Artwork courtesy Brian Burke
One of the big events of 2003 was the release of the first new GI Joe animated feature since the GI Joe Extreme series ended in 1996. This new movie, Spy Troops: The Movie was created using CGI and was done by a small company called ReelFX, which had originally been hired on to do a series of CGI commercials for the new GI Joe line.
Like the Sgt. Savage cartoon, "Old Soldiers Never Die", "Spy Troops: The Movie" was released direct to video and came packaged in the Ninja Showdown pack, featuring twelve-inch figures of Snake-eyes and Storm Shadow. The movie was also broadcast on Cartoon Network.
ST: TM was written by comic writer Larry Hama, which helped create consternation and elation in (adult) Joe fans around the world. Kids, by and large, seemed to like the show.
In 2004, ReelFX is going to release a second Joe movie, called "Valour and Venom" which is based off the current toyline available at a retail outlet near you. VvV will also be a DTV-release and will feature both old and new Joes.
A while back on Savagesoundoffs.net (now Joebattlelines.com), someone posted a link to ShowFax.com, where sides for Valour vs. Venom were being offered to interested actors (and anyone else with a credit card and a lack of free time). I took advantage of the opportunity (once I had some spare cash and free time) to purchase all fourteen sides being made available. This page includes excerpts from those sides.
Sides, for those not up on Actor Talk are lines from the script given to actors to use during an audition. Sides can run from a few lines to a few pages. The sides for VvV are all one page long and include a character description, giving the actor auditioning an idea of the character's history and personality as well as sample dialogue and cues as to how the dialogue should sound (happy, sad, monotone, angry, etc.).
It should be noted, rather stridently, that this page contains POTENTIALLY MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR VENOM VS VALOUR and that IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO HAVE THE MOVIE SPOILED YOU BETTER NOT READ PAST THIS PAGE. And if you do read past this part, DON'T COME WHINING TO ME THAT I WRECKED YOUR VENOM VS. VALOUR VIEWING EXPERIENCE 'CAUSE I DONE WARNED YOU UP FRONT, DIDN'T I?!
CLICK HERE IF YOU WANT TO CONTINUE ON TO THE VENOM VS. VALOUR SIDE INFORMATION