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Sunday, February 12, 2012

The DIC Version of the G.I. Joe Cartoon is Finally Available on DVD!

This post is mainly for G.I. Joe die hards that really followed the series and what went on over the years.  Just about everyone remembers the iconic G.I. Joe cartoon that ruled the 80's.  But for anyone that watched in 1989, some drastic changes took place that to me as a kid just seemed to be some freshening up of the looks of some of the characters and such.

What actually took place was the original company that produced the G.I. Joe cartoon, Sunbow Productions was taken over by DIC and the show was overhauled a bit.  For anyone that saw the 1987 "G.I. Joe The Movie," you saw the odd storyline where Cobra Commander was turned into a snake and Serpentor pretty much ran shit after that.  Well I remembered seeing Cobra Commander back in the DIC series, so for years I was confused on what went on between the movie and the new cartoon.  Well the DIC series kicks off explaining how things went down and explains how Cobra Commander got back to his regular form and everything was pretty well explained.

Some other big changes were Destro having a gold head instead of silver in this series, many other characters had some cosmetic changes, Sgt. Slaughter is in a much bigger role as a leader of G.I. Joe which was very cool, and of course the theme song changed to the "Got to Get Tough, YO JOE" version that many fans might remember.

In the grand scheme of G.I. Joe hardcore fandom, the DIC 1989-1991 version of G.I. Joe isn't looked at as overly great.  I enjoyed the series and the fresh looks and characters it provided, and enjoyed the fact that it explains the story from the movie, which was the height of my G.I. Joe fandom.  While the DIC series isn't better than the original overall, for anyone that wants the full complete story of the G.I. Joe cartoon, this is a must have that many have waited on for years.  "Series 2 Season 1" is the title of the DVD, so a second season is sure to be on the way next for the full G.I. Joe cartoon experience.