“G.I. Joe: A Full-Length Animated Feature!”
Earlier this year I shared a 1985 ad for the Transformers cartoon on VHS. Well, today I want to introduce you to this ad for the G.I. Joe cartoon (Amazon.com search*), one of the most popular of the toy cartoons to exist during the eighties. What surprises me most is that the show wasn’t actually on TV all that much; the Wikipedia entry states:
The cartoon had its beginnings with two five-part mini-series in 1983 and 1984, then became a regular series that ran in syndication from 1985 to 1986.
It sure felt longer than that to me, but maybe it’s just the aggregate feeling that comes from thinking of the cartoon, comics, toys, and other bits of marketing as the bigger G.I. Joe brand. Or: Maybe I have no sense of time?
Related articles
- 1986 Menards Newspaper Ad Featuring G.I. Joe, Transformers, and GoBots (battlegrip.com)
- Is ‘Jem And The Holograms’ Trailer A Misfits Plot? (forbes.com)
- Affiliate Link – The Unauthorized Guide to G.I. Joe TV and Comics (battlegrip.com)
I think the show was constantly being re-run, so that may be one reason why it felt like it had been around longer. I remember it being on every weekday, first in the mornings then the afternoons. I’m sure I saw most of the episodes a few times, but they never seemed to get old.
I was surprised to learn that the series only lasted one year under DIC entertainment. I wonder if they originally aired the new episodes daily, or was it a weekly thing.