Series synopsis
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is an American animation action & adventure kids television series that premiered on Syndication on September 12, 1983. It ended on January 20, 1992. It was created by Ron Friedman. It stars Ted Harrison, Bill Ratner, Christopher Collins and Maurice LaMarche.
An elite team of soldiers thwart the evil Cobra organization's desire for world domination at every turn, cleverly stopping them from controlling the weather, creating unstoppable weapons, and genetically engineering super-warriors.
Premise
An elite team of soldiers thwart the evil Cobra organization's desire for world domination at every turn, cleverly stopping them from controlling the weather, creating unstoppable weapons, and genetically engineering super-warriors.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Ted Harrison as Duke (voice)
- Bill Ratner as Flint (voice)
- Christopher Collins as Cobra Commander (voice)
- Maurice LaMarche as Destro (voice)
- Mary McDonald-Lewis as Lady Jaye (voice)
- Robert Remus as Sgt. Slaughter (voice)
- Don Brown as Sub-Zero (voice)
- Suzanne Errett-Balcom as Lady Jaye (voice)
Supporting cast
- Garry Chalk as Pathfinder (voice)
- Andrew Koenig
- B.J. Ward as Scarlett (voice)
- Morgan Lofting as Baroness (voice)
- Richard Gautier as Serpentor (voice)
- Brian Cummings as Dr. Mindbender (voice)
- Hal Rayle as Deep Six (voice)
- Zack Hoffman as Zartan (voice)
- Pat Fraley as Ace / Airtight / Barbecue (voice)
- William Callaway as Beach Head (voice)
- Hank Garrett as Dial Tone (voice)
- Stan Wojno as Lifeline (voice)
Guest cast
- Gregg Berger as Firefly / Ripcord / Spirit (voice)
- Michael Bell as Duke / Xamot (voice)
- Arthur Burghardt as Destro (voice)
- Neil Ross as Buzzer / Dusty / Shipwreck (voice)
- Frank Welker as Torch / Wild Bill (voice)
- Ed Gilbert as General Hawk (voice)
- Corey Burton as Tomax (voice)
- Lee Weaver as Alpine (voice)
- Chuck McCann as Leatherneck (voice)
- Jack Angel as Wet Suit (voice)
- Jim Cummings
- Susan Blu
Episodes
This series spans 5 seasons with 186 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 0 | 47 | April 20, 1987 | April 20, 1987 |
| Season 1 | 65 | September 12, 1983 | December 13, 1985 |
| Season 2 | 30 | September 15, 1986 | November 20, 1986 |
| Season 3 | 24 | September 2, 1989 | February 13, 1991 |
| Season 4 | 20 | September 23, 1991 | January 20, 1992 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
G.I. Joe: The Movie While Cobra Commander and Serpentor accuse each other's stewardship of Cobra as the root cause of the organization's failures, a mysterious woman breaks into the Terrordrome. Cobra Commander leads the counter-attack, but in an attempt to rid himself of Serpentor, allows the intruder to escape. Reaching Serpentor, the intruder reveals herself as Pythona, who comes from a secret civilization known as Cobra-La. Pythona states that they were responsible for causing Doctor Mindbender to create Serpentor through dream manipulation. At her urging, Serpentor plans to capture G.I. Joe's newest weapon, the Broadcast Energy Transmitter (BET). |
April 20, 1987 |
| 2 |
Spy Troops The Joes have a new remote-control device in their possession. Cobra sends Zartan to steal this device while the Joes also send in their own spy to the enemy camp. The movie ends in a battle royale between Joe and Cobra forces. This is a prequel to G.I. Joe: Valor Vs. Venom. |
|
| 3 |
Valor vs Venom The sequel to G.I. Joe: Spy Troops. The G.I. Joe team battles Cobra's newest threat, Venomous Maximus and his hybrid troops. |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
The M.A.S.S. Device: The Cobra Strikes (1) Cobra seizes control of a new satellite for use with a new transportation device, and Duke is captured in the attempt. The G.I. Joe team learns that they must build their own device to defeat Cobra. |
September 12, 1983 |
| 2 |
The M.A.S.S. Device: Slave of the Cobra Master (2) The Joes travel to the arctic to retrieve rare minerals to fuel their MASS device, but Cobra ambushes them, and Snake Eyes is presumed dead. Duke manages to escape the Cobra base with the help of a slave girl, but he is injured and cannot remember the base's location. |
September 13, 1983 |
| 3 |
The M.A.S.S. Device: The Worms of Death (3) Snake Eyes returns home with the help of a wolf and a blind man. The Joes and Cobras battling for undersea elements must join forces to escape giant tubeworms on the ocean floor. |
September 14, 1983 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Arise, Serpentor, Arise! (1) A surprise attack by Cobra, using the new BATs, reveals that the Joes have gotten sloppy. General Hawk asks Sergeant Slaughter to help whip the team back into shape. Meanwhile, a series of dreams prompt Dr. Mindbender to concoct a plan to build a new Cobra leader from the DNA of long-dead conquerors. A package downed Night Raven reveals that Zartan has been asked to expand his team of Dreadnoks so he turns to his siblings, Zandar and Zarana for help, and the Joes investigate and discover the plan, only to be cornered by Thrasher and his Thunder Machine. |
September 15, 1986 |
| 2 |
Arise, Serpentor, Arise! (2) The Joes send teams out to guard the tombs on Zartan's list, but each team is defeated in turn: by Zarana in Egypt, the Crimson Twins in Paris, the Dreadnoks in the Yucatan, and the Baroness in Transylvania. Duke's team and the Oktober Guard are in a standoff with BATs while defending the tomb of Ivan the Terrible. |
September 16, 1986 |
| 3 |
Arise, Serpentor, Arise! (3) Cobra takes DNA from the tombs of Ivan the Terrible and Alexander the Great. Sergeant Slaughter retrieves a DNA pack from Cobra's raid on Sun Tzu's tomb, and from it the Joes surmise that Cobra is building a new breed of soldiers. Dr. Mindbender intends to use Slaughter's DNA as a replacement, and so feigns defeat as a ploy to retrieve the sarcophagus of Genghis Khan and capture Slaughter. |
September 17, 1986 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Operation Dragonfire (1) G.I. Joe is acting as the Peace Corps helping a poor village, when they met journalist/cameraman Leonard Michaels aka Scoop who joins the Joes. Cobra attacks a monastery to get the secret to the Dragonfire, a mysterious energy in the earth. Destro dumps the Baroness for Zarana, so Baroness plots with Gnawgahyde to return Cobra Commander to human form to get revenge. Scoop turns out to be a Crimson Guard commander spying on GI Joe... |
September 2, 1989 |
| 2 |
Operation Dragonfire (2) Cobra has a map showing the locations of Dragonfire around the world, and the Joes and Cobra battle over one of the locations in a mountain. Baroness and Gnawgahyde use the Dragonfire to DNA convert Cobra Commander back into human form. The Joes manage to get inside the mountain base, but are flooded out... |
September 17, 1989 |
| 3 |
Operation Dragonfire (3) Next location is a jungle temple in South America, and there's three factions: Serpentor, the Joes, and Cobra Commander. Scoop finds out he was tricked into joining Cobra and turns against them. But the Joes discover he's a Cobra. Cobra Commander uses the Dragonfire to turn monkeys in Ape Warriors that attack the Joes... |
September 18, 1989 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
The Eliminator Overkill recieves an upgrade and becomes The Eliminator, and sets out to destroy the Joes. |
September 23, 1991 |
| 2 |
Chunnel At the unveiling of a new tunnel between England and France, Cobra Commander kidnaps the Queen of England and steals the crown jewels, proclaiming himself King... |
September 24, 1991 |
| 3 |
A is for Android Cobra replaces General Hawk with an android replica... |
October 29, 1991 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | Syndication |
|---|---|
| First aired | September 12, 1983 |
| Last aired | January 20, 1992 |
| Runtime | 30 minutes |
| Status | ended |