Well I don’t think they wanted to show children how to commit the perfect crime LOL.
Remember to watch out for the voices in episode 6 of Avatar.
True, true. And it was Berserko “masterminding” the smash-and-grab operations, and he’s not exactly the sharpest tool in the box! If he had kids with mainframe, their IQs would be exactly average! (Not that Mainframe would ever give him a second glance, she’s WAAAAY out of his league in every possible way!)
Remember to watch out for the voices in episode 6 of Avatar.
Will do. I’ve been watching yet more C.O.P.S. so far today, a couple of episodes that I figured I might identify with:
The Case Of The Visiting Mother. Nobody cramps your style like your mother - even if you’re Big Boss. Big Momma was a great character.
The Case Of Mace’s Romance. This one was really too close to home. I’ve already said on here, parallelling the Cops with the Spectral Knights, that Mace is a bit like Cryotek, who I played back in 2001-4 in an online RPG when I belonged to a Visionaries group. I played Cryotek because I saw something of myself in him. Well, I got proof today that my assessment was spot on because I saw that same something in Mace in this episode. Although my appreciation of Mainframe dropped a notch in this episode, she was just plain CRUEL to him! I know it was meant as friendly teasing, but there was far too much of it, she didn’t miss a single opportunity. And even created one opportunity from nothing.
Which gets me thinking of Cryotek and Galadria now. It’s still weird how Galadria paired up with Cryotek rather than one of the other Spectral Knights. Accepting that for her to get with Leoric could have led to accusations of favouritism (although in Spiral Zone there’s a distinct suggestion that Dirk and Kat would eventually have hooked up after Overlord had been defeated for good), the obvious choice for Galadria would be either Arzon or Witterquick; Arzon because of closeness in age etc, Witterquick because they seem to go back some way (although this could just as easily rule him out, if they maybe tried it once before and it didn’t work out but they stayed friends).
It’s interesting how they never really expanded on relationships between characters in 80’s cartoons. But then again I suppose most of these cartoons were designed to just sell toys to young boys.
Building relationships with characters is something Avatar did very well.
It has been a while since I seen Visionaries but I always liked the pairing of Cryotek and Galadria. Maybe it was a case of some what opposites attracting. I liked the fact that they were kind of together as Cryotek was quiet, didn’t like being the centre of attention and the others found him boring but Galadria really liked him. She picked Cryotek over Leoric the leader (a prince), Arzon who is very intelligent and a believe you said ruler or prince of his kingdom and Witterquick who is a show stealer and the life of the party.
True, true. That’s why putting Thundercats and DotE into a full continuity order is not as straightforward as it might be! It’s funny, every time I’ve watched either of these shows on DVD, I’ve watched them in a different order!
Prince Valiant was one of the first to really go all out in the story/character development thing. Although from what I’ve heard, Galaxy Rangers may have laid some foundations for it
Building relationships with characters is something Avatar did very well.
I was relieved to recognise both George Takei and Kevin Michael Richardson. I had a sneaking suspicion that at least one of the familiar voices you mentioned would be from the modern Thundercats, and my first thought was that Haru might be Will Friedle. Then I heard his father speak, and I recognised the new Panthro right away. And of course George Takei has a very distinctive voice. Imagine the Mirror Universe Sulu making captain, or even admiral - and that’s how he’d sound!
It has been a while since I seen Visionaries but I always liked the pairing of Cryotek and Galadria. Maybe it was a case of some what opposites attracting. I liked the fact that they were kind of together as Cryotek was quiet, didn’t like being the centre of attention and the others found him boring but Galadria really liked him. She picked Cryotek over Leoric the leader (a prince), Arzon who is very intelligent and a believe you said ruler or prince of his kingdom and Witterquick who is a show stealer and the life of the party.
According to a deleted scene from the start of “The Overthrow Of Merklynn”, Arzon is the son of King Tazlon. Leoric is referred to as “Prince Leoric” by Cryotek in “The Price Of Freedom”, and Witterquick, in a line cut from “The Dark Hand Of Treachery” is hailed as “Prince Witterquick”, he’s either the ruler or the son of the ruler. Cryotek too is ruler of his snowy kingdom, Northalia.
Hence my theory about the staffs originally being badges of authority!
Galadria and Cryotek sort of had an initial moment in “The Dark Hand Of Treachery”, and I think it was because of that scene that he was the one the writers put him with. When the Darkling Lords hunted down first Arzon, then Witterquick and finally Cryotek, before mounting the full invasion of New Valarak, Galadria was the one who escaped to warn Leoric; and Cryotek was the logical one to put her with, because he didn’t have the means to make a realistic attempt to flee - Arzon had his totem, Witterquick had both his totem and his staff. Cryotek had no choice but to try and fight his way out of trouble, but he knew even before he started that all he could do was delay the inevitable, and he said to Galadria, “swim to New Valarak and tell Leoric my fate.”
What did you think of episode 6? As I said it gets a lot better.
It’s basically the same stock cartoon plot as episode 6 of King Arthur And The Knights Of Justice, “Quest For Courage”, and other shows I forget. In terms of the moral lesson, I guess you could argue “Safari Joe”, but . . .
Watching more C.O.P.S. on youtube; I’m halfway through an episode where Sundown loses his memory and falls into the hands of Big Boss - another familiar cartoon plot that was used a few years later in Knights Of Justice with the episode “The Warlord Knight” - which was both the first episode I saw, and the point where the show started to get good (well, “Assault On Castle Morgana” was pretty good, but it was followed by “Quest For Courage” which was SOOOO cliched, this got things properly back on track). Not only that, it was also the subconscious inspiration for my own Visionaries story “Shape Of The Mind”. As I’ve mentioned before, I knew I’d got the premise from somewhere, I just couldn’t remember where!
The episode I watched just before, “The Case Of The Criminal Games”, did make my jaw drop mind you. Something I can’t believe made it past the censors! It featured a guest villain called Hyena, and one of his henchmen, “Louie the Plumber” had a device he called his “power snake”. How . . . ?
Actually, that comment about Knights Of Justice - I know it sounds terribly biased, but I have rewatched the whole series multiple times, and apart from one episode, it was all iffy-to-mediocre before the first one I saw. A quick review in continuity order (the numbers down the side are airdate order, rearranged in continuity order).
- Opening Kick-Off **
- A Knight’s Quest (The Search For Guinevere) **
- The Unbeliever ***
- Even Knights Have To Eat ***
- Assault On Castle Morgana ****
- Quest For Courage **
- The Warlord Knight ****
- The Surrender ****
- The Challenge ***
- To Save A Squire ****
- Viper’s Phantom *****
- Darren’s Key **
- The Way Back ***
I can’t give a fair review of season 2, I’m not as familiar with it, I don’t remember seeing it as a kid, but sufficing to say it’s not as good as season 1, the animation in particular is much weaker, and they started doing a He-Man-esque break-the-fourth-wall moral at the end of each episode.
Hell, that still makes it sound like the best part of the show was the few episodes I saw as a kid . . . hell, maybe I am deluding myself. But hey, it’s worth it for the theme tune! Considering that in the 60sec that it took to watch the clip on youtube back in 2010, I went from, “I dimly remember about 2-3 episodes of this show” to “I have GOT to see this again!” that speaks volumes about how good that theme song is. That guitar riff would not be out of place in a Bryan Adams concert.
In any event, there was some degree of continuity in the series, as I’ve already indicated. More than most shows had at that time, certainly more than Pirates Of Dark Water, which had a similar quest feel (13 Treasures of Rule, 12 Keys of Truth).
Did you mean episode 6 of C.O.P.S., Galaxy Rangers or Avatar? I was meaning Avatar LOL.
Episode 6 of Avatar. It’s basically the same setup as KAatKoJ’s “Quest For Courage” and the Bravestarr episode “Showdown At Sawtooth”, and a few others from other shows.
I’ve still only seen the first two episodes of Galaxy Rangers. And I’m watching C.O.P.S. in a kind of random order really; there’s very little in the way of continuity references there - partly because each episode usually features less than half of the team. Bulletproof and about two or three others normally.
Can’t recall that Bravestarr episode.
The problem with C.O.P.S. is that the team is too big, just like G.I. Joe…and their team is small compared to Joe’s so you can imagine how mixed up the episodes are with the various characters.
Yikes! C.O.P.S. had a main squad of 11 characters, of which usually only 3-4 appeared, similarly with the villains. If the GI Joe squad was bigger still - ouch!
Six or seven is about the right number - Thundercats and Visionaries got it about right. DotE is different because yes it’s eight but it’s four adult heroes and four kids (and two pets), so it’s not the same.
OK, here’s a little trivia test for you. Only one character in DotE appeared in all 65 episodes. Who was it?
Flash (aah aah) Gordon.
Well G.I Joe is odd.
Season one mostly consisted of Duke as the leader for about 50% of the episodes with Flint the leader in the other 50%.
In season one the team mostly consisted of
Duke/Flint
Scarlett/ Lady Jaye
Gung Ho
Wild Bill
Spirit
Season 2
Flint
Lady Jaye
Shipwreck
Bazooka
Alpine
But an average episode would include various others in the unit:
Duke, Gungo, Snake Eyes, Breaker, Zap, Cover Girl
Season 3
Flint
General Hawk
Wet Suit
Dial Tone
Shipwreck
Wet Suit
Leatherneck
Lifeline
Sgt Slaughter
Beachhead
The bad guys mostly consisted of
Cobra Commander, Baroness, Destro, Zartan and the Dreadnoks and Tomax and Xamot.
In season 3 Serpentor and Dr Mindbender were the main villains with the season one and two villains less prominent.
You might notice Snake Eyes nor Storm Shadow are listed as main characters. Because they were not. They never had anymore than bit parts with the exception of maybe two episodes each. This is a drastic difference in comparison to the comics.
This is the problem of having too big a team.
The original idea of G.I. Joe (comics and toys) was a team of 13 specialists. The best of the best. I think 13 was still a big group but as long as not everyone was included in each story it would have worked but then they increased the team roster to nearly 100.:eek:
Even the base they originally had was cool. It was a base under a Chaplin’s assistant motor pool for the 13 but then they made a bigger base…then they had a mobile base then a bigger underground base in the desert.
It was really hard to build characters on the TV show and the comic. The comic built good characters for Snake Eyes and some bad guys but that’s about it. The TV show didn’t really build anyone’s character or make them that interesting with the exception of Flint and Shipwreck.
Actually no. You’re half-right, it was his son, Rick. Note, I say “appeared” in every episode, he was seen but didn’t have a speaking part in “The Adoption Of Kshin” - same as Flash, Phantom and LJ. Even Jedda only had about one line, when the five of them appeared at the end.
Flash was absent from “A House Divided” and “100 Proof Highway” (as were all the adults except Mandrake who made a brief appearance in his dressing gown to teach Kshin about the dangers of alcohol), and he was seen but not heard in “The Adoption Of Kshin”, as I’ve already mentioned.
Mandrake had a speaking part in 64 episodes, but was absent from “Family Reunion”.
Jedda was absent from just two episodes, “Kshin And The Ghost Ship”, where her father is also absent, both without any explanation, “One Of The Guys” where she’s explained away as having the flu (which I suspect was a case of Sarah Partridge having the flu and they had to quickly write her out on the day of the recording!)
The Phantom was absent from “Kshin And The Ghost Ship” and “100 Proof Highway”, and was seen but not heard in “The Time Freezer”. I think he did have one line in “The Sleeper Awakes”, but the episode might as well have left him out completely.
LJ was absent from “Terror In Time”, and seen-but-not-heard in “A House Divided” and “The Adoption Of Kshin”. And possibly “Fury Of The Deep”, I forget.
Lothar was absent from three episodes I think, all of which can already be termed ‘usual suspects’ in this department, “A House Divided”, “Family Reunion” and “100 Proof Highway”. He was seen but not heard in several others - “The Time Freezer”, “The Necklace Of Oros” (as in, part 1), “The Panther Peril”, and I’m sure there’s another one.
Kshin was absent from a LOT of episodes, notably “Torn Space”, “The Thunder Lizards Of Ming”, “Terror In Time”, “A House Divided”, “Family Reunion” (I think), and probably a few others that I can’t think of right now.
I was wondering about Dale/Dynak - if you count the two characters as the same, did she appear in every episode? I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure she’s missing from “The Prince’s Royal Hunt”, and “The Adoption Of Kshin”.
Ming and his minions are of course missing from several episodes, as sometimes they battled other baddies. The only episode in which any of his minions were seen without him is “The Prince Weds”.
Well G.I Joe is odd.
The original idea of G.I. Joe (comics and toys) was a team of 13 specialists. The best of the best. I think 13 was still a big group but as long as not everyone was included in each story it would have worked but then they increased the team roster to nearly 100.:eek:
Even the base they originally had was cool. It was a base under a Chaplin’s assistant motor pool for the 13 but then they made a bigger base…then they had a mobile base then a bigger underground base in the desert.
It was really hard to build characters on the TV show and the comic. The comic built good characters for Snake Eyes and some bad guys but that’s about it. The TV show didn’t really build anyone’s character or make them that interesting with the exception of Flint and Shipwreck.
Never having seen it, I’ll take your word for it!
You might notice Snake Eyes nor Storm Shadow are listed as main characters. Because they were not. They never had anymore than bit parts with the exception of maybe two episodes each. This is a drastic difference in comparison to the comics.
For the above reason, I didn’t notice!
When you finish with Avatar and Galaxy Rangers you should give M.A.S.K. a try, you might like it. It is very episodic. Overall I think it is a lot better than G.I. Joe. There is a couple G.I. Joe episodes I liked but there is A LOT I really disliked and were just out right stupid.
If you want to look you some Joe episodes to see for yourself check out these as I would put them among my favourites and the best of the bunch.
Memories of Mara.
Where the Reptiles Roam
The Viper is Coming
The Traitor parts 1 + 2
Skeletons in the Closet
There’s no place like Springfield parts 1 + 2
Let’s Play Soldier
The Spy Who Rooked Me
In the Presence of Mine Enemies
My Favourite Things
Well, I can give it a try. I think I’ve already told you how a few years ago I was talking about the show with someone, and couldn’t remember whether the baddies were called VENOM or VIPER - easy enough mix-up, both were five letter words to do with snakes, both beginning with V. Of course with Viper I was thinking of Knights Of Justice. I forget whether this was before or after I looked up that show’s theme tune on youtube. Possibly before, but I can’t say for sure.
Actually, GI Joe-wise, I did the the original animated “movie” adventure on a friend’s VHS many years ago. I remember Cobra Commander ultimately helping the good guys before he was lost completely, and I remember a character called Pythona, who I was informed never appeared in the series, and whose voice I recognised instantly as Jennifer “Virulina” Darling. Also Serpentor was a very memorable villain indeed.
And of course I saw the adverts for the toys on TV, originally calling it “Action Force” - about as devoid of memorable identifying words as Defenders Of The Earth when you think about it. I know that AF was our name-change for it, don’t know why this happened. But I never saw the show on TV as a kid.
Just made a bit of progress on the chorus to that song. About 4-5 lines still to write, but it’s getting there, I’ve got something I can build on.
M.A.S.K. has an awesome theme song. Especially the extended edition. I still have a lot of M.A.S.K. to watch, I think I have only seen about 20 episodes.
As I know over here it was called AF because the original line of G.I. Joes, the 12" figures, were not selling as well anymore by the late 70’s. I believe the success of Kenner’s 3.75" Star Wars figures played a massive role in deciding to make them smaller. However the original idea was just to market military vehicles but oddly enough it was the figures that became the stars. As much as my interest of G.I. Joe has gone I will always say they made good vehicles and playsets for the figures, second to Star Wars.
But Action man the UK counter part was still selling quite well in the UK so to keep things familiar it was called Action Force. But having said that AF initially only got some of the vehicles with different colours and decals and Palitoy produced their own vehicles for AF figures. Also the original AF figures were the same height as the US figures but were vastly different in construction, featuring only 5 points of articulation like the Star Wars figures, which Palitoy were also making for the UK market. They also just had more traditional military uniforms. As time went on though the US figures were quickly introduced and packaged on the much different and bland red, blue and yellow AF cards. Then the cards were changed to be more like the US cards with the character art and the same font but instead saying AF. But this was just a quick transition before the standard US packaging was introduced here as well.
As much as I don’t like Joe like I used to I must say the series is a lot better than the movie which I just a complete mess. It’s a real shame as I liked the whole Falcon story but the whole thing with Golobulus and Pythona and Cobrala (lalalalalala) really spoiled it.
I also never seen it on TV here. Just the odd video from the shop.
I have seen the theme tune on youtube but can’t remember how it goes. I seem to remember not finding it that amazing though.
As much as I don’t like Joe like I used to I must say the series is a lot better than the movie which I just a complete mess. It’s a real shame as I liked the whole Falcon story but the whole thing with Golobulus and Pythona and Cobrala (lalalalalala) really spoiled it.
Golobulus - that name does ring a bell!
Watching an episode of C.O.P.S. at the moment, “The Case Of The Missing Masterpiece” - both Mace and Nightshade are prominent characters again, although they haven’t properly had any scenes together yet. I liked the interplay between them in “The Case Of Mace’s Romance” and am hoping for an encore.
I recall something about Mace and Nightshade. I think again, that’s one I seen on CITV. I seem to recall Button McBoom Bomm (?) being in the episode.
Golobulus was voiced by Bergus Meridith (?)…the guy that was Mickey in the Rocky movies.
I think you’re right about Buttons McBoomBoom being in “The Case Of Mace’s Romance”, I think he helped abduct Nightshade’s sister. Eh? Think? I saw the episode just two days ago and I only THINK he was in it? It must be the fact that the premise with Mace hit too close to home.
As for “The Case Of The Missing Masterpiece”, well, they missed an opportunity, Mace was in it, but had no real interaction with Nightshade. And Longarm was the main protagonist. His power cuffs came in very useful in this episode!
It’s odd I remember that about that episode as I don’t think I even recorded it. I just recall C.O.P.S. being on over the Easter holidays in I think 94 along with (another DIC show) The New Adventures of He-Man.
CITV also showed Galaxy Rangers in the Easter/Summer holidays of 93. I think I might have seen one episode of the show in the 80’s but my main knowledge of it and all the episodes I seen and recorded where in 93.
It’s odd I had 5 (Zach, Goose, Doc, Lazerus Slade and Captain Kidd) of the 6 figures (didn’t have queen of the crown) even though I didn’t know anything about the TV show. I remember getting them in the Cash and Carry where I got my Defenders of the Earth and Visionaries toys. I loved Bravestarr though so them being space cowboys mush have been why I got them.
As I was writing this I just had a memory of getting the Lancer Cycle in that shop. I was in with my parents and as we went up one of the dimly lit isles in the big shop, more of a warehouse filled with tools and house hold items on one of the toy shelves was the Lancer Cycle. Beautiful art work on the box. I don’t think I even asked for it, I think my Mum or Dad just told me to bring it with me to the counter LOL. Man those Visionaries toys were great.
Well, I definitely never saw Galaxy Rangers as a kid. Never even heard of it until recently. I’ll probably watch another episode later today. I’m watching a lot of C.O.P.S. but both GR and Avatar I’m only watching singly. Probably because I do have memories of C.O.P.S. - however small! Like I said, it’s a bit like my memories of Spiral Zone, in that I only ever saw a very small number of episodes, and apart from you, nobody I know has ever heard of it!