duke dies.[5] Duke reappeared as a prominent character, on active duty, in the DiC series in two episodes: "The Mind Mangler" and "Chunnel".
In the original script to the film, Duke not only dies, but the Joes also hold a funeral for him prior to the final battle [6]
Rhino Entertainment first released the film on DVD on June 20, 2000. Shout! Factory released a remastered special edition on DVD and Blu-ray on July 27, 2010, featuring audio commentary from story consultant (and series writer) Buzz Dixon.[7]
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