Computer Complications

Computer Complications
Attribution
Writer(s)	David Schwartz
Production company	Sunbow Productions
Season	2
Original airdate	September 26, 1986
General information
Continuity	A Real American Hero animated continuity
Series	G.I. Joe
Preceded by	Last Hour to Doomsday
Followed by	Sink the Montana!
Computer Complications

Cobra sends Zarana to sabotage the Joes, but someone delays her in an unexpected way.

Plot

Some of the naval warfare Joes are lounging around on a floating platform while on a mission to recover an anti-matter powered space probe, which Cobra also wants.

After the direct approach fails, the Dreadnoks are called in. First is Zandar, who is spotted by Low-Light. After he retreats, Zarana mocks him and goes herself, disguised as an Army sergeant named Carol Weidler.

She is assigned to assist tech expert Mainframe, who gives a rude introduction before he notices who he's speaking to. Back at the sea-rig, Wetsuit discovers that the robot subs he and the other three are in charge of have lost their programming after he had them attack Cobra at the beginning.

Sgt. Carol Weidler

Afterwards, "Sgt. Weidler" reports in to Zartan during her break to explain that Mainframe is interfering, and is told to get rid of him. Her first attempt is by causing a collapse of several containers, only for him to save her when it backfires.

In doing so, she receives the first compliment of her life, and gets invited to dinner by him. We then see Cobra Commander report a delay to his new superior, Serpentor. After the Commander tells Zartan to speed things up, we see Zarana and Mainframe at a diner, where she wards off a comment by Leatherneck.

After the pair sits down, she gets a warning by Zartan, disguised as a waiter, only for Mainframe to tell him off and get back handed. Starting a fight where he gets exposed, after almost being caught by Gung-Ho, the Dreadnoks move in and retrieve him.

After getting back to base, Zarana tries to bump Mainframe off three times, only for it go awry when he mistakes the third attempt for her trying to kiss him, which gives her the idea to taser him.

Once he's out, Zarana manages to reprogram the Joe mini-subs to attack the sea-rig and signal for her extraction. However, when Zartan leaves a bomb on top of Mainframe, Zarana tasers him and returns for the Joe, who she exposes herself to. Despite this, he lets her escape.

Much later, Serpentor sends an aerial carrier to steal the probe, only for a battle to occur, in which the probe, the Cobra carrier, and the USS Flagg are all lost.

Though a distance apart and on opposite sides of the war, Zarana and Mainframe look up at the same moon.

Later, Mainframe is seen in the infirmary, where after speaking with Duke, he looks at the full moon, which Zarana also sees after being mocked by the Dreadnoks, who she shoots at.

Appearances

Featured Characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

G.I. Joe	Cobra	Civilians
Ace Beach Head Deep Six Duke Gung-Ho Iceberg Leatherneck Low-Light Mainframe Roadblock Rock 'n Roll Sci-Fi Short-Fuze Shipwreck Torpedo Wet-Suit Wild Bill	Buzzer Cobra Commander Cobra Officer Cobra Trooper Dr. Mindbender Monkeywrench Ripper Serpentor Strato-Viper Torch Zandar Zarana Zartan Dreadnoks	Admiral Ledger

Featured Vehicles and Equipment

G.I. Joe	Cobra
Conquest U.S.S. Flagg Robo-Sub Transportable Tactical Battle Platform	F.A.N.G. Ferret A.T.V. Firebat Thornback Trawler

Memorable Quotes

"Sit down and shut up. I'll be with you when I'm good and ready."

--Mainframe meets "Sgt. Carol Weidler".

"Leave. Before I completely regain my senses."

--Mainframe upon discovering Weidler's true identity.

"Now that's whatcha call yer real big budget spectacular finish!"

--Shipwreck seeing the Flagg sink off the coast of San Diego, California.

Notes

Animation and Technical Errors

• As Mainframe meets Beachhead, who is guarding the Top Secret computer room, Beachhead is masked. Suddenly, he is unmasked. Immediately thereafter, he is masked again when allowing Carol Weidler and Mainframe into the Top Secret computer room.
• Wet-Suit's uniform changes from the usual teal to the generic orange and black wetsuit when he sits down to fire the missiles on the battle platform.
• When the Joes suit up for battle, Torpedo wears the same uniform as Wet-Suit instead of his usual navy blue wetsuit.
• In the scene with Cobra Commander and Serpentor, the color of Serpentor's outfit goes from it's normal yellow to red and then back to yellow.

Miscellaneous Notes

• While "Secret" and "Top Secret" are real military security classification levels, the Joes do not seem to follow proper protocol concerning them. Allowing a soldier (such as Weidler) with only Secret clearance into a Top Secret Area would result in court martial, imprisonment, and dishonorable discharge. This is especially out of character for the "regulation-pounding" Beach Head.
• The episode "Raise the Flagg!" is a sequel to this one.
• Mainframe did a tour of duty in Vietnam before working in Silicon Valley for a stretch; he is also divorced.
• Sci-Fi is shown to have light brown hair.

Real World References

• Antimatter
• Vietnam
• Silicon Valley

Footnotes

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