G.I. Joe was just a toy, wasn't he?

Las Vegas Review-Journal ^ | 28 oct 07 | VIN SUPRYNOWICZ

[rellimpank]

Hollywood now proposes that in a new live-action movie based on the G.I. Joe toy line, Joe's -- well, "G.I." -- identity needs to be replaced by membership in an "international force based in Brussels." The IGN Entertainment news site reports Paramount is considering replacing our "real American hero" with "Action Man," member of an "international operations team."

Paramount will simply turn Joe's name into an acronym.

The show biz newspaper Variety reports: "G.I. Joe is now a Brussels-based outfit that stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, an international co-ed force of operatives who use hi-tech equipment to battle Cobra, an evil organization headed by a double-crossing Scottish arms dealer."

Well, thank goodness the villain -- no need to offend anyone by making our villains Arabs, Muslims, or foreign dictators of any stripe these days, though apparently Presbyterians who talk like Scottie on "Star Trek" are still OK -- is a double-crossing arms dealer. Otherwise one might be tempted to conclude the geniuses at Paramount believe arms dealing itself is evil.

(Just for the record, what did the quintessential American hero, Humphrey Bogart's Rick Blaine in "Casablanca," do before he opened his eponymous cafe? Yep: gun-runner.)

[MadelineZapeezda]

as one of the role models

[Plutarch]

Interestingly, G.I. Joe started out as a comic strip in Stars & Stripes, and then a 1945 movie, and not an articulated plastic action figure until 1964. The movie could be a prequel, before G.I. Joe earned his fame as an action figure. Of course, G.I. Joe cannot be anything but American, as that is why he is a G.I. rather than a Tommy, Jerry, or Ivan.

[Travis McGee]

G.I. = “Global Integrated?”

Makes me think about Rule 308.

[Tzimisce]

...does this make Lady Jane a member of Code Pink?

[SWO]

mwyounce;
Jedi Master Pikachu said; Why Brussels? While GI Joe being 'international' is offensive enough, Brussels is the capital of the European Union, and isn't renown for being the seat of many international organizations.
You replied:
NATO?
Which is a fair point.
What I think he meant to say was:
Why Brussels? While GI Joe being 'international' is offensive enough, Brussels is the capital of the European Union, and isn't renown for being the seat of many particularly effective international military organizations.
Better?

[Iwentsouth]

This is the first time I heard the story of Mitchell Paige. What a great read. Thanks for posting the article.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Good point. That could be it (in which case, it wouldn't be international so much that they're going after, but sort of grouping that is in Afghanistan, and to a lesser extent in Iraq).

[OKSooner]

“Global Integrated Joint Operations Entity”, IIRC.

[Lockbar]

" And maybe Jar Jar Binks can have a role in the UN somewhere."

BWAHAHAHAHH! Why did you have to bring that annoying him/it up?

[magslinger]

John Adam was interviewed, but didn't say anything either way.

[magslinger]

See my #30.

[MarkL]

Hopefully the work will be based on the REAL GI Joe of the 1960s and not that downsized fraud of later years.

I had such an amazing collection of GI Joes and accessories when I was little... Of course, I had all of the cool stuff, though little of the original WWII accessories: But I had the USAF officer, complete with "short boots," which seemed silly to me at the time, the deep sea diver (complete with black plastic and rubber octopus), the frogman, and of course, the astronaut, along with the space capsule. Oh, and there was a commando, complete with a M3 "grease gun."

Then again, when I was little, I also had a set of cammos, complete with sgt stripes, and my name on a ribbon on the front, and a toy M14 that fired plastic "bullets." I guess today I'd probably be institutionalized, and drugged out of my mind... But back then, it was considered normal, though maybe a bit "spoiled."

Mark

[magslinger]

The original photo:

[Squantos]

Simple solution for those feeling blue........:o)

[MarkL]

Now what I wanna know is: what happened to Major Matt Mason?

I had a big collection of those too! I was a total "space freak." My uncle was an engineer at McDonnel Douglass, who sent me a paper, die-cut "model" of the lunar module around the time of Apollo 8, and I had a cousin who was a tour guide at the Kennedy Space Center. In fact, somewhere around here I've got a photo of myself wearing a "real" space suit (one of the ones used by the staff at the KSC for demos. It was real, just didn't pass the QC tests, or was retired), and I was able to catch a ride on the "lunar rover" when I visited my grandparents in FL. IIRC, that was around the time of the Apollo/Soyuz flight.

Anyway, I had a bunch of Major Matt Mason stuff, including that multi-level "space station" or what ever it was. Man, I had SO many toys, I really was spoiled... While all my friends collected Hot Wheels, I had the Johnny Lightning cars, and this track which had this really steep hill, and a lever used to power the cars up the hill, and they'd glide back down around the track. What I learned was if you removed these guards at the top of that hill, you could launch the cars for a pretty great distance!

Mark

[Lurker]

The man said 308:

L

[Squantos]

Good point !

I spent good money on a Mk 12 Semi Auto Clone yesterday and wanted to air it dambit !

[ASOC]

Bogart’s Rick Blaine in “Casablanca,” do before he opened his eponymous cafe -

Seems Rick shows up more than ONCE....

Lets see Rick characters played by Bogie and the order they were released.

Across The Pacific ((AKA Aloha means Good by)) (1942) He plays Rick, from Army Intel

Casablanca (Late 1942) Also plays Rick, a fellow who doesn’t seem to care for Nazis either.

IN 1948, he played a burned out Army Captain “Frank” who had a lot to say about civilians during WWII. One of my favorite Bogie movies, I think it is even better than Casablanca both the story but also because we get to ‘meet’ Bacall.....