great uploads!! much appreciated

Put me down as someone who is firmly in the camp of Johnny Douglas; I have always felt that his compositions were FAR superior than anything from Rob Walsh.

Maybe it's because I was about 10 when the first 2 mini-series hit the air, and EVERYTHING from the characters to the sounds to the music resonated with me, but I always equated Douglas' themes with G.I. Joe. I know it's been covered before how Walsh's compositions were generic so that they could fit both G.I. Joe and Transformers, but I never felt that they fit G.I. Joe at all. Douglas' material was composed specifically for G.I. Joe, and so to me that will always be the music for this cartoon.

It's like the old 1967 Spider-Man cartoon; the first season had music that was composed specifically for it, while the second season (the psychedelic Ralph Bakshi episodes) had generic music that was culled from the other Marvel cartoons of that era (Thor, Iron Man, Sub-Mariner, etc) and jazz music from the public domain. I always felt that the first season was just so much better than anything that came after.

I always loved how Johnny Douglas' music usually found a way to incorporate the G.I. Joe fanfare into it, and how certain compositions were obviously designed for adventure, suspense, Cobra, etc. It was something that was sorely lacking from Walsh's music. Additionally, I always felt that Douglas' music lent an air of gravitas to the cartoon, something that was missing from Walsh's music; indeed, Douglas' music was something that I thought transcended the cartoon, while Walsh's music to me always sounded cartoon-y.

If I had the time and (more importantly) the know-how, I would love to take a season 2 episode or even the movie itself and re-score it with Douglas' music solely. It would be leaps and bounds better than anything with Walsh's music in it IMHO.

Cold Slither?
 

What about Cold Slither?

Thanks!
 

A very big thank you. I had the Transformers music collection (did you make that also?) and was delighted to find the Joe music had also been pieced together from the shows as well. The music means a lot to me and having it preserved for the future is a great thing. You've done an amazing job. Thank you!

I couldn't disagree more with people saying the first mini-series music is better than what came later. For the purposes of writing this, I'll assume Douglas did the first mini-series and Walsh did what came later. Douglas' compositions have a more dated '70s feel, especially when that jazzy guitar shows up. Douglas' action music never amps up the threat enough. Everything feels a little more comfortable, pleasant and safer. If someone put out a CD just with Douglas' stuff and called it a G.I. Joe Animated Series soundtrack, I'd be asking where's all the really good music?

I have never watched Transformers, so it doesn't matter to me whether Walsh's compositions were used there or on G.I. Joe first. Walsh's music is what I identify with G.I. Joe. He did all the cues that get stuck in my head and that I find myself humming randomly. Just going by memory, I would point to the Gamesmaster episode and of course the 1987 movie for scenes that underline just how effective Walsh's music can be. Almost all of Walsh's cues sound so fresh and timeless that they could be used on a cartoon today and no one would blink an eye. The range of pacing and emotion he covers goes far beyond what Douglas did. His action and suspense cues are incredibly dynamic, tense and exciting. He created a truly sweeping, cinematic score whereas Douglas made something that was clearly more timid and intended for the smaller screen.

There is more Joe music on this Transformers music site. The file with "100+ HQ Tracks" has a G.I. Joe folder, and some of the music in its Transformers folder was also used in Joe. I don't believe any of the other files have music used in Joe.

http://www.thetfcog.com/transformers-music

If you want the music released officially on CD, please e-mail intrada.com at intrada@intrada.com

They just released the Transformers 1986 movie soundtrack. And I can tell you with certainty that one of the main reasons this classic TV music has not been released is because the companies don't think there's a demand for it. Rob Walsh has said he has the music stored in high quality, and I assume he also has the Douglas music since he had all of it available to reuse during the production of the series.

My desire would be to see first a G.I. Joe movie soundtrack that collected the basic cues used in the movie in the order they appeared in the movie (restoring any cuts the movie made to them) and including the wonderful opening song and the instrumental version used on the end credits. Then I would like to see a TV soundtrack collecting the well-known TV opening theme and variations, any cartoon cues that didn't make it into the movie, which would most likely be a lot more of the first mini-series stuff, plus Cold Slither as a bonus!