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-

The Rambo cartoon made by Ruby-Spears in 1986 is a good show. With the way the Coloniel comes and asks Rambo for help it is based more on the events of the third and final Rambo Movie because in that movie Rambo is asked to help with a problem that an enemy is causing. With the way this show has Rambo going around to different areas of the world it has the ability to show children what different landmarks in other countries look like. Plus it teaches that Good wins over Evil because the evil General Warhawk gets defeated every time he tries to take over something in another country! I am glad to find out from the website Tvshowsondvd.com that this June there will be 2 DVDs of this show coming out that have 11 episodes on each disk! I have to say that it is good that this show is going to be available for the next generation to see.

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.

I love this cartoon a lot! I watch my favorite tv show every weekend in my area. Rambo is the bomb, because he kicks bad guys butt. It is a good tat it's on Bohbot Kids Network. I wish I can beat up the S.A.V.A.G.E.s just like Rambo. Well I guess should be going, bye y'all.

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.