Customer Reviews

G.I. Joe A Real American Hero: Season 1.1

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"G.I. Joe - A Real American Hero" is literally the classic animated series that became an iconic series for thousands of fans who loyally collected the many awesome merchandise from Hasbro and continues to be a popular toy line today.

Although, the series was released in 1984, the series has spawned several of animated series and CG films. In 2008, the 3 3/4 action figures and vehicle line celebrated its 25th Anniversary and in 2009, earlier in the year, fans were treated with a more darker and more violent animated series with "G.I. Joe Resolute" and by the Summer of 2009, would be treated with the live action film and a release of a G.I. Joe video game.

So, what better time than now but to enjoy the classic 1985 animated series through SHOUT FACTORY's "G.I. JOE - A REAL AMERICAN HERO - SEASON 1.1" on DVD.

The DVD release is the second release of the popular animated series (the first was released through RHINO, note: RHINO only released season 1 and the first half of season 2) and both releases has its key differences which I will discuss further in my review. It's important to also note that some of the episodes for the first season were featured on DVD's that were included with various Hasbro toy box sets released in early 2009.

For starters, the series is not based on the original GI Joe toys that were released in the 1960's but is based on the Hasbro toyline which started in 1982 and the comic book series from Marvel Comics. The series was created by Ron Friedman and the first season on this DVD set comprised of three mini-series that aired in 2004-2005. The mini-series which consisted of "The M.A.S.S. Device", "The Revenge of Cobra", "The Pyramid of Darkness" and five separate episodes.

Here is a brief synopsis (no spoilers) for each episode:

DISC 1: THE M.A.S.S. DEVICE

* EPISODE 1 - The Cobra Strikes - Cobra has developed the ultimate weapon known as the M.A.S.S. Device. and attempt to steal a military satellite. Duke is captured.
* EPISODE 2 - Slaves of the Cobra Master - G.I. Joe tries to counter Cobra's M.A.S.S. Device with their own.
* EPISODE 3 - The Worms of Death - GI Joe takes the battle against Cobra undersea. Meanwhile, Snake Eyes goes to the arctic to find a radioactive crystal element.
* EPISODE 4 - Duel In The Devil's Cauldron - Cobra and G.I. Joe try to get the final element to activate their own M.A.S.S. Device.
* EPISODE 5 - A Stake In the Serpent's Heart - Destro takes Scarlett as a prisoner and the action-packed finale of the first G.I. Joe mini-series.

DISC 2: THE REVENGE OF COBRA

* EPISODE 6 - In the Cobra's Pit - Cobra attacks a G.I. Joe convoy and steals a high-powered experimental laser.
* EPISODE 7 - The Vines of Evil - Flint, Mutt, Junkyard and Roadblock are caught by vines in the Cobra's Pit of Chaos.
* EPISODE 8 - The Palace of Doom - G.I. Joe sends various teams to different regions around the globe to find the three fragments of the Weather Dominator before Destro and Cobra get to it.
* EPISODE 9 - Battle On the Roof of the World - Cutter, Wild Bill and Spirit battle the Baroness and Cobra on the Island of No Return.
* EPISODE 10 - Amusement Park of Terror - Storm Shadow infiltrates Joe headquarters. Meanwhile the battle in the Arctic continues.

DISC 3: THE PYRAMID OF DARKNESS

* EPISODE 11 - The Further Adventures of G.I. Joe - Tomax and Xamot seize control of G.I. Joe's Moon Star space shuttle.
* EPISODE 12 - Rendezvous in the City of the Dead - Shipwreck and Snake Eyes try to evade capture from Cobra.
* EPISODE 13 - Three Cubes to Darkness - G.I. Joe captures Tomax and Xamot plans to rescue him.
* EPISODE 14 - Chaos in the Sea of Lost Souls - Alpine and bazooka are joined by Quick Kick. Meanwhile, Cobra Commander activates the Pyramid of Darkness.
* Episode 15 - Knotting Cobra's Coils - G.I. launches a full-scale assault on the Cobra Temple.

DISC 4:

* EPISODE 16 - Countdown for Zartan - Zartan infiltrates the Worldwide Defense Center and tries to destroy it.
* EPISODE 17 - Red Rocket's Glare - Cobra uses Tomax and Xamot's company Extensive Enterprises to purchase the Red Rocket food chain and use its location for secret missile launching bases.
* EPISODE 18 - Satellite Down - Cobra knocks a secret military satellite out of orbit and G.I. Joe races to its location before Cobra gets to it.
* EPISODE 19 - Cobra Stops the World - Cobra plans to take control of the world's fuel supplies.
* EPISODE 20 - Jungle Trap - Cobra kidnaps Dr. Shakur and plans to attack cities using the flow of lava.
* EPISODE 21 - Cobra's Creatures - Cobra plans to use the animals of the world against humanity.
* EPISODE 22 - The Funhouse - Flint, Bazooka and others hve to fight their way through the deadly Cobra Temple.

"G.I. Joe - A Real American Hero" will be released on July 14th but the 17-disc, 95 episode complete series will be shipping on June 22nd and will be bundled with many special features including a USB "Dog Tag" 1GB flash drive, collectible booklet and more..

VIDEO & AUDIO:

"G.I. Joe - A Real American Hero" is in full color and presented in Dolby Digital. I have been asked by many G.I. Joe fans how SHOUT FACTORY's DVD's compare to the original RHINO DVD's.

In terms of video quality, there is a slight (very slight) difference between SHOUT FACTORY's picture quality and RHINO's picture quality. SHOUT FACTORY features a little less compression it would seem. I was comparing the scenes and it's very slight. In fact, SHOUT FACTORY's version seems a wee bit brighter.

But I wanted to compare a scene in the first episode where Cobra Commander and Destro were overlooking a computer after they were looking at crystals for the M.A.S.S. device. The reason I chose that scene is because it exhibits a lot of dust and scratches, compression and wanted to see if it was cleaned up. One thing I notice that both still had similar issues but a main key difference was that the size of the dust in the RHINO version were clumpier. Granted, its there if you pause and look at a frame but for most people, they are not going to see this. But there was no digitally remastering for those who were interested in knowing. The dust and scratches still exist and are part of the master.

I was also asked if the errors from the original series such as two Timbers in a scene or Scarlett sporting a mind control device (when she wasn't supposed to wear one, among a few errors from the original animation were fixed in this new release. These errors were part of the original master and is on the final cut. So, I doubt there will be any measures to correct those errors and that it's more than likely these will permanent errors that are part of the original animation.

I was also asked if the opening themes were the ones featured on the original broadcast. And the opening theme for all episodes on Season 1.1 is the version with Flint pointing as starting off with his scream of "Yo Joe!" and ending with a large Cobra spaceship crashing into the ground.

As for audio quality, this is where the RHINO and SHOUT FACTORY versions are quite different. The RHINO version features a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio which utilizes the surround channels and the LFE of your subwoofer and shows up on my receiver as Dolby Digital 5.1. Vocal tracks were featured on the center channel, music on the surrounds (and were louder than the dialogue track) and utilizing front channel and the subwoofer for the booms.

For the SHOUT FACTORY version, the audio is featured in Dolby Digital but does not take advantage of surround channels or LFE. In fact, the setting I ended up choosing on my receiver was "All Channels on Stereo".

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"G.I. JOE - A Real American Hero - Season 1.1' comes with a good number of special features. Included are:

DISC 1:

* Looking Back with Writer Ron Friedman, Part One - (7:03) Ron Friedman talks about why he had a voice over on opening theme of what G.I. Joe and Cobra is. Also, discussion of how he learned to write for children and how to get them to buy the merchandise and how he was involved with test groups for the toys.

DISC 2:

* Looking Back with Writer Ron Friedman, Part Two - (7:03) Ron Friedman talks about how he was hired from Hasbro and how important it was for him to create the characters and get kids to enjoy the characters and buy the merchandise. And how he would make episodes focusing on a primary group of characters and swing characters and how he came up with the style of voices for the characters.

DISC 3:

* Looking Back with Writer Ron Friedman, Part Three - (4:44) Ron Friedman talks about how he teaches a class in screenwriting at USC and Chapman University and how he asked by his students about his work on G.I. Joe and is asked to sign autographs and how he loves the G.I. Joe fandom.

DISC 4:

The fourth disc contains quite a number of special features. Bare in mind that these commercials are old and are not in the greatest of quality but nevertheless, was great to see included in this Season 1.1 set.

* Knowing is Half the Battle PSA's - (3:42) A total of seven PSA's that can be played separately or to play all. PSA's featured:

--- Alpine - What to Do When You're Lost
--- Barbeque - What to Do If Your House is On Fire
--- Deep Six - Don't Swim When It's Storming
--- Mutt - Don't Pet Strange Dogs
--- Quick Kick - Take Your Time When Building Your Tree House
--- Spirit - What To Do If You Catch On Fire
--- Torpedo - How To Tread Water

* G.I. Joe's Original 1963 Toy Fair Presentation - (9:06) Hasbro's promotional for the original GI Joe toy and its capabilities.
* Printable "Jungle Trap" Script- - If you have a DVD drive on your PC, you can access the PDF of the "Jungle Trap" script which can be printed.
* Archival Hasbro Toy Commercials - (1:31) "Collection" (introduction of toys for Grunt, Zap, Short Fuse, Flash, Stalker, Breaker, Rock n' Roll, Scarlett and Snake Eyes), "Breaker & The Rapid Fire Motorcycle" (focusing on Breaker with RAM taking on a Cobra soldier who captured the FLAK) and "Polar Battle Bear" (Snow Job, Gung Ho, Airborne and Doc on the Polar Battle Bear taking on Cobra).

There are also a few GI Joe extras included inside the slipcase box. Included are:

* Season episode summary booklet
* Flier for the GI Joe action figures (Scarlet, Snake Eyes, Baroness and Storm Shadow), Comic Books, Books, GI Joe Video game
* Tattoos -2×2 inch Cobra and Arashikage tattoo and a 3.5×1 inch G.I. Joe tattoo.
* A piece for the GI Joe Collector's Club

It's very important to note that in the soon-to-be-released "G.I. Joe - The Complete Series" contains a total of eight retrospective featurettes, a voice cast reunion, 25 archival Hasbro toy commercials, more GI Joe PSA's and the live action fan film "Battle of the Serpent Stone", plus a 1 GB "Dog-Tag" flash drive, a collectible book, two G.I. Joe Silent comics and more.

JUDGMENT CALL:

Needless to say that I am quite biased when it comes to "G.I. Joe - A Real American Hero". As a child who collected the comics and toys, as an adult, I still own many of the figures, vehicles and and box sets released from 1982 through the present. So, personally, the animated series will always be close to my heart as it was very much an important part of my childhood.

Like many people who grew up during the early 80's, "G.I. Joe - A Real American Hero" was an animated series that grabbed our attention because of its many characters and the personality of those characters.

Each character looked different, had different skills, various weaponry and attitude and Hasbro was quite innovative with the release of the toys. The animation encouraged us to enjoy them even further by establishing storylines that we could try to recreate. The series was the classic good vs. evil storyline and it's one thing to have these various members of G.I. Joe but the whole look of Cobra was just too cool to ignore.

Needless to say, part of the success and why parents loved about "G.I. Joe" was the fact that the action figures were significantly cheaper than other toy lines (with the exception of a few vehicles or play sets such as the USS Flag which were quite expensive) and they were easily accessible at your local mom and pop drug store or grocery store.

Children would know that if you bought a character, chances are that you would see this character in action on an episode of "G.I. Joe - A Real American Hero" unlike other toylines at the time which unfortunately, you would see only once in an animated series and never see again.

As for the animation and its re-release, with the release of the RHINO DVD's over five years ago, it was a bit unfortunate that the company didn't finish the series when it was released. This left a lot of G.I. Joe fans frustrated and upset.

To add to the frustration, the box sets became out of print so quickly that fans only chance of obtaining the series was through eBay and paying nearly double or triple of what the original mini-series and the individual season box sets cost. Needless to say, the RHINO releases were just too difficult for fans to get a hold of and priced too high for any casual fan or newbie fans to want to pay and buy for it.

But in 2009, SHOUT FACTORY has done a great service for G.I. Joe fans. Fans can get the first 22 episodes with "G.I. JOE - A REAL AMERICAN HERO - SEASON 1.1' and the complete series for a magnificent price.

For those who are wondering if the series is worth the double dip, my answer is that if you want the complete series, you're going to have to anyway (since RHINO never released the second half of Season Two). I do miss the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio from the original from the RHINO release but overall, there is nothing I can complain about with SHOUT FACTORY's Season 1.1 release. There are enough bells and whistles included on a thin pack and really, for the price these will be sold for, compared to the experience that fans had to go through years ago, this is a steal!

G.I. Joe or Cobra the enemy fans, this is one release that you won't want to miss. "G.I. JOE - A REAL AMERICAN HERO - SEASON 1.1" is highly recommended!

A team of militant heroes codenamed "G.I. Joe" lead by the couragous Duke struggle to fight for the freedom of America and the world from the threat of the manicial terrorist organization known as COBRA lead by the evil Cobra Commander and steel-faced fiend Destro.

This show became one of the most iconic animated shows of the 80's besides Transformers, Real Ghostbusters and He-Man and is one of the best cartoons ever. The show is based on Hasbro's action figure series much like "Transformers" was in 1984 but in 1983 Sunbow/Marvel animation made three annual mini-series based on the figure series which came in 1983, 1984 and finally 1985 where it lead to a successful TV animated series that earned high ratings among people of all ages. I love how the show has smart writing including tons of action and excellent characters from sexy Baroness, beautiful Scarlett, lovable sailor Shipwreck, hard cooking and hardcore fighter Roadblock, and more which helped made this a favorite among all ages even in the 80's.

This DVD has the first three Miniseries which started with 1983's "An American Hero: The M.A.S.S. Device" has the debut of Destro who joins with Cobra Commander's COBRA team as they develope a powerful weapon called the M.A.S.S. Device which can beam and transport objects, buildings and even people to their place, when Cobra decides to use the thing to steal a military satellite, the JOE team is on the rescue to destroy the device. Next "The Revenge of Cobra" has the COBRAs attacking G.I. Joe as they hatch up another evil scheme called The Weather Dominator which is a weapon that can change the worlds's climates as now Duke, Flnt, Mutt, Roadblock, silent but deadly Snake-Eyes and of the rest of the JOEs must disconnect the weapon from harming the Earth and finally "Pyramid of Darkness" has deadly twins Tomax and Xamot with Cobra Commander, Destro, Baroness and the COBRAs has taken over a G.I. Joe Spaceship as they use their sattelite to create a pyramid-like zone around the world of energy to take electricity off the Earth and wants the world to be completly dark unlessJoe can do something about it. Now to the real meat where the show begins starting with "Countdown For Zartan" has master of disguise Cobra member Zartan who disguises himself as a French researcher and implants a bomb within the Worldwide Defense Center building for time is ticking for the bomb as the Joes must find it or else it would go into smithereens. "Red Rocket's Glare" has the Cobra twins Tomax and Xamot who secretly own a company has purchased the Red Rocket food chain leaving people almost out of business but using the company secretly for a missle launching base, Roadblock's uncle and aunt are in danger of losing their business unless Roadblock can straighten things out with the conspiracy the twins are scheming. "Satellite Down" has a secrety military satellite blown out from space until a jungle by Cobra, the Joe team with Cobra have competetion to retreive it as they meet an unsusal tribe of ape-like people that also seeks the device as well, "Cobra Stops the World" has Cobra Commander who has a wicked plan of control the oil supplies of the world as he detonates oil tankers and supplies with a simple remote, G.I. Joe member Sparks finds out the weird frequence Cobra is using to demolish the tankers as the Joe team use technology against technology. "Jungle Trap" has Cobra wanting to destroy all cities with hot lava from volcanic activity as a professor named Dr. Shakur has been kidnapped by Cobra Commandor as he's forced to use his technology to get to the Earth's core to make volcanic erruptions, the Joe must go into the jungle base of Cobra to destroy the newest weapon and save the scientist. "Cobra's Creatures" has a new member of Cobra named High Ferq who uses a device that controls all the animals of the world to go against humans including the G.I. Joe dog Junkyard who goes bannanas, now its up to the Joes to destroy the device and even return the dog back to it's regular self. And finally "The Funhouse" has Flint with Bazooka, and other Joe members who are in a trap made by Cobra in a temple as they must solve a labyrinth of death and fight Cobra.

All episodes including the mini-series are digitally remastered with great picture and sound with great extras like a three part interview with one of the writers, Knowing is Half the Battle PSAs, G.I. Joe original 1963 Toy Fair presentation, printable Jungle Trap script and G.I. Joe Toy Commercials.

I myself am incredibly surprised lately as to how icons from my youth have become so huge 25 years later. First Transformers, now G.I. Joe. In some key ways, G.I. Joe was a better show than Transformers. The writing was better, the stories and character development was deeper, and G.I. Joe also had a lot of mature subject matter for a kids show. This definitely was a show that at times was PG rated. I don't just mean the violence, but there was even some subtle sexual content thrown in at times. This first season was definitely entertaining, and some episodes were really, really funny. I mean that in all seriousness too. The show could be serious one minute but downright silly the next, but this would be an intentional and charming touch that became a signature of the series, as it got better as it went on.

When the "G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero" cartoon series premiered in 1985 it gave Hasbro and incredible one-two punch to go along with the Transformers cartoon...not only on TV but in the toy stores. The amending of FCC laws paved the way for these shows to make it on to airwaves where previously they were banned as being nothing more than ½ hour-long commercials...duhhh!

This set presents the first 22 episodes of the show on four DVDs, out just in time with the major theatrical film release of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Like Transformers, this series hit you with an unheard of onslaught of different characters. You know that Hasbro had to be pushing the show's writers to get as many of these guys onscreen as possible in order to sell their figures.

Early on the series was grouped into story arcs of five episodes as they were originally intended to be mini-series. The first five episodes of the show deal with Destro's creation of the MASS device, a machine which can teleport soldiers or equipment. While battling Cobra forces, Duke is captured and forced to fight in a gladiatorial arena. Meanwhile the Joe's have managed to build their own MASS device. Rare elements are needed to fuel the device and the radioactive crystals nearly kill Snake Eyes.

Most of these early episodes are written by Ron Friedman who created the show for TV. Friedman dispenses with any sort of introductions or origins with the two rival factions, assuming that most fans had probably been fans of the toys or the Marvel Comic which preceded the TV show by a couple of years. Instead he jumps right into the fray with both bores and legion of characters at his disposal. It's pretty obvious that certain situations were setup to make use of various characters. For example Torpedo, the Joe's resident Navy SEAL is introduced in the third episode to retrieve one of the elements that is under water. This is especially evident in the second 5 part story arc entitled "The Revenge of Cobra". This arc introduced, in rapid fire style: Firefly, Flint, Mutt, Roadblock, Shipwreck, Snow Job, and Wild Bill...to name a few!

The final five-part arc of the first season was the Pyramid of Darkness storyline and by now the show was off on its way in terms of popularity. After this arc the series settles into more self-contained story arcs as new writers like Christy Marx, Paul Dini, and Steve Gerber begin penning some of the episodes. With so many different writers the story lost a little bit of its cohesiveness but on the other hand, each had a different take on the Joe's.

The show was produced by Sunbow who also produced The Transformers (along with Japanese production company Toei). The animation is typical for the 80's and certainly better than many others of the era. There was obviously a huge cast of voice actors but no one did more voices than the great Frank Welker who voiced Wild Bill, Torch, Timber, Flash, Short-Fuse, and Copperhead, among others.

It's a true joy to see this show again after so many years. It's not hard to see why it was so successful as it had all the elements kids...especially the Males of the species...really love. At the same time it did have several strong female characters as well, something that Transformers completely lacked. Go Joe!

After watching the live action movie of G.I. Joe Rise Of The Cobra(While a little entertaining but still a somewhat of a letdown) I felt the feelings of wanting to watch the cartoon version to bring back the true enjoyment of this series. The animated series and the live action version of course differ greatly so if you're a fan of the cartoon series than you must pass the live action movie over or be prepared to be annoyed. The cartoon version while lasting I think about 95 episodes was and will always be one of the most remembered shows of the 80's to live on. Watching as the JOES and Cobra would battle each other every episode or through multi-part story saga episodes was great and entertaining to watch and I was greatly saddened when the producers decided to cancel the show. The cast for the JOES and COBRA were so numerous that it was easy for anyone to have their own personal favorite character for the show from Duke, Scarlet, Snake Eyes, Flint, and Lady Jaye to Cobra Commander and Destro and the Baroness. The video quality of the box sets for this show was amazing considering the age of the show itself and while not picture perfect it still reaches close to that point and the audio is pretty decent as well no buzzing or annoyance to speak about. Though for the price of these sets I say get the first season two box sets very affordable and with some pretty decent extras which I haven't seen all of them is still pretty good. While some might not care for the animation especially those who've become to use to the cgi effects used with today's animated cartoons an the likes might not care for these earlier classics, but for those who grew up watching these cartoons or have seen them through reruns on cable here's a great catch for your home library today. One thing though I would say is while they tried to make a new revival during the 90's that show I felt was sadly lacking the spark that the 80's version had and while they weren't bad the 90's version just didn't connect with me as the earlier series did so for fans of the 80's version just stick with these box sets and just pass over the 90's version....

Talk about a blast from the past. I used to look forward to this show every day when I was a kid. Imagine my delight in being able to see it again decades later. The show was just the way I remember it. Sure the quality isn't exactly what you would expect from a cartoon made today; you have to remember that these were made in the 80's. I would say the quality is still better than anything I would have gotten out of a VHS and it was much better than I expected it to be. I liked this first box set so much that I bought the rest of the collection.

I was very happy with the GI Joe first season that I purchased. I got them for a christmas gift for my boyfriend and he has enjoyed watching them. Shipping was fast and the product was in very good condition.

My boys love it. It is always nice to be able to watch something with your kids that you watched when you were young and everyone enjoys it.

This item came WAY before the expected arrival date and was in the condition the seller stated it would be. I was very satisfied with it :)

I love the GI Joe series- this is well worth the money. It is the animated series and it is fun and exciting and the Cobra organization is a good villian and you know the GI Joes are excellent as the heros and heroines--- I recommend it for fun light entertainment esp. for the young or young at heart