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You wouldn’t think it would take too much to make a good G.I. Joe movie, right? The concept’s pretty simple: you’ve got the Joes, an American military unit filled with people who each have their own gimmick fighting a terrorist organization also filled with people who each have their own unique, and also a legion of faceless soldiers and/or robots. Just make them fight! And yet, even though directors The Mummy‘s Stephen Sommers and Wicked‘s Jon M. Chu squeezed plenty of that goofiness into their films, no G.I. Joe flick has managed to connect with the public.
Paramount is hoping to right that ship by going to a famous superfan. Comedian Danny McBride has written a new G.I. Joe movie with his The Righteous Gemstones collaborators Jeff Fradley and John Carcieri, and he’s gone back to the cartoons for inspiration. “You’re following Duke and a group of other Joes,” McBride told Josh Horowitz. “There’s that town in the comics, Springfield, which is a town that’s secretly all Cobra. That is where our film takes place.”
Even longtime G.I. Joe fans who don’t read the comics will find the name Springfield compelling, and not just because it reminds them of The Simpsons. Springfield comes from the 1985 two-parter “There’s No Place Like Springfield,” written by comic book legend (and Howard the Duck creator) Steve Gerber.
The episode begins with the naval-themed Joe Shipwreck getting… uh, shipwrecked, and waking up in a sedate hospital. The nurse and doctor explain that he’s a married man, who used information given to him by a respected scientist to help the Joes defeat Cobra once and for all. With the war over, Shipwreck’s free to return to his family in the suburban town of Springfield. Despite the domestic bliss, Shipwreck cannot shake the feeling that something’s wrong, nor can he understand why his wife and neighbors keep asking him about the secret formula he gave to the Joes.
Turns out, Cobra was channeling their inner Ethan Hunt and had set up an elaborate farce in order to trick Shipwreck into spilling the secret of the formula. Of course, this being a ’80s kids cartoon, Shipwreck stays resolute and discovers the ruse in time, eventually reuniting with the Joes and defeating Cobra once again.
Despite the simplicity of the plot, “There’s No Place Like Springfield” does have potential to make for a compelling movie with widespread appeal. Similar premises occur regularly in popular culture, as in The Twilight Zone episode “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street,” the series The Prisoner, and the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Future Imperfect.” Furthermore, by starting with a familiar neighborhood, the movie could introduce the more outlandish elements at a measured pace.
Maybe with that starting point, McBride and his co-creators can finally make a G.I. Joe that appeals to the masses while also including wonderful weirdos like Chuckles, Dr. Mindbender, and Ice Cream Soldier.
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