Joepedia
Register
Advertisement

Cobra uses kidnapped scientists as bait to lure G.I. Joe into a deadly Cobra-themed funhouse!

Plot[]

Zartan is traveling through a swamp on his swamp-skier. Using his chameleon powers, he sneaks up behind the night security guard and knocks him out. When he gets inside, Zartan interrupts Dr. Hibbentrope, who is using a microscope to study some microbes. Zartan ignores the doctor's requests to be left alone and instead uses an aerosol can of green gas to knock him out.

ARAH 22 Card

Alpine's credit card.

At G.I. Joe HQ, Flint has become aware of the doctor's kidnapping, as well as those of several other scientists. He wonders why Cobra would want to kidnap so many of them. Alpine and Bazooka suggest that they might just be collecting them like baseball cards. Breaker calls over from his monitor screen and announces that he's picking up a signal. He puts it through to reveal Cobra Commander, who demands a $60 billion ransom for the scientists. Lady Jaye asks where they're expected to get $60 billion from. Alpine suggests they put it on his credit card. Cobra Commander doesn't think the Joes are taking him seriously, so shows footage of Dr. Hibbentrope and tells them they have one day and ends the call. Breaker traces it to South America. Despite Lady Jaye claiming that it's too easy, Flint asks for volunteers for a strike force.

At the Cobra HQ, Cobra Commander gloats and thanks Dr. Hibbentrope for his performance. The doctor unmasks to reveal Zartan, who reminds Cobra Commander that he charges extra for acting services. While the Baroness is less than impressed, Cobra Commander claims he's getting value for money, as Zartan's acting will get him revenge.

ARAH 22 HISS

A H.I.S.S. tank in battle.

Three Skystrikers and three Dragonflies fly in formation over the waters of South America. Ace, in the lead Skystriker, warns the other Joes to stay low under Cobra's radar. They find an Incan-style temple and identify it as Cobra's base. Ace fires a couple of missiles, taking out a detachment of H.I.S.S. tanks and smaller Cobra defenses, with assistance from Wild Bill in the lead Dragonfly. A couple of W.H.A.L.E.s arrive at the shoreline, with an A.P.C. that carries Lady Jaye, Flint, Alpine, Bazooka, Airtight, Gung-Ho, and Dusty.

ARAH 22 Trip

Bazooka trips.

The Joes immediately open fire on an approaching group of Cobra Troopers and H.I.S.S. tanks. Alpine mentions to Bazooka that he's been itching for a good fight all day. This immediately sets Bazooka off scratching. Flint calls for Bazooka to lend some back-up, so he quickly runs over, trips on an exposed branch and fires his bazooka at a H.I.S.S. tank, destroy it. The Cobras fall back and the Joes manage to subdue them completely. As they survey the battlefield of fallen Cobras, Alpine is less than impressed at how easy they went down. Flint warns him not to be too cocky, as they've still got to go inside the temple and clear it out. Zap uses some dynamite to blow an entrance in the temple walls. Flint orders Zap to wait outside for Gung-Ho and the support team to arrive and takes the rest of the present Joes into the temple.

ARAH 22 CCTV

Cobra Commander watches the Joes.

A few paces into the temple, a door slides down, trapping the Joes. Suddenly, a panel appears from the ceiling with a large electromagnet on it. It pulls all the Joes' weapons away before disappearing. A monitor then appears, showing Cobra Commander. He welcomes the Joes to his funhouse and reveals three doors. Two doors lead to dead ends, while the third leads to him. To give them some incentive to follow the doors, he reveals that the entire island the temple is on is a bomb and the only way to disarm it is in Cobra Commander's control center.

ARAH 22 Snakes

Effects of hallucinogenic gas.

Flint decides to the split the Joes up. Dusty and Airtight take the door on the left, Alpine and Bazooka the one on the right, and Flint and Lady Jaye take the middle one. Dusty is immediately encouraged by their corridor being empty, but Airtight is dubious that there even is a right choice. Suddenly a barrage of party balloons, all with a picture of Cobra Commander's battle mask on them, drops down and fill the corridor. The two Joes are bemused more than anything, so Dusty pops a balloon before Airtight can warn him not to. It releases a cloud of sparkly pink gas that causes Dusty to hallucinate. He sees Airtight turn into Cobra Commander, who then erupts into a horde of actual cobras. Airtight tries to explain that Dusty is hallucinating, but his teammate is beyond hearing him, so he punches Dusty in the face, knocking him out. He leaves Dusty in the corridor and carries on alone.

ARAH 22 Carny

Robotic fairground barker.

Alpine is unhappy that he's been left with Bazooka again as they set off down their corridor. They arrive at a robotic fairground barker that bids them to take a ride on the Cobra Express, a snake-themed rollercoaster. Meanwhile, the support team has arrived, so Gung-Ho is hurrying Zap to lay some charges that will open the door that trapped the first team. Zap warns him that it'll take some time.

The rollercoaster is proving entertaining for Bazooka and for Cobra Commander, who is watching on a monitor and controlling things remotely. He sets off a series laser-armed Cobra Trooper automatons to fire at the coaster cart. Bazooka is hit before he can take cover in the cart, so Alpine leaves him at the end of the track and goes it alone.

ARAH 22 Jack

A pop-up clown.

Airtight reaches a large room where he ambushed by a series of Cobra Commander-themed giant jack-in-the-boxes. Dodging attacks from their various weapons, Airtight slides seemingly to safety, only for some rubble to land on him and knock him out.

In his next corridor, Alpine slips over an overly smooth floor. A light comes on to reveal a set of giant bowling pins at the end of the corridor. A panel appears behind him, blocking him from backtracking. It fires out an electrified bowling ball towards the pins. Alpine tries to outrun it, but gets clobbered by a falling pin and is knocked out. Cobra Commander gloats that he scored 11, even better than a strike. The Baroness though is concerned that while there are only two Joes left inside, there are still several outside the door.

ARAH 22 LadyJaye

Flint and Cobra Commander fight.

The progress of the Joes outside is severely impeded. Zap sets off his explosive charge, but it barely even marks the metal door.

Lady Jaye and Flint are making better progress and note that they have yet to encounter any traps. Then suddenly a group of Cobra Commander robots appear and start shooting at them. Though they manage to neutralize many, one robot sneaks up behind Lady Jaye and knocks her out. Flint checks on her, concerned when he can't find a pulse. More robots appear, but hold off attacking so Cobra Commander can gloat through them, much to the Baroness' chagrin. Flint takes out the robots, grabs a pistol and heads off at a run. He manages to evade the robots and destroy some of them before reaching an indoor sports arena, with Cobra Commander's control center overlooking it like a commentator's booth. Flint declares loudly that he'll get Cobra Commander and destroys the two laser turrets that are deployed at him. The Baroness finally convinces Zartan that it might be a good idea to escape the island before the bomb goes off, but the Commander refuses.

ARAH 22 Flint

Flint in battle.

Back at the entrance, Zap manages to blow down the main door, allowing the support team access to the temple. Cobra Commander and Flint are still shouting at each other when the remaining robots arrive. Cobra Commander fires some rockets at Flint, but they end up destroying the robots instead. Angered, the Commander sets the bomb off and flees with Zartan and the Baroness.

Flint shoots down one of the floodlights in the arena, which falls against the window of the control center. He scales the floodlight and enters the control center just in time to see the Cobras escape in a Firebat. Flint tries to disarm the bomb, but the control panels have been damaged from the floodlight. His attention is grabbed by the sound of Lady Jaye calling for him. On a monitor he sees her, Alpine, and Airtight roaming the corridors looking for him. He tells them over the loudspeaker that the building's about to be blown up and that he can't stop it. Jaye asks him if there's a scrub switch. He says there's an unmarked button, and on her instruction he flips it. It resets the countdown from one minute to three minutes. He orders all the Joes in the temple to escape and runs for it.

ARAH 22 Boom

Cobra's island is blown up.

As the support team bolts from the temple, Flint comes across the prone Dusty and carries him out. Airtight, Lady Jaye, and Alpine find the rollercoaster that still holds the unconscious Bazooka. They climb onto it, wake up Bazooka, and shoot out the emergency brake. They don't know where the coaster is going, but it ends up leading to an exterior wall that Jaye breaks down with a javelin.

The rollercoaster cart bursts from the temple and Jaye orders the occupants to make for the Skystrikers. Flint, with Dusty over his shoulders, emerges from the opening Zap created just as Gung-Ho laments from the safety of his own Skystriker that Flint won't make it. The island goes up in a huge explosion, witnessed by Lady Jaye in another Skystriker. She too thinks Flint can't have made it, but then another Skystriker appears from the billowing mushroom cloud, containing Flint and Dusty. He tells the Joes that their work isn't done yet.

ARAH 22 Scientists

Cobra temple control center.

In another Cobra temple control center, Cobra Commander gloats about his plan. Zartan agrees and points out that he still has the world's greatest scientists and that there is no limit to the power he can now possess. The gloating is interrupted by explosions, as the Joe Skystrikers appear and fire missiles at the Cobra base.

A battle begins between the base's contingent of H.I.S.S. tanks and not only the Skystrikers, but Dragonflies and a full complement of GI Joe ground forces. The Baroness suggests to Cobra Commander that another retreat might be in order. He agrees and orders Zartan to ready some vehicles, but Zartan's already on his way out. The Joes subdue all the Cobras, but are unable to stop Cobra Commander and the Baroness from escaping in a Rattler.

ARAH 22 FlintLadyJaye

Flint being possessive.

The Joes rescue the scientists, who ask how they were able to find them. Flint explains that he simply had Wild Bill keep an eye open for any aircraft leaving the island and was able to follow the Firebat to the proper Cobra base.

Alpine observes quietly to Bazooka that Flint likes to talk a lot, which Flint overhears. He asks Alpine what he was saying. Alpine is saved by Lady Jaye asking if someone wants to take her for a stroll on a moonlit beach. Bazooka is quick to accept, but Alpine nudges him and offers to take Lady Jaye himself. Flint says that if he does, he'll be scrubbing bathrooms for a week.

Both Alpine and Bazooka decline and Lady Jaye remarks that Flint sure knows how to keep a girl single. Everybody laughs.

Appearances[]

Featured Characters[]

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

G.I. Joe Cobra Civilians
  • Dr. Hibbentrope (2)



Featured Vehicles and Equipment[]

G.I. Joe Cobra






Notes[]

Animation and Technical Errors[]

  • The "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL" sign switches to the misspelled form "ALITHORIZED" as Zartan approaches it during his break in.
  • The A.P.C. appears on the shoreline from the water as though it floated there with the W.H.A.L.E.s, rather than disembarked from them.
ARAH 22 Run

Gung-Ho's hat is missing.

  • Gung-Ho's hat is missing when the Joes run up the beach, appears as he fights some Cobras, and is gone again when he gloats about it.
  • The size of Zap's first explosion (and all the rubble it throws up) doesn't match the hole and rubble it makes.
  • Zap's final explosion has a strange effect on the door, just warping it slightly and making it fall inwards in one solid lump, rather than explode outwards away from the dynamite.
  • Flint looks at his wrist to find out the time, but isn't drawn with a watch.

Continuity Errors[]

  • Zap appears from nowhere to blow open the temple.
  • The electromagnet doesn't strip the Joes of all their metal objects, just their weapons and Airtight's helmet.

Quotes[]

"You venal mercenary! Your acting couldn't get you onto a soap opera."
-- Baroness to Zartan

"Woo-hee! This is just like cleaning a stable back home!"
--Wild Bill, after firing a brace of missiles at some H.I.S.S. tanks.

"How come Flint always gets Lady Jaye to go with him and I always get you?"
--Alpine to Bazooka

"Let's get it over with!"
"What's the hurry? The Commander's having fun."
"I forgot, you're paid by the hour."
-- Baroness and Zartan

Lady Jaye: "So, does someone here want to take me for a stroll on a moonlit beach?"
Bazooka: "Sure! (*nudged by Alpine*) Hey!"
Alpine: "Please excuse my friend here. I'll take you."
Flint: "You do and you'll be scrubbing bathrooms for a week."

Miscellaneous Trivia[]

ARAH 22 Zartan

Zartan fading out.

  • Zartan's chameleon-like abilities are used as invisibility for the opening scene.
  • Zartan's can of knockout gas is branded with a Cobra symbol.
  • Lady Jaye uses an explosive javelin in this episode to take out a wall.
  • A Cobra Firebat, which would formally be released in 1986 with the Terror Drome playset, makes its first appearance here, albeit in a blue/gray color scheme.
  • Several shots from this episode made it into the closing credits, including Bazooka tripping over the log, the missiles curving toward the temple, and the roomful of balloons.
  • Insults used in this episode:
    • "Venal mercenary" (Baroness to Zartan)
    • "Wimps" (Alpine about Cobra)
    • "Snakes" (Flint about Cobra)
    • "Snake" (Dusty to Airtight, who he thinks is Cobra Commander, used twice; Airtight about Cobra, used twice)
    • "Snake face" (Dusty to Cobra Commander)
    • "Loser" (Alpine, indirectly to Cobra Commander)
    • "Airhead" (Dusty about Cobra Commander)
    • "Stupid bozo" (Alpine to Bazooka)
    • "Clown" (Airtight about Cobra Commander)
    • "Ugly" (Flint about robots that look like Cobra Commander)
    • "Blundering bunch of idiots" (Cobra Commander to a bunch of robots that look like him)

Real World References[]

  • Alpine carries a "G.I. Joe Express" credit card, a reference to American Express. It even has the same design, and he starts to quote its famous advertising slogan, "Don't leave home without it."

See Also...[]

Footnotes[]

Advertisement