Well, I’m going to go off on a long tangent here, so if you just want to read the review and entry for Episode 26, then hit up the Episode Guide, or click the link below:

• G.I. Joe: Renegades Episode 26 – Revelations Part 2

So…now that that’s out of the way…I always get a little flack when I talk about G.I. Joe: Renegades being canceled.  A lot of folks out there really believe that the hiatus is just a hiatus and we’ll see the series come back after the movie.  As everyone has probably guessed by now, I’m not convinced.  Click the “Read the Rest of the Story” link below to read my diatribe.

So I’ll continue to believe that this is all we’re getting for Renegades, so I can remain pleasantly surprised if we hear otherwise at JoeCon or SDCC next year.

That being said, if this is the end of G.I. Joe: Renegades, I just wanted to take a few moments to thank the people involved with the series production.

Jeff Kline, Stephen Davis  and Mike Vogel, the guys who essentially brought G.I. Joe: Renegades to life.  These are the guys who pretty much came up with the concept, dreamed up the story, and brought together the team that made the series come to life.  They faced the unenviable task of taking a special operations military force and morphing the concept into something that would be viable in the 21st Century, where every day life is drowned in over-sensitivity and dripping with political correctness.  They found a way to make the G.I. Joe concept work.

Marty Isenberg and Henry Gilroy, the story editors and lead writers who oversaw the scripts and wove the universe that these Joes lived in.

The writers and directors.  Guys like Greg Johnson, Eugene Son, Kevin Altieri, Scooter Tidwell, Nathan Chew, and way too many others to list.  They took this library of main characters and a vast battalion of guest stars, then managed to tie them all together as the series evolved.  Airtight to Zartan and everyone in between…from major characters to minor cameos, these guys managed to take these characters and make them live and work within the Renegades universe.  This series was written with amazing intelligence and amazing realism, something that is rare in children’s animation.  I can’t give these guys enough credit for what they did with this series, and I will always be thankful of the respect and integrity they treated these characters with.

How about those voice actors?  I can’t give these guys enough credit either.  Jason Marsden, Kevin Michael Richardson, Natalia Cigliuti, Matthew Yang King, and Khary Payton did fantastic work as the main G.I. Joe team, giving life to these timeless characters.  On the Cobra side, Charlie Adler was absolutely flawless as Cobra Commander (as he was in G.I. Joe: Renegades) with Tatyana Yassukovich during brilliant work as The Baroness.  As expected Clancy Brown totally rocked it as Destro.  Charlie Schlatter was fantastic as Dr. Mindbender, even if this rendition of the Cobra scientist was a bit controversial.

And really, controversy is how this series started.  The minute character designs were revealed, “controversy” is a gentle way of putting it.  But, this entire article, and in fact the entire point of this site would be worthless if I neglected to mention Clement Sauve.  Yes, many of the fans found issue with the designs, and many folks found them a bit too simplistic and too stylized, but as the series went on, these designs really seemed to work perfectly.  Once you got over the lack of detail (an often necessary sacrifice for cel animated programs) the actual structure of the designs were amazingly well done.  Sadly, Mr. Sauve passed away from cancer before he could really see his characters come to life, but he seemed quite proud of the work he did, and he deserved to be.  It wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but as the series went on, more and more people seemed to warm to it and didn’t seem quite as bothered by the designs.  Kudos to you, Clem, wherever you may be, and thank you so much for doing what you’ve done for this segment of the G.I. Joe universe.

Was the series perfect?  No.  It wasn’t.  It had its share of unique issues.  But stepping back and watching the series as a whole, it did some amazing things throughout its 26 episodes and it was such an enjoyable ride.  I am bitterly disappointed at the way Hasbro seemed to drop the ball with the series itself and with toy production, but I try to shut that out of my head and just enjoy the series for what it was.  Twenty-six episodes of enjoyable television, and some of the most intelligently written G.I. Joe animation in a very, very long time.  Best of all, it had the character and depth that did the property proud.

Well done to all involved.  Here’s hoping a year from now I’m getting all excited about the next genesis of G.I. Joe animation, and if it happens to be a continuation of G.I. Joe: Renegades, folks who are already sick of my endless positive attitude will be downright disgusted.  But we’ll just have to wait and see.

Related posts:

1. G.I. Joe: Renegades Episode Twenty-Five added to Episode Guide
2. G.I. Joe: Renegades Episode 11 added to episode guide
3. G.I. Joe: Renegades “Homecoming” 2-Parter Reviewed and added to Episode Guide
4. G.I. Joe: Renegades Episode 24 Added to Episode Guide
5. G.I. Joe: Renegades Episode 14 Reviewed and added to Episode Guide