GI Joe: the DiC series

*DrSpengler* · 06-29-2005, 10:30 AM

I just popped in my old VHS of "Operation: Dragonfire", the 5-part miniseries that picked up where GI Joe: the Movie left off, and I honestly don't understand the hatred for the DiC series GI Joe fans tend to harbor.

For one thing, the animation by Kunitoshi Okajima Studio was superior to that of Toei Studio. The animation was very fluid, the character designs had greater detail and the direction had much more energy.

A lot of people complain about the new voice cast, but I have to say it's still a great collection of talent. Ian Corlett (Cheetor, Goku, Megaman) was there along with several other members of the Ocean Group; one of my favorite dub studios. One of the greatest voice actors of all time was there, Maurice LaMarche, and he did nearly half of the characters. Off the top of my head, he was Destro, Serpentor, Spirit, Low-Light and Gnawgahide. And his impressions of the previous voice actors was borderline flawless. And the voice direction was done by Doug Parker, the current voice of Cobra Commander and Starscream.

A few members of the original cast also returned for the series. Chris Latta came back to voice Cobra Commander, and that's always entertaining. Sgt. Slaughter came back as well, for those who are fans of his, and I'm pretty sure that the Baroness' original actress returned, as well (her voice is too perfect to be an impression).

The new voices may have been different, but they were all professionals and, for the most part, were all very good.

Then there's the fact that it maintains pratically flawless continuity with the Sunbow series. When the series opens Serpentor has just rebuilt Cobra and makes his first strike. Cobra Commander is still a mutated snake monster being held prisoner. Eventually, in the second episode, he gets returned to his human-ish form by Gnawgahide and the Baroness. As he transforms he hisses "Wasss onccccce a maaaann!!!". A nice fanboy tingle.

Later on he dethrones Serpentor and turns him into an iguana. I enjoyed that part the most, as I really never liked Serpentor (he was just as much a failure as Cobra Commander ever was).

One of the only complaints I can agree with is the characters designs. Yes, they were more detailed (animation-wise), but a lot of them were just stupid. Cobra Commander looks like he's wearing snorkling gear and Stalker dumped his camos for a bright white gortex coat. The character design changes obviously came from Hasbro and the characters needed to resemble their contemporary toy counterparts, I wouldn't blame the animation studio or the character design artists. after all, the same thing happened in the Marvel GI Joe comic after a while.

A lot of people hated the new theme song ("Got to get tough, Go Joe!") but it grows on you after a while. The opening animation was pretty good, though it was more a random collection of battle scenes pasted together, unlike the Sunbow sequences which were a single battle beginning with the Joes attacking some Cobra fortress and then blowing it up at the end.

Anyway, the DiC series really is underrated. I'd like to see more of it than Operation: Dragonfire, especially since I dug the new animation. Unfortunately, the chances of it ever getting released on DVD are slim to nil. DiC doesn't seem to show much interest in releasing their popular properties on DVD. C'mon, tons of people would love to buy season sets of the Real Ghostbusters, Inspector Gadget, Sonic the Hedgehog and the Super Mario Brothers Super Show.

**ThirdMarioBro** · 06-29-2005, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrSpengler

DiC doesn't seem to show much interest in releasing their popular properties on DVD. C'mon, tons of people would love to buy season sets of the Real Ghostbusters, Inspector Gadget, Sonic the Hedgehog and the Super Mario Brothers Super Show.

Well, Sonic never gets released due to legal problems with Sega and Disney. Sega wants to bury it and Disney has some claim in the US because they laid claim to every show they aired. Gadget is coming out in small incremints on evolume at a time, and Mario & Zelda hit this fall in Box sets.

Overall I don't think they're doing half that bad.

*DrSpengler* · 06-29-2005, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThirdMarioBro

Well, Sonic never gets released due to legal problems with Sega and Disney. Sega wants to bury it and Disney has some claim in the US because they laid claim to every show they aired. Gadget is coming out in small incremints on evolume at a time, and Mario & Zelda hit this fall in Box sets.

Overall I don't think they're doing half that bad.

So far all we've gotten are random assortments of Mario, Zelda and Sonic Underground episodes. The Zelda DVD is only 45 minutes in length and the Mario DVDs don't even include the live action segments.

I hadn't heard about the season sets of Mario and Zelda. We don't have them available for pre-order at Suncoast, anyway. That's good news. But where are Cops, Real Ghostbusters and a real set of Inspector Gadget (all I've seen is "Inspector Gadgets Last Case"). All previous volumes with the 3 or 4 episodes on each disk are no longer in print. So so far I wouldn't say DiC has been doing things very well.

Hopefully the season sets of Mario and Zelda you mentioned are a step in the right direction.

*ZariusTwo* · 06-29-2005, 07:01 PM

The entire series of Sonic Undergrond was released as a box set in the U.K, and SATAM has consistent reruns on GMTV2 and POP, so it's not buried completly in some countries.

The Zelda box set is legit, and despite my opinions on it, it does have it's share of positives, Zelda was'nt a petty damsel in this series, and was more independent

**GK Punk** · 06-29-2005, 07:03 PM

I've been trying to get my hands on Tapes of the GI Joe DiC series for years now. I barely remember from when I was a kid so Im dying to see it again. i hear the later seasons of the DiC series were god awful though.

*ZariusTwo* · 06-29-2005, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alison Chains

I've been trying to get my hands on Tapes of the GI Joe DiC series for years now. I barely remember from when I was a kid so Im dying to see it again. i hear the later seasons of the DiC series were god awful though.

G.I Joe EXTREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMME?

Yeah, that was nothing on the first DIC season.

**GK Punk** · 06-29-2005, 07:08 PM

No, the Second Season of DiC GI Joe. When they kiddied it up. Brought Back Scarlett, did the anti-Drug episodes, had the sonic fighters ep etc. I pretend GI Joe Extreme never happened.

*Deathknight* · 06-29-2005, 08:17 PM

I don't remember much about the DIC series but I did enjoy Operation Dragonfire which I have on a pirated DVD.

*DrSpengler* · 06-30-2005, 09:13 AM

TV Tome has an episode guide for those who need a refresher:

http://www.tv.com/g.i.-joe/show/6931/episode_guide.html

The DiC seasons are seasons 3 and 4.

GI Joe Extreme was bad, I won't even try to defend that one. But it is in Joe continuity, much to my dismay. The Sgt. Savage and the Screaming Eagles home video bridged he gap between the DiC series and Extreme (poorly, but it did it).

However, the show is easy enough to ignore.

The DiC series had it's fair share of stupid episodes, that's for sure. But then...so did the Sunbow series. "Lasers in the Night", "Ode Deu Cobra", and "Red Rockets Glare" are practically unwatchable. And even the good episodes like "Money to Burn" are centered around rediculous concepts (a machine that disintegrates money...?).

And "Operation: Dragonfire" is genuinely GOOD. One of the beter 5-parters in the series (better than "Pyramid of Darkness", anyway). I think the DiC seasons just had MORE of the stupid episodes than the Sunbow seasons, particularly the last one DiC did. Yech.

Never-the-less, it does set up Cobra Commander's appearance in "Only Human" on Transformers quite nicely.

manny · 06-30-2005, 02:45 PM

i wouldnt mind seeing the series but i dont think for me it will be better than the originals

*Deathknight* · 07-01-2005, 08:51 PM

Most sequels aren't as good as the originals when it comes to TV and movies. Very few exceptions to that fact.

06-29-2005, 10:30 AM	#1
DrSpengler Foot Elite Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 4,842	GI Joe: the DiC series I just popped in my old VHS of "Operation: Dragonfire", the 5-part miniseries that picked up where GI Joe: the Movie left off, and I honestly don't understand the hatred for the DiC series GI Joe fans tend to harbor. For one thing, the animation by Kunitoshi Okajima Studio was superior to that of Toei Studio. The animation was very fluid, the character designs had greater detail and the direction had much more energy. A lot of people complain about the new voice cast, but I have to say it's still a great collection of talent. Ian Corlett (Cheetor, Goku, Megaman) was there along with several other members of the Ocean Group; one of my favorite dub studios. One of the greatest voice actors of all time was there, Maurice LaMarche, and he did nearly half of the characters. Off the top of my head, he was Destro, Serpentor, Spirit, Low-Light and Gnawgahide. And his impressions of the previous voice actors was borderline flawless. And the voice direction was done by Doug Parker, the current voice of Cobra Commander and Starscream. A few members of the original cast also returned for the series. Chris Latta came back to voice Cobra Commander, and that's always entertaining. Sgt. Slaughter came back as well, for those who are fans of his, and I'm pretty sure that the Baroness' original actress returned, as well (her voice is too perfect to be an impression). The new voices may have been different, but they were all professionals and, for the most part, were all very good. Then there's the fact that it maintains pratically flawless continuity with the Sunbow series. When the series opens Serpentor has just rebuilt Cobra and makes his first strike. Cobra Commander is still a mutated snake monster being held prisoner. Eventually, in the second episode, he gets returned to his human-ish form by Gnawgahide and the Baroness. As he transforms he hisses "Wasss onccccce a maaaann!!!". A nice fanboy tingle. Later on he dethrones Serpentor and turns him into an iguana. I enjoyed that part the most, as I really never liked Serpentor (he was just as much a failure as Cobra Commander ever was). One of the only complaints I can agree with is the characters designs. Yes, they were more detailed (animation-wise), but a lot of them were just stupid. Cobra Commander looks like he's wearing snorkling gear and Stalker dumped his camos for a bright white gortex coat. The character design changes obviously came from Hasbro and the characters needed to resemble their contemporary toy counterparts, I wouldn't blame the animation studio or the character design artists. after all, the same thing happened in the Marvel GI Joe comic after a while. A lot of people hated the new theme song ("Got to get tough, Go Joe!") but it grows on you after a while. The opening animation was pretty good, though it was more a random collection of battle scenes pasted together, unlike the Sunbow sequences which were a single battle beginning with the Joes attacking some Cobra fortress and then blowing it up at the end. Anyway, the DiC series really is underrated. I'd like to see more of it than Operation: Dragonfire, especially since I dug the new animation. Unfortunately, the chances of it ever getting released on DVD are slim to nil. DiC doesn't seem to show much interest in releasing their popular properties on DVD. C'mon, tons of people would love to buy season sets of the Real Ghostbusters, Inspector Gadget, Sonic the Hedgehog and the Super Mario Brothers Super Show.

06-29-2005, 07:01 PM	#4
ZariusTwo Overlord Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Britain, DINO THUNDER...POWER UP! Posts: 22,494	The entire series of Sonic Undergrond was released as a box set in the U.K, and SATAM has consistent reruns on GMTV2 and POP, so it's not buried completly in some countries. The Zelda box set is legit, and despite my opinions on it, it does have it's share of positives, Zelda was'nt a petty damsel in this series, and was more independent __________________ Spider-Man: The Rescue Spider-Man: The Galloping Cat Spider-Man: Scarlet Mirror Doctor Who: Child of the Daleks

06-29-2005, 08:17 PM	#8
Deathknight Mad Scientist Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: One of the 972 rooms of the technodrome Posts: 1,995	I don't remember much about the DIC series but I did enjoy Operation Dragonfire which I have on a pirated DVD. __________________ Shredder: "Ninja hall of fame? Ha! Where's MY statue?!" -My Brother, the Bad Guy

07-01-2005, 08:51 PM	#11
Deathknight Mad Scientist Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: One of the 972 rooms of the technodrome Posts: 1,995	Most sequels aren't as good as the originals when it comes to TV and movies. Very few exceptions to that fact. __________________ Shredder: "Ninja hall of fame? Ha! Where's MY statue?!" -My Brother, the Bad Guy

06-29-2005, 07:03 PM	#5
GK Punk I'm your Devil Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 12,439	I've been trying to get my hands on Tapes of the GI Joe DiC series for years now. I barely remember from when I was a kid so Im dying to see it again. i hear the later seasons of the DiC series were god awful though.

06-29-2005, 07:08 PM	#7
GK Punk I'm your Devil Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 12,439	No, the Second Season of DiC GI Joe. When they kiddied it up. Brought Back Scarlett, did the anti-Drug episodes, had the sonic fighters ep etc. I pretend GI Joe Extreme never happened.

06-30-2005, 09:13 AM	#9
DrSpengler Foot Elite Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 4,842	TV Tome has an episode guide for those who need a refresher: http://www.tv.com/g.i.-joe/show/6931/episode_guide.html The DiC seasons are seasons 3 and 4. GI Joe Extreme was bad, I won't even try to defend that one. But it is in Joe continuity, much to my dismay. The Sgt. Savage and the Screaming Eagles home video bridged he gap between the DiC series and Extreme (poorly, but it did it). However, the show is easy enough to ignore. The DiC series had it's fair share of stupid episodes, that's for sure. But then...so did the Sunbow series. "Lasers in the Night", "Ode Deu Cobra", and "Red Rockets Glare" are practically unwatchable. And even the good episodes like "Money to Burn" are centered around rediculous concepts (a machine that disintegrates money...?). And "Operation: Dragonfire" is genuinely GOOD. One of the beter 5-parters in the series (better than "Pyramid of Darkness", anyway). I think the DiC seasons just had MORE of the stupid episodes than the Sunbow seasons, particularly the last one DiC did. Yech. Never-the-less, it does set up Cobra Commander's appearance in "Only Human" on Transformers quite nicely.

06-30-2005, 02:45 PM	#10
manny Thug Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 94	i wouldnt mind seeing the series but i dont think for me it will be better than the originals