G.I. Joe Resolute

[Ajax]

Clicky
Adult Swim has the first two parts of G.I. Joe resolute up for free on their website (see link above). Episode three is on youtube, but I'm not sure whether I should link to or not. Anywho, the rest of the episodes should be up monday on Adult Swim. Each episode is five minutes give or take a few seconds.

[GogglesPizanno]

That was actually pretty good.

[JeyNyce]

   That was awesome.  People actually got hurt/ killed.  But why they killed off Major Blood & Bazooka?

[Glitch Girl]

They're also going to air it on  CN next Saturday at midnight EST for those who like to lounge on the couch while watching. 

[BentonGrey]

Well, it seems interesting so far.  The anime-ish feel isn't doing much for me, but it is fairly minor so I can deal with it.  Snake Eyes is awesome....there's no two ways about that.  I do have to echo the sentiments of JeyNyce though...why kill Blood and Bazooka off camera?  That is more than a little weak.  GI JOE killed characters more often than most comics, but they were never meaningless deaths.  What really bothered me though was the implied romantic relationship between Scarlet and Duke...what. the. heck?

[GogglesPizanno]

Well, it seems interesting so far.  The anime-ish feel isn't doing much for me, but it is fairly minor so I can deal with it.  Snake Eyes is awesome....there's no two ways about that.  I do have to echo the sentiments of JeyNyce though...why kill Blood and Bazooka off camera?  That is more than a little weak.  GI JOE killed characters more often than most comics, but they were never meaningless deaths.  What really bothered me though was the implied romantic relationship between Scarlet and Duke...what. the. heck?

Cause its on Adult Swim and they are 5 minutes long... Lord of the Rings this aint 

[BentonGrey]

I still say "weak."

[Shogunn2517]

Honestly, I like it.  It seems to be in tune with the Hama-style vision of what GI Joe is.  My only problem is not how Bazooka and Major Blud died, but the fact that they died in the first place.  I'd much rather they take a Star Trek approach and just make up some random joe for the show and kill them off, but if they must kill someone off, why not someone who has died previously in the series(Crazy Legs, Flash or Raptor) or better yet, kill of someone complely randomly worthless(Sci-Fi, Captain Grid-Iron or Fred VII).

Other than that, I like the updated look of the characters, wish the movie could have taken a hint.  I like the characterization, I disagree about the Duke/Scarlett angle(looked more like a possible triangle thing to me honestly).  They've done a really good job of this.  So good a hour's worth would hardly be good enough for me really.

[JeyNyce]

Saw pat 3 & 4 and Dial-Tone is a girl.  Which I think is cool, but I would like to have seen her in Dial-Tone type gear.

[GrizzlyBearTalon]

I likes it.

Only watched about three eps so far though.... I want Sgt. Slaughter...

Ever since the whacked that mantis with his rifle in the GI JOE Movie, I love him.

[GhostMachine]

They're airing the entire thing on Cartoon Network as part of Adult Swim this Sunday.

And I want Sgt. Slaughter, too. He's one of my all-time favorite wrestlers, and I was thrilled when he was a Joe.

[Ajax]

Saw pat 3 & 4 and Dial-Tone is a girl.  Which I think is cool, but I would like to have seen her in Dial-Tone type gear.

From Warren Ellis Blog:

Oh, and a FAQ: the Dial Tone character. Originally, she was just Lead Tech or similar. The producers said that, since she was getting so much dialogue, she should be a Joe, with attendant codename. They gave me several to choose from, and I chose Dial Tone, because it amused me. I may drop some more notes after the whole thing's aired on TV, so's not to spoil.

[JeyNyce]

This is getting good, but I see this as a one shot deal.  Why....

Spoiler

They killed of Storm Shadow & Zartan

Make you wonder if they are going to do the same in the movie.

Funny Part:

Spoiler

When Roadblock shot at Destro and the bullit bounce off his head

[BentonGrey]

Well, I've gone from mildly entertained to mildly disgusted with this.  They can keep their Hong Kong action flick style fights (standing in the open in the middle of a room full of Vipers firing assault rifles and slowly killing all of them with pistols....yeah...) and their disregard for established characterization (Destro bloodthirsty, Scarlet in love with Duke, Storm Shadow an unrepentent and honorless killer, etc), and their mediocre to terrible voice actors (drawn from the standard crop of "talent" for bad anime, it seems).  I'll stick to my Hama books.  Now I would pay to see THOSE animated. 

It has some very slight traction as a "GI JOE Reborn" kind of project, but it is still pretty mediocre as that.  The plot was promising though. 

Yeah JeyNyce, the Destro's helmet bit was something that used to happen every so often in the comics.

[billdamn22]

This is getting good, but I see this as a one shot deal.  Why....

Spoiler

They killed of Storm Shadow & Zartan

Make you wonder if they are going to do the same in the movie.

Funny Part:

Spoiler

When Roadblock shot at Destro and the bullit bounce off his head

That ended it for me...

[Shogunn2517]

This is getting good, but I see this as a one shot deal.  Why....

Spoiler

They killed of Storm Shadow & Zartan

Make you wonder if they are going to do the same in the movie.

Like that has never happened before... a few times.

[GogglesPizanno]

I am actually enjoying it.
I think once I realized the whole thing was written by Warren Ellis, there was this air of "Ohhhhh. Ok" and I was able to just throw all my nostalgia out the window and just take it for what it was. Plus I have no attachment to the comic and the cartoon in the 80's is in desperate need of some modernization (even though I love it so).

[Glitch Girl]

Overall, I liked it.

Spoilerage to follow

Spoiler

Stuff I liked:
- the new Dialtone: yes I know she was sort of an afterthought, but I like her.
- Most of the redesigns: I could recognize just about everyone on sight, yet there was a modern, practical touch.  I was quite pleased.
- Stalker: always thought he was underused in the old series, nice to see him get his moment here.
- Using Springfield: a nice blast from the past there (pardon the pun), and if you're going to flatten a place, perfect choice.
- Overall feel: I know it had an anime look to it, but not an extreme one and I think it worked. It reminded me a little of the original miniseries in scope, but still was a nice updating for those of us who are now grown up.

Stuff I didn't:
- Zartan: didn't like the update for some reason, not sure why. Also didn't like how he was used.  His role could have been filled by any nameless character just as well.
- The gunfight amid the barrels: okay that was over the top if they wanted to parody the "lack of aim" on Cobra troopers.  Most of the other action scenes worked, but this was just too much.  Luckily it was short.
-Bazooka's death: Okay, he was never my favorite, and on the old show he was kinda slow, but it was another case where anyone could have filled the role of security chief getting assasinated.  As a side note, I'd like to have known about the events leading up to Major Blood's death, which also happened off frame.
- Flint: don't ask me why but he was easily my least favorite character of this lot.  Line delivery grated on me for some reason.
-Stormshadow's backstory: didn't quite work for me.  Too cliche.  The fight with Snakeeyes was nice to watch, but the reasoning behind it was kinda meh.  Zartan being shoehorned in there felt really off.

Now I'm gonna have to argue with Benton about the Scarlet/Duke thing.  I never read the comics but the cartoon was an afterschool staple for me, which is why the vibe between those two didn't seem out of place.  The Snakeeyes/Scarlet thing that I think was in the comics was the one that never made sense to me, but again, that's just me.  I actually liked how the two of them were portrayed in this.

I don't know if this can be a series.  Obviously with some notable characters DOA and Moscow now a smoking crater (there has to be reprocussions from that) , there are certain technical difficulties with continuing it as a regular series.  I could sorta see a group of animated movies, though I'dbe worried about what major city Ellis was going to wipe out next (you can only do so many before things get really ugly.

Overall, I think Ellis did a pretty good job.  It took me a while to really get into it, but as far as updates go, it was pretty decent.  Heaven knows there's been far worse (GI Joe Streme anyone? or how about the current Transformers animated [shudder])  I wouldn't run out and buy the DVD of this, but if another one came on the tube, I'd make a note to catch it.

[Shogunn2517]

Well, I've gone from mildly entertained to mildly disgusted with this.  They can keep their Hong Kong action flick style fights (standing in the open in the middle of a room full of Vipers firing assault rifles and slowly killing all of them with pistols....yeah...) and their disregard for established characterization (Destro bloodthirsty, Scarlet in love with Duke, Storm Shadow an unrepentent and honorless killer, etc), and their mediocre to terrible voice actors (drawn from the standard crop of "talent" for bad anime, it seems).  I'll stick to my Hama books.  Now I would pay to see THOSE animated. 

It has some very slight traction as a "GI JOE Reborn" kind of project, but it is still pretty mediocre as that.  The plot was promising though. 

Yeah JeyNyce, the Destro's helmet bit was something that used to happen every so often in the comics.

I don't know BG, I think you might be a little too hard on it. I think you got to give it credit for what it did do.  I mean, it is a cartoon.  But at the same time if this were the 80s cartoon they'd kill twice as much with half the effort.  Not that it helps but Duke did get shot.  And though, I do agree about the mischaracterizations, at least the did the characterizations more intune with the actual characters.  Yes, Scarlet chose Duke, but there was a hinted relationship between her and Snake-Eyes(no such thing in the 80s cartoon).  Yes, Storm-Shadow isn't a honorless killer, but at least they included much of the elements from his/Snake's backstory with the Hard Master, Zartan's assassination, friendship between Storm/Snake, the Arashikage Clan(again, no such mentions in the 80s series).  In this we saw Springfield.  Springfield was used at a minimum in the 80s.   Stalker was a nobody in the 80s.  Here, he was a useful part of the team.  I actually liked the lineup they had with one big exception though(more on that later). 

Also much like what GG was saying, I like the updates they gave the characters.  Roadblock isn't walking into a warzone with a damn tanktop on anymore.  Gung ho, isn't running aorund with a vest on.  There was no more shotguns or machine guns shooting lasers.  They stepped up the realism, though honestly it wrapped up rather quick(they only had an hour though).

Plus I have no attachment to the comic and the cartoon in the 80's is in desperate need of some modernization (even though I love it so).

Agreed, the 80s(and GI Joe overall) was in need of some modernization, but at the same time, you have to understand how incredible Larry Hama's writing and characterization was.  His detailing and background the ALL of the characters, something that was rarely seen.  The storylines and plots and character twist in the books were so dynamic and dramatic and highly gripping.  He took ideas and characters that were rather mundane and trival and made them relevant and interesting.  Billy, Sean Collins, Fred, Cobra actually starting like a Pyramid Scheme, Cobra Commander's background  the LRRP group and how all of those characters inter-connected before there was a G.I. Joe and Cobra.  Honestly Googles, you'd be doing yourself a favor if you went back and read those issues.  I mean, the Silent Issue?!  There hasn't been anything like that done before and I don't think since.  Hama was a great storyteller and knew his source material really well.  Those books did nothing but enhance how great G.I. Joe actually is.

However, I do have to admit my greatest problem with G.I. Joe Resolute was with the roster of characters they used...  Almost made it not worth watching.

Spoiler

There was no Big Lob.

[BentonGrey]

The Duke/Scarlett thing WAS sorta' hinted at in the 'toon, at least after the first season.  Season 1 there were also overtones from the comic with Snake Eyes, Scarlett, and the original Joes being used with more similarity to their original stories.  That being said, I'm all for people taking the good things from the 'toon, and I really enjoyed the nods to elements from the series in the new JOE comic that came out a few years back (until it started sucking).  I don't much care for them completely ignoring major elements of the comic, while at the same time gesturing towards others.  It makes it feel uneven and silly to me.  See, I completely disagree with Shogunn, I don't see how this short did anything particularly interesting and challenging.  They "updated" the JOE idea?  How, I mean, really?  It isn't significantly different, except visually, from the cartoon.  The recent comic series already "updated" the JOEs, and as poor as it was overall, it did the job much better than this.  I mean, how difficult is it to give Gung Ho a shirt and a heavy assault rifle rather than a Vietnam era grenade launcher?  GG, and all of those who haven't read the comics, do yourselves a favor...pick up the TPB's.  They are some of the best books I've ever read, even with some of the lighter and sillier elements.  This isn't nostaligia talking, as I never read them until a few years ago.  They really are great though.

I continue to find myself less than impressed with Ellis' work.  His writing just seems weak to me, and there were several times during the course of this short that his dialog set my teeth on edge.  Color me unimpressed.

Also, Shogunn...if for one moment I thought you were serious about Big Lob, I'd have to hunt you down and pummel you with basketballs!