Running for more than a few years in the eighties, G. I. Joe remains one of the more beloved cartoons from that decade. Sure, characters were able to run through thousands of laser blasts without ever getting a scratch on them. And sure, Cobra was always coming up with the most ridiculous schemes imaginable. Regardless, the show accomplished what it set out to do, which was entertain its target audience and get us to spend money on toys and comic books (I still have most of the Marvel series in a box in my basement)!

Rhino follows up their release of G. I. Joe Season One Part One (released earlier this year) with another batch of vintage episodes from 1985 with this collection of 28 cartoons, aptly titled G. I. Joe Season One Part Two. Spread out over four discs, here's a rough idea of what you can expect to find inside…

Disc 1

The Germ - When a member of the elite Oktober Guard unit steals a vial of bacteria and inadvertently mixes it with a top secret experimental growth serum, a giant blob/germ thing is created and begins wreaking havoc on the countryside. G. I. Joe has to use everything in their power to stop it before it reaches New York City and destroys millions of homes.

The Viper is Coming - When a mysterious series of phone calls come in to the Joe's new recreation center, the team deciphers the clues to halt a series of Cobra offensives. But the real question remains, who is the viper and why is he calling?

Spell of the Siren - Destro turns the Baroness on to a shell that has the ability to hypnotize any man who hears the music that can be made with it. She uses this newfound power to take control of Cobra and the female Joe's have to team up with Tomax to stop her.

Cobra Quake - When Cobra finds out about an upcoming conference for world peace being held in Tokyo, they figure that it'll be the ideal time to test their new earthquake machine out. Luckily, Quick Kick and Bazooka are training a few new recruits in the area and are more than willing to throw down with Cobra and clean up the mess.

Captives of Cobra - Part I - Cobra comes up with a diabolical scheme to kidnap the families of a few Joe team members and brainwash them to do their evil bidding. Cobra decides that they'd be better served by having these family members do some of their dirty work for them and so sends them out to steal some explosive crystals.

Captives of Cobra - Part II - Scarlett gets the Joe's in action to try and save their families before things go horribly, horribly wrong with the aforementioned explosive crystals and blow everyone to smithereens.

Bazooka Saw a Sea Serpent - Cobra must have one Hell of an engineering team as now they've designed a giant mechanical sea serpent that eats whatever boats it's able to come across and enslaves anyone who happens to be on them. The more boats it eats, the bigger it gets and the only ones who can stop Cobra are G. I. Joe.

Disc 2

Excalibur - Everyone's favorite evil Ninja, Stormshadow, steals the mythical sword Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake. Cobra wants the sword for themselves but the Joe's know that the right thing to do is to return the sword to its rightful owner and so set out to stop Stormshadow before it's too late.

Worlds Without End - Part I - When an experiment involving a matter transmitter goes awry, Copperhead, Flint, Lady Jaye and a few other Joes are sent to a reality where Cobra has successfully take over the world. Copperhead was never seen again after this episode.

Worlds Without End - Part II - Baroness, in this new reality, is in love with Steeler and sets out to start a civil war with him. When Flint, Clutch and Lady Jaye get sent back to the reality where they belong, it seems a few Joes stuck around to help Baroness overthrow the evil Cobra government.

Eau De Cobra - The Baroness tries out a new perfume that puts any man under her control. She uses her prowess to control the owner of a massive shipping fleet so that Cobra can have access to his resources, but passions flare and things get ugly real fast.

Cobra Claws are Coming to Town - Cobra has managed to shrink down a ton of their soldiers to action figure size and packed them up into crates so that they can easily move them around the country in toy delivery trucks. Their new minute size allows them to easily hijack some Joe equipment and wreak havoc with it, making the Joes look like traitors.

An Eye for an Eye - When a civilian's home is destroyed during a G. I. Joe versus Cobra battle, he breaks into Joe HQ and convinces them to let him help out and take down Cobra too, despite his civilian status. It seems he wants revenge and he figures this is the best way to get it.

The Gods Below - Cobra Commander tips the Joe's off about a treasure buried in Egypt, figuring he'll let them find it and then sneak in and steal it from them and use the money to buy more weapons for Cobra. The Joe's have other things to say about that idea though, and a battle for the Egyptian treasure ensues.

Disc 3

Primordial Plot - When a local scientist discovers the key to the secret of cloning and makes it a reality, Cobra moves in for the strike and kidnaps him. Their plan? To obtain his secret and clone some dinosaurs to do their evil bidding and help them in their bid to take over the world.

Flint's Vacation - Flint heads off base to visit his cousin for a much needed spell of rest and relaxation. When he gets there, he finds that the housing complex in which his cousin lives is actually controlled by Cobra and that the evil terrorists are using the citizens as drones in an underwater lab.

Hearts And Cannons - Cobra kidnaps yet another scientist, this time so that he can help them build a super-tank to help them in their ongoing struggle against the Joes. Dusty and Footloose are sent in to save her, but spend more time flirting with her than they do battling the enemy.

Memories of Mara - Mara is a Cobra operative who, through the wonders of science, has been turned into a mutant human/fish hybrid. Shipwreck falls for her and tries to bring her around, but things get complicated when Cobra gets involved.

The Traitor - Part I - When Duke finds out just how sick Dusty's mother is, he orders him to take leave and go home to be with her. When he gets home, he finds that she's having some serious money problems and the only people he feels he can turn to for help are those wealthy Cobra twins Tomax and Xamot.

The Traitor - Part II - The Joe's find out that Dusty has sold classified information to the twins and send him to jail. Cobra breaks him out, and he steals some deadly chemicals that may allow Cobra to stop the Joe's once and for all.

The Pit of Vipers - The Joe's get all setup with Watchdog, their new super computer that directs them to all the Cobra action across the world. But what they don't realize is that Watchdog is actually controlled by Cobra and that it is intentionally sending them all over the place to spread their forces thin enough to allow Cobra to launch an attack on Joe HQ!

Disc 4

The Wrong Stuff - Cobra gains control of every single solitary satellite in the Earth's orbit and takes control of the world's television broadcasts. They create their own Cobra TV so that they can brainwash people and spread their message across the planet. The Joes set out to stop them as soon as they can.

The Invaders - Cobra decides that they best way to control the world is to disguise all their operatives as aliens so that people will fear them. G. I. Joe has to team up with the Oktober Guard to stop Cobra, and the two forces form an uneasy and very temporary alliance.

Cold Slither - Cobra controls a rock group and sends them out to a huge festival where they're able to control the minds of the audience members through their music. The Joe's get into the act though and show up on stage as a band called 'The Average Joe Band' and perform a rocking rendition of their theme song after they save the day.

The Great Alaskan Land Rush - Cobra teams up with a used car salesmen who points out a loophole in the Alaskan Treaty that allows Cobra to take over Alaska. When the Joes get on the scene to try and set things right, Cobra pulls out the big guns and sends the Oktober Guard in to make sure they don't lose the oil rich state.

Skeletons in the Closet - Lady Jaye heads on off to Scotland when she finds out that she's inherited a sizeable piece of land over there. The more she looks into things, the stranger things get when she finds out that she's actually related to Destro! A battle ensues and the Baroness plays a sinister role in the outcome.

There's No Place Like Springfield - Part I - Shipwreck is drugged by Cobra operatives and hallucinates, thinking that he's in his hometown of Springfield six years in the future and that Cobra has been put to rest permanently. He also hallucinates that G. I. Joe has disbanded because Cobra is no longer a threat, and that he's started a family.

There's No Place Like Springfield - Part II - Shipwreck wises up to Cobra's scheme and finds out that he's not in Springfield and is in fact on a Cobra base island named Temple Alpha. He also finds out that the people on the island are in fact synthoids (robot types) and beings his quest to get back to his real life and start busting Cobra skulls once again.

Video:

Each and every episode is presented as it should be - fullframe. There is some minor print damage in the form of tiny specks and the occasional scratch but for the most part these cartoons have survived the last two decades quite nicely. Colors look great and while there is some mild edge enhancement in a few spots, compression artifacts aren't ever a problem. The episodes look as good here as they ever did on TV and I was pretty impressed with this presentation. Black levels remain pretty stable and the image is consistently clean and clear from start to finish.