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Why Did They End the Series After the Movie Came Out?

posted 16 years ago by SoonerFan80
18 replies | jump to latest

Why did they stop the series after "G.I. Joe: the Movie" was released in '87?
With "G.I. Joe: the Movie" having introduced so many new characters, you would have thought they would have had plenty of storylines to continue the series. I can't imagine it had anything to do with ratings because the actual series run started in '85 so G.I. Joe had only been out for a couple of years and it was easily one of the most popular cartoons of the 1980's.

"Money won is twice as sweet as money earned." Eddie Felson, The Color of Money, 1986

[–] PreachCaleb 16 years ago

They didn't. The show continued after the movie. Not sure what it was called or what happens since I've never seen it, but it there is a continuation.

It's all part of the plan.

[–] SoonerFan80 16 years ago

No they didn't. The Sunbow version of the series ended after the movie came out in '87. It was until '90 when the series was revived, all be it terribly, by DIC. But why did the 1980's Sunbow version of the series stop after the movie came out?

"Money won is twice as sweet as money earned." Eddie Felson, The Color of Money, 1986

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Drixor 15 years ago

Man that was one of the saddest days of my childhood, realizing that no more new GI Joe (sunbow) episodes were coming out. I mean cmon, if they were really going under u would think they could have at least sold the rights to someone who would make it the same way. I mean im sure the artists would have gone with the rights, the show was definatly a huge success. And the toys... my god the toys were the hottest thing since sliced bread (and Transformers =0), though i always liked gi joe toys much better. U could do so much more with them than a big clunky transformer who really had very few moveable parts, unlike gi joes who could move their heads, arms, elbows, waist, and knees in many directions and degrees.

[–] shuglife 15 years ago

thank you on the toys. even though i was bigger transformer fan; gi joe toys were still purdy dam cool. but seeing the toys today of both are garbage.
you could manipulate your joe how you wanted to not some predestined "attack" action. you wanted him/her to kick, or punch you had your choice. of course the smaller toys i was terrible at keeping up with accesories. i had very few guns and backpacks i usually just used good ole imagination.

i remember the night after this movie aired i moved about 100 miles from my hometown to a bigger city, but was upset because i could no longer find gi joe cartoons. so naturally i begged to move back, but i did find it in re run land so all was good.

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I've got better things to do tonight than die...

[–] confidential_75 14 years ago

It was never clearly explained. One thing, I remember being highly upset; then DIC happened, and I became even more upset.

"RESPECTING ONE'S OPINION IS THE PINNACLE OF MATURITY"

[–] ItsEddieHaskellBeyotch 13 years ago

Its true, the series was discontinued after G.I. JOE: The Movie was released because Sunbow/Marvel animation went under after the double box office failures of the My Little Pony and Transformers theatrical animated films. G.I. JOE:The Movie was supposed to be released to theaters but because of the box office failure of Transformers and fan uproar over the death of Optimus Prime (NOTE: Duke was supposed to die in the JOE movie but it was quickly redubbed as a coma). Had the Sunbow/Marvel animated movies been hits there also would've been a Jem and the Holograms movie which was slated to be their next project before the animation division was shut down.

The action figure line was still going somewhat strong after the series was over which prompted Dic Enterprises to pick up the animation slack with a really bad series which also helped the toy line limp on for a couple more years until it was discontinued sometime in the very early 90s.

"You win some, you lose some. But you live, you live to fight another day."

[–] mr_skandl 13 years ago

It's weird how the concept of time can be altered as a child. It seemed like GI Joe, Mask, Heman, Voltron, Thundercats, and Transformers, were on for ever. Come to find out, that most didn't air past a season or two.

"The key is, you've got to be crazy to maintain your sanity"

[–] Forgotten_Hero 13 years ago

Heh. It's so true. When you're a child, a series which has been around for two years feels like it's been around forever. I will say this though, despite only getting two or three seasons at the most, most of those shows had a lot of episodes. He-Man had 130 despite only lasting two seasons. G.I. Joe and Transformers both went well beyond the typical 65 episode limit for cartoons.

I was born in '85 and all of these shows were still receiving their share of reruns when I was a kid. Most of them still had toys on the shelf as well.

[–] Breesus 13 years ago

WOWWWWWWWWWWW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIjANMSs880

Look, I still watch cartoons. Spongebob, Powerpuff Girls, Animation Domination, old episodes of GI Joe & Transformers, even the Smurfs sometimes. I will never outgrow them.

So I know as a 12 year old I wasn't too old for this, I must have just thought it sucked monkey butt & blocked it out of my memory.

Thanks for showing me what damaged my childhood.

[–] Forgotten_Hero 13 years ago

You know, Hasbro changed Duke's death to a coma after the backlash resulting from Optimus Prime's death. Being that The Movie was the last entry in the G.I. Joe series prior to the DIC update, I wonder how it would have effected the series if Duke had been killed off for real.

Would DIC have honored that fact or would they have essentially hit the reset button? And what effect, if any, would it have had on later adaptations like Sigma 6 and Renegades?

[–] jessedepoy 13 years ago

So obviously a few of you also remember the episodes that came after the movie, when I lived in Philly it was on either right before or after Super Mario Brothers. Both had real-life intros by characters: Lou Albano would have the terrible Mario outfit and a plunger, and Sergeant Slaughter talked about the Joe episode. **SPOILER** I specifically remember the episode where Cobra Commander appeared in his armor and took his mask off, and Mindbender had made him into a humanoid snake after his transformation in the movie. It was a sort of cliffhanger ending, and I never saw any after that. Are these episodes available on DVD anywhere? I've been waiting over 20 years to see how it ended ;)

[–] Forgotten_Hero 13 years ago

That episode would have been from the DIC series which started in 1989. I know know if it's available on DVD or not, but I would assume so.

Also, I couldn't help but notice that Sgt. Slaughter appeared on both shows that you mentioned. In addition to being a regular on G.I. Joe, he made two in-character appearances on the Super Mario Bros. Super Show as well.

[–] jessedepoy 13 years ago

Yeah, I figured it was from the Dic series. I've looked for them and I think there may be some on VHS and that's about it, nothing on DVD as far as I can tell. That's funny, and a little scary, that he was in Mario. How in the world did they write that in? Maybe it was a favor to Cap. Lou Albano since they were both wrestlers. Still pretty weird though.

[–] Forgotten_Hero 13 years ago

He appeared as one of the special guests in the live action segments. He shouted orders, made the brothers do push ups, and double parked his tank over the top of another automobile. (Of screen, of course.) In his first appearance, the Mario Bros. had to fix Slaughter's Steam-O-Matic which resulted in Mario getting locked inside and shrunken to a smaller size.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] BouncyX 12 years ago

the DIC series is indeed on dvd now. Shout is releasing it. they already released the first season and season two is coming soon.

they called it G.I. Joe : Series 2

just check their site or amazon or i imagine its in stores as well.

[–] jessedepoy 12 years ago

Really? If that is the case, you rule. Nobody else I talked to knew anything about this.