Rambo The Force of Freedom 6-Disc Box Set DVD

Rambo The Force of Freedom is the 1986 cartoon adaptation of First Blood, the kind of premise that sounds like a parody when you describe it and is in fact entirely real. The series ran in syndication during the height of the toy-driven action cartoon boom, putting John Rambo at the head of a crack military unit fighting a global terror outfit named S.A.V.A.G.E. (Specialist Administrators of Vengeance, Anarchy and Global Extortion). Each episode is a self-contained mission in a different country, and the action plays perfectly straight despite the absurdity of the source material. Neil Ross voiced the lead, with Alan Oppenheimer and Mona Marshall filling out the supporting cast.

What makes the show distinct is its commitment to translating an R-rated war film into Saturday-style animation. The cognitive whiplash of the premise was part of the experience, and the storylines (jungle ambushes, hostage extractions, doomsday weapons) read as Cold War wish-fulfillment if you watched them in 1986. The toy line drove the production, and the cartoon delivered exactly the kind of action conventions the era was famous for, scaled to a children's audience.

For its era, Rambo The Force of Freedom captured one of the more peculiar moments in 1980s syndicated animation. The toy industry was producing cartoons as half-hour commercials for the merchandise on shelves, and First Blood was simply too commercially valuable to leave off the slate. The show sat in the same syndicated block as G.I. Joe and M.A.S.K., and its commercial trajectory mirrored those titles, peaking with the original toy run and tapering as the action-cartoon boom moved on to the next properties.

The strongest entries embrace the show's commitment to its own absurdity. "First Strike" launches the team in a pilot that earns the audience's investment. "Raid On Las Vegas" is the show going full pulp blockbuster. "Cult Of The Cobra" leans into its horror-action premise harder than most contemporary cartoons would have dared. "The Doomsday Machine" delivers the season's biggest set piece, and "Reign Of The Boy King" goes weirder than the entire run combined. The complete 30 episodes across 6 DVDs collect the run as it aired, every operation, every S.A.V.A.G.E. plot, in one box.