G.I. Joe

[School of Movies 2025]

Maybe THE most American of children's properties from the 1980s, G.I. Joe began life as a big doll that boys could dress up for war, but as public sentiment turned against the conflict in Vietnam, Hasbro nudged their chunky action figure towards more of an adventure brand. Then in Reagan's 80s, Joe was relaunched as A Real American Hero, the first massively successful multimedia campaign designed to sell toys through cartoons and comics.

But following that period of relative peacetime, Joe fared less well in the 90s, and most definitely struggled in the 2000s. In this show we discuss the cartoon and its characters, the 1987 animated film and the 2009 attempt to launch a live action movie franchise with The Rise of Cobra.

Is it really as jingoistic and flag-waving as first impressions convey? Is it gross and macho or actually kind of sweet? We have further listening on this matter with two After School Clubs on the 2013 sequel, Retaliation (the one starring the Rock) and the solo Snake Eyes outing from 2021 starring Henry Golding (plus the best animated show so far, 2010's Renegades)