Home  Episode Summaries Miniseries G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero - Notes
Credits: written by Ron Friedman
Production Numbers: 4005 to 4009
Original Airdates: September 12 - 16, 1983
| SUNBOW'S SYNOPSES |
Day 1
Using the MASS device, Destro and Cobra Commander steal a powerful satellite, kidnap Duke and terrorize the world. Scarlett and the other Joes learn that the only way to stop Cobra is to build their own MASS device. To do it they must search the globe for three precious elements and get them before Cobra does or all is lost. Duke battles for his life in Cobra’s Arena of Sport.
Day 2
Duke finds an unexprected ally in the shadows of the Arena of Sport, while Snake Eyes, Scarlett, and Stalker join with Snow Job in a treacherous search for the radioactive crystals of death. Cobra terrifies the world with the impossible capture of an entire army and Duke’s desperate beg for freedom seems sure to end in disaster.
Day 3
Cobra robots blast their way into the crystal mine freeing the dangerously radio-active Snake Eyes while the G.I.Joe team dives to the ocean floor in search of the precious elements needed to stop Cobra’s train of destruction and Duke and the Baroness unexpectedly join forces in a terrifying struggle against giant tube worms.
Day 4
New York trembles under brink of destruction and Stalker agrees to surrender the G.I.Joe team while Scarlett, Wild Bill, and Gung Ho fly into an errupting volcano and battle Cobra and Destro for the final element. Only with the final element do the Joes have a fighting chance. But it’s a chance that may cost Scarlett her life. [Note: "Cost" was misspelled as "cause" in one version of the episode synopsis]
Day 5
In our next episode, Scarlett becomes a slave to Cobra and she and Salina lead a slave rebellion...while Dr. Vandermeer completes the mass device and the Joe team launches deadly combat with Cobra and Destro. [Note: the phrase "In our next episode" was left out of one version of the episode synopsis] |
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| THE PERSONNEL |
| G.I.Joe: Ace (4), Airborne (4,5*), Breaker
(1-5), Cover Girl (2-5), Clutch (1*,2,4,5), Doc (2,3,5), Duke (1-5), Flash
(1-4,5*), Grunt (5*), Gung Ho (1,2*,4,5), Joe grunts (5), Rock 'n' Roll (1*,2*,4,5), Scarlett (1-5), Short Fuze (1*,3,5*), Snake Eyes (1-5), Snow Job (2,5*), Stalker (1-3,5*), Steeler (1,2*,3-5), Timber (3,4,5), Torpedo (3,5), Tripwire (1*,2,3*,4,5), Wild Bill(1*,4,5), Zap (1*,2*,4*,5*) |
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Cobra: the Baroness (1-5), Cobra agents (1-5), Cobra Commander (1-5), Destro (1-5), Major Bludd (1-3,5*), Shock Troops (3) |
| THE GEAR |
| G.I.Joe: Dragonfly (1,5), Falcon glider (5), FLAK (1,5), JUMP (1,5), MOBAT (1,5), Polar Battle Bear (2), RAM (1), SHARC (3), Skystriker (1,5), VAMP (3,5), Whirlwind (5), Wolverine (3) |
|
Cobra: HISS
(1,2,5), Rattler (early version; 4), SNAKE (2), Viper gliders (2,5) |
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* indicates the character was silent during the episode, which is in parenthesis
 
 
Since images of the G.I.Joe SHARC (from left to right - top left), the Cobra Water
Moccasin (image right) and (what could be) Zartan's Swamp skier, the Chameleon
(image bottom row), appear in the 1983 mini-series, the animators may have modeled
the vehicles from prototypes of the toys, which would appear in the 1984
mini-series, G.I.Joe:
The Revenge of Cobra, in their final form.
Animation from the fourth
episode was recycled for the Cobra
Rattler commercial.
The MASS (Molecular Assembler Scrambler Sender) Device is similar to
Star Trek's transporter beam. Before the operator can beam up a landing
party, the transporter engineer would first lock onto a signal before "beaming
up" the landing party, which involves the deconstruction and reconstruction
of molecules. Also, a play on the word "mass" is heard when the MASS device's
beam was described as causing "mass destruction."
When the Cobra planes crash on the Joes' base no one ejects or walks
away. Another example of the pre-"parachuting to safety" days occurs when
a Cobra Viper glider crashes into a rock overhang while chasing Duke.
The sound of the laser cannon on a motorcycle used by Stalker to infiltrate
the home of the energy relay satellite may have been sampled from the special
effects sound for the lasers in the science fiction television series Battlestar
Galactica.
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In "Day of the Machines," an episode from The Transformers series, the drawing of the globe-shaped weapon with metal tentacles on the drawing board is very similar in design to the underwater vehicle used by the Baroness in the third episode. |
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Like the communicators on Star Trek may have foreshadowed the birth of cell phones, the flatscreen TV is seen in the miniseries before it is produced. |
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The first of several instance of Cobra stealing G.I.Joe weapons designs
(in this case, the FLAK) is seen during the battle on Cobra's airship. |
Cover Girl appears as a blonde for the first and last time in the mini-series and General Flagg never appears again in future episodes. The mini-series was not part of the 1990s syndication package (Matthew Pak's 3 3/4" G.I.Joe Collector Guide - Volume Two: The Television Episodes).
The mini-series was released as volume
one in the FHE commercial tape series.
Cobra picked Vandermeer's brain for MASS device secrets but what kind
of mistakes and their effects were encountered before the machine was perfected?
It is interesting to note that a brain scanning device was introduced in
the comic. Could the cartoon Snake Eyes have suffered from early experimentation
of the brain scanner? As the Joes enter the arctic cave containing the
radioactive crystals, Tripwire says he knows "better than to doubt Snake
Eyes' sixth sense." Could the change to Snake Eyes have been a psychic
ability that has given him a reputation as a reliable psychic? Probably
not. Check out John Sullivan's explanation:
Reference your speculation about Snake-Eyes'
sixth sense-there is a simpler explanation, no ESP involved, so no need
to call Mulder and Scully.
According to the comics, Snake-Eyes served as a member of a Long Range
Reconnaissance Patrol unit. These guys had more training than the average
grunt, and went into the bush to find Charlie and the NVA, report their
positions, so superior forces with better firepower could blow them to
hell and gone.
That said, considering all the times Snakes was out in the bush, if
he didn't have a sense of danger, it sure developed. Diddly-bopping in
enemy territory does that. Your senses are already on high alert for anything
out of the ordinary. And you listen to your gut. When I served in the Army,
whenever we went to the field for training, I served on a Quick Reaction
Force. Basically, we hunted for the "enemy." And I walked point-that's
the first man who sees the enemy and alerts everyone else.
And in a real world situation, that job has a high mortality rate.
Demands everything from you. One time, we were on maneuvers, "enemy"
had been sighted, and we went looking for them. We found them just as they
were about to set off a smoke generator to simulate an NBC (Nuclear, Biological,
Chemical) attack, took them prisoner.
Point is, you trust your instincts.
And perhaps he learned something while in Japan with Storm Shadow...
John Sullivan
In the third episode, The Worms of Death, Torpedo's nose disappears for a few frames while spitting out the sea water. Also, how did Cover Girl learn Timber's name since Snake Eyes cannot speak? (Matthew Pak's 3 3/4" G.I.Joe Collector Guide - Volume Two: The Television Episodes)
Dialogue:
Dr. Vandermeer: There is a remote possibility we can activate our MASS device if - and only if - the synthetic metorite flakes I have devised complete the equation. I shall need an object for the test. Gung Ho?
Gung Ho: Bye, Baby. Take good care of her, Dr. Vandermeer. We've been through lots together.
Dr. Vandermeer: I shall do my best. Snake Eyes, the homing device. Prepare to receive transmission. The electo-moto forcefield seems to be adequate...Now!
Gung Ho: Baby! Wha'd they do t'ya?
Duke: I would use that weapon unless your insurance is paid up.
Dr. Vandermeer: Without the third element, we are no match for Cobra.
Time: 51 seconds
Commentary: The "Baby" and the second scene featuring Duke's adventure in a sensory deprivation tank were probably cut due to time constraints. In the first FHE release of the mini-series, a trailer for the movie Supergirl was placed after mini-series. However, in the end, I would have to say all interested parties were disappointed since the Joe fans didn't receive the complete tale and the movie Supergirl flopped.
[2.20 mb]
Dialogue:
Doc: Let's start at the beginning, Duke, with your childhood
in Iowa. Early on, your sense of honor and justice was tested and you responded.
It has never deserted you. It is at the heart of your idea of America -
an idea despised by Cobra. That's it, Duke. It's coming into focus.
Time: 29
seconds
Commentary: When the mini-series
was released on a commercial
tape, Family Home Entertainment left out a crucial scene in the characterization
of Duke as he was attempting to remember the location of Cobra's base while
floating in a sensory deprivation tank. The footage included Duke beating
away some bullies attacking a kid, playing football, studying at college
and practicing on the parallel bars.
[1.10 mb]
Because the miniseries was released on video tape, the previews and reviews segments in the episodes was unnecessary. However, in order to preserve the history
of this stellar miniseries, I have archived the brief moments in
the show that refreshed our memories and continue to help us remember the
episodes to this very day.
* indicates the announcer incorrectly named Tripwire as Stalker
Movie Clip: "Well, nobody's perfect," Breaker says. "No," Duke replies,
"but we do okay. YO JOE!" [2.21 mb]
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