Rambo

Rambo (1986) was a bad cartoon. Seeing him leap off a skyscraper on a motorcycle was too much for me. They tried to make Rambo into a children's character who chases the bad guys and fight for truth and justice. Bad stuff. Not worth seeking out. Who thought it was a good idea to turn a flashback haunted sadistic sociopath soldier into a children's hero? The cartoon had very little or nothing to do with the film franchise except the main character and his sanitized persona.

They made toys for the cartoon series and a comic book!

D-

After several successful movies, it really wasn't a surprise that the seemingly invulnerable action soldier Rambo would have spun off a series. What was really surprising was that it was a CARTOON series. I mean, what good parent would have let junior watch any of the Rambo movies, notorious for their blood, gore and sky high body counts?

Questionable marketing aside, the folks at Ruby Spears productions did a bang up job on the Rambo cartoon. Sure, the series is basically a GI Joe clone, but it's a good one. Rambo is made considerably more sociable in the cartoon, more boy scout than Green Beret. He's not above giving bicyle riding safety tips in between picking off baddies with his precision bow and arrow. They also give Rambo a little team, two pals called the Freedom Force, his version of the GI Joe team.

Voice acting is pretty good. Rambo's voice is a wee bit generic, but James Avery ("The Fresh Prince of Bel Air") as Turbo is excellent. Plots are pretty thick-headed, with Rambo and crew being sent off by the colonel to rescue little villages in foreign countries and the world in general. Of course, Rambo performs some pretty darn superhuman feats like dangling from helicopters and the like. What was really cool was the intro, complete with inspirational, heroic theme music and the colonel saying, "Give me... Rambo!" Also cool were the safety tidbits at the end of each episodes.

What was not cool were the production values. Animation is typical 80's cheese - lacking the fluidity and vivid color of cartoons from later years. The character designs are good though, and Rambo is a decent likeness of Stallone. Trautman is well drawn as well - complete with his trademark green lid.

In all, Rambo was one of the more entertaining cartoons of the 1980's. Forget GI Joe, for thick-headed animated warfare and fun, Rambo is the man.

John Rambo's journey from an alienated and disillusioned Vietnam vet with PTSD to a flag-waving G. I. Joe knockoff is a fascinating one, but for the purposes of this review I'll stick to the series at hand.

I grew up as a boy in the 80's devouring cartoons like this one, but by 1986 I'd begun to ease away from toys and 'toons in favor of girls. If I ever watched an episode of "Rambo", I sure don't remember it. So, on a whim, I decided to dumpster dive into the series and see what I missed. As it turns out not much.

This is a straight "G. I. Joe: A Real American Hero" clone. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but because it apes the latter you can't help but compare the two and "Rambo" comes up short.

Rambo here is a monosyllabic alpha Gary Stu leading a bland team of good guys (and girls) against a bad Cobra tribute band. It's action packed, I'll give it that, but it plays more like the writers kept trying to one up each other for who could come up with the most absurd set piece. That sort of thing can be fun when it's done right, but here it's just not.

There was a long animated movie and a number of stand alone episodes. The latter were not really up to par with the movie but came close. The most impressive feature about the Rambo cartoon is the sheer loyalty towards existing and historic military hardware such as the Lockheed AC-130 Spectre gunship and the Battleship Yamamoto which are shown in full force. Its also surprising to see that the aircraft which made extensive appearances such as the OV-10 Bronco and Avro HS-748, although not mentioned by name, are reproduced with great authenticity. In the series, they come up with some innovative military designs.

Story lines were decent and the action, although far from realistic and the explosions far from impactive, were at the least, quite intensive. The animation was standard Ruby Spears quality. The only thing is that while 10000s of bullets were fired, no one actually got killed or even hurt.

I really don't know why morons like Jtalledo call this a GI Joe clone? There is really very little in common with GI Joe and this one was at least a little bit more mature. People like the mentioned who lampoon themselves cluelessly should really not waste our time here by talking garbage.

Jonathan J. Rambo has seen the light. After his three movies in which he was nothing more than a murdering machine no better than the villains he killed, he finally realized that TRUE heroes don't kill, and that a man of his talents can defeat thousands of foes without ending a single life. Rambo is aided by his Commanding Officer Samuel Troutman; Kathy Taylor, army brat KAT; Turbo Johnson, weapons specialist; White Dragon, ninja hero and T.D. Jones, football hero. His foes from S.A.V.A.G.E. are much worse than the simpletons he killed in the mindless movies. General Warhawk and Sergeant Havok alone could take out Rambo easily. But they also have Gripper and his dangerous but lovable UZI shield; Black Dragon, White Dragon's evil ninja brother; Nomad the Middle-Eastern terrorist; Mad Dog the urban biker and an army of dangerous Cyborgs. The action is awesome and smart. The stories are brilliant. And the fans are cool, unlike one guy whose review about Rambo 2 insulted the entire United States' intelligence. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, SLAPPY! The second best military cartoon next to G.I.Joe, Rambo is one top of the line series. Give me THIS RAMBO anytime!