• Air date: 15 Sep '86 30 episodes
      G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is a half-hour American animated television series based on the successful toyline from Hasbro and the comic book series from Marvel Comics. The cartoon had its beginnings with two five-part mini-series in 1983 and 1984, then became a regular series that ran in syndication from 1985 to 1986. Ron Friedman created the G.I. Joe animated series for television, and wrote all four miniseries. The fourth mini-series was intended to be a feature film, but due to production difficulties was released as a television mini-series.
  • List of Episodes (30)
    • 1. Arise, Serpentor, Arise! : Day 1

      15 Sep '86
      A surprise attack by Cobra, using the new BATs, reveals that the Joes have gotten sloppy. General Hawk asks Sergeant Slaughter to help whip the team back into shape. Meanwhile, a series of dreams prompt Dr. Mindbender to concoct a plan to build a new Cobra leader from the DNA of long-dead conquerors. A package downed Night Raven reveals that Zartan has been asked to expand his team of Dreadnoks so he turns to his siblings, Zandar and Zarana for help, and the Joes investigate and discover the pla
    • 2. Arise, Serpentor, Arise! : Day 2

      16 Sep '86
      The Joes send teams out to guard the tombs on Zartan's list, but each team is defeated in turn: by Zarana in Egypt, the Crimson Twins in Paris, the Dreadnoks in the Yucatan, and the Baroness in Transylvania. Duke's team and the Oktober Guard are in a standoff with BATs while defending the tomb of Ivan the Terrible.
    • 3. Arise, Serpentor, Arise! : Day 3

      17 Sep '86
      Cobra takes DNA from the tombs of Ivan the Terrible and Alexander the Great. Sergeant Slaughter retrieves a DNA pack from Cobra's raid on Sun Tzu's tomb, and from it the Joes surmise that Cobra is building a new breed of soldiers. Dr. Mindbender intends to use Slaughter's DNA as a replacement, and so feigns defeat as a ploy to retrieve the sarcophagus of Genghis Khan and capture Slaughter.
    • 4. Arise, Serpentor, Arise! : Day 4

      18 Sep '86
      Cobra Commander sabotages Dr. Mindbender's first experiment, and it rises as a hideous monster. Sergeant Slaughter briefly escapes, then is recaptured but manages to destroy his DNA sample. The second attempt is successful, and Serpentor is created. Meanwhile, a Joe search party is sent to Cobra Island to rescue Slaughter and learn more about Cobra's plans.
    • 5. Arise, Serpentor, Arise! : Day 5

      19 Sep '86
      Seargent Slaughter and the rescue team escape Cobra Island, but Serpentor captures Washington D.C. just as the Joes learn about the new leader. But Serpentor's lack of experience in modern warfare puts Cobra at a disadvantage when G.I. Joe stages a counterattack.
    • 6. Last Hour to Doomsday

      25 Sep '86
      Lady Jaye disguises herself as the Baroness in order to learn about a Cobra weapon created to form whirlpools and tidal waves.
    • 7. Computer Complications

      26 Sep '86
      When the Joes seek to recover a sample of anti-matter from a sunken ship, Zarana is sent to their headquarters to sabotage the operation. She and Mainframe discover they have feelings for each other. In the aftermath of a battle, the USS Flagg is sunk.
    • 8. Sink the Montana

      29 Sep '86
      An aging admiral learns that his ship is to be scrapped, and he turns to Cobra for help. Cobra renders his ship impervious to electronic vessels, so G.I. Joe must use the two-hundred-year-old USS Constitution to defeat him.
    • 9. Let's Play Soldier

      30 Sep '86
      Cobra discovers an Asian tree sap that brainwashes people, and uses it to enslave the native population. Leatherneck must care for four orphans while the other Joes try to prevent Cobra from marketing the sap as chewing gum.
    • 10. Once Upon a Joe

      01 Oct '86
      When an orphanage is accidentally damaged during a battle, Shipwreck and other members from G.I. Joe volunteer to help repair it. While doing so, Shipwreck is dragged into telling the children a fairy tale...a typically cockeyed Shipwreck extravaganza!
    • 11. The Million Dollar Medic

      02 Oct '86
      Bree Van Mark, a cute wealthy woman, develops a crush on Lifeline after he rescues her and her father from a sinking yacht during a battle between G.I. Joe and Cobra. Lifeline discovers that Cobra is after Bree's father, a wealthy industrialist whose holding include a defense company. But the Joes think that Bree is working for Cobra since some of her gifts, including a gold plated helicopter, have backfires. She flies off in a Tomahawk taking Lifeline with her. They head to a cabin in the Rocki
    • 12. Cobrathon

      06 Oct '86
      Cobra stages a telethon to raise money for a computer virus that will bring down all the computer systems in the world, as the Joes try to rescue Sci Fi and Lifeline...
    • 13. The Rotten Egg

      07 Oct '86
      Leatherneck attends graduation ceremonies at a new academy and discovers it run by former enemy Buck McCann, who is loyal to Cobra. Leatherneck must foil McCann's plan to destroy Parris Island Marine Academy.
    • 14. Glamour Girls

      08 Oct '86
      Madame Vail (voice- Mary McDonald Lewis) agrees to sell her youth transference machine, which makes people young (and beautiful), in return for kidnapping some of the world's top models, who's youth and beauty will be transferred to the machine's user. One of these models is Low Light's sister, Una...
    • 15. Iceberg Goes South

      09 Oct '86
      The Joes visit an arctic region where Icebergs Girlfriend is collecting samples of animals tissue for her Uncles research at the Tropadome. Icebergs goes to the Trapadome only to be captured by Doctor Mindbenders new mutant animal army...
    • 16. The Spy Who Rooked Me

      13 Oct '86
      International superspy Matthew Burke volunteers his services in helping the Joes transport nerve gas to a safe facility.
    • 17. Grey Hairs and Growing Pains

      14 Oct '86
      Cobra steals Madame Versalles youth treatment. The Joes try to figure out why and that leads them to the Ageless Care Spa, where lady Jaye, Mainframe and Dial Tone are turned into seven year olds...
    • 18. My Brother's Keeper

      15 Oct '86
      Sergeant Slaughter accompanies Sci-Fi to a science fiction convention, where Dr. Mindbender recruits a handicapped scientist to repair his latest weapon. Mindbender's false promises to enable the scientist to walk again lead him to walk all over his brother.
    • 19. My Favorite Things

      16 Oct '86
      Wet-Suit and Leatherneck have never, ever got along but their heated rivalry must take a backseat when Serpentor begins collecting artifacts from his former lives to gain power, and Leatherneck is poisoned trying to stop him. Wet-Suit has to prove he doesn't have any hard feelings for Leatherneck, as he and Lifeline risk their lives trying to recover an antidote from Serpentor's blood.
    • 20. Raise the Flagg!

      20 Oct '86
      The Joes stumble upon an oil platform being used by Cobra to try to salvage the anti-matter pod that went down with the USS Flagg and the Cobra helicarrier. The Joes investigate, followed by Zartan and the Dreadknocks, but both teams are captured by an insane Cobra cook named LaCar...
    • 21. Ninja Holiday

      22 Oct '86
      Sergeant Slaughter is captured by Cobra Commander and goes through a series of blood sports with the prize being to assassinate Serpentor...
    • 22. G.I. Joe and the Golden Fleece

      27 Oct '86
      There is a Joe/Cobra battle over the Suez Canal when a spacecraft flies overhead and drops a glowing coil. When Joe and Cobra teams are dispatched to investigate, they are sent back to Ancient Greece...
    • 23. The Most Dangerous Thing in the World

      29 Oct '86
      Cobra takes advantage of General Hawk going to a NATO meeting in Europe and infiltrates the Department Of Defense's computers and promotes Lifeline, Dial Tone and Shipwreck (who's not even in the army) all to the rank of Colonel. The three can't cooperate and are not quite officer material which creates utter pandemonium at G.I. Joe Headquarters. Cobra capitalizes on the situation and attacks a research lab near the Joes' base. The Joes are defeated easily and fall back to Joe HQ. Hawk arrives i
    • 24. Nightmare Assault

      30 Oct '86
      All of the Joes are having nightmare involving a huge snake attacking them. At first they feel that it is due to the stress of the situation. As the nightmares continue, it begins to affect the Joes performance fighting Cobra. In fact, Cobra is controlling the Joes' dreams in an effort to disable them...
    • 25. Second Hand Emotions

      31 Oct '86
      A group of Joes are attending Lifeline's sister's wedding while other Joes are at a nearby weapons depot testing new armor. The Dreadnoks are able to attach small receivers to the back of the Joes' necks and capture Roadblock. Dr. Mindbender uses an organ to send signals to the receivers that controls the Joes emotions...