Yo! I’m sure you’re all like: “whaaaaaat he’s talkin’ ’bout Rambo on his basketball blog?! What’s gotten into him?!
Yeah, for a change I’m not gonna talk about basketball today. I mean, come on, there’s a life outside basketball! I’m sure y’all agree with that. And to tell you the truth, in the near future it’s highly likely that I’ll keep writing about different stuff on my blog… I feel like I’ve said a lof of things about basketball so far, so maybe it’s time to move on and to talk about something else… I’m mulling that over in my mind.
So today I just wanted to talk about… a cartoon. Yeah, a cartoon. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a guy into cartoons, actually I didn’t watch any since I was a kid, which at 31 yo is quite reassuring regarding my sanity. That being said, I’ve just discovered a hell of a cartoon lately: Rambo, the Force of Freedom, released in 1986 and which was of course a spin-off of the action-packed Rambos movies.
C’mon don’t poke fun at me, I just happen to be a die-hard Stallone fan, so when I was a teenager I was rooting for Rambo and I was utterly psyched up 3 years ago when Stallone finally made the fourth and last installment of the Rambo series, almost 20 years after Rambo 3 was shot.
But oddly enough, I was never aware there was a Rambo cartoon. I guess leaving far away from the United States wasn’t the best way to get accustomed with this cartoon and to top it all I think it was never broadcasted in France, where I still live.
So the other day, as I was randomly surfing on youtube half-bored/half-asleep, I was totally dumfounded when I bumped into this cartoon: Rambo, The Force Of Freedom. 25 years after its official release, I finally realized that a Rambo cartoon was existing. Better late than never!
As a Rambo fan, I was hooked right from the get-go! So much so that a few hours later I was on ebay buying all the 6 “Force Of Freedom” DVDs. I can’t wait to get ’em in my mailbox, it’s gonna be a huge relief when I open the boxes.
Regarding the cartoon itself, of course you can see that it’s 25 years old, however lemme tell ya it still kicks ass! Rambo: the Force of Freedom definitely stands the test of time.
Right from the start, you can notice that contrary to the movies, Rambo is not fighting alone here. We were used to see Rambo banging up his opponents, destroying all by himself entire armies armed to the teeth! In the cartoon, Rambo teams up with Colonel Trautman, Turbo and Cat. Even if Rambo is still the top dog and most often saves the day, Turbo and Cat turn out to be very useful in the battlefield for Rambo. Coming right out of the movie, Colonel Trautman is rarely seen in action but is still a great military advisor for Rambo.
On the upside, it’s also great to see that the movies’ scores have been reused: it truly helps set the right mood and those scores are still pretty efficient.
The voiceover is great, every single actor is doing a hell of a job. I particularly appreciate the man playing Colonel Trautman. It’s funny to notice that Turbo’s voice is performed by James Avery, famous for his lead role in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, as Will Smith’s father.
The infamous General Warhawk and his henchmen (off the top of my head you have Gripper, Nomad and I have the other one on the tip of my tongue but my memory plays tricks on me right now…) play the bad guys and basically all their attempts to take over the world are ruined by Rambo. He keeps thwarting all their efforts no matter what. Besides, it may seem a little repetitive sometimes, I mean every once in a while it’d be quite refreshing to discover some new opponents.
Unlike the movies, Rambo never kills anyone in the cartoon, even though there’s lots of fire exchange and a bunch of explosions. You’ll never see a single drop of blood, given that it was intended for the kids aged between 5 and 10 years.
Wow time goes by quite fast today, so I’m gonna have to leave you guys for now and maybe I’ll talk again about this cartoon later. Duty calls!
NBA KINGDOM 