RoboCop

This excellent sci-fi TV show is highly recommended for all RoboCop fans. Casual Sci-Fi fans may find the show hard to follow, since there is not much background given outside of the opening theme sequence. The show is somewhat violent, but not graphically so. Parental Guidance suggested. This show is currently re-running on the Sci-Fi Channel.

This TV series actually manages to capture more of the original than either of the two theatrical sequels. Okay, it's toned down for television, but the self-parodying humor is there in all the right places. It's basically a live-action cartoon, as the like of Cray Z. Mollardo, the E Coli Brothers, and Pudface Morgan return time and time again to battle the stone-faced Robocop. We get a bit more on Murphy's background (although his wife shows up _way_ too often), and there are lot of parody-commercials. It's a lot better than a lot of the first-run syndication stuff out there. Catch it on the Sci-Fi Channel.

I was recently at a used video/bookstore where I bought a video thinking it was RoboCop the movie. After further inspection on the ride home, I realized I had accidentally bought the pilot episode of the old TV series I used to watch in my earlier years. I decided on watching on it. If I didn't like it, I would bring it back and buy the movie.

I didn't.

This pilot is so stupid and outlandlishly ridiculous, that the only plausible explanation for it was that the producers were trying to recreate a RoboCop version of the old Batman show. That's the only way I can explain the campy quips, the ridiculous villains (Pudface Morgan, hah!) and the bad acting. The whole experience just felt to me like something for the kids whose mothers wouldn't allow them to see the very violent, sometimes disturbing 1988 movie. I have heard that the later TV movies and animated series were better. I certainly hope so.

At the time this series was released in '94, I was 14. Most of my friends didn't like the show, but I did. This was a show that seemed as if it was well thought out, the writing scored huge points in my book. I really enjoyed seeing Robocop on his downtime or with a virtual friend (Diana). The show was interesting to watch and what kept me coming back each week was not the violence, but wondering what new wisdom the cyborg would hand out. With as much terror in the world, it's nice to see an alternative measure. I believe this show could do really well if produced today. I think a reunion episode is long overdue.

If you enjoy quality television with great writing, then this show is for you.

I rather liked the series. I saw it as an extension of the Robocop 3 humor and a good approach for a Primetime network TV series. (A more Robocop 1- like series would fit on a HBO or other cable network and would please the Robo fan base better.) It gives a nod to the 60's Batman series in not taking itself too seriously but isn't as cartoonish as said Batman. The humour is more akin to Escape from New York (another debate for another forum)than the Three Stooges and is campy at times. Camp is an acquired taste that rarely appeals to the fans who enjoyed the gritty and bloody violence of the first 2 films. What it has going for it is that its fun, witty (the Rowdy Roddy Piper episode is a classic and I'm not just talking about the Major Market uniform either), and expanded the Robo universe in a pre-Dark Knight Returns/Spawn comic-bookish way. The writing varied but the surrounding cast and guest stars made up for it. I can show my kids this series and enjoy it with them and then share the movie series and the Prime Directives miniseries of movies with them when they're older. This is a PG Robocop series and should be judged on its own merits and not compared to the R rated movies which were created for another market altogether.