RoboCop

RoboCop was an awesome movie and could have been a great franchise. I mean this was an R-rated film and loads of parents let their kids see it. Even though it had limbs getting blown off, melting men, buckets of gore and satire that would, no doubt, go right over the heads of kids, it was still yapped about in every playground. I was one of them.

Yes, the violence was the main thing that attracted me to RoboCop. But I knew the difference between fiction and real life, I could tell that the film wasn't meant to be taken too seriously and, to tell the truth, upon repeat viewings I was more interested in RoboCop's tragic afterlife/rebirth than anything else.

But someone, somewhere thought that castrating Robo of all that was unique to him and selling it off direct to the kiddies was a good idea. It certainly was not. Movies can often make great kid's shows (The Real Ghostbusters, Batman) but not when it means compromising everything that made it so good in the first place. Making a kid's of RoboCop is just as moronic as making a kid's show of Freddy Krueger. And how the hell can Clarence Boddicker be in it if he died in the movie?

Remember that massive gun of Robo's? Well when he shoots it in this cartoon there is no entry or exit wound, no blood and the baddies fall down and die anyway. Then, a few seconds later, they are alright and alive as Robo arrests them. What??? I may have been a child but I wasn't stupid! And why is it now some kind of laser gun? And if it blows holes in walls and doors and other giant robots (every other episode would feature a giant robot) then why would it not blow apart a human? The main focus of every episode was to have contrived, annoying characters who serve no purpose other than to make poor stories happen (Lt. Hedgecock especially) spout appalling dialogue and constantly put the man in the can down by calling him loads of silly names, like 'that bucket of bolts', 'that rustbucket', 'that tin can', 'that (fill-in-the-blank but use either rust or bolts or bucket or can)'. I know characters need adversaries or obstacles. But this was pathetic.

No kid liked this show. It insulted their intelligence and embarrassed a great movie. Forget that it exists. Even if they kept the main RoboCop theme or maintained the political subplots (yes, a child CAN understand this) it could have been bearable.

Sadly, as it is, it's unbearable.

Back in the 80's, it was perfectly acceptable to adapt an extremely violent, R-Rated movie into a kid-friendly cartoon, and Robocop was no exception.

The stories couldn't carry over the violence so instead they relied on the whole "is he a man or a machine?" plot threads. While those aspects stories were done quite well, they were surrounded by simplistic "I wanna kill Robocop" plot lines that brought down the quality of the stories.

This show was a little more mature than shows like "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends," but not quite at the level of "Batman: The Animated Series," which many of its writers and producers when on to.

I didn't realize that there was an animated Robocop series but I noticed that it lasted with only 12 episodes in 1988. I've watched every episode on YouTube. That Lieutenant Hedgecock was annoying. Well, the cartoon needed to have a jealous rival for Robocop. This cartoon took some inspirations from the 1987 film. When I saw Robocop's gun, it was just like a laser gun.

This cartoon is all right and I like it. I would usually watch them again on YouTube.

This is another under the radar gem, this was of course a licensed animated adaptation of the film "Robocop". Of course, like with most licensed animated adaptations there was a liberty or two that had to be taken so it would be appropriate for small screen viewers. However, it wasn't totally watered down because it was still true to its source being dark and violent (well PG-13 level but in a good way). This animated adaptation isn't quite a classic, but it could have been, I personally wish it ran a little longer maybe this show could have gotten up there with "The Real Ghostbusters", "Godzilla the Series", etc.

The animation is solid, from the background animation to the character animation, one important thing about it of course Robocop as he looks true to his source. With all the mechanical physical features down to the silver coloring. The theme song is decent, it's a tune that I don't mind listening to and feels true to its source as it feels like it just sings "Robocop" or crime fighting of the future.

Characterization is true as I felt the voice actors did a good job in the roles of characters, we know like Sgt. Reed, Annie Lewis and of course Alex Murphy/Robocop.

Robocop in this show is still him but I like that in this show he display more of his human side while still doing his job. To me that was always the best thing about the character as he's a person that sort of represents the fine balance between humanity and technology. But also, they don't make him too strong as we do see Robo despite his abilities that make him more than human, doesn't make him invincible as we see he really does have to struggle at times depending on whatever scuffles comes his way.

I really like how the show explores a little more of Detroit city in the future, which is similar to the future in the anime series "Patlabor" another under the radar gem; though also the world from the "Iron Man" comics you can say this show is the closest we have to an Iron Man animated series for the 80's. We see everything still looks a little like the present but there are robots and lots of highly developed technology around and on the rise. But also like in the movie Detroit city is still a dangerous place to live as it's also got crime nowhere near short supply.

Action is solid it's well choreographed, it's true that you don't see any blood effects or too much death like in the film, it's an 80's cartoon after all. But as I said before it's not watered down as we still see Robo still doing what he does best kick ass and pull no punches. Like some of his movements where he still has the tank like movements and walking but we also see him run, jump even roll but the movements look natural and not flighty.

We see the weapons they have where their armed with laser guns, however the sound and function of them is that of regular guns which I thought was a cool little detail and gave the show a grounded sense. Really like some of the sound effects like that they incorporated the sound of Robo's cybernetic movements from the film which is cool those sounds are just music to my ears. Along with Robo's visual features like the targeting system as you see his viewpoint along with oncoming data. We see him fight the usual criminal element but best of all Robots or any other scientific creation gone amuck which gives Robo variety to fight.

I even like how the show wasn't afraid to be dark and smart (in a good way) just like the film it satired on issues that are just a relevant today as they are now. Like drugs, racism, sensationalism, rapid technological advancement, addiction to progress. But the show has a good message about why we should let technology be a tool and an ally and not the singular solution to everything.

I would love to see another animated series based on "Robocop" but we can make it one for adults and make sure the right voice cast is for each role most importantly "Robocop" if possible, get Peter Weller to do the voice. Well, it's a thought to consider anyway.

Robocop 1988 animated series hits the right places and for fans of the film franchise or even licensed animated adaptations, it's worth a shot.

Rating: 3 stars.

When it was released back in 1987, Robocop became a box office success, as not only did it tell a good tale about a cop who is rebuilt into a robot by a megacorporation after he is killed in the line of duty, and ends up hunting down the criminal gang who killed him, but it was also ultraviolent (so ultraviolent, that Orion Pictures had to edit the film to tone down the violence for the R rating, as it got an X rating 11 times). Somehow, this got Orion to team up with Marvel Productions (the company responsible for hit shows like the original Muppet Babies cartoon, The Transformers, and the first G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero cartoon) to take this ultraviolent film and make it into a TV show aimed at kids (and this was two years after Ruby-Spears treaded such waters with Rambo: The Forces of Freedom, which was based on First Blood and its sequel, Rambo: First Blood Part II, which lasted only one season with 65 episodes).

Set after the events of the film, RoboCop is an animated series that shows the further adventures of Alex Murphey, a.k.a. RoboCop, and his partner, Ann Lewis, as they uphold the law of Old Detroit while making sure the cyborg policeman is still reliable in the eyes of OCP, as a new villain, Dr. McNamara, an OCP scientist who has mechanical arms and always wears sunglasses, funds the villains of the episodes to take down Robo, all because the Robocop program takes away funding from his ED-260 project. To make sure the world of RoboCop is more kid-friendly, Robocop's origin is changed to remove death, as in the intro, Alex is mortally wounded in the line of duty, causing OCP to outfit him with the gear that makes him RoboCop). Also, the series derails from the movie it's based on by being more science fiction. Firearms are now replaced with laser weapons (with Robocop wielding a laser pistol that's set to stun at all times), as well as having some episode themed around a problem in real life (like racism in The Brotherhood, where the title villains are a group who want to destroy all robots and cyborgs in Old Detroit, while another episode, A Robot's Revenge, is themed around Middle Eastern Peace Project and terrorism, as Robocop and Lewis must protect two Middle Eastern leaders from terrorists who plot to assassinate them).

As this is an animated series, the cast have voice actors that are different from the movie. Robocop is voiced here by Dab Hennessey (who 80's would know as the voice actor for Genghis Rex, the main antagonist of Dinosaucers, as well as Chief Quimby in Inspector Gadget). Lewis is voiced by Susan Roman (who voiced Melissa Raccoon in The Raccoons), and Dr. McNamara is voiced by Robert Bockstael, an actor who before this, did voice work for The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin and Dennis The Menace. The animation is good, and the acting is well done. Sadly, this only lasted twelve episodes, with a thirteenth episode being passed in favor to create Pryde Of The X-Men, the failed pilot that would lead to an X-Men cartoon (but would inspire an arcade beat-em-up from Konami). However, this is a good cartoon that tries to take a R-rated film and make it kid-friendly.