G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

The season opens with the five-part The Pyramid of Darkness. Cobra captures most of the veteran Joes and plans to ring the Earth with a pyramid that cancels electricity. A squad of new Joes retakes the space station, storms Cobra's temple and destroys the cubes that form the pyramid. Then come 50 mostly standalone episodes, with Duke in charge and General Hawk nowhere in sight. Among them, Worlds Without End sends Joes to a world where Cobra won, and three of them stay behind. The season closes with There's No Place Like Springfield: Shipwreck wakes up six years in the future, married with a daughter, until he realizes the town of Springfield is a Cobra trap built to pull a secret out of his head.

1. Behind the scenesKnowing is half the battle

   Every episode closed with a safety tip for kids. The kid said "Now we know!" and the Joe answered "And knowing is half the battle."

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2. Behind the scenesRed lasers, blue lasers

   Kids' TV rules banned real guns and on-screen deaths. The Joes fire red lasers and Cobra fires blue, and nearly every pilot bails out before a vehicle blows up.

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3. Behind the scenesA season without Hawk

   General Hawk doesn't appear in any of the 55 episodes from 1985. Duke leads the team in the field.

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4. ReferenceSkeletons in Worlds Without End

   In the two-part Worlds Without End, Steeler, Grunt and Clutch find the skeletons of their counterparts in a Cobra-ruled world and stay behind to replace them. It's as close to death as the cartoon got.

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