The Top 5 Unusually Heavy Episodes of 1980s Cartoons: #5
After observing how well Batman: The Brave and the Bold handled the Blue Beetle’s death in a children’s cartoon, it made me wonder how seeing that episode would affect kids watching it today. I remember enjoying my cartoons for the imaginative adventures, but there were a few episodes that seemed to pop up out of the blue that had much deeper themes, usually messing me up for several days. So beginning today is my tribute to the five best that really kicked me in the gut.
#5: There’s No Place Like Springfield, G.I. Joe
Originally broadcast December 12, 1985
Written by Steve Gerber
Plot summary (from imdb.com):
Shipwreck and Lady Jay go on a mission to pick up a scientist who claims to have developed a new weapon. When they find him, he implants the secret formula into Shipwreck’s brain, which can only be released by a secret code word he gives to Lady Jay. As they try to evade Cobra, Shipwreck is knocked unconscious. When he wakes up it’s several years later, the Joes have defeated Cobra, and he’s married to Mara. He tries to remember/figure out what happened during the missing years.
What made it so heavy (includes spoilers):
Shipwreck wakes up in Springfield to find the wife and family he always wanted, only he doesn’t remember any of it. Although G.I. Joe is disbanded, familiar faces pop up around town, and it seems like life couldn’t get any better. But it turned out, this family he always wanted and these friends he’s known for years were all just Cobra synthoids, and the problem with synthoids is they melt. The sight of Shipwreck’s family melting right before his eyes was traumatic enough for me as a kid. But Cobra tugged at Shipwreck’s heart in hopes of manipulating him for their goals, and in doing so reminded him of how much was missing from his life. It was an unusual added dimension to G.I. Joe characters, whose guns and tanks shot harmless lasers and whose pilots always parachuted to safety.
Key scene:
SHIPWRECK: I was the big hero, huh?
ALTHEA: Don’t you remember me anymore daddy?
SHIPWRECK: But Mara – how were you cured?
MARA: It was Doc’s final project, just before the Joe team disbanded.
SHIPWRECK: Disbanded?
Episode 1, Part 1:
Episode 1, Part 2:
Episode 2, Part 1:
Episode 2, Part 2:
Great idea for a blog series. I remember that episode, and I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of these.
The one where Heman accidentally kills a dude is on the list, right?
Jim, you have my attention! What neat idea to blog about. I look forward to further entries.
This was one of my favorite episodes of GI Joe ever. It was so different than anything else the series did.
I remember being confused and somewhat distrubed by this cartoon as a kid, mainly cause I had no idea what was going on.