Home  Episode Summaries Season 1 Lasers in the Night - Notes
Credits: written by Marv Wolfman
Production Number: 600-25
Original Airdate: October 22, 1985
Version One: Amber, a college student and martial arts aficionado, is frustrated with a life of term papers and final exams. She wants to do something in the world. When Quick Kick gives a martial arts demonstration on campus, Amber hears her calling. She decides to leave school and join the Joe team. The Joes will hear nothing of that, of course; her education comes first. But Amber doesn’t see it that way. She decides to prove she’s ready to enlist - by taking on Cobra single-handed.
Version Two: Amber, a frustrated college student[,] wants to join the Joe team. She decides to prove she’s ready to enlist - by taking on Cobra single-handed.
| THE PERSONNEL |
| G.I.Joe: Quick Kick, Gung Ho, Lady Jaye, Duke, Scarlett, Bazooka, Breaker, Flint*, Spirit*, Dusty, Roadblock, Alpine, Doc, Cover Girl, Blowtorch*, Airborne, Shipwreck*, Mutt*, Ace, Flash, Snake Eyes |
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Cobra: Cobra Commander, Destro, the Baroness, Tele-Viper, Crimson Guard, Cobra agents |
| THE GEAR |
| G.I.Joe: Dragonfly, Skystriker |
|
Cobra: FANG, Rattler |
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* indicates the character was silent during the episode
Quick Kick quotes Porky Pig while telling the audience, “Like they say
in the movies, ‘Abedee-abedee-abedee, that’s all folks.’”
The title of the episode is more than likely a tribute to the song "Strangers
in the Night." The first stanza of the Frank Sinatra song is: Strangers in the night exchanging glances
Wondering in the night what were the chances
We'll be sharing love before the night was through
Something in your eyes was so inviting
Something in your smile was so exciting
Something in my heart told me I must have you
The structure of the story also resembles that of a song's. For example,
the full moon is first mentioned by Sandy as a "lover's moon" and is present
in the crucial scenes of the episode, like the first meeting of Quick Kick
and Amber, the fire at the electronics lab, Quick Kick and Amber's boat
ride, Cobra Commander's carving project and the final shot of the episode.
Because of the moon's presence during pivotal points in the story, it could
be considered as a visual chorus. However, there was also a spoken "chorus."
While Quick Kick is sitting in the boat with Amber and flying with her
in a Dragonfly, he asks the rhetorical question to his baffled girlfriend:
"Amber, what am I going to do with you?" And at the end of the show, Amber,
who confuses the movie quote collector with a line from Now, Voyager,
takes her turn with the question and asks, "Oh, Quick Kick, what am I going
to do with you?”
The line that confuses Quick Kick ("Oh, Jerry, don’t ask for the moon.
We have the stars.") was originally spoken by Bette Davis in the movie
Now, Voyager. The story is about a Charlotte Vale, a lady who grows out
of mother's stranglehold by visiting a sanitarium and then taking a cruise
to South America and falling in love with a married man named Jerry. Charlotte returns home and confronts her mother, who dies of a heart attack.
Engulfed with misery and drowning in depression, Charlotte again travels
to the sanitarium and meets Tina, Jerry's daughter. The two get along famously
so Tina lives with Charlotte.
After Quick Kick enters the control room, he evades the laser whips and
watches them become knotted. “I love it when a plan comes together!” he
shouts, which was a line from the NBC television series The A-Team.
I
Dialogue:
Amber: Sandy, you remember what the professor said? History
is made by people who do things. What do I do? Nothing.
Sandy: Nothing?! You’re a candystripper, you run charity fairs,
you even teach karate to kids. C’mon, the full moon is out. Are you going
to waste -
Time: 20 seconds
II
Time: 12 seconds
III
Time: 38 seconds
Commentary: In the uncut
version of the episode, the viewer is treated to one of the clichés
in life: opposites attract. And it's truly a shame that the editor at the
USA network didn't recognize this collection of scenes as crucial to the
depiction of Amber and Quick Kick's relationship.
Flint
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Original:
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Spending your time assigning blame and insulting others on your team
is a unproductive, therefore, you should work together and fix the problem. |
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USA:
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Same as above |
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Sound Clip: "You spent millions on this?! This cosmic graffiti?!"
[67.8 kb]
Movie Clip:
Resting against Quick Kick’s chest, Quick Kick tells Amber that he
did a little fix up work on the moon and asks what she thinks. Looking
up to see two dots and a semi-circle, a simple happy face, which is on
a bulletin board, Amber tells Quick Kick, "Oh, Jerry, don’t ask for the
moon. We have the stars."
Quick Kick: "Jerry?! Who’s Jerry?"
Amber: "I’m doing Bette Davis from the movie Now, Voyager."
Quick Kick: "Huh?"
Amber: "Oh, Quick Kick, what am I going to do with you?"
[894 kb]
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