Rambo: A Força da Liberdade

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!

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.

The first time I watched John Rambo was in the animated series Rambo: The Force of Freedom which I enjoyed watching on VHS as a child. Only in the 80's would you have a cartoon spin off for kids from a violent action movie for adults. In this case, Rambo: The Force of Freedom was a spin off from the Sylvester Stallone action blockbusters First Blood (1982) and Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) which I didn't know back then as an innocent 7 year old until I started watching the movies a few years later.

In this animated series, John Rambo was part of a Special Forces unit called "The Force of Freedom." The unit was led by Colonel Trautman and the other team members included Turbo who was a mechanical genius and race car driver, and K. A. T. Who was proficient in disguises as well as gymnastics and martial arts. The unit would go on missions around the globe and battle a paramilitary terrorist organization named S. A. V. A. G. E. (Specialist-Administrators of Vengeance, Anarchy and Global Extortion) led by the main villain Colonel Warhawk and Sergeant Havoc as his second in command.

The films depict John Rambo as a troubled Vietnam Veteran suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder following events from the Vietnam War while in the US Army. Having difficulty adjusting to the civilian world, Rambo later returns to the life he swore to leave behind and becomes a one man killing machine armed with a wide variety of weapons including rifles, machine guns, explosives, knives and a bow and arrow as well as displaying a high proficiency in hand to hand combat. The cartoon however, has moulded him into a heroic wisecracking superhuman who outwits the bad guys and uses violence as a last resort. The cartoon is also notable for its family friendly "no killing" rule, and made no references to the events in the first two movies. There was also no mention of anything relating to the Vietnam War.

The late Jerry Goldsmith, the composer of the Rambo movies was also composer for the cartoon. Rambo: The Force of Freedom only ran for one season in 1986 before being cancelled. The animated series also spawned a successful toy line.

Rambo: The Force of Freedom was another memorable cartoon from my childhood. My brother and I both enjoyed the animated series as children when we hired them out on VHS. We would later go on to enjoy the original Rambo trilogy with Sylvester Stallone in his prime. As awesome as the Rambo movies are, I still have fond memories of the animated series.

7/10.

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-

This show made me laugh beyond belief. as good as it was for a Saturday morning cartoon, it was like watching something like rescue heroes with Rambo's grill slapped on it, and more war-like topics.

Rambo is part of a service called "the forces of freedom" in which he performs missions such as going to rescue someone, and using mental tactics to trip up his adversaries. sometimes he gets captured, but in good Rambo-like style, he breaks out and causes damage. in the end, he completes the mission and celebrates with his comrades.

Now, how does someone take a character like Rambo and put him in a Saturday morning cartoon and pretty much make his character soft when he's supposed to be blowing people apart with choppers, m-40s and explosive-point arrows? Well, it could've been brought up around 1985, the year before this show debuted, someone thought "Well, children like action films too, why not take this guy and turn him into a Saturday morning cartoon?" good idea, but it totally ruins the character. it restricts the show to anyone below age 13, because everyone older than that will feel different about Rambo being a wise-cracking, children's cartoon hero.

Although, it has a big nostalgic feel, and thats why it gets a 7/10 rating