Those Awesome Mini-Series’, And More
Season 1.1 comes to us in a very nicely packaged four disc set. Inside the box you’ll find several inserts too, include three Temporary Tattoos, an episode guide, a GI Joe Collector’s Club advertisement, and a gijoe.com ad. The Temporary Tattoos are actually pretty neat; you get: an old school GI Joe logo, a Cobra logo, and the clan symbol of Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow (easily the coolest). These tattoos will actually last for about seven days, too.
The episode guide is a full color booklet that breaks down the contents of each disc, including episode summaries, pictures of some of the episodes, and a list of the extra features. The episodes include three five episode mini-series stories as well as seven additional consecutive episodes. Let’s break it down, shall we?
-Disc 1: The MASS Device – Who can forget the MASS Device story arc? It’s here that Cobra and Destro team up to create a device that can transport matter across the globe in seconds. It’s up to Duke, Scarlett, Stalker, Snake Eyes, and the rest the Joes, to create their own MASS Device with the help of a scientist so that they can combat Cobra and keep them from terrorizing the world.
-Disc 2: The Revenge of Cobra – Growing up, this was the mini-series I saw the most and I love it to this day. In it, Destro creates a diabolical device known as the Weather Dominator that he uses to wreck havoc on the weather system across the world. When the device is damaged by GI Joe, and three key components of it are spread out across the globe, a mad scramble ensues with the Joes, Cobra, and the Dreadnoks to see which team can recover the three components. The epic Storm Shadow vs Spirit fight happens during this story, and Firefly, my favorite character, also gets some good screen time.
-Disc 3: The Pyramid of Darkness – Another excellent five part mini-series, this time the Joes are attempting to stop Cobra, lead by Crimson Guard leaders Tomax and Xamot, from deploying the pyramid of darkness, a bizarre zone where no device inside the projected pyramid works. The device is powered by cubes that the Joes must destroy. Battle takes place in space, land, air, and sea.
-Disc 4: Disc four contains seven episodes from 1985 that took place immediately after The Pyramid of Darkness. They are: “Countdown For Zartan,” “Red Rocket’s Glare,” “Satellite Down,” “Cobra Stops the World,” “Jungle Trap,” “Cobra’s Creatures,” and “The Funhouse.” These episodes are great in their own right and feature all of the base infiltrating, doctor kidnapping, full on battles you’ve come to expect.
As far as extra features, each disc contains part of “Looking Back with Writer Ron Friedman,” the gentlemen that wrote the theme song and the script for most of the episodes in the series. All told, this interview lasts about thirty minutes and Ron divulges his philosophy on writing, how he learned to connect with kids and young adults to be able to bring them what they want in a cartoon, and how pleased he is to have been able to make so many people happy through the years. If anything, I would have liked to see this interview go on much longer and also hear about more specific anecdotes Ron had about particular characters and scenes, but this is still very much worth a watch.
Disc four also contains the other extra features. These include several of the “Knowing Is Half the Battle” PSAs, that include Alpine, Quick Kick, Deep Six, Barbecue, Spirit, and Torpedo. GI Joe’s Original 1963 Toy Fair Presentation is an almost surreal nine minute “commercial” for the original GI Joe figure. The narrator discussed many of the dozens of available accessories for the toys and also the three pronged advertising campaign Hasbro was going to launch to get people buying these toys. It’s a very interesting piece, although you may not watch it more than once. The last two extras are a printable script for the episode “Jungle Trap,” and three old school (1980s) GI Joe TV commercials that were totally cool to see — the first one talks about “The Collection,” the first twelve Joes to be released while the second focused on Breaker and the rapid fire motorcycle. The third commercial featured kids playing out a snow battle with Snowjob and the Battle Bear driving back a dozen Cobra Soldiers. Very nostalgic stuff!
Ultimately, this is a really great set. About the only reason this Joe fan wouldn’t recommend purchasing this release is if you plan on getting the Complete Series set that comes out later this month. Otherwise, this set goes highly recommended for some great old school animated fun.
