Was the movie cheap animation?

[Funky Munky]

Ever notice there are lots of Cobra's at the beginning of the blamings, but then it's just CC, Destro, Baroness, Mindbender, and the twins?

Was this Sunbow/Hasbro running out of money?

[krooklyn]

I don't get what you mean?

[Funky Munky]

Sorry, guess I figure animation errors = lazy animation.
There were many characters that weren't in the movie that I wished were.

[cobracobra]

Sunbow had a ton of characters to introduce, this is the same with the Transformers movie, suffered a little bit because of this. In Transformers they just killed everyone off.
Cartoons with huge casts are hard to keep up.

[krooklyn]

Sorry, guess I figure animation errors = lazy animation.
There were many characters that weren't in the movie that I wished were.

Yeah, but lack of characters doesn't necessarily equal animation errors. Lack of presence of certain characters, I would imagine is more story based. Just my opinion.

[cobracobra]

Well Sunbow stuck around well into the 90s, They did the Tick and Conan the Barbarian! I am not sure how or why they lost the Hasbro account. I think the team up was fantastic.
I still cannot sit through a DIC GI JOE episode. I remember enjoying them when I was younger but I cannot watch the slapstick routining, and the lame ass script.

[sbartek1974]

Well, I just looked it over and you forgot to mention Zartan, Zarana, Zandar, Major Bludd, and Storm Shadow. It looks like it's just the few you mentioned because they walked up the stairs to the platform that Serpentor was on. There is a part where you see them on the platform but behind Cobra Commander you can see Zartan's head and part of Zandar's head at the bottom of the stairs.

[Funky Munky]

I didn't even know there were men manning below the platform.

[Funky Munky]

I still cannot sit through a DIC GI JOE episode.
The only good one is the one where they find spirits. Head one takes over the robot and then the Indian Chief spirit finishes the bad ones and the robot is scrap.
What hurts in knowing what Sunbow WOULD have done after the movie: I read somewhere that it was the twins starting their own force on their island.
Anyone know where the link is?

[ero]

Ever notice there are lots of Cobra's at the beginning of the blamings, but then it's just CC, Destro, Baroness, Mindbender, and the twins?

Was this Sunbow/Hasbro running out of money?

You mean when Serpentor is going off on Cobra Commander and crew? Never noticed. But sure, Sunbow was prone to errors. It might just be some poor storyboarding.

But to answer your question ... the animated film was pretty ahead of its time. And it's an amazing piece of animation, especially, especially, the intro.

[Funky Munky]

As well as Transformers movie was great animation.
Season 3 was cheap except for some episodes.
I am wondering if Hasbro/Sunbow put TOO MUCH money into animation.

[Python_Puckman]

Unsubstantiated fantasy! Lies, lies, LIES!

[Funky Munky]

Nothing beats Revenge of Cobra though.

[Viper Commando]

Well Sunbow stuck around well into the 90s, They did the Tick and Conan the Barbarian! I am not sure how or why they lost the Hasbro account.

Hasbro was paying Sunbow to produce the tv show and movie. DIC literally made Hasbro an offer they couldn't resfuse by offering to produce addtional episodes and PAY Hasbro for it.

[Funky Munky]

How would that benefit DIC?

[miscreant]

It's quite possible they simply animated it in a hurry, multiple teams, so continuity errors happened.

Still better than the errors in the original Transformers movie.

[JR0d28]

Hey your right, in the later parts of movie Storm Shadow, Firefly, Major Bludd, and Scrap Iron don't even grace their presence after that scene.....Maybe Serpentor had them fired and ordered them to stay for the rest of the ball-busting.

[Lifeline 71]

The animation itself was pretty good, in terms of how the characters looked. In terms of the Cobras missing, SS, Firefly, and Scrap Iron, while cool characters, didn't get much love in the cartoon, especially the last 2. I suppose you could argue that maybe SS left because this whole thing violated his moral code or something. On the other hand, in the scene where the joes put the BET in the secure facility Lifeline is shown and heard on the BET, yet he's in the Himalayas looking for the missing Joes. That's a goof, the "missing" Cobras are a plot hole.

[This I Command!]

Unsubstantiated fantasy! Lies, lies, LIES!

Win.




Seriously, there is nothing cheap about this movie from having big stars of the time like Don Johnson and Burgess Meredith, to having absolutely fantastic hand drawn cel animation. Considering it never even went to theaters, it really is a pretty incredible animated film.

[DavAnthony]

Well Sunbow stuck around well into the 90s, They did the Tick and Conan the Barbarian! I am not sure how or why they lost the Hasbro account. I think the team up was fantastic.
I still cannot sit through a DIC GI JOE episode. I remember enjoying them when I was younger but I cannot watch the slapstick routining, and the lame ass script.

Sunbow lost it due to the fact that DIC(k) as I like to call them, was into the business of underhandedly underbidding on properties and offering Hasbro money to do the project instead of getting pad for it. Hasbro foolishly took the series from Sunbow and gave it to DIC(k) and it helped to add to the drop in GI Joe's popularity and recognition. What was once the pinnacle of quality cartoon work in the 80's was reduced to it's lowest level by the DIC(k) series.

[ero]

Seriously, there is nothing cheap about this movie from having big stars of the time like Don Johnson and Burgess Meredith, to having absolutely fantastic hand drawn cel animation. Considering it never even went to theaters, it really is a pretty incredible animated film.

Amen, brother.

Sunbow lost it due to the fact that DIC(k) as I like to call them, was into the business of underhandedly underbidding on properties and offering Hasbro money to do the project instead of getting pad for it. Hasbro foolishly took the series from Sunbow and gave it to DIC(k) and it helped to add to the drop in GI Joe's popularity and recognition. What was once the pinnacle of quality cartoon work in the 80's was reduced to it's lowest level by the DIC(k) series.

Exactly. Well stated.

[Funky Munky]

Well, it didn't work because isn't DIC out of commission.
Not sure if Brian Ward from Shout! wants to even rerelease the DIC series.

[kneroh]

Well, it didn't work because isn't DIC out of commission.
Not sure if Brian Ward from Shout! wants to even rerelease the DIC series.

Shout officially announced they were releasing the DIC series back in early October.

DiC GI Joe DVD Season 1 Available January 10 2012 - GI Joe News (http://www.hisstank.com/gi-joe-news/other-14/dic-gi-joe-dvd-season-1-available-january-10-2012-10762/)

[Funky Munky]

Shows how much I keep up; what's the name of the episode with the robot being taken over by a spirit and gets wrecked by the Indian chief?

[DavAnthony]

Shows how much I keep up; what's the name of the episode with the robot being taken over by a spirit and gets wrecked by the Indian chief?

Crap wait that doesn't narrow it down much does it

[Steevy Maximus]

As well as Transformers movie was great animation.
Season 3 was cheap except for some episodes.
I am wondering if Hasbro/Sunbow put TOO MUCH money into animation.
No, season 3 of Transformers sucked visually because of Nelson Shin (the producer) insisting on using "his" animation studio, Akom, for the series. It didn't cost any different, but the studio is almost LEGENDARY for its poor quality. This is the studio Fox uses for Family Guy (at least early episodes), Simpsons, and Futurama, but was of such poor quality that Bruce Timm REFUSED episodes of Batman: The Animated SEries animated by them (had them re-animated in other studios) due to quality issues.

But don't forget Akom animated the season 2 episodes "The Core", "The Autobot Run" and "City of Steel".

How would that benefit DIC?
Increased brand recognition (both for DiC and GI Joe), and given the explosion in syndicated cartoons in the late 80s, DiC might have been looking to leverage GI Joe (still a very popular brand) to pick up ad revenue and station support.

Sunbow lost it due to the fact that DIC(k) as I like to call them, was into the business of underhandedly underbidding on properties and offering Hasbro money to do the project instead of getting pad for it. Hasbro foolishly took the series from Sunbow and gave it to DIC(k) and it helped to add to the drop in GI Joe's popularity and recognition. What was once the pinnacle of quality cartoon work in the 80's was reduced to it's lowest level by the DIC(k) series.

I find that hard to believe when Sunbow didn't produce ANY episodes for almost THREE YEARS.

The most likely scenario was Hasbro was satisfied with the 100 episodes they got between 1983 and 1986, and like Transformers, viewed that content as being "adequate" to support the brand for several more years. Apparently, someone at Hasbro liked what DiC did with COPS (be it for cost or whatever) and when DiC gave Hasbro the great deal on GI Joe, they jumped on it.

But I view it as a load of biased bullshit when someone says that "DiC lead to the decline of GI Joe". No, GI Joe was declining well before those episodes started. Hasbro learned that just having a cartoon alone does not automatically mean it is "selling" your toys.
If a cartoon doesn't feature the toys on market, it might as well not exist. And that doesn't touch on the issue of changing consumer tastes (remember, many of you guys bashing DiC were already on your way out of buying toys when that material aired, so trying to sell the 1989 toys using a cartoon that only features stuff from 1985 isn't a bright idea), and new and popular concepts like Ninja Turtles for the hit Batman film.

DiC (regardless of YOUR OPINION) did reflect the toys, and I maintain probably did more to keep GI Joe viable at retail than the subset reissues or just reairing the same old Sunbow stuff.

[mrcobra]

The sunbow animation really isn't my cup of tea i thought they had the largest number of Cobra and other villains in the movie

[Gamble]

Shout officially announced they were releasing the DIC series back in early October.

DiC GI Joe DVD Season 1 Available January 10 2012 - GI Joe News (http://www.hisstank.com/gi-joe-news/other-14/dic-gi-joe-dvd-season-1-available-january-10-2012-10762/)


I want it!

I had no idea with was coming out. I'm getting all excited.

[KENNY GUIDO]

I hated the DICK series because every episode ended in some stupid joke.

[Shogi]

I find that hard to believe when Sunbow didn't produce ANY episodes for almost THREE YEARS.


May be hard to believe but it's basically true. There's an interview with Buzz Dixon here: JoeGuide.com - G.I.Joe Interviews > Buzz Dixon (conducted by David Thornton in November 2000) (http://joeguide.com/interviews/buzzdixon.shtml) (Scroll down midway for the full answer)

(I Just realised you may have objected to the idea that DiC killed off GI Joe, not how they got to animate the cartoon.)

Here's a truncated version:


DT: What were the reasons for the cancellation of the third season?

BD: Money, pure and simple.

By the mid-80s, the TV syndication market hit saturation level (remember, there weren’t nearly as many cable channels then as now). For kids TV, there were more shows than available time slots. On top of all this, DIC studios came along and really screwed up everything for everybody. I won’t go into the whole, long sordid history of DIC; suffice it to say they ferociously underbid competitors (going so far as to lose money on shows just to deny competitors a chance to do them) and they ferociously oversold their stock to investors (projecting an ever increasing number of kids’ shows on the air when even a basic market analysis would have shown the market to be flooded; I have learned not to be in awe of stock market investors’ alleged intelligence because of this). This led to a collapse of the syndication market for kids.

Further, it was discovered that toy sales and TV ratings did not coincide with one another. Sometimes the most popular toys had the best shows, but often a popular toy’s show would bomb and an unpopular toy would have a successful show (this was the case with Jem). When the time for season three rolled around, DIC basically offered to pay Hasbro for the privilege of doing their shows, and Hasbro saw little point in sinking their own money into a venture when somebody else would pay them to do it.


As for missing characters from the 87 Movie, where's Hector Ramirez? He's in the credits :)

[Gamble]

I hated the DICK series because every episode ended in some stupid joke.

Unacceptable.

[crock master]

every episode was filled with stupid jokes

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e205/picklis/picasioncom_0000c079cbfac03a9063bd6648903bd7.gif

[DavAnthony]

I hated the DICK series because every episode ended in some stupid joke.

HaHa love that you used the DICK name. And amen to that in fact most episodes started with a joke, they joked throughout, whenever anything serious happened they followed it with a joke, then if that wasn't enough when the episode ended they topped it off with a joke for good measure.

Just extraordinary how horrific the writing and voice acting was.

[crock master]

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e205/picklis/picasioncom_90940e0a3b8d70ba701ba17ce92cc539.gif

[Gamble]

Everyone is missing the point. The DIC series contained cool vehicles and personnel.

Also, lot's of florescent yellow.

[KENNY GUIDO]

Im glad everyone is agreeing with me, in regards to the terrible jokes that killed it for me. If they had a serious focua perhaps it would have been more enjoyable. I think since thier roster was filled with previous successful cartoons like inspector gadget, mask, the littles, they must have felt since that forumla worked well with those cartoons, it will work the same with the new joes. well, epic fail!

[crock master]

Everyone is missing the point. The DIC series contained cool vehicles and personnel.

Also, lot's of florescent yellow.

more like crappy voice overs and crap vehicles



http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e205/picklis/picasioncom_eb6d926d4ac5d4a996e31ee1ef711465.gif

[Gamble]

more like crappy voice overs and crap vehicles



http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e205/picklis/picasioncom_eb6d926d4ac5d4a996e31ee1ef711465.gif


Issues 100-140 of Joe we're the best. 120-133 being the very best of the series. Wildman brought the best artwork to the table.

The show mirrored that.