G.I. Joe: The Movie was released 32 yrs ago

[Swindle]

On April 20, 1987

My thoughts...

It mirrored Transformers the movie:
The young hot head who has to come into his own.
An even greater threat lurking in the shadows.
What should have been the end of two heroes.
Cobra Commander/Star Scream both being taken off the chess board.

I think Transformers the Movie is the stronger effort, although, I do enjoy G.I. Joe.

I think the issue with Transformers, the toyline tracked younger, so for the brutality that movie offered, it went too far as opposed to what the weekly cartoon offered. I don't have issues with Cobra Commander being some kind of pre-human being, I do have issues with his skin being blue when we saw clearly he was normal skin toned in episodes of the cartoon when wearing his hood. This was the best Zaranna looked. In the cartoon proper, there were episodes she looked outright unappealing. The beginning intro and then the assault of Pythona on the TerrorDrome, very good stuff.

Overall, everything has an ending, and for Sunbow G.I. Joe, this was it.

[Felix]

I enjoy the movie, if I had proper video editing skills, I would upload the intro with the Beastie Boys song, "Sabotage". It really blends perfectly.
For me, the movie is great.

One of my favorite moments is during the Snow battle. Duke is trying to get to the BET, but gets shot/just grazed by the dreadnoks, and snow job says,"Man with a problem Quick Kick."
Quick Kick then replies, "What are friends for." As he launches rockets at the Dreadnoks.
It shows a Joe is willing to put themself in harms way for a friend.

Roadblock is so bad ass he seems to practically gun down the entire Cobra army himself. I'm glad they got the Rock to play him in the live action movie.

I absolutely love the sound of Zandars voice, "You know us?"

I still believe a nude shower scene exists, because I remember when it came on as a kid, I was afraid my dad was going to turn it off.

Who knows, maybe since it went direct to video, somebody had enough talent to modify the tape...or maybe it's the Mandella effect.

When Alpine and Bazooka hold down the line until Gung Ho sets the alarm off. The whole scene just shows what it really means to be a Joe. And it makes Falcons negligence so much more tragic. His actions got people hurt.

When Falcon meets the Renegades and he has to go on foot, he says, "You expect me to walk?" And Slaughter replies, "No, you can run! YO JOE!"

I love when Slaughter tells Red Dog that they aren't leaving Falcon behind.

I love when Falcon tells Jinx and Slaughter to go before the BET blows up, he finally cares more about others than himself. We have actually seen his character really change and grow.

Cobra Commander finally getting revenge, even in Snake Form, and it actually saves the day.

Serpentor gets defeated by his own cape!
Costumes are stupid kids.

Anyway, those are some of my favorite moments :-)

[Bravo]

Been awhile since I watched it, don't have it on DVD.

Sunbow kept animating parts of the comic books and the toy ads, torturing us!

Cobra Commander endured and Serpentor eventually fell by the wayside.
Likewise fans seem to prefer Megatron to his Galvatron rebirth and Starscream came back and keeps coming back.

Pros:
The over the top patriotic opening and new music.

The movie saw the return of a few Joes sidelined in season 2 due to the focus on 1986 characters. I don't think Quick Kick even had any lines in season 2.

Pythona's inflitration of the terrordrome was cool.

BIG LOB

The only real use of Slaughter with the Renegades...done well. The trio are jerks, as they should be.

Serpentor lives up to his threat level more, sort-of-killing Duke.

Cons:
Missed op for more 1987 stuff, even if just cameos. Croc Master in the opening part. Wolves in the himayalas. Techno-Viper working on the Firebat. Using the Defiant to destroy the spores in space...okay, that would change a lot of the movie.

Missed op for a Cobra to defect, thinking Cobra-La was too much. I guess CC sort of defects, though.

I'm still not crazy about Cobra-La, probably because of CC being part of it. There's an interesting idea there, an ancient civilization wanting to reclaim the world, but the bio-tech was waaaay far out.

Dr. Mindbender gets knocked down a peg...Serpentor wasn't even his idea. He was just a tool.

Not sure Chuckles worked as the strong silent type. Maybe Outback would have, he's muscular and likes nature more than people? I dunno. It's hard to pin that on any 1987 Joes, except maybe Steam Roller?

Of course, no one who becomes a Green Beret would act like Falcon. I think someone like Grid-Iron, a West Point grad guy who coasted on his status to get in the Joe team, might have worked in that role. This was years before that character, though.

[Felix]

Good points about the missed 1987 opportunities. Like why no Snow Cats in the Snow battle...because they didn't sell enough Havocs in 1986? I guess they were kind of phases out by then, but Hawk still drives one at the end.

I always had this weird feeling that Battle Force 2000 was supposed to be being tested as a super base in the Snow battle scene instead of the BET, and they are the ones that get captured by Cobra La.

Good point about the DEFIANT blowing up the spores.

It would have been really cool to see Outback at all.

[Swindle]

My belief is they wanted to phase in more and more 87 stuff.

So, movie has Beachhead's trainees and Sarge's Renegades, then you get a Transformers: Five Faces of Darkness like followup five parter that shows the fallout with more, then you get season three proper with the lot of them. They did the same thing with the Revenge of Cobra and then he Pyramid of Darkness. Twins making money, then Cobra Commander returns, then if there's a season 4, you get Destro striking out on his own with his army.

[Bravo]

Somebody has to go back in time and stop DIC.

Then again, maybe Hasbro would've cheaped out like they did with Headmasters and made 3 new Joe episodes.

[Felix]

Rather than start a new topic, I'm just going to post this here.

I read through the The G.I. JOE Movie Script, not with a fine tooth comb, but to check out specific scenes and details. I will try to edit specific quotes and update later...Interesting notes so far:

*Duke totally die's. It's supposed to be total silence as the camera looks at all of the Joe faces. There was even supposed to be a funeral before the briefing.

*Serpentor also die's at the end. Although Golobulus laughs and says that he can just clone him. Makes me think about the guy who collected all the Serpentors

*After Dial Tones line in the beginning, Mainframe calls Dial Tone a nerd. He says he's a nice guy, but a nerd.

*Dr. Mindbender gets slapped by Nemesis Enforcer instead of Cobra Commander, other than that the snow scene seemed to play out pretty close.

*During Falcons torture scene, as Nemesis Enforcer grabs him by the head, Falcon says "Watch out, I know Karate."

*The Renegades are pursued after destroying the Terrordrome, and are being jammed so they can't warn the Joe's. They make it to an old fishing town, and their vehicles are hidden & stowed there. They knock out their pursuers.
**Falcon almost gets left behind, but Slaughter picks him up, "What are you waiting for, an invitation?"

*After the Joe's ambush the Dreadnoks, Order brings back Zartans pistol. He bites him on the hand after the earlier ambush with Zarana and Monkeywrench, but before the rest of the Dreadnoks get knocked out.

*During Falcons Renegade training, (I think as he is improving), there are more scenes where Falcon bests Mercer, and one where he decks him.

Battle crys the Renegades make before Falcon fires the rocket at Serpentor;
Red Dog: Concentrate Firepower Bruddah!!
Renegades: Wedge 'em!!
They use their vehicles to form a wedge and blast one of the BORER's.

[Bravo]

It's your board, but this thread would seem more appropriate. link

I didn't know the script was online.

Skimming through it a lot of cut character moments/lines, Iceberg and Lifeline in Hawk's office.

This:

CHUCKLES makes William "The Refrigerator" Perry look effiminate.
He is huge, muscular and somber with no visible neck. Who
knows if his chin is down? He doesn't even blink as Beach
Head passes on to:

Did they know The Fridge was gonna be a joe?

The Tomax and Xamot subplot was silly, see why it was cut. (Selling digital watches to Cobra-La would get them killed.)

Destro calling the still Joes on the ground "corpses" would've been almost surreal.

Strange Golobulus still escapes even as Serpentor dies. Would Golobulus have been in a season 3 with a different voice? (Like Hot Rod and Galvatron in post movie Transformers episdoes)

The idea of taking Cobra-La citizens and guards prisoner...to do what with them?

[Swindle]

Page 84 and 85 shows the point where the Twins lament Cobra La's plan to get rid of humanity as their power is based on economics. And was supposed to be a precursor to them being the first villains of season 3 leading a more crime based Cobra before Cobra Commander came back. That moment with the watches was pretty dumb, though. LOL

[Felix]

Thread merged, thanks Bravo :-)

[Bravo]

The laser funeral scene was weird, glad that was cut. I think if they wanted a real death, then have a real funeral. Instead, they disintergrate him, coffin and all? Is that it?

The notice of the spores launching and the UN parts needed to be in the movie, because people would notice giant mushrooms in space.

[Swindle]

I do seem to remember reading that aspects of Dragonfire was lifted from abandoned Sunbow ideas.

I could see Mercer instead of Scoop being torn between Cobra and GIJoe and Low Light being one year removed action figure fits right in being paranoid about his loyalties. Instead of Baroness and Gnawgahyde, perhaps Baroness and Zanzibar, although its possible Crystal Ball gets the lead trying to bring back Cobra Commander as he's basically a follow up to Dr. Mindbender and the show did its best to promote new characters and those trading cards connected CB to Cobra La.

[Bravo]

There's a bit that was cut where the search party for Roadblock is searching by air, don't see him and blinded Roadblock asks what that noise was and snake CC lies, telling him it's just the wind. CC's treachery makes no sense. Who on Earth would ever help him now? All of Cobra and Cobra-La hates him. He has everything to lose by Roadblock not being rescued.

[Felix]

The spores make you go mad.

I agree, Duke needed a proper funeral at Arlington, full colors, 21 gun salute, Skystriker and Conquest fly by.

[Felix]

Jul 27, 2020 14:01:05 GMT -8 Swindle said:

I do seem to remember reading that aspects of Dragonfire was lifted from abandoned Sunbow ideas.

I could see Mercer instead of Scoop being torn between Cobra and GIJoe and Low Light being one year removed action figure fits right in being paranoid about his loyalties. Instead of Baroness and Gnawgahyde, perhaps Baroness and Zanzibar, although its possible Crystal Ball gets the lead trying to bring back Cobra Commander as he's basically a follow up to Dr. Mindbender and the show did its best to promote new characters and those trading cards connected CB to Cobra La.

Nailed it.