As I mentioned in the "Destro's Voice" thread, I skipped all the webisodes and just watched the whole thing on Cartoon Network last night. My thoughts:

I'll mention what I didn't like first:

1. Deaths: Pointless, unnecessary, shock value. Especially since Bazooka and Major Bludd were both killed off-screen within the first five minutes of the show! There was no point to that other than to tell us that this show is for grown-ups. I think the annihilation of Moscow would have made that point just as easily, without gratuitously killing off two major characters. As Jay pointed out earlier, death in fiction serves a purpose, otherwise it's just death for death's sake. However, although I disagree with Troopsofdoom on the inclusion of such deaths, I am in agreement with him that Storm-Shadow and Zartan could pretty easily be brought back. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Major Bludd and Bazooka, who were both autopsied.

2. Some of the voices: The problem was that they only had like five voice actors working on this thing! Cover Girl only had one line, but she sounded like she had a Southern accent for some reason...? It was painfully obvious in a few scenes that Steve Blum (Duke) was talking to himself as another character. I was impressed, though, with Grey DeLisle as Scarlett, the Baroness, and Dial-Tone. They all sounded relatively different from one another! But -- what was up with Flint's "Batman" voice?!?

3. Snake-Eyes vs. Storm-Shadow: The fight was amazing, don't get me wrong; but it felt totally extraneous to the rest off the plot, and the flashbacks moved painfully slow. I feel like that side-story could have been left out to let the rest of the story breathe a little more.

4. Destro and the Baroness: They came across as kind of incompetent. That whole scene felt like something out of an episode of Sigma Six! But at least they didn't die, I guess...

5. The music: Pretty much a non-entity. I want music to pull me into a show, not lurk, unnoticed, in the background!!

6. The abrupt ending: That was it? No wrap-up or aftermath? And Duke's narration clearly said "On our return to the site...", while the read-out on the screen said "Honor returned to the site...", which, uhh... makes no sense.

7. The lack of "Yo Joe!!" C'mon, not even once??? I counted several opportunities where it could've been used!!

Surprisingly, that's about it. Considering this thing was written by one of my least-favorite comic book writers, Warren Ellis, that's pretty impressive! On to the things I did like:

1. Some of the voices: Though I felt that certain voices didn't fit, I really did like Steven "Spike Spiegel" Blum as Duke (though I obviously would've preferred the return of Michael Bell), as well as the voices for Destro, the Baroness, and Cobra Commander. And the guy playing Snake-Eyes nailed that voice! He sounded exactly like the original version!

(Incidentally, Cobra Commander and Gung-Ho were both played by Charlie Adler, who also played Starscream in the Transformers live-action movie. And all those characters were previously portrayed by the late Chris Latta. Weird coincidence, or something more?)

2. The animation: Probably the very best 2D G.I. Joe animation ever! It was fast, fluid, and gorgeous!

3. The character designs: For the most part, with the exception of Stalker's unfortunate hair, everyone had a very nice update of their classic look. I would love a Resolute Scarlett figure! Destro had an appearance very similar to his Sigma Six character design, I thought, which was not a bad thing. On that note, though, I absolutely loved the Baroness's Sigma Six design. I wish they could have carried it over here, too. Also, Tunnel Rat's team seemed to be wearing outfifts that were a homage to the orange diving suits on the classic cartoon, which I thought was really cool. Oh, and the Flagg looked really neat. Too bad it blew up...

4. Scarlett + Duke: I am by no means a "shipper" (to use the technical term), but given a choice, I strongly believe Scarlett and Duke are a better couple than Scarlett and Snake-Eyes!!

5. The overall story: Except for the "more adult" slant, it reminded me of a classic Sunbow mini-series! Cobra has some huge new threat, and the Joes have to split up, going to different spots around the world, to put a stop to it, before coming together for the big final battle. Very neat!

In summary, though there were aspects I disliked, with the exception of the totally unnecessary killings of main characters, my other quibbles were minor. I would love to see this become a regular, ongoing series, providing they either keep Warren Ellis away from it, or reign him in a bit. Plus, if they could hire a few more actors (and throw in a "Yo Joe!" now and then), that would be nice!

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is on indefinite hiatus...