Episode 1: COBRA STRIKE!

Cobra hits the GIJoe team on two fronts—at the North Pole and in the Amazon! The Joes fight off hordes of new-style BATs and deploy some new hardware of their own. The Amazon supply depot is destroyed and Duke is nearly killed by Destro’s arctic trap! Duke decides that it’s time for a change in tactics. If COBRA is to be defeated, the team has to go “off the grid”.

Detailed Synopsis:

An automated North Pole research station detects an approaching heat signature. More detailed scans reveal an army of BATs and COBRA Pulverizers marching across the ice. As a code red alert is issued, the BATs open fire…

Opening Credits

Duke and Scarlett take a pair of Ice Sabres to investigate the sighting by the research station. A reconnaissance team consisting of Snake Eyes, Jinx, and Kamakura is proceeding ahead on foot while Long Range is back at the base camp with the RHINO APC. While proceeding toward their objective, Duke muses about the status of the rest of the GIJoe team; Hi-Tech is providing tech support from the Arizona headquarters while Heavy Duty and Tunnel Rat are establishing a supply depot in the Amazon. (Presumably at the site of the launch facility from ‘Valor vs. Venom: The movie.) Duke also states that it has been one month since the Joe team captured Cobra Commander.

Meanwhile, at a hidden COBRA facility, Destro and the Baroness are playing chess on a large tactical display. The Baroness complains that Destro never loses to which he replies that it’s just a matter of staying 6 moves ahead of his opponent. The attack at the North Pole is revealed as a ploy to lure the GIJoe team to a place of Destro’s choosing where he can “eliminate the pawns and capture the king.” He then ends the chess game by checkmating the Baroness’ king. The Baroness sulks as she orders a viper squad to execute “Operation: Wasteland” immediately. The tactical screen switches to a view of the Amazon as the Baroness states “COBRA will finally have its revenge.”

Heavy Duty and Tunnel Rat are moving supplies into a temporary building at the Amazon supply depot. Tunnel Rat complains that he should be saving his strength for COBRA’s next attack. Heavy Duty reprimands his diminutive companion stating that Duke is chasing COBRA at the North Pole. Tunnel Rat moves to the door of the building, which opens to reveal an army of new-style BATs approaching. The enemy automatons open fire as Heavy Duty and Tunnel Rat dive for cover. They manage to seal the doors—separating them from their weapons that are still outside. The BATs descend through the ceiling and continue to press their attack.

The reconnaissance patrol is continuing their route across the ice fields when Snake Eyes spots Storm Shadow standing atop an icy perch. Kamakura and Jinx stop as Ninja BATs burst through the ice around them, soaring through the air. The BATs attempt to detain the ninjas by firing their grapple arms, but Kamakura and Jinx manage to evade them. Meanwhile, Snake Eyes engages Storm Shadow in hand-to-hand combat. More Ninja BATs emerge, forcing Kamakura and Jinx to return fire with their gauntlets. Storm Shadow drives Snake Eyes back toward his apprentices; the Arashikage ninjas find themselves encircled by a horde of Ninja BATs, seemingly without hope. Suddenly two Ice Sabres fly over the ridge and crash into the horde of enemy automatons. The BATs are dispatched as Duke informs the recon team that intercepted communications indicate that COBRA has established a base of operations nearby. The Joes mount up and head toward the location of COBRA’s northern facility.

Back in the Amazon, Heavy Duty and Tunnel Rat are pinned down behind a counter. Using Heavy Duty’s cooking pans, they manage to fight their way outside. Tunnel Rat decides that he needs to use something that “packs a little more punch”. He tosses several grenades into the structure, which detonate some large canisters stored inside. The supply depot explodes in a fireball, destroying the BATs inside.

Commercial

The Baroness watches the explosion of the Amazon depot on her tactical display as Destro comments that the Joes are reacting exactly as he planned. He zooms in the tactical display to reveal the GIJoe Ice Sabres racing down a canyon that opens up to reveal a large COBRA castle. The battle is joined as the Joes dispatch the structure’s defensive cannons with a missile strike. Duke calls up Long Range and RHINO for more fire support. Hordes of land and air-based BATs begin to disgorge from the castle and fire salvos of missiles at the Joes. Ice Sabre #2 (Scarlett, Kamakura, and Jinx) is disabled. The battle seems lost until a missile barrage from the RHINO clears the sky. As Long Range slows the APC to a halt, Duke declares that they’re “going in.”

Back in the Amazon, Tunnel Rat and Heavy Duty emerge from under the shattered remnants of their former supply base. They now stranded in the Amazon with no supplies and no clue as to where the Cobra forces came from.

Duke radios in to Hi-Tech for a tactical analysis of the COBRA base. Scarlett deploys the RHINO chopper for an aerial assault, reducing the BAT forces to rubble. However, her attack is halted by the discovery that the castle itself is protected from air attacks by a force field. The trailer behind the RHINO opens to reveal Duke in the Defense Mech. Long Range manages to tip the trailer, catapulting Duke and the Mech into the COBRA castle before the doors close. Duke manages to dispatch a pair of Pulverizers and then advances into the inner chamber. He emerges from the Defense Mech to confront the Baroness and Destro. To his amazement, the pair vanishes! As the holograms of the two COBRA leaders fade, Duke asks Hi-Tech to initiate a search for the elusive duo. Duke plugs his gauntlet into the base’s control center as sirens blare and the structure begins to shake. The Joes watch helplessly outside as the tower is revealed to be a rocket in the midst of its launch sequence, with Duke trapped inside.

Commercial

Inside the rocket, Duke looks for a way out. Hi-Tech attempts to hack the exterior hatches and instead discovers that the rocket is set to detonate in three minutes! Scarlett stands by in the RHINO chopper, ready to fire a rescue cable the minute the hatch is opened. The rocket passes the point of “no return” as Hi-Tech bypasses the COBRA security and pops the external hatch. Duke, using the remnants of the Defense Mech, dives from the rocket as it detonates overhead. Scarlett manages to intercept Duke in freefall, as the ice field below them cracks apart to reveal a gigantic COBRA submarine! As it descends back into the ice, Destro’s voice informs the Joes that the “game may have ended in a draw, but the tournament is just beginning.”

Back at the GIJoe base, Duke informs the team that it’s time for a change if Cobra is to be defeated. The Joes are going to have to go “off the grid” stating that officially they won’t exist anymore. He asks for volunteers to which the entire assemblage responds “YO JOE!”

End episode 1.