Continuing the discussion of the 1st G.I. Joe mini, A Real American Hero, this new episode of the Saturday Supercast delves into the final three episodes of the series which debuted on network TV back in September 1983. Again, joining Jerzy Drozd in this episode (you can find part 1 here) are Kevin Cross and, well, me. This first story arc featured the introduction of the conflict between G.I. Joe (the codename for America’s daring, highly-trained special mission force) and Cobra (a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world.) This mini series effectively set the tone for the episodes that would follow, not to mention having a drastic impact on the decade of animation that debuted in its wake.
The cartoon was produced by Sunbow who also went on to work on other series like the Transformers, Jem, the Visionaries, and the Inhumanoids. Though the title screens were left off for this mini series, the episodes talked about in this discussion include:
Part 3: The Worms of Death
Part 4: Duel in the Devil’s Cauldron
Part 5: A Stake in the Serpent’s Heart
We also talk about the FHE VHS home video release of this first mini series, Larry Hama (writer of the comic series as well as a consultant on the show), Ron Friedman (writer for this and a handful of other Sunbow shows), Arthur Burghardt (voice of Destro), Chris Latta (voice of Cobra Commander), Frank Welker (voice of Wild Bill), Michael Bell (Voice of Duke), and Rob Paulsen (voice of Tripwire). We also get into the underused original line-up of characters, in particular Steeler who gets a nice send off in the episode World’s Without End (parts 1 and 2), the myth of Hercules and Linus, Transformers Animated, the new live action G.I. Joe movie, The Rise of Cobra, the recent G.I. Joe cartoon Resolute, Warren Ellis, unmasking mysterious characters, the original Star Wars Clone Wars cartoon, Lancelot Link, Hasbro, getting into anime as a teenager, antihero boredom, and the great Jack Kirby. You can find the 1st G.I. Joe mini series on the Season 1.1 DVD set put together by Shout! Factory, which was released this past Tuesday.
We’re keeping the podcast’s feed over at the Sugary Serials site, so if you want to subscribe to it, you can do it over there or you can use this link. I’m really excited to be podcasting again, and can’t wait to dig into more cartoons. So head on over to the Sugary Serials and check out episode 20 of the Saturday Supercast today or you can download it by right clicking and selecting save here!
If you have any questions, comments, or heck, even complaints, you can drop us a line at Saturday Supercast!
