G.I. Retro - The Palace of Doom

n this episode of G.I. Retro, I break down Part 3 of the Revenge of Cobra - The Palace of Doom! The hunt for the Weather Dominator fragments is on! Flint & Lady Jaye are reunited, Spirit makes his debut with an immediate showdown against Storm Shadow, and the Palace of Doom is giving off serious Indiana Jones energy.
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Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:01

I'm fast, mate! Trouble topside.

SPEAKER_01 0:06

The hunt for the fragments of the weather dominator is in full swing.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

And in this song of race, there's no silver medal for finishing second.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Is this G.I. Joe or Indiana Jones? This is G.I. Retro and the Palace of Doom. Now back to G.I. Joe. Yo Joe and welcome everyone back to G.I. Retro, where we are revisiting and celebrating each and every episode of G.I. Joe A Real American Hero, the Sunbow Marvel run. We are into the second miniseries, The Revenge of Cobra, part three, The Palace of Doom, originally aired September 12th, 1984. And at this point, the Weather Dominator has already been destroyed. Its three main fragments scattered across the globe. So now both G.I. Joe and Cobra are in a race to recover them, to reassert control both of the crazy weather that it is causing and also the entire world. The Hydromaster landed at the Island of No Return, the Ion Correlator, the Palace of Doom, and the Laser Core at the roof of the world. The bulk of today's episode deals with the recovery of the Hydromaster and the Ion Correlator, but we've got some other stuff going on as well. The cliffhanger from last episode had nothing really to do with the weather dominator at all. Shipwreck recruited by Flint, Mutt, and Junkyard on Flint's sandboat, which, yes, I still really want a toy of that, but it was man overboard into the sandstorm for Mutt, and we pick up right there. And Flint immediately also picking up where he left off in terms of showing his heroics.

SPEAKER_05 1:56

Mutt! You can't save him in this storm! I've got to try here.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Flint throwing caution to the wind, going in after Mutt and rescuing him right at the start of this episode, getting back to Shipwreck Sandboat. They're able to wait out the sandstorm and then get on their merry way. I will, however, point out the shipwreck last episode said it was wind-powered, the only thing that Cobra couldn't detect. Not sure about those thrusters, but I digress. They make it all the way back to the G.I. Joe base. It's a great moment when they finally show up because the Joes, they're gearing up to try and go recover these pieces of the weather dominator, and they kind of need a boost, a shot in the arm, as they get ready for this mission. And they get it with Flint, Mutt, Junkyard, and the newly recruited shipwrecks showing up. And it's also here that we get instant chemistry and the start of one of the great classic Joe Mances of all time.

SPEAKER_03 3:07

But you old kettle cleaner, welcome home!

SPEAKER_05 3:09

We all kept hoping you'd make it back, Flint.

SPEAKER_03 3:12

Well, that means a lot. Uh, knowing your buddies miss you, I mean. Uh, she's your buddy. This is Shipwreck, and he saved our necks, Lady J. I'd rather save yours.

SPEAKER_05 3:25

Thanks. But we've got a world to save first. Yo Joe.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

So there you have it. The start of one of the top fan favorite Joe Mances of all time, between Flint and Lady J. And then, of course, you get Shipwreck trying to put the moves on Lady J as well. So just a great demonstration all the way around. The chemistry between Flint and Lady J, and then that sort of suave ladies' man, or at least he thinks he's a suave ladies' man, that roguish sort of approach from Shipwreck. Love to see it. Everyone's reunited, and we are off and running towards the missing pieces of the weather dominator. But before we get there, before we go to the island of no return and the palace of doom, we gotta take a quick little side trail here because we did get an appearance from Roadblock. When we last saw Roadblock, he had survived the Vines of Evil. The Joes don't know that. So I don't know. I guess they maybe assume that he was killed in action, unfortunately. But no, Roadblock's still alive. He's gotta avoid these big cats. He leaps onto the back of this truck, and inside he finds Honda Lou West, rescues her, and it's it's a truck full of the finest victors, as she says. I don't know why Cobra stole her truck, but Roadblock and Honda Lou West are now apparing. But that's that's all we get of Roadblock in this episode. It's a very small scene, but setting the stage for later on in the miniseries. Roadblock and Honaloo West will have more to say before this miniseries is done, but I want to spend the bulk of this episode talking about the two distinct excursions to recover two of the pieces of the Weather Dominator. We got the Island of No Return and the Palace of Doom. Two massive battles between G.I. Joe and Cobra, both absolutely stacked with an all-star cast. I've talked about it before in this miniseries, but we keep getting new characters, old characters return, characters that have been just in the background step up into more major roles, and we see that in a big way here in both battles. So let's start. As G.I. Joe and Cobra are both vying to recover the Hydro Master here at the island of no return. The first thing I want to highlight in this great battle sequence is the re-emergence of the Baroness. Definitely been in the background the first two episodes of the Revenge of Cobra miniseries, but here in the Palace of Doom, she is back center stage. She is leading the Cobra forces here.

SPEAKER_06 6:03

Must I do everything myself? Attack! Attack!

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Incredible line delivery. It's the best quote from the episode, and Baroness just is crushing it throughout. Whenever she shows up, great material to work with, always so commanding, so intimidating. And I want to shout out the animation. Can't say enough about it throughout this series, but in particular here with that scene of the Baroness, I love the detail. You can see she's frustrated but determined. I like the strands of hair in her face. That detail just really stood out to me. I loved it. But something else stood out about the Baroness here. And yes, I should point out that she is in her iconic black garb now in this miniseries as opposed to the blue from the Mass Device. But no, what I'm talking about here is what she was leading the Cobra Forces on. And this is a segment that was very well received. I said that, you know, if I saw the opportunity to keep doing it, I would. And so I have found a name for it when I see something in an episode that should have been a toy. We're gonna call it the MIA. So the missing in action figure. And that's this boat that Baroness is attacking on. It looks awesome. It looks like Cobra's answer to the whale. And I was racking my brain, you know, and re-watching this. I was like, gosh, I don't, I don't think they ever made that. And again, I know there's customs of everything under the sun out there, but I can't believe that this wasn't a part of the main run of G.I. Joe back in the 80s. It's got the cobra head on the bow, which I just think would look so sick as a toy. But also, you know, you got the water moccasin, you've got the hydrofoils, some great boats in their own right. But as, you know, as far as toys go, we never really had anything that could tangle head to head with the whale, sort of believably. I think that the urchin, whether you'd want to call it that in the toy line or not, I think that would absolutely fit the bill. It does in this episode, it looks great. I would I would love to see it as an official release here as well, whether it's Super Seven or Hasbro with classified or what have you. I just think it's it's such a cool vehicle. That was the main thing that stood out in terms of what was missing in action for the GI Joe toy line. Getting back to the battle itself, I mentioned this miniseries is so star-studded. So let's get to that. We've got Torpedo showing back up. Of course, he was a big part of the worms of death in the Mass Device miniseries. We're back on the water. So we got Torpedo again and his unfortunate nickname of Pito, but let's not dive too deep into that. While Bill showing back up and playing a big role, I mentioned the whale, with you know, being sort of the urchin being the counterpoint to the whale. For the first time, really, we've got Cutter and the Whale making a big impact felt here. And then one of the great debuts, one of the best characters in the Sunbow run of G.I. Joe during this battle is Spirit.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

Freedom and I will go to the island of no return. I'm uh tempted to let you try it, but it's impossible. Possibility and impossibility are states of mind. In my mind, there is only the possible.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Actually, I take it back, and no disrespect to Baroness, but that is my favorite quote from the episode. What a way to introduce yourself and announce your presence on the scene than with a quote like that from Spirit. And before we sort of continue on with what he's going to get into at the island of no return, I also want to point out in this battle, we got we got a Firefly sighting. Firefly is blowing more stuff up, helping Cobra progress here through the reef. Firefly, no lines, just adding more to that mystique, one of the all-time fan favorite Cobra operatives, my personal favorite. So had to highlight the fact that yes, Firefly is here, but back to Spirit and Freedom, they've made their way to the island of no return, and it is here we get one of the best scenes from the entire episode and the start of an ongoing rivalry here in the Sumbo series. I know it's not Snake Eyes, but for me as a fan of the cartoon, I love these ongoing interactions, and this is the first one we get Spirit versus Storm Shadow.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

I feel another presence. That presence feels you as well.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

More fantastic animation. I love Storm Shadow using the ninja star and freedom intercepting it. Really cool. The battle over the waterfall. It's like out of Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty. It's really, really good. And I just love this ongoing rivalry in the cartoon. And part of what makes it so good is this sort of perspective of spirit, how he plays off of Storm Shadow. They both have this code of honor that they're able to express to one another throughout the series. So as it stands now, neither G.I. Joe nor Cobra has that Hydro Masterpiece of the Weather Dominator. It is now at the base of that waterfall, the island of no return. Let's jump over to the jungle. Let's jump to the Palace of Doom where the Ion Correlator is. And Cobra is first on the scene, being led by Major Blood.

SPEAKER_06 12:02

The scanner indicates the fragment we want is inside that large structure there. Legend may call it the Palace of Doom, but I call it a simple military objective.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

I got a kick out of the scanner scene, not just because we get another signature major blood laugh, but because he's using it and he's like, oh, the correlator appears to be in this large structure. It's right in front of you. It's the only large structure around, and you should be able to see it even with your one eye. You shouldn't need the scanner. Anyway, on the Joe side, we get the debuting. We see him in the intro, but for the first time in an episode and in a major way, we get the debut of Rakondo leading the Joe assault team through the jungle here. I love Rakondo. He's a great character, phenomenal look, terrific action figure. So stoked to see him popping up. And he and Flint leading a two-pronged assault that just absolutely gonna make a fool of Major Blood and Cobra.

SPEAKER_05 13:11

Yo, Joe!

unknown 13:14

Yo! Yo Joe.

SPEAKER_06 13:21

I'm caught in a pitchest moment.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

Major Blood outflanked and outmaneuvered from the jump, and the battle is on. Flint leading the way for the Joes. Major Blood doing what he can for Cobra. And that is when Lady J, who had a real standout episode in her own right. We've seen her. I mentioned, I believe it was the yeah, it was the first episode of the miniseries. Uh, I loved her using the javelin while steering with her feet in the vamp. She gets some more javelin work in here, and she leads the smaller strike team that actually sneaks in into the Palace of Doom. It's her Shipwreck and Gung Ho. Not sure how Flint feels about Lady J picking Shipwreck over himself to go into the Palace of Doom. But you know, Flint, he's the field commander, so he's got to stay out there. So I'm sure he doesn't read anything into it. Certainly I'm not. Lady J leading things into the Palace of Doom, and this is when the Indiana Jones energy really kicks into high gear. It's the first time, but not the last time, that we'll sort of have some Indiana Jones vibes in G.I. Joe, a real American hero, but I love it every time. A huge Indiana Jones fan as well. So it certainly is not out of place here in G.I. Joe. Worth noting that Temple of Doom came out in May of 1984. This aired in September of 1984. So maybe, you know, the similarities in the titles there are not exactly a coincidence. I'm here for it, though. A misstep here, and that is what activates this terrifying stone guardian that now they have to deal with. They're trapped in this palace of doom. They do have the Ion Correlator, but how are they gonna get out? Lady Jay and her team would get the assist indirectly from Major Blood. He's trying to regroup. He's still, you know, doing his best to run a successful mission in his own right. He sends this giant snake mech in, which immediately starts brawling with the Stone Guardian. The diversion is created, the opening is created, and Jay and her team are able to escape from the Palace of Doom. But nothing in this episode is smooth sailing for either side because the weather dominator, when it was destroyed, was still creating all these crazy weather systems. So we get word that a massive earthquake is going to hit, and that what is what happens here. And of course, Major Blood takes it in stride.

SPEAKER_06 15:46

Retreat! We must save ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

Lady J Gung Ho in shipwreck, trying to stay alive as the earth is collapsing all around them. And it's a great scene, and I've got to give credit where credit is due. This episode of G.I. Joe aired in 1984. And as I'm watching and re-watching now, it evoked Indiana Jones to me, but the Last Crusade, you know, when the temple where the Holy Grail rests is collapsing all around them, and we get Elsa sort of being caught in a very similar fashion as the ground is collapsing around her. But this is 1984. Lack Crusade wouldn't come out until 1989. So maybe a little inspiration to give credit where credit is due. G.I. Joe inspiring Indiana Jones. Anyway, great scene. I love seeing Lady J use her javelins in this episode in a myriad of ways. And they are able to pull her to safety. But because of this earthquake, Gung Ho had to put down the Ion Correlator to pull Lady J up. And wouldn't you know it, just dumb lucking his way into getting it is Major Blood, and he is off to celebrate. So Cobra, in fact, has the Ion Correlator. But let's pause here for a second because as we're talking about this, it is time for our foul-up of the week.

SPEAKER_04 17:18

You're here because you're an industrial spray foul-up.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

Thank you, Sarge. So why am I stopping here to award the Fallop of the Week? Is it Gung Ho putting down the Ion Correlator and it falling into the chasm that is going to earn Gung Ho fallop of the week? I considered it. But when I re-watched it, you know, it all happened so fast. He really had no choice other than either putting it down or or letting Lady J plummet to her death. So I don't think that earns Gung Ho the fallop of the week. And it might surprise you, but it's as I was watching and I put it all together, it falling into the hands of Major Blood and then flying off, thinking that he should be celebrating this great victory. It clicked. Major Blood did nothing in this episode but just fail upwardly and is unjustly rewarded with this piece of the weather dominator. Major Blood got outflanked and overwhelmed immediately. He called retreat. He inadvertently let Lady J and her team escape from the Palace of Doom by creating that opening with the snake mech. And yeah, he just sort of dumb lucked into getting the piece of the weather dominator. So for this week and for the second time, Major Blood is our fallop of the week. So Major Blood gets to fly off, celebrating a rather undeserved victory in capturing that piece of the weather dominator. But the earth is still collapsing around Gung Ho, Shipwreck, and Lady J. The Stone Guardian and the Snake Mech are still battling. It's like a monster movie between those two. And I really love when the snake mech just like punches a hole in the Stone Guardian's chest. It's great stuff. Also, the Guardian ripping off one of the arms of the mech. Tremendous. But it's once again Lady J, Gung Ho Shipwreck. They're in need of a hero, and who should show up to save them but Flint? Or so it would seem.

SPEAKER_05 19:14

Flint! Get us out of this! Come on! Now! This place is shaking like a 10-cent milkshake! We lost the fragments! We'll get it back! No time now!

SPEAKER_01 19:34

Seems like all is saved. Lady J makes it across, but not everybody does. And that's what brings us to our but did you die moment of the week.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

Did you die? I got shot. But did you die?

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Pretty straightforward DYD this week. There were some other choices, you know, parachutes, you know, of people jumping out of the gliders, the rattlers, all this stuff, the battle, the island of no return. Heck, Spirit and Storm Shadow could have been the DYD going down that waterfall. But no, it was so dramatic with Gung-ho and Shipwreck falling towards this chasm. That's the cliffhanger of this week's episode. And I also think it's our perfect but did you die moment of the week. Because they're they're just they're just falling to their death. And that is how the Palace of Doom ends. Gung Ho and Shipwreck plummeting towards their certain death. What a great cliffhanger! And what a great episode. Just from top to bottom, I really enjoyed it. It's jam-packed with action. The two major battle scenes, the two major missions that we get to see between G.I. Joe and Cobra going after these pieces of the weather dominator. Tons of characters, whether it's returns or new characters, we get Spirit and Storm Shadow kickstarting their rivalry and that duel. Really good stuff throughout this episode. And also not just the military vibe, we get the sort of the pulp adventure type vibe. I talk about the sort of Indiana Jones energy in this episode at the Palace of Doom. I love it when we get that in G.I. Joe and it was fully on display in this episode. So, one last piece of business before we get out of here for this episode, and that is, of course, we have to crown this week's episode MVP.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

On a night where you thought, well, he isn't quite himself. How good can you be? MVP.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

Well, unlike the fallop of the week, which was a bit of a runaway for Major Blood, and no disrespect to Major Blood or any of his fans, I like Major Blood. I've said before, I think he's the perfect sort of like lieutenant sub boss level villain for G.I. Joe to contend with. But I think he pretty clearly earned the honors this week. But you can you can let me know if if you if you disagree. But unlike that, I think the MVP battle had no shortage of contenders. I talked up the Baroness throughout. I heavily considered awarding her. MVP in this. Some great quotes. She's leading the Cobra forces. She was awesome. Spirit made a tremendous debut and an impact in his first episode, starting that rivalry and that duel with Storm Shadow. Definitely a standout, but I think just a little too short of time in this episode to get the crown, but I think it could be coming as as soon as next episode we will see. So if it's not Baroness, if it's not Spirit, it must be a GI Joe character shrouded in mystery who makes a big, booming impact wherever he goes. That's right, Firefly. No, I'm I'm just kidding. Firefly is not the MVP of this episode. I do hope that someday I get to award him an MVP. He's my you know favorite Cobra character. He's my favorite action figure of all time. But no, to me, the top two contenders for MVP, it's the Jomance. It's Lady J and Flint. Both had terrific episodes. Both were featured heavily throughout. Lady J, she led that smaller team into the Palace of Doom to recover the Peace of the Weather Dominator, even though they didn't ultimately get it. We got to see her kick and butt on the battlefield with her javelin in a couple of different ways. And just overall, in her first really major, major appearance in the show, she stood out in a big time way. But ultimately, and for the first time ever in the history of GI Retro, we have a back-to-back MVP winner. I am giving it once again to Flint. I just really think Flint had the strongest case here. He rescued Mutt without hesitation. I really love that his quick back and forth with Shipwreck, where he was being discouraged from trying to rescue him, and Flint just says, I have to try. And that is so classic Flint and classic G.I. Joe heroism. He also led the mission overall in the Palace of Doom. He just came up aces time and time again. He saved Lady J not once, but twice. And even a little underrated moment when Lady J is sort of lamenting, we lost the Peace of the Weather Dominator. Flint showed leadership in poise and he showed priorities. Like, hey, I'm going to rescue you. We can get the Peace of the Weather Dominator back later, but we all go home or nobody goes home kind of energy. A la Sergeant Slaughter from Flint. So I think to me, he's the obvious choice again for MVP. And it stands to reason. This miniseries very much so focused on him. He's, you know, for lack of a better phrase, he's the new Duke. By the way, Duke and Snake Eyes still captured by Cobra, not seen at all in this episode. And before Flint showed back up, I want to point out, and it was mentioned in the comments some weeks back, that Scarlet again, Duke and Flint are gone. Scarlet takes over. So I thought that was interesting. But yet again, back-to-back weeks now, Flint, the MVP. And because I haven't shouted him out yet, but the voice actor, Bill Ratner, who voices Flint, one of the most iconic voices in G.I. Joe, and he's killing it. And he got to do a lot more in this episode and drop some great Flint lines, which really, you know, sort of made his case for MVP all the stronger.

SPEAKER_04 25:16

Like the saying goes, two's company, but three's a regiment.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

Be sure to let me know what you think. Who's your pick for MVP, DYD, Fallop, and the like? Whatever's on your mind, let me know in the comments. And as always, like, subscribe, but most importantly, rewatch. This is so much fun re-watching with all of you. I love hearing your takes on the show as we celebrate and revisit this together. That is going to do it for this edition of GI Retro. Next up battle on the roof of the world. But until then, if you didn't know, now you know. Take it away, Flint.

SPEAKER_03 25:54

And knowing is half the battle.