G.I. Joe – A Real American Hero – Series 2: Season 2 (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

June 27, 2012 by Dennis Amith 

Action-packed, cheesy and fun! For those who grew up with “G.I. Joe” and are nostalgic for these classic ’90s “G.I. Joe” episodes or for those who are new and want to see the evolution of “G.I. Joe”, will definitely want to check out “G.I. Joe – A Real American Hero – Series 2: Season 2″.

Images courtesy of © 2012 Hasbro Studios. All Rights Reserved.

DVD TITLE: G.I. JOE – A REAL AMERICAN HERO – SERIES 2: SEASON 2

SERIES AIR DATE: 1991

DURATION: 14 Episodes (7 hours)

INFO: Fullframe (1:33:1), Original Mono

COMPANY: Hasbro/Shout! Factory

RATED: General Audiences

RELEASE DATE: July 10, 2012

Voice Director: Marsha Goodman, Ginny McSwain, Doug Parker, Paul Quinn, Victor Villegas, Madeline Bascomb

Talent Coordinator: Shirley McGregor

Anime Production: DIC Entertainment

Featuring the Voices of:

Jackson Beck as Narrator (“Operation Dragonfire”)

Michael Benyaer as Scoop, Airwave

Don Brown as Sub-Zero and Drop Zone

Jim Byrnes as Alley Viper

Gary Chalk as Gristle, Metal-Head, Pathfinder, Shockwave, Cesspool, BIOK

Brent Chapman as Red Star, Salvo

Lisa Corps as Zarana

Kevin Conway as Rock ‘n Roll

Ian James Corlett as Gnawgahyde, Rampart

Michael Donovan as Flint, Night-Viper

Suzanne Errett-Balcom as Scarlett, Lady Jaye

Ed Gilbert as General Hawk

Ted Harrison as Duke

Phil Hayes as Airborne

Fred Henderson as Lt. Falcon

Jerry Houser as Sci-Fi

Lee Jeffrey as Stalker

David Kaye as General Hawk

Terry Klassen as Altitude

Josh Andrew Koenig as Ambush, Night Creeper Leader

Maurice LaMarche as Big Ben, Copperhead, Destro, Heavy Duty, Low-Light, Red Star, Serpentor, Spirit

Morgan Lofting as Baroness

Chris Latta as Cobra Commander

Blu Mankuma as Roadblock

Scott McNeil as Freefall, Headman, Storm Shadow, Dice, Slice

Bob Remus as Sgt. Slaughter

Alvin Sanders as Stretcher

Robert O. Smith as Grunt, Wet Suit

David Willis as Bullhorn

Dale Wilson as Capt. Grid-Iron, Mutt, Overkill, Skydive

The battle rolls on in the final season of G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero, Series 2! General Hawk returns with his new team of JOEs, ready to take on any challenge by Cobra, a ruthless criminal organization out for world domination. And Cobra Commander’s clearly left the toughest challenges for last! Does G.I. JOE have what it takes to stop them?

The popular second season of this series from 1991 sees the return of fan favorite characters including Duke, Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow in adventures more exciting than ever! And now you can complete your collection with all 20 episodes of this outrageous second season in one three-disc set!

“G.I. Joe – A Real American Hero” is literally the classic animated series that became an iconic series for thousands of fans who loyally collected the many awesome merchandise from Hasbro and continues to be a popular toy line today.

Although, the series was released in 1984, the series has spawned several of animated series, CG films, video games and in 2009, a live action film (with a second one planned for release in the summer of 2012).

But like other children’s action animated series, not many series tend to last long. For the original “G.I. Joe – A Real American Hero”, the first animated series would last from 1983-1986.

But because Hasbro has been dedicated to their toy line up, and with new generation of children, in 1989, “G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero” was revived in 1989. This time around, in order to cut production costs, Hasbro dropped Sunbow for DiC and due to budgetary issues, DiC would focus on the new characters during this time period. A five episode mini-series titled “Operation Dragonfire” was released in 1989, and in 1990, a total of 19 episodes were created for the first season and 20 more episodes for the second and final season.

The first season of the DIC “G.I. Joe – A Real American Hero” was released in January 2012 courtesy of SHOUT! FACTORY and now the second and final season will be released on DVD in July 2012.

While the first season would focus on Hawk as the G.I. Joe commander, Sgt. Slaughter as the head of G.I. Joe and Captain Grid-Iron as the field commander.  The second season would feature the return of a few of the original characters and fan favorites such as Duke, Snake Eyes and Scarlett.

The DiC release of “G.I. Joe – A Real American Hero” would last from 1989-1992 and while fans have looked at the original ’80s series as being superior, fans also look at the revival as important for the introduction of new characters to the toy lineup for both G.I. Joe and Cobra. But perhaps the most significant change was Storm Shadow becoming a member of G.I. Joe (which was also reflected in the comic book series).

Here is a brief spoiler-less summary of each episode of “G.I. Joe – A Real American Hero – Series 2: Season 2″:

SEASON 2 – DISC 1

• EPISODE 25 – The Eliminator – Information is leaked but as fingers are pointing to former Cobra, Mercer. Mercer must prove he is not a traitor.
• EPISODE 26 – Chunnel – Cobra Commander kidnaps the Queen of England.
• EPISODE 27 – The Sword – Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow vs. Night Creeper Leader.
• EPISODE 28 – El Dorado: The Lost City of Gold – Grunt discovers the Lost City of Gold.
• EPISODE 29 – Kindergarten Commandos - Cobra Commander wants the perfect soldier.
• EPISODE 30 – Long Live Rock N Roll, Part 1 – Cobra creates a sonic attack that can destroy a city, now G.I. Joe must stop them!
• EPISODE 31 – Long Live Rock N’ Roll, Part II – Rock N’ Roll and Snake Eyes are in a race to save the city against Cobra’s sonic attacks.

SEASON 2 – DISC 2:

• EPISODE 32 – The Sludge Factor, Part I – Cobra attacks a chemical plant and causes an environmental disaster.
• EPISODE 33 – The Sludge Factor, Part II- The chemical attack has created Cesspool which goes against both G.I. Joe and Cobra.
• EPISODE 34 – Messenger from the Deep – G.I. Joe discovers an ancient underwater city but Cobra is not far behind.
• EPISODE 35 – The Greatest Evil, Part I – The Headman has everyone on drugs, but what happens when Falcon gets hooked!
• EPISODE 36 – The Greatest Evil, Part II – G.I. Joe and Cobra take on the Headman.
• EPISODE 37 – Infested Island – Cesspool is up to no good and has a new plan to bring humanity to his feet.
• EPISODE 38 – A is for Android – General Hawk has a clone, but will the Joes know which one is the real Hawk.

SEASON 2 – DISC 3:

• EPISODE 39 – Shadow of a Doubt – Cobra Commander is imprisoned but why is Storm Shadow helping him?
• EPISODE 40 – Keyboard Warriors - A young computer hacker hacks into Cobra’s computers.
• EPISODE 41 - Cobra’s World – Why has Cobra purchased an amusement park?
• EPISODE 42 – Metal Head’s Reunion – A high school reunion for Captain Grid-Iron and Metal-Head.  But Metal-Head wants to make sure he is the one remembered.
• EPISODE 43 – The Legend of Metal Head – A recap episode featuring Metal-Head.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“G.I. Joe – A Real American Hero” is in full color, fullframe (1:33:1) and presented in Dolby Digital. Because the DiC series had not been released on DVD until 2012, for many people, the only quality that people had seen are terrible many generation recordings (bad faded colors) recorded from television back in 1990-1991.

So, for many G.I. Joe fans, the release of “G.I. JOE – A REAL AMERICAN HERO – SERIES 2: SEASON 2″ is a bit better but some episodes show its age and some episodes have haloing.  So, there are some episodes that look much worse than others.  With that being said, considering that when the series did air on television, it was on a network that barely could be picked up by antenna and DVD’s sold online were in the worst quality possible.

As for audio, effects, dialogue and music are all clear and understandable. I didn’t notice any hissing, crackling or pops while listening to the soundtrack.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“G.I. Joe – A Real American Hero – Series 2: Season 2″ comes with the following special feature:

• Retrospective Featurette with the Hasbro Toy Team – (9:26) Featuring John Warden (Hasbro – Design Manager), Rik Alvarez (Hasbro – Design and Development) and others talk about G.I. Joe and the toy line of the ’90s and how it inspired the toys of today.  Plus footage from older ’90s “G.I. Joe” toy commercials.
  

“G.I. Joe Series 2: Season 2″ was no doubt an animation that took on issues of the time.  From the environment and the war on drugs, these episodes for the second season would deal with those two key topics.  From Cobra attacking a chemical plant and causing an environmental disaster and the birth of Cesspool to a drug leader named Headman which led to an unlikely teaming up between G.I. Joe and Cobra.

And while the second season would have corny episodes such as Cobra trying to make kindergarten kids to soldiers or Cobra Commander kidnapping the Queen of England or General Hawk having a clone, these were fun and crazy episodes of the time.  Granted, for those of us who grew up with the original Sunbows, yes…the DIC animated series of “G.I. Joe” was cheesy but for anyone who grew up at the time, it also inspired even better toys and characters for a younger generation, a major difference to how things are today, which are targeted more to the older collectors and those who grew up with the older animated series.

For those of us who grew up collecting “G.I. Joe” toys and comic books, these animated series were a part of our childhood and for many Joe fans, these episodes are not only nostalgic but also have some sentimental meaning.

While I grew up during the Sunbow series, when news came out that “G.I. Joe” was being revived in the ’90s and this time by DiC, a lot of us who grew up in the ’80s knew that this series would be targeted to a new generation of children, as many of us were now graduating high school or have become adults.

I have to admit that by the ’90s, despite my interest in G.I. Joe toys had dwindled as I was graduating high school and getting ready for college, I still managed to catch the series and even purchase a few of the toys. No matter how bright the colors were or how many characters were introduced, that is the joy of being an eternal “G.I. Joe” fan and supporting the series and the releases.

So, needless to say, I am quite biased when it comes to “G.I. Joe – A Real American Hero”. No matter how childish or cheesy some of the stories were, if you had an imagination and if you grew up with the series and were excited about the introduction of new characters, then you can’t help but be excited. Especially when you hear that the DiC series were using newer characters.

And while I am more biased to the ’80s Sunbow series, during college, I did try to catch as many of the DiC animated series on television. Granted, it was not the same G.I. Joe I grew up with. Duke, Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Gung Ho, Shipwreck, and Flint were gone and this time it focused on General Hawk, WWF wrestler Sgt. Slaughter and a new generation of G.I. Joe leaders and soldiers.  Fortunately for season two, we did see Duke, Scarlett, Snake Eyes and even Storm Shadow return and while the series was a bit more lighthearted, cheesy…it still brought out characters and toys that G.I. Joe fans really enjoyed at the time.

Season two would also feature more Metal Head, Night Creeper Leader and new nemesis such as the drug dealing “The Headman” and toxic waste spawned nemesis known as “Cesspool”.  And the characters represented the times of fluorescent clothes and bright colors (which also extended to the toyline).

Sure, these episodes may be a bit too lighthearted and kitschy for the older fans but I have always been positive towards this series because I knew that as I grew up with the ’80s series, for the ’90s, Hasbro was targeting a newer demographic of children. It was the sign of the times…

So, watching the DiC animated series, it was rather interesting because you had Ambush, Pathfinder, Salvo, Sub-Zero, the Sky Patrol and so many new characters, my feeling at the time was that kids should be thrilled.

Each character looked different, had different skills, various weaponry and attitude and Hasbro was quite innovative with the release of the toys. The animation encouraged us to enjoy them even further by establishing storylines that we could try to recreate. The series was the classic good vs. evil storyline and it’s one thing to have these various members of G.I. Joe but the whole look of Cobra was just too cool to ignore.

So, here we are with the DiC animated release of “G.I. Joe – A Real American Hero – Series 2: Season 2″. Many G.I. Joe fans may have missed the ’90s series and the fact that the series was never released on DVD, many of us had no choice at the time but to watch terrible quality versions of the series that were recorded via VCR in the lowest quality.

Of course, that was then…this is now. SHOUT! FACTORY who released the Sunbow ’80s animated series on DVD has now released the DiC animated series and quite frankly, this is the best looking and sounding version of the series on video to date.  By no means is the quality pristine, especially for season two which tends to have some haloing issues for some episodes but that’s how a lot of older, lower-budget series look.

Granted, things have changed so much for “G.I. Joe” fans in the last decade, especially with the release of “G.I. Joe: Resolute” several years ago and fans now clamoring for a more darker series. The animated series have become more edgier and darker and the targeted demographic are not so much the children but those who grew up with the ’80s and ’90s series who are still collecting “G.I. Joe” today.

Also, one would also see a difference in production quality. There was something about the original series that looked so good, while the DiC had less detail in my opinion. While I did feel that the female characters were nicely drawn and the fact that there were so many characters featured in these episodes, while not necessarily inferior, it’s just different styles of animation and also Hasbro did spend a lot on the production of the original ’80 series.

But for those of us who had the opportunity to grow up with these series, the DiC animated series would be important for many people in the introduction of many characters, many vehicles but also keeping “G.I. Joe” relevant for a new generation of collectors.

As for the season season DVD release, you get the remaining 20 episodes from 1991. And as for special features, while the first season didn’t have any, this second season does have one feature. I was quite thrilled to see a bonus featuring the Hasbro Toy Team reminiscing of the classic ’90s toys.  So, that was pretty fun to watch!

But as far as season two goes, I have to admit that I enjoyed season one because of the “Operation Dragonfire” episodes but I’m also a child at heart and no matter how cheesy or crazy these episodes were, because I grew up with them, these episodes do have a special place in my heart.

Action-packed, cheesy and fun! For those who grew up with “G.I. Joe” and are nostalgic for these classic ’90s “G.I. Joe” episodes or for those who are new and want to see the evolution of “G.I. Joe”, will definitely want to check out “G.I. Joe – A Real American Hero – Series 2: Season 2″.