G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987)

The heroic G.I. Joe action force must oppose the ruthless Cobra organization that has secretly allied with a subterranean reptilian people who were their founders.

Director:

Don Jurwich

Writers:

Ron Friedman, Roger Slifer (associate story consultant)

Stars:

Charlie Adler, Shuko Akune, Jack Angel

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Charlie Adler	...	Low Light (voice)
Shuko Akune	...	Jinx (voice)
Jack Angel	...	Wet-Suit (voice)
Michael Bell	...	Duke / Blowtorch / Lift-Ticket / Xamot (voice)
Gregg Berger	...	Motorviper (voice) (as Greg Berger)
Earl Boen	...	Taurus (voice)
Arthur Burghardt	...	Destro / Iceberg (voice)
Corey Burton	...	Tomax (voice)
William Callaway	...	Beach Head (voice)
François Chau	...	Quick Kick (voice)
Peter Cullen	...	Zandar / Nemesis Enforcer / Scientist (voice)
Brian Cummings	...	Dr. Mindbender (voice)
Jennifer Darling	...	Pythona (voice)
Laurie Faso	...	Tunnel Rat (voice)
Hank Garrett	...	Dial-Tone (voice) (as Hank Garret)

Storyline

Time and time again, Cobra has been on the threshhold of global domination, only to be thwarted by the Joes. Now the ruthless terrorist organization has a new ally, the Cobra-La race, led by Golobulus. Golobulus wants to steal the Joes' "Broadcast Energy Transmitter" in order to ripen space spores and mutate the people of Earth. When Duke is injured and the rest of the force immobilized, it's up to the new "rawhides" and Slaughter's Marauders to pick up the slack and save the world.

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Plot Keywords:

weapons fire | masked man | long haired female | masked woman | headquarters | 

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 August 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

G.I. Joe: The Movie

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sunbow Productions, Marvel Productions, Hasbro

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie was being produced by the same company, and at the same time, as The Transformers: The Movie (1986). This had been agreed that both movies would suffer the loss of the lead heroes, Optimus Prime and Duke. Production had begun on G.I. Joe first, and was thus expected to be released first. During the production of the two movies, G.I. Joe got held up while Transformers finished production. Release dates were changed and Transformers got a theatrical release in 1986. Optimus Prime's death sparked some controversy and caused the writers to change Duke's death to a coma. G.I. Joe never got to the theaters, and was released to video instead. Had G.I. Joe been released first, Optimus Prime might have survived the movie. However, according to story consultant Buzz Dixon, if you watch the "Duke goes into a coma" sequence with the volume turned down, it's obvious that Duke actually dies at the end of the scene.

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Goofs

During the opening battle, in one scene the parachutes falling down in the sky, are not falling and just sitting there in the air.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Cobra Commander: Cobra, retreat! Retreat!

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Alternate Versions

The movie is sometimes split up into syndication to be shown in half hour installments with the inclusion of live action introduction and conclusion scene with Sgt. Slaughter in front of an American flag.

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Connections

Referenced in DVD-R Hell: Tequila and Bonetti: Street Dogs (2015)

User Reviews

Would be very hard to top

Yo Joe!

I'm proud to say that I love this movie. I own it on DVD, and have watched it several times. It just keeps getting better.

What makes this one of the great cartoons from the 80's was it's realistic nature. The idea was obviously post- cold war type conflict put to paper, spawned a few characters, and was animated. And, unlike a lot of crap made today and back then, it worked out very well. And the reason was great writing. The writers of the show/movie had to juggle a story around several dozen characters, tie it all together, make it work, and not overwhelm the audience with it.

Success!

Other cartoons couldn't do that as well as GI Joe, or even transformers, without coming off as sugary or presented in a way that talked down to its viewers. And Gi Joe was always fresh with its story, and even kept elements of past episodes together in an ongoing story.

Now as far as this movie installment is concerned, watching it, you kind of get the idea that this was supposed to be a "next generation" type of story, especially dealing with new Joes on the force, and a new threat more powerful than Cobra. Doing away with Cobra Commander wasn't a plot point I liked, because he was always a great character, but it had a valid reasoning linked into the movie, so I let it go. I almost feel that the drama could have been heightened if Duke had died ( which was originally written into the script), but he is a great character, and we can't have a death on a kids' TV show like that.

The Cobra-La element is the one thing that I think was overplayed. I like the idea of a dormant society from thousands of years back trying to reclaim the Earth, and the characters were cool, but the organic creatures that made up the base were a little too much, like a giant cockroach for a bridge, a big....whatever for an air transport. These things stole some of the reality of the cartoon for me, but are still entertaining nonetheless.

If you're a fan, DEFINITELY watch this film!