"G.I. Joe" (1985) TV series 1985-1986

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Writers:

Larry Hama (character development)
Denny O'Neil (writer)

Seasons:

1 | 2

Release Date:

16 September 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Animation

Plot:

An elite special missions force fights against the terrorist forces of Cobra.

Plot Keywords:

Military | Based On Toy

Cast

Chris Latta	...	Cobra Commander / ... (77 episodes, 1985-1986)
Michael Bell	...	Duke / ... (67 episodes, 1985-1986)
Neil Ross	...	Shipwreck / ... (62 episodes, 1985-1986)
Arthur Burghardt	...	Destro / ... (56 episodes, 1985-1986)
Frank Welker	...	Torch / ... (55 episodes, 1985-1986)
Mary McDonald-Lewis	...	Lady Jaye / ... (49 episodes, 1985-1986)
Bill Ratner	...	Flint / ... (45 episodes, 1985-1986)
Zack Hoffman	...	Zartan / ... (36 episodes, 1985-1986)
Kene Holliday	...	Roadblock (36 episodes, 1985-1986)
Morgan Lofting	...	Baroness / ... (35 episodes, 1985-1986)
Corey Burton	...	Tomax / ... (32 episodes, 1985-1986)
Pat Fraley	...	Ace / ... (31 episodes, 1985)

(more)

Series Writing credits
Buzz Dixon		(15 episodes, 1985-1986)
Ron Friedman		(10 episodes, 1985-1986)
Flint Dille		(7 episodes, 1985-1986)
David Carren		(5 episodes, 1985-1986)
Carla Conway		(5 episodes, 1985-1986)
Gerry Conway		(5 episodes, 1985-1986)
Christy Marx		(5 episodes, 1985)
Sharman Divono		(4 episodes, 1985-1986)
Steve Gerber		(4 episodes, 1985-1986)
Martin Pasko		(4 episodes, 1985-1986)
Michael Charles Hill		(3 episodes, 1985-1986)
Mary Skrenes		(3 episodes, 1985-1986)
Gordon Kent		(3 episodes, 1985)
Ted Pedersen		(3 episodes, 1985)
Beth Bornstein		(2 episodes, 1985-1986)
Steve Mitchell		(2 episodes, 1985)
Barbara Petty		(2 episodes, 1985)
Roger Slifer		(2 episodes, 1985)
Richard Merwin		(2 episodes, 1986)
David Schwartz		(2 episodes, 1986)
Larry Hama		(unknown episodes)
Denny O'Neil		(unknown episodes)

Series Produced by
Joe Bacal	....	executive producer (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Jim Duffy	....	producer (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Tom Griffin	....	executive producer (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Michael Charles Hill	....	co-producer (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Don Jurwich	....	supervising producer (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Margaret Loesch	....	executive producer (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Dan Thompson	....	producer (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Sam Weiss	....	producer / supervising producer (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
John Ahern	....	producer (55 episodes, 1985)
Doug Booth	....	associate producer (55 episodes, 1985)
Chuck Downs	....	producer (55 episodes, 1985)
Art Vitello	....	producer (55 episodes, 1985)
Mark Glamack	....	producer (30 episodes, 1986)
Larry Houston	....	producer (30 episodes, 1986)
Alex Lovy	....	producer (30 episodes, 1986)
George Singer	....	producer (30 episodes, 1986)
John Walker	....	producer (30 episodes, 1986)
John Grusd	....	producer (unknown episodes)

Series Original Music by
Johnny Douglas		(85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Robert J. Walsh		(85 episodes, 1985-1986)

Series Production Management
Jim Graziano	....	director of production (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Lee Gunther	....	executive in charge of production (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Carole Weitzman	....	production manager (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Geraldine Frerks	....	production manager (55 episodes, 1985)
Stephanie Graziano	....	production manager (55 episodes, 1985)
Eric Early	....	post-production supervisor (30 episodes, 1986)
Jean Frye	....	production manager (30 episodes, 1986)
Steven Heth	....	post-production supervisor (30 episodes, 1986)

Series Art Department
Jim Fletcher	....	storyboard director / storyboard artist (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Larry Houston	....	storyboard director / storyboard artist (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Boyd Kirkland	....	storyboard director / storyboard artist (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Frank Paur	....	storyboard director / storyboard artist (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Mario Piluso	....	storyboard director / storyboard artist (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Douglas Vandegrift	....	storyboard director / storyboard artist (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Mike Vosburg	....	storyboard director / storyboard artist (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Gary Graham	....	storyboard director (55 episodes, 1985)
Glen Hill	....	storyboard director (55 episodes, 1985)
Rick Hoberg	....	storyboard director (55 episodes, 1985)
Will Meugniot	....	storyboard director / storyboard artist (55 episodes, 1985)
Don Sheppard	....	storyboard director (55 episodes, 1985)
Hank Tucker	....	storyboard director (55 episodes, 1985)
Pat Agnasin	....	storyboard artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Del Barras	....	storyboard artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Bill Barry	....	storyboard artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Norman Cabral	....	storyboard artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Kurt Conner	....	storyboard artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Romeo Francisco	....	storyboard artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Jim Gomez	....	storyboard artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Adrian Gonzales	....	storyboard artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Warren Greenwood	....	storyboard artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Sherman Labby	....	storyboard artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Doug Lefler	....	storyboard artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Alan Shean	....	storyboard artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Jim Shull	....	storyboard artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Romeo Tanghal	....	storyboard artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Keith Tucker	....	storyboard artist (30 episodes, 1986)
David Russell	....	storyboard artist (unknown episodes)

Series Sound Department
Jim Blodgett	....	sound effects editor (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Michael L. DePatie	....	sound effects editor (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
John Detra	....	sound effects editor (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Karen Doulac	....	sound effects editor (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Ron Fedele	....	sound effects editor (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Jerry Jacobson	....	sound effects editor (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Michael Tomack	....	sound effects editor (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Richard C. Allen	....	sound effects editor (55 episodes, 1985)
Bruce Elliott	....	sound effects editor (55 episodes, 1985)
Richard S. Gannon	....	sound effects editor (55 episodes, 1985)
Ellen Burr	....	voice recording coordinator (30 episodes, 1986)
Ted Chapman	....	sound effects editor (30 episodes, 1986)
Allison Cobb	....	sound effects editor (30 episodes, 1986)
Heather Elliott	....	sound effects editor (30 episodes, 1986)
Jacquie Freeman Ross	....	dubbing supervisor (30 episodes, 1986)
Leonard T. Geschke	....	sound effects editor (30 episodes, 1986)
Brad Gunther	....	sound effects editor (30 episodes, 1986)
David Hankins	....	sound effects editor (30 episodes, 1986)
John Hart	....	dubbing supervisor (30 episodes, 1986)
Joel Iwataki	....	voice recording engineer (30 episodes, 1986)
Richard Raderman	....	sound effects editor (30 episodes, 1986)
Joseph G. Sorokin	....	sound effects editor (30 episodes, 1986)
Warren Taylor	....	sound effects editor (30 episodes, 1986)
Peter Tomaszewicz	....	sound effects editor (30 episodes, 1986)
Susan L. Vovsi	....	sound effects editor (30 episodes, 1986)
Larry Goodwin	....	sound re-recording mixer (unknown episodes)
Nicholas James	....	sound effects editor (unknown episodes)
Doug Madick	....	foley artist (unknown episodes)
Peter Reale	....	sound re-recording mixer (unknown episodes)

Series Animation Department
William Draut	....	model designer (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Paul Gruwell	....	layout artist (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Russ Heath	....	model designer (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Boyd Kirkland	....	layout artist (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Carol Lundberg	....	model designer (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Frank Paur	....	layout artist (55 episodes, 1985)
Bruce W. Timm	....	model designer (55 episodes, 1985)
Pat Agnasin	....	layout artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Eufronio R. Cruz	....	layout artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Lindsay Dawson	....	layout artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Jim Fletcher	....	model designer (30 episodes, 1986)
Romeo Francisco	....	layout artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Lee Go	....	layout artist / model designer (30 episodes, 1986)
Ernie Guanlao	....	layout artist (30 episodes, 1986)
John Koch	....	model designer (30 episodes, 1986)
Alex Mann	....	layout artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Warren Marshall	....	layout artist (30 episodes, 1986)
Andrew Phillipson	....	background designer (30 episodes, 1986)
Jeff Richards	....	background designer (30 episodes, 1986)
Robert Schaefer	....	background designer (30 episodes, 1986)
Dennis Venizelos	....	background designer (30 episodes, 1986)
Fred Warter	....	background designer (30 episodes, 1986)
Jim Willoughby	....	model designer (30 episodes, 1986)

Series Editorial Department
Robert T. Gillis	....	supervising editor (55 episodes, 1985)
Steven C. Brown	....	supervising editor (30 episodes, 1986)
Rick Gehr	....	assistant to supervising editor (30 episodes, 1986)
Andrew Golov	....	telecine supervisor (30 episodes, 1986)
Sarah Swiskow	....	telecine supervisor (30 episodes, 1986)
Larry Whelan	....	assistant to supervising editor (30 episodes, 1986)

Series Music Department
Peter Collier	....	music editor (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Johnny Douglas	....	conductor (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Ford Kinder	....	composer: title song (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Spencer Michlin	....	composer: title song (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Mark Shiney	....	music editor (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Robert J. Walsh	....	conductor (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Joe Siracusa	....	music editor (55 episodes, 1985)
Richard C. Allen	....	music editor (30 episodes, 1986)
Robert Mayer	....	music editor (30 episodes, 1986)
Robert Randles	....	music editor (30 episodes, 1986)
Michael Charles Hill	....	lyricist (2 episodes, 1985-1986)

Series Other crew
Jay Bacal	....	creative director (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Warren Batchelder	....	sequence director (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Wally Burr	....	voice director (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Brad Case	....	sequence director (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Joan Case	....	sequence director (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Gerry Chiniquy	....	sequence director (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Buzz Dixon	....	story editor (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Bob Kirk	....	sequence director (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Bob Matz	....	sequence director (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Norm McCabe	....	sequence director (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Hildy Mesnik	....	production assistant / production coordinator (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Margaret Nichols	....	sequence director (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Karen Peterson	....	sequence director (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Tom Ray	....	sequence director (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Robert Shellhorn	....	sequence director (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Bob Treat	....	sequence director (85 episodes, 1985-1986)
Flint Dille	....	story editor (55 episodes, 1985)
Bill Exter	....	sequence director (55 episodes, 1985)
Steve Gerber	....	supervising story editor (55 episodes, 1985)
John Gibbs	....	supervising director (55 episodes, 1985)
Terri Gruskin	....	production assistant (55 episodes, 1985)
Don Jurwich	....	voice director (55 episodes, 1985)
Al Kouzel	....	sequence director (55 episodes, 1985)
Terry Lennon	....	supervising director (55 episodes, 1985)
Will Meugniot	....	title designer (55 episodes, 1985)
Larry Parr	....	story editor (55 episodes, 1985)
Lizabeth Aguiar	....	production coordinator (30 episodes, 1986)
Robert Alvarez	....	sequence director (30 episodes, 1986)
Myrna Bushman	....	assistant to director (30 episodes, 1986)
Rudy Cataldi	....	sequence director (30 episodes, 1986)
Chuck Downs	....	sequence director (30 episodes, 1986)
Lillian Evans	....	sequence director (30 episodes, 1986)
John Freeman	....	sequence director (30 episodes, 1986)
Milton Gray	....	sequence director (30 episodes, 1986)
Bill Knoll	....	sequence director (30 episodes, 1986)
Ray Lee	....	supervising director (30 episodes, 1986)
Nellina Lombardo	....	production coordinator (30 episodes, 1986)
Francesca Stipicevic	....	production coordinator (30 episodes, 1986)
Keith Tucker	....	title designer (30 episodes, 1986)
Douglas Vandegrift	....	title designer (30 episodes, 1986)
Mike Vosburg	....	title designer (30 episodes, 1986)
Neal Warner	....	sequence director (30 episodes, 1986)
Lisa Wilson	....	assistant to director (30 episodes, 1986)

Production Companies

• Sunbow Productions
• Marvel Productions
• Hasbro
• Toei Animation Company

Distributors

• Claster Television
• Family Home Entertainment (FHE) (1991) (USA) (VHS)
• Rhino Video (1999) (USA) (video)
• Sunbow Productions Inc. (1985) (worldwide) (TV)
• Veronica Omroep Organisatie (1988-1989) (Netherlands) (TV)
• WEA Corp. (1999) (USA) (VHS)
• WEA Corp. (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Starwild Music Inc.  music
• Wildstar Music Inc.  music

Also Known As:

"Action Force" (UK)
"Chijô saikyô no Expert Team G.I. Joe" (Japan)

Runtime:

30 min | 30 min (85 episodes)

Country:

USA | Japan

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:TV-Y7 | UK:PG

Company:

Sunbow Productions

Trivia:

Real-life Chicago Bears football star William "The Refrigerator" Perry became a member of the G.I. Joe team in late 1986, with the codename "Fridge." A special edition action figure was issued, but "Fridge" was never featured on the animated series.

Goofs:

Continuity: Gung Ho's hat disappears and reappears randomly when the Joes raid the arctic Cobra base in "The Viper Is Coming".

Quotes:

Zartan: What's the matter, old Flint? Up a tree are you?
[shouts]
Zartan: Mwahaha!
Flint: Laugh this off, happy boy!
[starts shooting at Zartan, manages to hit him and he goes down screaming]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996)

Never giving up, staying till the fight's won. THAT was a job for GI Joe.

The brother series to "Transformers", two of many fondly remembered 80s cartoons that were based on popular toy lines. The difference being that the GI Joe toyline had been around for decades and seen many reduxes over the years. Prior to this series GI Joe was usually a doll that was the embodiment the Marines, the Navy, and the Air Force.

This interpretation redesigned/redefined GI Joe as "the code name for America's highly trained special missions force." In other words, the commandos of the GI Joe company were responsible for fighting Cobra, the "ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world."

GI Joe and Cobra both had a couple of different figure head/leaders. Originally GI Joe was represented by Duke (voice of Michael Bell among others), a tall blond guy with blue eyes. Later, GI Joe's official leader became General Hawk (voice of the late Ed Gilbert, who also voiced Baloo on "Tale Spin"), while Duke remained 2nd in command. 3rd in command was Flint (voice of Bill Ratner), the rugged warrant officer who later replaced Duke as the main character of the many countless GI Joe adventures. 4th in command was Beach Head (William Callaway, who also voiced Aquaman a few years earlier), a ball busting drill sergeant type. Later we met Sgt. Slaughter (voiced by an actual Professional Wrestler of the same name), who shared the ball busting drill sergeant role with Beach Head. Originally Cobra was led by the cowardly yet mysteriously charismatic Cobra Commander (voice of Chris Latta, who also voiced Gung Ho among other characters and also had the memorable of the whiny Star Scream Decepticon on "Transformers"), who was always butting heads with the iron masked Destro, who had a thing going on with the bifocal Baroness babe. Then we got Serpentor, a super strong test tube baby forged from the DNA of various tyrants plus Sgt. Slaughter (the latter's blood making him very tempermental).

Other romances include Scarlett (BJ Ward, who recently voiced Velma in a couple of those Scooby-Doo direct to video features) being at crossroads between a relationship between Duke and the scarred, silent ninja Snake Eyes (comic books later made her relationship with Snake Eyes famous) and Flint's affection for the spear tossing brunette Lady Jay.

Like "Transformers", this show had a cast of thousands on account of the constant new toys being made and many of the same voice actors worked together on both series. Not surprising, seeing as how they were made by the same companies.

This and "Transformers" were probably the most violent cartoons of the era, seeing as how "He-Man & The Masters of the Universe" and "Thundercats" didn't get too heavy on the violence. GI Joe didn't feature deaths but people did get hurt (Duke was always getting into comas) and there were a number of shoot outs and fist fights. But what made people forgive GI Joe was that these guys would show up at the end of each episode to tell kids a moral or give a public service announcement about what to do if your house is on fire or you're confronted with drugs or how to fix up your bike or how to ask for help or simply encourage kids to be nice to each other and tolerant and find non-violent resolutions to their problems and disputes (this may explain why we had to put up with the pacifist army rescue doctor Lifeline).

And like Transformers and countless other shows, quality of stories and animation often varied depending on the budget. But they did have some very memorable ones, and it sported heroes you couldn't help admiring and wishing you could either become or at least play sidekick to. Too bad you don't get 'em like this anymore.

Long live GI Joe, the real American Hero.