Grade: 7

I remember being five years old, watching rapturously as the battle between good and evil took place every weekday after school. While I never got into Transformers, I was enraptured by G.I. Joe. Looking back on the show twenty-three years later, I was expecting the show to be embarrassingly trite, simple, and completely ridiculous. What surprised me was that it was these specific virtues that made it good.

In Season 1.1, there is not really an origin story. It starts right off in the middle of the fight between the noble American force G.I. Joe and the evil international terrorist organization Cobra. For a unit financed by taxpayers, G.I. Joe seems to have more resources and weapons than Patton’s 3^rd Army, and that’s nothing  compared to Cobra’s penchant for elaborate high-tech bases and limitless amount of soldiers.

The stories are extremely implausibly ridiculous, usually starting with Cobra launching an attack in the hopes of ruling the world (I always wanted to know Cobra would think it was all it was cracked up to be if they had their wish), and it is up to G.I. Joe to stop them. In this box set, a few of the ways used are a not-so-really death ray, a weather dominator, and a pyramid of darkness (I’m not kidding here).

But what makes this show as good as it is lies within the smaller details. The two rival leaders of Cobra (a hooded villain named Cobra Commander and a silver-faced dude named Destro) are constantly fighting with each other to be the dominant ruler of the organization. The irony is when they are partners, their elaborate plans actually work. Another detail is how the Joes are always on the cusp of defeat when they fight their way to victory (it’s never at doubt that they will save the day). And then there’s the macho military talk and swagger all skimmed down for children’s television.

What’s even more interesting is how the Joes specifically are created in broad cultural archetypes, some coming very dangerously close to stereotypes. Movie characters like John Wayne and Jack Nicholson can be seen in Duke and Shipwreck respectively (in fact Shipwreck looks a whole lot like Nicholson from The Last Detail).  Broad characteristics are easily distinguishable as a means to make them recognizable to the target audience.

Since the show was ultimately a means of selling toys to children, this gives another interesting look at the marketing mind. If the Transformers were meant to sell robots, G.I. Joe was meant to sell vehicles more than the characters themselves. In order to sell the vehicles, they had to look like a Defense Contractor’s utopia. The designs of these weapons of war are imaginative more than practical, firing rockets and missiles more than standard bullets (the show, again in a means to tone down the violent factor, used laser rifles that shot bursts of colorful light which never killed anybody).

As a product of it’s time, G.I. Joe was trying to sell more than just toys. It was selling the idea of the modern 80s, where military might was unlimited and the threat was only one heartbeat away from victory. The boys and girls who watched G.I. Joe were instilled with the ideas of determination, kindness, and vigilance. While these values are not treated as American-only, they implied that to be American is to require a fight for the very freedom we enjoy.

G.I. Joe is at best a mixed bag, but definitely an enjoyable one all the same. Season 1.1 is a pretty good start and I am sure that they will get better as more Joes are introduced and the storytellers get a better grip on their product. But if not, how can you say no to a Pyramid of Darkness?