| G.I. Joe: The Movie | |
|---|---|
| |
| Directed By | Don Jurwich |
| Written By | Ron Friedman |
| Cast | Don Johnson, Sgt. Slaughter, Burgess Meredith, Chris Latta |
| Produced By | Joe Bacal, Tom Griffin |
| Cinematography By | Masatoshi Fukui |
| Film Editing By | David Hankins |
| Music By | Robert J. Walsh, Jon Douglas |
| Studio | Hasbro, Marvel Productions, Sunbow Productions, Toei Animation |
| Distributed By | Rhino Home Video, Shout! Factory, Celebrity Home Entertainment, C/FP Video |
| Franchise | G.I. Joe Franchise |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Release Date | April 20, 1987 |
| Runtime | 93 Minutes |
Overview[]
G.I. Joe: The Movie is a 1987 American produced animated action-adventure feature film with Don Johnson, Burgess Meredith, Chris Latta, and Sgt. Slaughter contributing as the primary voice actors. It was directed by Don Jurwich and was created as a spin-off film to capitalize on the extremely popular G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero TV series being produced at that time. Originally intended for a theatrical release, G.I. Joe: The Movie was instead released direct-to-video instead.
G.I. Joe always triumphs! Time and time again they've beaten back the ruthless terrorist organization known as Cobra's nefarious plots for world domination. But they may have finally have met their match! For Cobra-La, the secret founders and backers of Cobra have decided to come out of the shadows and finish off the Joes once and for all!
Plot[]
Cast[]
- Don Johnson as Lt. Falcon
- Burgess Meredith as Golobulus
- Robert Remus as Sgt. Slaughter
- Chris Latta as Cobra Commander, Gung-Ho, Ripper
- Michael Bell as Duke, Xamot, Blowtorch, Lift-Ticket
- B.J. Ward as Scarlett
- Arthur Burghardt as Destro and Iceberg
- Kene Holliday as Roadblock
- Bill Ratner as Flint
- Richard Gautier as Serpentor
- Morgan Lofting as Baroness
- Zack Hoffman as Zartan
- Shuko Akune as Jinx
- William Callaway as Beach Head
- Neil Ross as Buzzer, Dusty, Monkeywrench, Shipwreck
- Laurie Faso as Tunnel Rat
- Mary McDonald-Lewis as Lady Jaye
- Ed Gilbert as General Hawk
- Ron Ortiz as Law
- Corey Burton as Tomax
- Lisa Raggio as Zarana
- Earl Boen as Taurus
- Jennifer Darling as Pythona
- Frank Welker as Torch, Wild Bill, Order
- Rob Paulsen as Snow Job
- Buster Jones as Doc
- Brian Cummings as Doctor Mindbender
- Brad Sanders as Big Lob
- Kristoffer Tabori as Mercer
- Francois Chau as Quick Kick
- Peter Cullen as Zandar and Nemesis Enforcer
- Michael McConnohie as Cross Country
- Lee Weaver as Alpine
- Poncie Ponce as Red Dog
- Jack Angel as Wet Suit
- Chuck McCann as Leatherneck
- Patrick Pinney as Mainframe
- Charlie Adler as Low-Light
- Stan Wojno Jr. as Lifeline
- Ted Schwartz as Thrasher
- John Hostetter as Bazooka
- Dan Gilvezan as Slip Stream
- Hank Garret as Dial Tone
- Gregg Berger as Motor-Viper
- Vernee Watson-Johnson as Scientist
Production[]
G.I. Joe: The Movie was an animated spin-off movie based on Sunbow's G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero TV series. Created at the height of the popularity of the Hasbro toyline, this animated feature was originally intended to serve as the opening prologue to the third season of the Real American Hero series and was to be released in theaters shortly before The Transformers: The Movie which was being produced concurrently. In an attempt to appeal to more mature audiences, G.I. Joe: The Movie featured the surprise death of a main character, Duke to push a successor, Lt. Falcon into the leadership role. This shocking turn of events also inspired the writers of the Transformers film to rewrite their own script to mirror this; killing off the heroic leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime and replacing him with Hot Rod who became Rodimus Prime.
However unexpected delays in production resulted in the Transformers to be released first and the disappointing box office performances and the publicity backlash involving the death of beloved and favorite character, Optimus Prime caused Hasbro to waive the release of the movie. Fearful of a similar backlash, Hasbro demanded that the plot be rewritten. As the animation work was already completed, the writers hastily added in via voice-over that Duke had not actually been mortally wounded; merely severely and promised his full recovery off screen.
Instead of a theatrical release, G.I. Joe: The Movie was released directly to video and then broadcast in a five-part miniseries on air. Intended to serve as the bridge between the second and third seasons of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Sunbow deliberately set about to wipe out most of the Cobra leadership (Cobra Commander, Destro, Serpentor, etc.) to allow the main villains for the third season to be Tomax and Xamot, the Crimson Guard Commanders and as their main opponents, the Rawhides rookies featured in the feature; Lt. Falcon, Jinx, Tunnel Rat, Law & Order, Chuckles, and Big Lob who were all new characters.
This third season however never happened as Hasbro as a cost cutting measure, dropped Sunbow as the animators of G.I. Joe: Real American Hero and awarded a new contract to DIC who went in a totally different direction in their storylines.
Reception[]
Trivia[]
- The film was also released as "Action Force: The Movie" in the United Kingdom due to the fact that G.I. Joe was rebranded as Action Force in the UK to appeal to a European market.