Reliving the Nostalgia: A Dive into GI Joe Episode 1 “The Cobra Strikes”
Story by Mitchell Smith
Welcome to The Outpost. Today I’m taking a look at GI Joe episode 1 “The Cobra Strikes”, originally airing on September 12, 1983. I can’t remember as an 8 year old if I caught that first episode or not. One thing is for sure it didn’t take long for me to be excited to get out of school and take that hour bus ride home to watch Scooby Doo and GI Joe right after. I just rewatched episode 1 and right from the get go there was a captivating power about the military, the character, and the technology used at the time that was very futuristic for 1983. Of course everyone knows by now of all those cool Joes I got for X-Mas in 1982, now some of my favorite characters were on the tv. The opening scene sports the Skystriker based on the F-14 Tomcat. This was more than likely the first time many of us had seen this jet. It later was immortalized in the classic 1986 movie (seems like it just came out yesterday) Top Gun. The first episode was really cool and all the main characters were quickly established in the first episode.
Duke was the clear leader as he proclaims he will “Kick the mustard out of the hot dog” who just buzzed Stalker, Snake Eyes, and Duke on the tarmac. Stalker seems to be second in command and Snake Eyes has the mysterious aura about himself right from the get go. As the hot dog Scarlett exits the Skystriker Duke is quickly defused and Scarlett creates a sexy, strong, and daredevil female character. All of these would go on to be staple all time great characters in the comics, animated series, and toy lines. The 4 main Cobra characters are also masterfully developed in 20 minutes of air time. We get the first scene with Major Blood attacking the Joe base and the new Skystrikers with a cunning and fearless attack with cobra jets. Cobra Commander and Destro (even though they are at each other’s throats for most of the GI Joe franchise) have this amazing chemistry between them.
Cobra Commander is very demanding and wants instant results(probably a silver spoon baby), while Destro is calm and collected with the understanding failure is a part of succeeding. Destro has probably spent countless hours in the field trying to make things happen even though he relentlessly is beaten down. Last but not least the ever so popular Baroness makes her debut disguised as a women from the Pentagon that the General does not take seriously. Baroness shows her intelligence when Cobra teleports a fleet of Cobra Troopers into the top secret facility with a state of the art satellite that is due to be launched into space the next day. Baroness not only tricks the General and the Joe team, but she inadvertently escapes in the teleport with Duke trying to grab her. Over all this was a really great episode and really established GI Joe right from the get go and cemented the grounds for its wild and crazy rise to the top of animated series and for action figures in the eighties. Make sure to check back next week for the next discussion at The Outpost.
