Welcome to Episode 4 of the 14th season of the Retroist Podcast. In this episode, I discuss the straight-to-video cartoon film classic of 1987, G.I. Joe: The Movie.
This is part four of a four-part series on the early-eighties incarnation of the GI Joe franchise. If you are interested in learning more about the toy line and comic series, please check out, the GI Joe toys, GI Joe Comics, and GI Joe: A Real American Hero podcasts.
I begin the show by talking about my last attempt at a hurrah with my GI Joe friends, and how it wound up becoming another night on the couch watching TV with my grandmother as she smoked and looked puzzled as to what I was watching.
Then I move onto the movie itself. First, I discuss the authorship of the film. I don’t think it’s a very controversial take, but I find the story of who wrote it interesting. Get those contracts locked down, people.
I mention Buzz Dixon a lot, and I think if I take away one thing from this run of GI Joe podcast, it’s a greater appreciation for Dixon. Buying the DVD or Blu-ray is worth it just for his commentary.
I mention the plot, fan out over the intro, talk some cast highlights, share my thoughts about how they should not have leaned so heavily on new characters and so much more.
I liked the movie as a kid, but I like it even more as an adult. The character work could be better, but the plot is off the chart bananas, and the opening scene might be one of the best GI Joe vs. Cobra fights ever animated.
I hope, after giving the show a listen, you check out the film.
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Production Notes
This is episode 258 of the Retroist Podcast.
Music on the show is, as always, by Peachy.
This is the fourth episode of the 14th season of the podcast. It was the fourth episode I recorded this season and is part four of a four part series. Yes, it was originally a three part series.
I reduced my story a bit. Mostly some details about the party planning.
Across the board, I tried to remove redundancy from other episodes, so I reference them. As recorded, it probably took 15 minutes off the show.
Buzz Dixon forever!
I had a few more commercials in the show, but they were not about the movie, and they felt like passing.
I had a few more quotes from Buzz, but it wasn’t needed to forward the narrative.
Really check out the Wally Burr website while it is still up. Just search Wally Burr.
Visionaries really were amazing and underrated.
The trailer I play is very abbreviated. They have a much longer, much more cinematic version, but I like the straight-to-video feel of this one.
The summary was a bit too detailed. I was enjoying it too much. So I cut it down a great deal.
I would have preferred a non-Serpentor/Cobra La world,especially if they had done The Most Dangerous Man in the World like Dixon envisioned.
Removed stuff about voice actors and focused just on the two.
I had more about the things I covered in the last three episodes. If you can, please listen to the other two episodes first.
If I mispronounced your name as a Patreon supporter, please email me and I will add a corrected version to a future episode.
Thanks for listening to the show and I hope you have a great weekend.
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