GI Joe Season 1:1 mini REVIEW (1 Viewer)

[Tim_P_76]

I am writing this review for you guys and myself because I want to SEE ONE!! I have not seen very many and it would be nice to have one on HTF. Just to let ya know, I am a 27 year old diehard fan and consider myself quite modestly knowledgeable about the RAH series, toys and comics. I just didnt realize how smart and humorous this series is. Who does when you're 6 or 7. Now on to the review “my dear Cobra Commander”..


The Packaging….

I agree with QKTheater’s quibbles about the typos, but when it comes to anything else it’s too minor when going through the overall package. Yes you will go gaga. You can check out their packaging review below. First, the bad news: Can Rhino get any cheaper??! The package is made of very thin cardboard, which is reminiscent of the X-Files season sets. I fear for the future condition of this box. I don’t understand why they didn’t mimic the Transformer sets with the rigid cardboard and silver packaging. But the good news: The packaging is very subtle but quite nice and gets the job done. Colors are very fitting and add to the army theme. The cover art is embossed as well. The back of the set lists the episodes. Inside the disc art displays simple cammo art. Underneath the discs there are pics of most of the characters, although they look like they came out of the DiC series. Finally I must commend Rhino on the liner booklet which holds not only a synopsis of each episode but lists their chapter stops!

The Video…

I am happy to see that the video blows the TF sets away and is even better than the third season of Transformers G1. I watched this set on three different setups (Computer, TV w/S Video, TV w/Component) to get a feel for where the transfer was coming from. On each disc, the colors are bold and not over saturated. This is from 1985?! There is a nick here and there in most but not all episodes, but what a surprise. The cels and backgrounds are clean and clear and nowhere faded. Grain is present but almost non exisitent. Being there is 6-7 episodes on a disc there is slight compression noise but not an issue and hardly pops up. Would it kill for another disc? I haven’t seen any EE, halos or ringing as well. Blacks are very strong as well. Picture is steady and exhibits no vertical roll like the 2nd miniseries did. No jagged lines with the animation and the renowned lighting effects look fantastic. AS a side note the first 5 episodes use their original opening title but the others do not. The openings are from video masters and after watching the 5th one something really bad must of happened to it. They slowly deteriorate in quality. The episodes themselves are from the 35mm elements, thankfully. Rhino has informed me of this but I am still searching for an answer about the opening titles. Well worth it!

The Sound…

I have listened to both the 5.1 and original audio tracks. Of course I favor the 5.1. For me I didn’t get the set to hear as I heard on a TV back in 1985 on NY channel 11 in the afternoons. The OA track to me is quiet and doesnt exhibit much LFE response. I am quite a fan of the music and would die if there was a soundtrack release for it. The music on the 5.1 track benefits better than on the OA. Most of the time it takes advantage of the LFE, which is nice and does take over now and then in each episode at points. Dialogue is clear in both tracks. Though as in this and in the TF releases the sound can sound stretched and tinny on the 5.1, but its not bothersome. Bass response is not muddles but a nice medium rumble can be heard during action. Despite what you may believe there are only a handful of these ‘new sound effects’ and are mostly flyovers from jets. I don’t think they distract one bit.

Some Special Features…

I’d like to focus on the PSA’s. I do like the interviews but why couldn’t they get more with say Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, Buzz Dixon, Larry Hama; Hello?! All right, back to the PSA’s: There is no reason why these should be attatched to their respective episodes. There were only handfuls made for each season. Nothing would drive me nuts more than the repetition of “And knowing is half the battle.” It’s great that they are included and can be found on the movie disc as well.

Seeing these PSA’s and the episodes has truly awakened something in me. I don’t know what it is, you know, maybe it’s the inner child. I don’t know. I do know I’m spending most of my savings on buying it back! What’s a child of the 80’s to do? I recommend this because it won’t get any better than this.


Links
Complete Guide to GI Joe
QK Theatre Art link
YoJoe.com
The Ultimate GI Joe Cartoon Website

 

[Shane D]

i doubt larry hama would want to be involved in promoting the old cartoon.

in the back of one of the old g.i. joe issues, one of the issues in the 80's or 90's (number, not year) he responded to a letter that said he had never watched the cartoon or considered its history apart of the comic at all ( i think the letter was about how in the cartoon duke and scarlett was a item, but in the comic, it was snake eyes and her)

 

[Tim_P_76]

Very interesting although you do see hints of Scarlett and Snake Eyes now and then. Subtle though. Larry Hama seemed to be heavily involved in the Spy Troops movie which was great IMO and also the Valor vs. Venom film.

 

[Shane D]

Yeah, he did write spytroops, but i wont get into how much i hated that movie =0)

i do love season 1 so far though. It just takes me back and makes me regret destroying most of my toys.

 

[Tim_P_76]

Well Spy Troops wasnt the greatest thing in the world, but it was Joe. It was something that happened in quite a while. Cobra Commander was entertaining. Thankfully he was done right considering it was a new vioce.
And I feel your pain, I lost many Joe toys in garage sales. Whoa , but no more!

 

[Chad A Wright]

I just ordered Season 1:1 from DDD. My son's birday is coming in April, but I figured why not go ahead and get it. $35 is the best price I've found so far. Even better than eBay.

 

[Shane D]

i got mine from buy.com for 33.

and by destroyed, i meant throwing the cobra rattler thru the air to simulate flying, and to have it crash and burn on the concret. multiple times.

and simulating 'battle damage; to my skystriker by throwing prissiumums( no idea how to spell that, orange sticky things that grow on trees) while it was sitting ona big rock 3 feet of the ground.

needlesss to say, i regret all that, but i was a star wars kid, my friend was the one that had all the cool g.i. joe stuff.

 

[KyleC]

Does anyone remember the episode where they go find new recruits. I can remember it but dont know which disc it's on. It's the one where they brought in Quick Kick and others as new recruits.

 

[Ruz-El]

This is going to be rather subjective, but how do these hold up today? I never found GI Joe on TV locally as a kid, and find it damn tempting to get on DVD. I was planning on starting with the mini series as a way to test the waters.

I loved JOe as a kid, bought some of the Marvel comics and ahd a bunch of the toys (and still do! I got the F-14 jet with ACE and the cobra Hydra foil with boxes ). Some of my figures haven't faired so well though, some of my early Grunts now have helmets melted to there heads!

 

[Eric Fisher]

QuickKick joins the Joes during one of the parts of the first five part episode set (with the cubes)

 

[KyleC]

I watched the first episode today. Is the one with cubes you're referring to the Pyramid of Darkness 5 parter? The reason I ask is because there's a part where they have a meeting in Joe HQ and I saw Quick Kick in the meeting, so I just assumed he had already joined. Maybe it was just an editing error. I haven't watched all 5 parts yet so I'll let you know.

 

[Shane D]

it was when the joes went up north in the snow mountains. Alpine and Bazooka get seperated from the rest, and quick kick helps them out, cause he was in the neighborhood shooting a commercial, hes a stuntman in the cartoon. He sticks around with alp and bazook after its all said and dne. I think it was probably episode 2 or 3 of pyramind of darkness that it happened.

 

[KyleC]

I took these screens from the very first episode on the disc. As you can see, Quick Kick is in there. So is it just bad editing you think? Out of order?

 

[Shane D]

well g. i. joe has ALOT Of errors like that.

If you watched the group that is up in space, in the long shots, junkyard (mutts dog) looks like timber (snake-eyes wolf) but up close its junkyard. And there have been other spots that i've noticed wrong voices or just the wrong joe altogether in the shot. So I think thatis just more animation errors than story errors.