| This article is written from the Real World perspective |  |
| G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero | |
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| Beginning date | September 12, 1983 |
| End date | November 20, 1986 |
| Number of Episodes | 95 Miniseries Season One Miniseries Season Two Season One Season Two |
| Previous Series | The Incredible Hulk |
| Next Series | "Pryde of the X-Men" (Project) X-Men (Series) |
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is an animated series based on Hasbro's toyline of the same name. The series was produced by Marvel Productions and Sunbow Productions.
Story[]
G.I. Joe fights the plans of Cobra to undermine the world's governments and take over. In the second season the members of Cobra become frustrated with Cobra Commander's constant failures and genetically engineer a new leader named Serpentor. However, Cobra Commander persists as the field commander and slowly builds his own faction to dispose of their usurper.
Background[]
The series originally started out as a pitch from Larry Hama as a series called Fury Force. Fury Force was going to focus on a military unit called the Fury Force which was going to be led by Nick Fury, Jr. who was to be the son of Nick Fury, Sr. who was the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Later, Marvel Comics secured a license from Hasbro for their G.I. Joe line and the ideas for Fury Force evolved into what would become G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.
Hasbro's original G.I. Joe toyline was released from 1964 to 1969. These original G.I. Joe action figures were generic soldier action figures, each with the same mold used for the face just with each figure's hair colored differently. Following Hasbro's revival of the G.I. Joe line in 1982, Larry Hama completely revamped the series making more unique characters and wrote file cards for them. In 1982 Larry Hama partnered with Marvel Comics and began to write a comic series called G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. The comics were published from 1982 (the year before the cartoon aired) to 1987. Marvel's comics series spanned five different series and lasted longer then the cartoon. The Marvel Comics series were responsible for adding much of the G.I. Joe lore that people know today.
Cast[]
G.I. Joe[]
Actor Role(s) Charles Adler Low-Light Jack Angel Wet-Suit
ThunderLibby Aubrey Cover Girl Michael Bell Duke
Blowtorch
Clutch
Lift-Ticket
TollboothGregg Berger Cutter
Rip Cord
Sparks
SpiritArthur Burghardt Iceberg
StalkerCorey Burton Claymore William Callaway Beach Head François Chau Quick Kick Peter Cullen Airborne Pat Fraley Ace
AirtightHank Garrett Dial Tone Ed Gilbert Hawk Dan Gilvezan Slip-Stream
Beach HeadKene Holiday Roadblock John Hostetter Bazooka Jerry Houser Sci-Fi Buster Jones Doc
ZapChristopher Collins Breaker
Frostbite
Gung-Ho
SteelerLoren Lester Barbecue Chuck McCann Leatherneck Michael McConnohie Cross-Country Mary McDonald Lady Jaye Bill Morey Mutt
RecondoRob Paulsen Snow Job
Tripwire
FlashChuck McCann Mainframe Lisa Raggio Zarana Bill Ratner Flint Hal Rayle Deep Six Robert Remus Sgt. Slaughter Neil Ross Dusty
Heavy Metal
Shipwreck
Thunder
Cobra[]
Actor Role(s) Michael Bell Major Bludd
Scrap-Iron
Xamot
Cobra Trooper
Viper
Tele-ViperGregg Berger Firefly Arthur Burghardt Destro
Cobra TrooperCorey Burton Tomax
Wild WeaselPeter Cullen Zandar
Cobra TrooperBrian Cummings Doctor Mindbender Pat Fraley Wild Weasel
Cobra TrooperDick Gautier Serpentor Zack Hoffman Zartan Milton James Zandar Buster Jones Cobra Trooper Christopher Collins Cobra Commander
Ripper
Tele-ViperMorgan Lofting Baroness Bill Ratner Cobra Trooper
Strato-ViperNeil Ross Buzzer
Monkeywrench
Others[]
Actor Role(s) Jackson Beck Narrator Gregg Berger Brekhov
Episodes[]
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero ran for 95 episodes across two miniseries and two full seasons.
- Miniseries Season One
- Miniseries Season Two
- Season One
- Season Two
Continuations[]
G.I. Joe: The Movie[]
Following the end of the series a direct-to-video movie was released. In this movie Cobra allies with the ancient civilization of Cobra-La who plan to spread spores across the Earth to turn humans into monstrous creatures.
DiC Series[]
Two years after the release of the movie a sequel series also called G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero was produced. To cut costs Hasbro dropped Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions and they contracted DiC Entertainment to continue the series. This new series ran from 1989 to 1992 lasting two seasons plus a miniseries with a total of 44 episodes. The series began with a five episode miniseries called Operation: Dragonfire. In Operation: Dragonfire, COBRA invades a monastery and gets a mystical energy called Dragonfire. Baroness betrays Destro and returns Cobra Commander to a human form, following him being turned into a snake at the end of G.I. Joe: The Movie. The Joes must now deal with the split forces of Cobra while racing to stop them from obtaining Dragonfire.
In this series Gnawgahyde and Metal-Head serve as Cobra Commander's main henchmen. Another new villain to the series is Cesspool. With cleaning the environment being a hot topic in the early 1990s Cesspool was created to show the dangers of pollution. Episodes dealing with Cesspool also typically featured the Eco-Warriors, a division of the Joes that delt with stopping ecoterrorism. Outside of pollution the series also delt with other important issues such as drug addiction. In the two part episode, "The Greatest Evil", Flint of G.I. Joe, and Cindy, the sister of a member of Cobra's Crimson Guard, get addicted to drugs that are manufactured Headman. Both the Joes and Cobra see the danger the Headman's drugs pose and join forces to stop him. Also, in this series Storm Shadow has reformed and joined G.I. Joe's Ninja Force alongside Snake Eyes.
Sgt. Savage and His Screaming Eagles[]
In 1994 a 22 minute episode called "Old Soldiers Never Die" was produced. This was a pilot episode for a new G.I. Joe cartoon called Sgt. Savage and his Screaming Eagles. However, only the pilot was produced.
In this episode Sgt. Savage led a group of soldiers called the Screaming Eagles during World War II. During the war Savage was captured, put in suspended animation, and experimented on by the Nazi General Blitz. In the present Savage is discovered by the Joes and thawed out and he discovers that the Nazis experiments made him a super soldier with super strength.
Savage takes command of a team of six highly trained, undisciplined soldiers, now calling themselves the "Screaming Eagles". The Screaming Eagles attack the launch in an effort to stop Blitz, his plans, and his new, completely robotic I.R.O.N. Army.
G.I. Joe Extreme[]
G.I. Joe Extreme was the final series produced to be part of the A Real American Hero continuity. The series aired from 1995 to 1997 for 26 episodes. In the "near future" of 2006 the terrorist organization known as S.K.A.R. (Soldiers of Kaos, Anarchy and Ruin), led by Iron Klaw, has emerged. The new Joe team operates in a post-Cold War world wracked by chaos and carnage, and battling against both SKAR and independent mercenaries, who seek to further destabilize an already unstable world. In this series the Joes are led by Lt. Stone and also features Sgt. Savage who was carried over from the Sgt. Savage and His Screaming Eagles pilot.