By some bizarre plot coincidence, Cobra Commander once again trifles with his henchmen, just like the plot of Synthoid Conspiracy. When the Commander ignores the Baroness’ misgivings about gypsy magic, she runs to tell the Joes how to stop him.
This time, instead of fighting dopplegangers, the Joes are fighting ghosts! This is where the story should enter “WTF” territory, however the script and directing manage to give this a satisfying ending that gives the impression we just watched something a little classier than normal. The story feels very fast-paced but also very linear and straight-forward.
Major Bludd, in a FANG copter, leads a squadron of Cobra Firebats and ground troops against some generic Eastern European military base. They pseudo-Russians call G.I. Joe for help (maybe this incident spurred the formation of Oktober Red?).
Scarlett leads a Skystriker squadron against Major Bludd while Duke leads ground forces to reinforce the embattled military base. Duke rides with Cover-Girl in a dumpy old army truck and I’m sure the eyebrows of everyone who has seen “Cobra CLAWS Are Coming To Town” raise in unison. Cover-Girl appears to be goading Scarlett here, although the dialogue does not reflect the art.
Cover-Girl: “I got your man, bitch!”
Three phantoms are summoned to serve Cobra Commander thanks to his recovery of personal relics that once belonged to them in life.
A Mongolian Archer with red hair… Every fucking character has red fucking hair!!!!
A Roman soldier with a lightsaber… obviously!
A naive American fighter pilot… Yeah. Not exactly intimidating… Still, it would be enough for Bazooka to shit himself. Fortunately for everyone, Bazooka is not in this episode.
The art is generally average, but with a few flashes of the exceptional scattered in the occasionally hyper-detailed shot.
The World War I pilot quickly has second thoughts about destroying the Joes when he notices the American flag waved at him through the cockpit window of Wild Bill’s Dragonfly helicopter. He talks with the Joes and the ghosts agree to turn on Cobra Commander. I said it was straight forward.
Roadblock is part of the paratrooper assault on Castle Cobrula (I made that name up), along with Duke, Airborne and Ripcord. However, when it cuts to the Joe assault by sea led by Scarlett and Cutter, Roadblock is also there manning the WHALE cannons! Surprisingly, Roadblock is NOT with Snow Job, Snake-Eyes & Timber on their mountain assault, but I’ll tell you one more place you can find him…
That’s right. On top of Scarlett!
Perhaps this is Scarlett’s way of getting back at Duke for spending time with her imitator, Cover-Girl?
I’m not a fan of the supernatural or extreme sci-fi in G.I. Joe. I don’t mind a little here and there, but I generally feel the show works better when it avoids the extremes and keeps things somewhat grounded. Despite this, the way the ghosts are handled is surprisingly well done. Let’s not forget, we literally have an animated skeleton attacking Cobra Commander at one point!
On the other hand, the ghosts in Skeleton’s in the Closet turn out to be nothing but holographic projections. It is a shame that the Phantom Brigade lacks such subtlety and basically opens the door for worse (like Egyptian gods). For this reason, I’m probably being generous to give the Phantom Brigade 3 out of 5. But the American fighter pilot and his story adds something slightly poignant and touching to the episode.
The Phantom Brigade ***
Starring: Scarlett, Wild Bill, Cobra Commander, Baroness
Also Featuring: Major Bludd, Duke, Cover-Girl, Roadblock, Gung Ho, Quick Kick, Thunder, Airborne, Ripcord, Cutter, Cobra Troopers, Firebat pilots
Vehicles: Skystrikers, APC, Armadillo, Mauler, Slugger, Dragonfly, WHALE, Cobra Moray, Firebat, FANG Copter.
Joe Commander on Duty: Duke