Voice actress Mary McDonald Lewis
Storyboard Director Doug Vandegrift
Story editor/writer Buzz Dixon
Story editor/writer Flint Dille
Story editor/writer Steve Gerber
Writer Christy Marx
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How did you get involved with working on the GI Joe cartoon?
I had just finished working on DUNGEONS & DRAGONS for Marvel Productions and was ready to swear off animation for the rest of my life. CBS had been particularly difficult on D&D, the constraints of Saturday morning and the network censors were driving me crazy, and I was very tired. At that point, someone at Marvel gave me a call and asked if I'd be interested in working on G.I. JOE. I was ready to turn it down on the spot when they said the magic word: syndication. No network, no censors to deal with. It would just be me, as story editor, working directly with the producers and trusting in our own judgment and taste.
I interviewed for the job with Tom Griffin and Joe Bacal of Sunbow Productions, and a few days later they called to say I had the job.
Who created the characters in the cartoon?
If you mean the Joes themselves, they were almost all based on characters that Larry Hama created for the toy line -- at least during my tenure as story editor. I seem to recall that later on, Buzz Dixon and/or Flint Dille may have had a hand in creating a couple of characters for the show. Supporting characters and villains who appeared in individual episodes and weren't part of the toy line were created by the writers of those episodes.
What were your responsibilities as story editor?
Anything and everything concerned with the script. Hiring writers, developing stories with them, providing whatever reference they needed on the characters and settings, making sure they got paid -- all of that.
A story editor also serves as intermediary between the writer and the producer. When a writer turns in an outline or script, the story editor reads it, makes notes on whatever changes may be needed, compares (or reconciles) his notes with those of the producer, and relays a set of combined and hopefully non-self-contradictory notes to the writer for revisions.
When the revised script comes back, it's the story editor's responsibility to fix whatever problems might remain. Sometimes that entails nothing more than changing a line or two of dialogue. Other times, it means rewriting entire scenes -- or even entire scripts, almost from scratch.
I probably did more major rewrites on scripts for G.I. JOE than on any other series I've story edited, only because JOE was so complex and the cast was so extensive. It just wasn't possible for any freelancer to pick up on the nuances of all the dozens of characters. It required someone who was working with the characters day in and day out.
Did you decide which characters would be in each episode, if so, was casting a consideration?
Yes and no.
Sunbow would send me a list of the characters and vehicles they wanted to see in a particular show. I would give that list to the writer and ask him or her to build a story around those characters if possible. The writer wasn't limited to the characters on the list; he or she could use whatever others were necessary. The idea, from Hasbro's point of view, was to feature each of the toys at least a certain number of times over the course of a season.
The truth is, some of the lists provided insurmountable problems, particularly as the characters became more and more specialized. How do you write a 22-minute story that features, say, both Lift-Ticket and a swamp buggy? Sure, it can be done, but is it worth putting everyone concerned through that kind of torture? So, very frequently, we just did the best we could. If a character or vehicle on the list had no place in a particular story, we simply dropped it from that episode. We knew it would eventually be used elsewhere, and probably in a much more effective way.
As for the casting, most of that was left in Sunbow's hands. I don't recall ever being told, "We have too many characters in this script. The voices will be too expensive. Cut this guy, cut that guy." The budget for the Sunbow G.I. JOEs was sufficient to cover whatever voices we needed.
Was there a reason for some of the differences between the cartoon and the GI Joe comic book, like Duke being in charge instead of Hawk (in the first season).
Most of those discrepancies arose because of changes in the toy line. When a toy would be discontinued, Hasbro wanted the character to be dropped from the show. We had a couple of heated discussions about this, because the requirements of a TV series and those of a toy line are sometimes very different. I mean, imagine your reaction if one day you tuned in your favorite show, and all the characters you knew and loved were suddenly gone -- with no explanation!
It took some doing, but we finally persuaded Hasbro to keep some important characters in the show -- Duke and Scarlett, for example -- even though the toys had been discontinued. We put more emphasis on Flint and Lady J, but viewers saw enough of Duke and Scarlett that they knew their old friends hadn't been vaporized between seasons.
How did you make GI Joe more than just a 22 minute commercial?
Hasbro would probably be horrified to hear this -- just as Peggy Charen and Ed Markey would probably refuse to believe it -- but among the first things I told every writer on the show was to forget about the toys and think of the Joes and the villains as characters, not molded plastic. As I saw it, our job was to tell an exciting story about interesting people. I felt that if we gave the viewers a cast of characters they could care about, the toys would march off the shelves by themselves. Happily, it turned out I was right.
Interestingly, every time a conflict arose between the needs of the show and the needs of the toy line, it was resolved in favor of the show, as with the problem of discontinued characters. Looking back, I find that remarkable.
Do you have a favorite episode?
Several. "There's No Place Like Springfield", a two-parter that I wrote. "Red Rocket's Glare", written by Mary Skrenes. "The Games Master", by Flint Dille. Christy Marx's "The Synthoid Conspiracy". And there are two by Buzz Dixon, whose titles I don't recall. One had to do with the Joes in Hollywood; the other was a really dark little number about loyalty, betrayal, and nerve gas.
Do you have a favorite character?
Again, several. Snake-Eyes. Flint and Lady J. Shipwreck and Polly were always amusing, because the bird was so completely hostile to everything and everybody. After we reached the conclusion that Cobra Commander was less a master villain than a complete flaming lunatic, he also became a lot of fun to write.
Any funny GI Joe anecdotes you would like to share?
When you're working with people like Flint Dille, Buzz Dixon, Doug Booth, our office manager Hildy Mesnik, and the rest of that group, crazy things are always happening -- most of them unprintable.
For me, though, the funniest JOE-related experience was the job interview I mentioned earlier. A few hours before the meeting with Joe and Tom, I somehow managed to pinch a nerve in my right shoulder. Every time I turned my head a certain way or even inhaled too suddenly or too deeply, the shoulder would spasm, the nerve endings would fire, and I would -- well, twitch. There was no way to reschedule the meeting. I think Joe and Tom were heading back to New York the next day, so I had to interview for the story editor position with this problem. Throughout the meeting, I was sitting still, stiff, and completely upright. I must have looked like an ancient Egyptian statue. And every time I'd gesture, my voice suddenly shot up about three octaves, into the Mickey Mouse/Smokey Robinson register. I left the meeting absolutely convinced that Joe and Tom would feel more secure giving the job to Charles Manson than to the weirdo they'd just interviewed.
Did you attend any of the cast recording sessions?
No, not a one. I was always squirreled away somewhere with a script.
We'd like to thank Mr. Gerber for his time and his work on the GI Joe cartoon.