Rating: 
Summary: Another nearly flawless Sunbow box set from Rhino
Review: With Rhino's remastering of The Transformers nearly complete, it should come as no surprise that their next target for a wide DVD release has been G.I. Joe. Often considered to be the best of the toyline-related cartoons made by Marvel and Sunbow, the show has remained quite popular even as it has become overshadowed by the various comic book series produced by Marvel and Devil's Due.The episodes are re-mastered in similar fashion to other Rhino sets, which is to say excellently. There's maybe one "new" error in the episodes (involving a card read by Mutt that must have been changed late in production), and two that have been corrected by digital means. The intros and credits, however, are not restored (as seems to be the case for the majority of said clips on the sets so far). The sound has been restored again with a new 5.1 mix, but there's a new wrinkle-the original audio has been included for *all* episodes, and identified as such. (In the past, the 2.0 track has been a crap shoot between a down mix from the 5.1 or the original audio.) As for extras, there are two good interviews with Christy Marx and Wally Burr, and 24 of the classic PSAs (many of which did appear on the G.I. Joe: The Movie DVD, though)-which leaves about a dozen PSAs across Seasons 1 and 2 to be shown on future sets. There are some relatively minor drawbacks, though. Other than the Pyramid of Darkness episodes, the intro is the one from Season 2, as opposed to the correct Season 1 intro. None of the episodes conclude with a PSA before the end credits, which may or may not irk some (even though so many of the PSAs are collected on disc 4). The PSAs themselves are in dicey shape (as to be expected when the 35mm masters for them are nowhere to be found), but two are in particularly poor shape-Torpedo's swimming PSA is sped up (implying that the only surviving version is a poor transfer), and Quick Kick's warning about getting help from adults when building tree houses looks suspiciously like it was cribbed from someone's bootlegged copy from the '80s (which means an official version may be lost forever). Also, the two computer-corrected moments (one involving Destro's Robotopus in Pyramid of Darkness and the other involving a close-up in Cobra's Creatures") may irk some viewers. However, given the popularity of some of the episodes making their first appearance on home video (such as the Pyramid of Darkness 5-parter), it's impossible to give nothing but the highest recommendation possible to this box set.
Rating:
Summary: You spent millions on this cosmic graphiti?
Review: Wow, what a very nice series to have on DVD. I love it, plus watching the 20-minute episodes makes it a lot less time consuming. A few nice extras provided (the old commercials they used to have, "public announcement," eat healthy, don't always follow the crowd, etc). You also get a nice cell. The menu screen was also made very creatively.
I actually watched season one part two before I watched season one part one, but both were fantastic. You definitely start remembering some of the old fight sequences that stick with you. The Game Master was one of them for me, and the robotic people who he had control over. That was a fabulous episode, creepy too.
One aspect of the cartoon as adults you try to figure out.... where did Cobra get all this money to keep building these elaborate bases? Where did he get all the money to keep buying weapons off Destro?
This is a must have DVD collection for anyone who grew up in the 80's watching G.I. Joe, Voltron, He-man, Thundercats, and Transformers. I have not started collecting the Transformers box sets (there are millions of them); however, I may after I finish watching all the G.I. Joe box sets.
Grade: A+
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