RoboCop (TV series)

RoboCop is a 1988 American animated series based on the 1987 movie RoboCop.[1] The cartoon aired as part of the Marvel Action Universe programming block.[2]

RoboCop
Title card
GenreAction/Adventure
Science fiction
Superhero
Created byEdward Neumeier
Michael Miner
Developed byRich Fogel
Mark Seidenberg
Directed byBill Hutton
Tony Love
Voices ofDan Hennessey
Barbara Budd
Len Carlson
Rex Hagon
Robert Bockstael
Ron James
Greg Morton
Susan Roman
Allen Stewart-Coates
Chris Ward
Gordon Maston
Music byHaim Saban
Shuki Levy
No. of episodes12
Production
Executive producer(s)Margaret Loesch
Joseph M. Taritero
Running time30 minutes
Production company(s)Marvel Productions
Orion Pictures Corporation
DistributorNew World Television (original)
Disney-ABC Domestic Television
MGM Television (current)
Release
Original networkSyndication
Original releaseOctober 1 (1988-10-01) –
December 17, 1988 (1988-12-17)

The show made a number of changes to the RoboCop universe to make it more appropriate for younger viewers, including replacing bullets with laser weapons and shifting the series to a more science fiction setting. In this series, RoboCop had a red light in the middle of his visor (which occasionally panned the whole visor).

The series was animated by AKOM Productions.

Plot

Based on the original movie, the series features cyborg cop Alex Murphy (RoboCop), who fights to save the city of Old Detroit from assorted rogue elements, and on occasion, fighting to reclaim aspects of his humanity and maintain his usefulness in the eyes of the "Old Man", Chairman of Omni Consumer Products. Many episodes see RoboCop's reputation put to the test or soured by interventions from Dr. McNamara, the creator of ED-260, the upgradable version of the Enforcement Droid Series 209 and the top competitor for the financial backing of OCP. He continually develops other mechanical menaces that threaten RoboCop.

In the police force, RoboCop is befriended by Officer Anne Lewis, who is depicted to have romantic inclinations towards him, but is also picked on and lambasted by the prejudiced Lieutenant Roger Hedgecock (who appeared as a minor character in the original film), who is determined to be rid of him and his kind, who he sees as ticking time bombs. Their rivalry comes to a fever pitch during the episode "The Man in the Iron Suit", in which Hedgecock comes close to finally beating Murphy with the aid of a new weapons system developed by McNamara. He almost kills Lewis when she interferes, enraging Murphy into tearing Hedgecock's iron suit apart and nearly crushing his skull before Lewis comes to his aid. RoboCop is maintained by RoboCop Project director Dr. Tyler.

The title sequence features a brief animated variation on Murphy being gunned down by Clarence Boddicker and his gang. Throughout the series, RoboCop struggles to deal with the pain of losing his humanity. Other themes include racism ("The Brotherhood"), prejudice at work ("Man in the Iron Suit"), environmental espionage ("Into the Wilderness"), terrorism, and the Middle East peace process ("A Robot's Revenge").

While this series is based on the original film, there are significant changes to RoboCop and his environment. RoboCop is faster and has a greater range of movement than in the films. The Old Detroit of the series is also considerably more technologically advanced: lasers replace handguns and robots are commonplace, Dr. Tyler (who appears in the original film) is the creator of the RoboCop Program, not Bob Morton, and also serves as one of Murphy's confidants as well as his caregiver, along with Dr. Roosevelt. Clarence Boddicker and his gang, the men responsible for Alex's Murphy's death prior to him becoming RoboCop, died in the film. Here they remain at large and battle RoboCop again in "Menace of the Mind".

Cast

Episode guide
Nº Title Written by Air date
1"Crime Wave"Rich Fogel and Mark SeidenbergOctober 1, 1988 (1988-10-01)
Dr. McNamara hires a very dangerous gang, the Vandals, to cause mass crime waves in Old Detroit. If RoboCop cannot stop this threat, Dr. McNamara will unleash his ED-260 weapon on the streets of Old Detroit.
2"Scrambler"Rich Fogel and Mark SeidenbergOctober 8, 1988 (1988-10-08)
A former OCP member, now a criminal, hacks into RoboCop's controls system and escapes from prison with help from a brainwashed RoboCop. Criminals control RoboCop and give him a mission to assassinate OCP’s leader, The Old Man.
3"Project Deathspore"Donald F. GlutOctober 15, 1988 (1988-10-15)
OCP's experiment Project Deathspore goes terribly wrong. It escapes into the sewers and streets of Old Detroit and feeds on the energy of the city and RoboCop's power.
4"The Brotherhood"John ShirleyOctober 22, 1988 (1988-10-22)
RoboCop meets a Ku-Klux-Klan-like high tech criminal gang who call themselves "The Brotherhood". Their goal is to destroy all robots and cyborgs in Old Detroit with a high tech ball that causes errors in robots and cyborg programming.
5"The Man in the Iron Suit"Rich Fogel and Mark SeidenbergOctober 29, 1988 (1988-10-29)
Dr. McNamara creates an iron suit that is designed to be far superior to RoboCop. He gets Lieutenant Hedgecock into the suit to challenge RoboCop and prove to the Old Man that his product is far superior. The Old Man is only concerned about which product would be most profitable so he has Hedgecock and RoboCop compete to determine which product is more valuable.
6"The Hot Seat"Marv WolfmanNovember 5, 1988 (1988-11-05)
Dr. McNamara frees the Vandals from prison and hires them to steal RoboCop’s charging chair; without it, RoboCop is a piece of junk. The Vandals get RoboCop’s chair and try to sell it to Dr. McNamara.
7"No News Is Good News"John ShirleyNovember 12, 1988 (1988-11-12)
Dr. McNamara sabotages OCP's new tank, AV7 to make it attack the people of Old Detroit. A corrupt reporter attempts to "defame" RoboCop, but faces a number of obstacles in the process.
8"Night of the Archer"Michael Charles HillNovember 19, 1988 (1988-11-19)
RoboCop investigates a man named Archer, who plays Robin Hood as he steals from the rich and gives his bounty to the poor of Old Detroit.
9"Rumble in Old Detroit"Donald F. GlutNovember 26, 1988 (1988-11-26)
A gang war breaks out when a cache of illegal weapons is stolen from Metro West Police Station. Gangs attack gangs and the only one that can stop it is... RoboCop.
10"A Robot's Revenge"John ShirleyDecember 3, 1988 (1988-12-03)
RoboCop & Anne Lewis are assigned to protect Middle Eastern leaders Prince Zoras & Ilmar as they draft a peace treaty. Two terrorists send an ED-260 to assassinate the two leaders.
11"Into the Wilderness"Roger SliferDecember 10, 1988 (1988-12-10)
RoboCop tries to shut down an OCP factory that pollutes the water and environment.
12"Menace of the Mind"Roger SliferDecember 17, 1988 (1988-12-17)
A dangerous micro-circuit amulet turns up on the black market. RoboCop discovers that the leader of the gang is Clarence Boddicker, the man responsible for Alex Murphy's death. This episode also features Ace Jackson, Wheels Wilson and Birdman Barnes, the three members of RoboCop's Ultra Police team.

The reason why there were only 12 episodes instead of the traditional 13 for a weekly animated series is because Marvel Productions used the budget for what would've been the 13th episode of RoboCop to fund a pilot for a proposed X-Men animated series.

Home Media

In 1991, three episodes of the series were released as individual NTSC VHS volumes, distributed by Best Film & Video Corp. under the Marvel Video! banner. The episodes were: "Man in the Iron Suit!" (volume 1), "Crime Wave" (volume 2), and "A Robot's Revenge" (volume 3).

On February 18, 2008, UK distributor Maximum Entertainment released the complete series in a three-disc box set containing all 12 episodes.

DVD release

United Kingdom

In the 2000s, Maximum Entertainment (Under license from Jetix Europe) released several DVDs of RoboCop on Region 2 DVD in the UK.

Title Episodes Region 1 Region 2 Region 4 Notes
RoboCop - Volume 1 1–5 - 30 August 2004[3] -
Action Man/RoboCop/Conan the Adventurer - 20 September 2004[4] -
RoboCop - Volume 2 (The Hot Seat) 6–7 - 4 April 2005[5] -
RoboCop - Part Man, Part Machine - - 4 June 2007[6] -
Transformers/MASK/RoboCop - - 16 July 2007[7] -
RoboCop - The Complete Series - - 11 February 2008[8] -
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References
  1. "A NEW SUPERHERO CARTOON-LIKE `ROBOCOP'IS AIMED AT ADULTS, TOO". Beacon Journal. July 18, 1987.
  2. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 527–528. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  3. "Robocop (Animated): Volume 1 [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: Robocop: DVD & Blu-ray". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
  4. "Action Man/Robocop/Conan The Adventurer [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: DVD & Blu-ray". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
  5. "Robocop (Animated): Volume 2 [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: Robocop: DVD & Blu-ray". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
  6. "Robocop - Part Man, Part Machine [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: Robocop: DVD & Blu-ray". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
  7. "Transformers/MASK/Robocop [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: DVD & Blu-ray". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
  8. "Robocop - The Complete Animated Series [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: Paul Lynch, Alan J. Levi: DVD & Blu-ray". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
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