- Cobra strikes back with their latest weapon: the Weather Dominator!
Plot[]
In a highway in the desert, the Joes provide escort to a truck carrying an experimental laser core. Despite the high level of security, Cobra, nonetheless, makes a daring attempt to take the laser core from the team. Cobra Commander himself leads the ambush. A series of well-hidden attack points cut the joes off from the truck carrying the laser core. A Cobra Constrictor transport helicopter hovers over the truck's trailer and several Cobra Troopers take the laser core out of the trailer. Duke uses the JUMP jet pack and goes on top of the trailer in the hope of delaying the Cobras long enough for the other Joes to reach him. Snake-Eyes soon joins him and despite their best efforts, they are themselves caught in the netting carrying the core away from the trailer. In the ensuing chaos, Cobra Commander falls of the trailer and into the hands of Gung-Ho. The Joes have the Commander but Cobra escapes with the laser core. With Duke gone, Flint takes command of the Joe Team and organizes a pursuit group.
The Commander is held at Blackwater Prison, a holding facility located in the swamps. Colonel Sharp is headed there in a WHALE. Unbeknownst to him, he is tailed by Zartan and the Dreadnoks. Soon, the Dreadnoks make their presence known and the Colonel is captured. Zartan puts on a disguise and masquerades as the Colonel. At Blackwater Prison, Gung-Ho and the Joes take Cobra Commander to his holding cell only to be stopped by Dr. Gassel. Gassel informs the Joes that the Commander is being considered for parole, something Gung-Ho did not take to kindly. Although, the warden disagrees, his hands are tied. "Colonel Sharp" arrives and instead of supporting the Joes, dismisses them. After the Joes leave, Gassel offers the warden a gift. The gift is a mechanical snake that releases sleeping gas. The warden is knocked out. Gassel reveals herself to be the Baroness and Zartan disposes of his own diguise as well. On the way back to Joe HQ, Gung-Ho discovers the real Colonel Sharp but is too late to stop the escape of Cobra Commander.
In the desert, a squadron of Skystrikers are after the Cobra Vulture transport plane into which the laser core was moved. The Cobra base rises out of the sand and from its tallest tower, out comes Destro's newest weapon: the Weather Dominator. As soon as the squadron reaches the area known as the Pit of Chaoes, Destro unleashes a storm over it. Leading the squadron, Flint catches sight of a storm brewing and tells Scarlett and the others to fall back. However, the tempest grows and soon, Flint, Roadblock and Mutt are caught in it and disappear. Unable to find their fallen members, Scarlett and the others head back to base.
After the Joes are taken care of, the Cobra transport plane enters the base. Destro is happy to have the laser core in hand as it would provide unlimited power to the Weather Dominator. Major Bludd is also happy to announce their other prize: Duke and Snake-Eyes. The two Joes make an attempt to escape but being outnumbered, they are overwhelmed once more. Before he can rejoice, Destro is surprised by Cobra Commander's return and then becomes disgruntled as he finds out who is responsible for his escape: Zartan. Destro does not hide his disapproval as he finds the thought of hiring mercenaries distasteful. His disapproval does not concern the Commander who now has bigger plans.
At Joe Headquarters, Sparks tries all manner of detection equipment to find Cobra's whereabouts to no avail. It doesn't take long for the Joes to receive a new transmission from Cobra. The Cobra Commander unveils his newest weapon, the Weather Dominator. In no time, he has Destro demonstrate its power. Somewhere in the Aegean Sea, the weather turns from sunny to a full gail storm. Other places soon find their weather patterns upset by the machine. The Joes realize the stakes have gone up.
With the demonstration ended, Destro unveils to Cobra Commander and Zartan another of his new inventions, a seemingly dried up piece of vine. The Commander is unimpressed, and Destro places a drop of water on the vine. The vine grows to amazing proportions and holds both the Commander and Zartan in its grip.
The Commander panics but Destro assures him that in a matter of moments, the creeper vine will shrivel from lack of water and it does. Furthermore, he reveals that he has planted the same creeper vines in the Pit of Chaos to take care of any G.I. Joe survivors from earlier.
Down in the Pit of Chaos, Flint actually managed to survive the windy ordeal. Night has fallen and he can't find his two other comrades. As if things couldn't get any worse, rain starts falling. The creeper vines start growing and he is caught in its coils.
Appearances[]
Featured Characters[]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
G.I. Joe | Cobra | Others |
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Featured Vehicles and Equipment[]
G.I. Joe | Cobra |
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Notes[]
Animation and Technical Errors[]
- When Cobra launches its ambush, we see Dragonflies flying from their area.
- At one point during the ambush, the H.I.S.S. tanks are colored green.
- In the fight scene on top of the truck, the American flag on the arm of Duke's uniform isn't colored in.
- In the broadcast at the end of the episode, Cobra Commander's eyes change from black to blue. The switch happens again when he's being strangled by Destro's vine.
Continuity Errors[]
- Cobra Commander had been arrested at the end of the first miniseries, but now is free with no explanation.
- Destro betrayed Cobra Commander and escaped at the end of the first miniseries, but there is no acknowledgement of that.
Quotes[]
"Remember, a Cobra's a snake, and 'snake' is 'sneak' spelled sideways."
-- Flint
"Zartan and the Dreadnoks! They have no commitment to our cause; they are nothing but money-grubbing mercenaries!"
-- Destro
"Keep 'em bottled up in the bayou!"
"OK! But you better tell me what a bayou is first!"
--Gung Ho and Short-Fuze
Miscellaneous Trivia[]
- The theme song has undergone a minor lyrical change. No longer is it G.I. Joe against "Cobra and Destro," now the team is against "Cobra: the Enemy," better reflecting the caption found on the carded action figures.
- First appearance of Sparks, the G.I. Joe Team's communications expert.
- First appearance of Colonel Sharp, the team's Pentagon liaison.
- The Flight Pod that Firefly flew in this episode was apparently based on a prototype of the toy version. Firefly's Flight Pod had four slim rocket engines while the final toy version featured two fat rocket engines.
- During the scene where the Dreadnoks captured Colonel Sharp, Zartan's suit glows and makes sounds like that of a lightsaber.
- Clutch is shown wearing his olive-green fatigues from his V.1 figure, yet in episode 2 and from that point going forward in the series he is shown wearing his V.2 tan fatigues.
- Cover Girl's character model has been changed considerably from the first miniseries. Here she sports her short auburn haircut, brown jacket, tan shirt, and tan pants to match her action figure. In the first miniseries she had long blonde hair, green jacket and pants, and a tan shirt.
- The Cobra A.S.P. (Assault System Pod) makes it debut, yet it serves as merely a prop; throughout the entire miniseries, it is always shown being towed behind a Stinger Jeep.
- Ron Friedman
- “The Cobra Strikes” -- M.A.S.S.
- “In the Cobra's Pit” -- Weather Dominator
- “The Further Adventures of G.I. Joe” -- Pyramid of Darkness
- “Arise, Serpentor, Arise! (Part 1)” -- Serpentor
- Ron Friedman wrote the scripts for all four miniseries and the parallels between them are unmistakable. There are minor variations.
- The Joe team is running a routine mission, followed by a Cobra sneak attack. (No mission... Escorting laser artillery piece... Space-shuttle launch... no mission)
- Duke is captured by Cobra in the first episode of the miniseries. (Averted in fourth production, role assumed by Sgt. Slaughter.)
- There is a Cobra invention that can be used to subjugate the world. (MASS Device... Weather Dominator... Pyramid of Darkness... DNA machine)
- Joe and Cobra meet at three or more separate locations with exotic names to retrieve components.
- The Joes meet a stranger along the way that helps them. (Unnamed hermit, Selena, Ramar... Shipwreck, Honda-Lou West... Quick-Kick, Satin... Nobody)
- A Cobra agent double crosses Cobra Commander in the final episode. (Destro takes over... Zartan, until apprehended by Destro... Goes back and forth with the Crimson Twins... All of the Commanders direct subordinates)
- The Joes launch an all-out attack on the Cobra hideout.
- The driver section of the mobile stairs that pull up to Cobra's plane has no way to see outside of it. (Most real world versions are open air on all sides.)
- Zartan hates the sunlight because it robs him of his camouflage ability.
- Insults used in this episode: "Rust breath", "Bumper face", "Sweetheart" (while thumbing his nose), all three said by Gung-Ho to Cobra Commander.