History WesternAnimation / GIJoeTheMovie

The film is rather (in)famous for taking what had previously being the most realistic cartoon (relatively. They ''did'' do an episode with the Ancient Egyptian Gods, after all) of the 1980s and making it into an outright science fiction film and for its potrayal of Cobra Commander... however the opening to the movie is considered a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome at its finest. It also tried to avert some of the tropes associated with the TV series such as NeverSayDie and NobodyCanDie. However, thanks to ''WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie'' being released first and the negative backlash against Optimus Prime's death, the death of Duke had to be changed to a coma.

-->''Destro:'' "Cobra Commander is a world class... buffoon!"
-->''Cobra Commander:'' [[BigWhat WHAT?]]
-->''Dr. Mindbender:'' "Destro forgot to mention your frequent displays...of cowardice."
-->''Cobra Commander:'' [[{{Angrish}} Uuugh!?!]]

* Abusive Precursors: The people of Cobra-La, who hate humanity for supplanting them.

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/G_I__Joe_The_Movie_2314.jpg]]

* ExecutiveMeddling: The name "Cobra-La" was intended as a placeholder name by the writers until they could think of a better name, but Hasbro loved the name and forced them to keep it. Comic writer LarryHama, however, hated the concept and refused to write a single Cobra-La story for over twenty years, finally doing so for a commemorative Cobra-La figure release. The packaging even advertised it as "The first Cobra-La story written by LarryHama!"
** Duke was originally [[DroppedABridgeOnHim supposed to die]] in the film, and the scene was scripted and filmed as such. This was when ''G.I. Joe: The Movie'' was first on the slate of the three Sunbow films to be released. However, due to scheduling conflicts, it was pushed back, and Hasbro liked (AT THAT TIME, it must be stressed) the edginess of Duke being KilledOffForReal -- this was around the time when [[SuperDimensionFortressMacross Robotech]] had been among the first to show actual death in a (ostensibly) kid's show with Roy Focker being killed off -- and demanded the writing staff of ''TransformersTheMovie'' to do the same to Optimus Prime. And as it happened, ''Transformers: The Movie'' was released first. The reaction was, to say the least, not the one [[TooDumbToLive the execs]] were expecting from ''[[AnimationAgeGhetto six-year-olds and their parents]]'' and suddenly, demanded last-minute voice-over inserts to establish that Duke had lived. The voice inserts are painfully obvious; mute the sound at the right moments, and you get the death scene it originally was.
*** [[LampshadeHanging This is lampshaded six-ways from Sunday]] by Buzz Dixon, the movie's head writer, in his commentary track on the Blu-Ray disc. During Duke's "coma" scene, he [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments quotes, at length, verbatim and hilariously deadpan, John Cleese's legendary monologue from the]] [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus "Dead Parrot" sketch]], replacing "Joe" for "Parrot" each time.

''Note: This is about the 1987 original animated film. For the first live-action film see '''GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'''.''

''Note: This is about the 1987 original animated film. For the first live-action film see '''[[GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra]]'''.''

The film is rather (in)famous for taking what had previously being the most realistic cartoon (relatively. They ''did'' do an episode with the Ancient Egyptian Gods, after all) of the 1980s and making it into an outright science fiction film and for its potrayal of Cobra Commander... however the opening to the movie is considered a CrowningMomentOfAwesome at is finest. It also tried to avert some of the tropes associated with the TV series such as NeverSayDie and NobodyCanDie. However, thanks to ''WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie'' being released first and the negative backlash against Optimus Prime's death, the death of Duke had to be changed to a coma.

** Duke was originally [[DroppedABridgeOnHim supposed to die]] in the film, and the scene was scripted and filmed as such. This was when GI Joe: The Movie was first on the slate of the three Sunbow films to be released. However, due to scheduling conflicts, it was pushed back, and Hasbro liked (AT THAT TIME, it must be stressed) the edginess of Duke being KilledOffForReal -- this was around the time when [[SuperDimensionFortressMacross Robotech]] had been among the first to show actual death in a (ostensibly) kid's show with Roy Focker being killed off -- and demanded the writing staff of TransformersTheMovie to do the same to Optimus Prime. And as it happened, TransformersTheMovie was released first. The reaction was, to say the least, not the one [[TooDumbToLive the execs]] were expecting from ''[[AnimationAgeGhetto six-year-olds and their parents]]'' and suddenly, demanded last-minute voice-over inserts to establish that Duke had lived. The voice inserts are painfully obvious; mute the sound at the right moments, and you get the death scene it originally was.

The film is rather (in)famous for taking what had previously being the most realistic cartoon (relatively. They ''did'' do an episode with the Ancient Egyptian Gods, after all) of the 1980s and making it into an outright science fiction film and for its potrayal of Cobra Commander... however the opening to the movie is considered a CrowningMomentOfAwesome at is finest. It also tried to avert some of the tropes associated with the TV series such as NeverSayDie and NobodyCanDie, but... things didn't go the way as planned due to a [[WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie certain other film]] being released first and the negative backlash against a certain character's death...

* EnemyMine: Cobra Commander

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Falcon really does screw up - allowing a pretty civilian (later revealed to be Zarana) access to the detention area and later blowing off his guard duty to see Jinx. As a result, the Dreadnoks and Nemesis Enforcer are able to break Serpentor free, as well as injure Alpine, Bazooka and Gung-Ho.

* BalefulPolymorph: [[spoiler: Cobra Commander transforms gradually until he finally becomes a mindless snake and slithers away. (he gets restored in the subsequent cartoons)]]

-->''Dr. Mindbender:'' "Destro forgot to mention your frequent displays...of cowardice.

''Note: This is about the 1987 original animated film. For the first live-action film see '''GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'''.''

-->''Destro:'' "Cobra Commander is a world class... [[spoiler: buffoon!]]"

-->''Dr. Mindbender:'' "Destro forgot to mention your frequent displays... [[spoiler: of cowardice.]]
-->''Cobra Commander:'' [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Angrish Uuugh!?!]]

-->''Dr. Mindbender:'' "Destro forgot to mention your frequent displays... [[spoiler: of cowardice.]]"
-->''Cobra Commander:'' [[Angrish Uuugh!?!]]

* EyeScream: Roadblock is blinded during his escape from Cobra-La. Fortunately, with Cobra Commander's help, he later manages to find Duke's squad and they're able to treat him.

* AsHimself: [[DrillSergeantNasty Sergeant Slaughter]], played by [[{{WWE}} Sergeant Slaughter]].

'''''G.I. Joe: The Movie''''' (1987) was the first film to come out of the ''GIJoe'' franchise. It is in the original animated series timeline taking place after its second season. Originally planned as a theatrical release, but after ''MyLittlePony: The Movie'' and ''WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie'' bombed at the box office, it was released DirectToVideo instead.

The film, much like its ''{{Transformers}}'' counterpart, expands on the story of the Joes-Cobra war, and the origin of Cobra is revealed to be tied in to a rather bizarre ancient civilization called "Cobra-La". Cobra-La's leader Golobulus has tired of Cobra Commander's constant failures and has decided to take matters into his own hands.

*** [[LampshadeHanging This is lampshaded six-ways from Sunday]] by Buzz Dixon, the movie's head writer, in his commentary track on the Blu-Ray disc. During Duke's "coma" scene, he [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments quotes, at length, verbatim and hilariously deadpan, John Cleese's legendary monologue from the]] [[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus "Dead Parrot" sketch]], replacing "Joe" for "Parrot" each time.

The film is rather (in)famous for taking what had previously being the most realistic cartoon (relatively. They ''did'' do an episode with the Ancient Egyptian Gods, after all) of the 1980s and making it into an outright science fiction film and for its potrayal of Cobra Commander... however the opening to the movie is considered a CrowningMomentOfAwesome at is finest. It also tried to avert some of the tropes associated with the TV series such as NeverSayDie and NobodyCanDie, but... things didn't go the way as planned due to a [[TransformersTheMovie certain other film]] being released first and the negative backlash against a certain character's death...

'''''G.I. Joe: The Movie''''' (1987) was the first film to come out of the ''GIJoe'' franchise. It is in the original animated series timeline taking place after its second season. Originally planned as a theatrical release, but after ''MyLittlePony: The Movie'' and ''TransformersTheMovie'' bombed at the box office, it was released DirectToVideo instead.