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Ten Things You Didn't Know About G.I. Joe!

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Zobovor

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Apr 21, 2015, 9:24:08 PM4/21/15
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Maybe I should have called this "Ten Things Zob Didn't Know About G.I. Joe" instead. It's possible this is all common knowledge, but I'm just barely learning about this stuff, so it's all news to me!

Note: This is only the second time I've actually watched every episode (also, the first time I watched them, I think I fell asleep during about half the episodes) so I don't precisely recall which episode titles were associated with which story in every instance.

10) It's possible that Dinobot Island was created in an episode of G.I. Joe. There's an episode called "Primordial Plot" (written by Donald F. Glut, of course) in which Cobra travels to an uncharted island and clones dinosaurs from unfossilized bone tissue (five years before Jurassic Park was published!) but rather than destroy them, the Joes opt to leave the dinosaurs on the island. The episode timing isn't quite right ("Dinobot Island" first aired in September 1985, and "Primordial Plot" didn't air until November) but if you ignore airdates, there's a certain continuity that I find really interesting.

9) There's another episode called "The Gamesmaster" in which the title character is playing a game in which two holographic robots face off against each other. One is red and the other is purple, and they each carry a shield with a stylized robot face on it. The purple one was clearly based on Decepticon Shockwave's animation model, modified only slightly.

8) I've always assumed that the G.I. Joe episode "Cold Slither" was the first appearance of the rock music that was later appropriated for Transformers. That music first appeared in Transformers in "The Autobot Run," which first aired on October 31, 1985, while the music didn't actually appear in G.I. Joe until December 2. This suggests to me that the music was actually written as a generic rock anthem first, and that the lyrics (and a lead guitar, which is not heard in the Transformers version) were added to the music after the fact.

7) The 1986 season of G.I. Joe is of exceptional quality! Clearly, it was the priority series, since Toei animated "Arise, Serpentor, Arise!" while we got the cruddy-looking AKOM animation for "Five Faces of Darkness." Episodes like "The Million Dollar Medic" look amazing. Imagine how great the third season of Transformers could have been if it had been the other way around!

6) I am now one hundred percent convinced that the Star Trek: the Next Generation episode "Future Imperfect" was cribbed from the G.I. Joe episode "There's No Place Like Springfield." In the G.I. Joe episode, Shipwreck is injured and awakens after several years into a fantasy world in which he now has a grey beard, has married a girlfriend from a previous episode, and has a child he doesn't remember. Substitute "Shipwreck" for "Riker" and you've got the Star Trek episode.

5) I also think somebody who did design work for the original Ninja Turtles cartoon was a fan of G.I. Joe. April O'Neil's outfit looks a lot like Lady Jaye's. Close-ups of Storm Shadow's eyes look exactly like close-ups of Shredder's eyes. Krang's bubble walker looks a lot like the Trubble Bubble vehicles. Also, in "Arise, Serpentor, Arise!" part 4, Sergeant Slaughter tries to get out of a Cobra cell by unscrewing the control panel with his fingernail, a trick Splinter tries in the TMNT pilot episode. Then there's the army of robotic non-speaking Foot Soldiers, which could have been inspired by the army of robotic non-speaking B.A.T.S.

4) I have a new theory that most of Chris Latta's characters were written out of G.I. Joe and Transformers because of his failing health. Starscream, obviously, but Cobra Commander was also shunted to a supporting role (and didn't even appear in a lot of 1986 episodes). Gung-Ho disappeared, seemingly replaced by Leatherneck. Wheeljack died. Sparkplug was deemed "too old" and written out of the show. Even Defensor had no speaking roles during the third season, despite the continuing appearance of the Protectobots. This theory isn't rock-solid (Cobra Commander was brought back for the DIC episodes of G.I. Joe in a big way) but you have to admit that his Starscream voice in season three sounded nothing like his Starscream voice in earlier episodes. He was already on his way out.

3) All the crazy, twisted creatures in the show (like the monster living under Destro's castle) make perfect sense if you assume they came from Cobra-La.

2) Speaking of Cobra-La, folks who don't like G.I. Joe: the Movie point to Cobra Commander's origins as a mistake. He's a blue-skinned Cobra-La citizen and yet whenenver he wears his mask, he has visible Caucasian human skin. That's like saying that in the Batman movies, since the visible skin around Batman's eyes is black, Bruce Wayne must have jet black skin. (Obviously, Cobra Commander is wearing make-up.)

1) Spider-Man exists in the Transformers cartoon universe! Assume for the moment that G.I. Joe and Transformers are part of the same continuity. Well, there are two G.I. Joe episodes that reference Spider-Man. In one of them, Spider-Man is shown briefly on television (whether they're watching a "real" Spider-Man or a fictional cartoon Spider-Man is not clear). In another episode, Zartan arrives and says, "Who were you expecting? Spider-Man?" In yet ANOTHER episode ("My Brother's Keeper"), there is a science fiction convention that has a Spider-Man poster on the wall.


Zob (was going to mention the fire-monsters that look just like Kremzeek, but I can't remember which episode they were from)

Travoltron

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Apr 21, 2015, 10:08:47 PM4/21/15
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On 4/21/2015 6:24 PM, Zobovor wrote:
> Even Defensor had no speaking roles during the third season

I know he has at least one line in The Ultimate Weapon, when he says,
"This would be a lot easier if First Aid was here."

I wondered the same thing about Chris Latta's characters. After I read
about Flint Dille (and others?) having to bail him out of jail I thought
that maybe that was the reason most of his characters were written out.

Zobovor

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Apr 21, 2015, 10:30:04 PM4/21/15
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On Tuesday, April 21, 2015 at 8:08:47 PM UTC-6, Travoltron wrote:

> I know he has at least one line in The Ultimate Weapon, when he says,
> "This would be a lot easier if First Aid was here."

Stop confusing the situation with facts!


Zob (apparently needs to watch more Transformers and less G.I. Joe)
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