Rambo

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-

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.

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

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.