RoboCop The TV Series (1994) Retrospective / Review

when my new cybernetic interface neuro brain goes online life as we know it will be open where once a city employed and was victim to the whims of 10,000 civil servants neuro brain can never go on strike will not call in sick and does not need a coffee break every 3.25 the cerebral cortex can both process information and learn from its mistakes pod the computer is quicker and more reliable than the human brain so why not have the best of both worlds a brain married to impeach I have great hopes for Metro net a supercomputer that will power this city into a future that not only has a silver lining but will work better and cost less cause of death well off hands have to say he died because somebody removed his brain what like some kind of satanic ritualism man is looking usual accent up hacking up psycho torture murder this is the work of a doctor you he signed the release forms when you join the force legally he's dead pretty much do what we want he's a machine he doesn't have a memory he has a program when he was arrested five years ago by Robocop he suffered severe damage to his face and a toxic accident of his own making so what you're saying is he wants revenge no he wants Robocop now you wouldn't have got me out of there if you didn't want something all right you are and what I want is to give you an opportunity to go down in history at the man who killed Robocop I was able to preserve his organics but it'll cost a fortune to bring him back online according to the guy in the right OCP he's not paying you see that is not a man that is machine and the machine belongs to OCP did you hear that from this moment forward I control the destiny of the city I control neural brain neuro brain controls your Metro net and Metro net controls well everything [ __ ] we got picture away I know this isn't round local colors being put back online I need you to hurry this thank you we're cooperation in March 1994 Robocop the TV series made its premiere on Canadian and American TV it didn't make its way to the UK until a year later first turning up on satellite TV and then shortly afterwards to regular terrestrial broadcast on ITV the ratings in the States proved disastrous Robocop fans were disappointed with the show's attempts to appeal to family viewing and in many parts of the USA it was broadcast way too late for his designer Dorian s-- so many people missed it when it was first shown outside Canada and the u.s. it did prove more successful in international markets but the average viewing figures never encouraged the network's to Commission a second season the 90-minute pilot and a few episodes didn't make it to VHS and in Japan roughly half the series was put on laserdisc but tracking down all of them will prove challenging and expensive it did eventually arrive on DVD and you can now stream it on Amazon Prime but only in the UK toy island introduced a line of toys when the show first aired a selection based on the characters and the number of vehicles I did have a few of the figures and the car which I got way before aired in the UK I was a bit confused at first with its packaging it said Robocop the series which I wasn't aware of it was the same situation I had in the early 90s seeing Robocop three video games and there's no movie to be seen the early 90s were proving very difficult for Orion Pictures they had too many films flop at the box office and were falling into financial troubles dances with walls and Silence of the Lambs increased their cash flow but too many investments had crippled their profits they needed to take advantage of their existing properties for a quick short-term game Robocop was key to their plan the movie was a huge hit in 87 they really wanted a sequel and planned Robocop 2 & 3 for a 1990 and 91 release Robocop 2 was attacked by the critics are being too violent and the movies tone didn't match the quality of the first film it didn't set the box-office alight oncome Robocop 3 things fared far worse for Orion the studio wanted to appeal to a younger market to help boost profits and the film's violence was heavily toned down for a pg-13 rating due to Orion's financial troubles the film sat on the shelf for two years and when it finally hit the big screen it was too late the movie bombed and many felt this was the end of Robocop Orion Pictures received a half a million dollar cash infusion for TV licensing rights the Canada Sky vision entertainment this allowed access to co-production treaties and possible partnerships with other countries the production for a Robocop series was set up in Canada and they filmed in Toronto and mrs. suger during the start of winter you'll notice throughout the series it looks super cold you can visibly see the actors freezing their tits off and they often had to melt the snow to clear the set Stephen downing who produced a show MacGyver handled the series production downing said MacGyver was a similar hero to Robocop a loner who fights against injustice using his wits and humour to get him out of every situation possible downing further explains he has the judgment and mechanical skill to effectively apply reasonable force in all situations by the Robo vision effect we can see Robocop make conscious choices not to use excessive force when alternatives exist in a controlled situation if you are a big fan of Robocop downing views on Robo and his comparisons to MacGyver are a bit ill-judged and you can see creatively his views on the character set the show in the wrong direction sky vision was in negotiations with Peter Weller hoping the original Robocop star would return but this did not come to fruition so they asked Robert Burke who played Robo in part 3 but he thought a younger actor should take on the job they held auditions in Canada and Richard Eden showed an interest which it had won a Daytime Emmy Award for his role on Santa Barbara and he still acts today but focuses more on work behind the camera Richard Eden had to fit into Peter Weller's Robocop to outfit the suit was slightly modified for Richard and ended up being far heavier weighing a total of 95 pounds rigid on some occasions spent 12 hours in the suit and if you do the math he has betrayed Robocop the longest onscreen Robocop still carries his gun in his right leg but he now has additional capabilities the gun fires a Tanya identification tag encoded with the time of the tagging cops left leg carries devices called suspect containment alternative devices these devices include an inflatable balloon that traps people inside a boat or against a wall in a small room it ends up looking like an inflatable beanbag he has more features with his mask and operating system it can enhance audio or double check if someone is lying so he uses these features more often to solve crimes instead of going the entertaining route of blowing the criminals to bits 10 scripts were ready for production when principal photography ended on the pilot each episode cost in the region of 1.25 million dollars each with the pilot costing 5 million and it was shot on 35 millimeter they spent roughly eight days shooting each episode and had a second unit team running simultaneously Delta city was still on the drawing boards in the original Robocop film with the show being set four to five years after the first movie Delta city is now complete and it now towers over the decaying old Detroit after its construction OCP turned their backs on old Detroit allowing rogues to run wild the police department is underfunded and unmanned OCP focuses on the future represented by Delta city and its new neuro brain the police headquarters of old Detroit Metro South represents a crossover between old and new the basement of the police station contains a state-of-the-art lab where scientists maintenance man Charlie Lipton coughed services Robocop for copyright purposes all the main characters except Robocop Alex Murphy had their names changed and Lois is now Lisa Madigan and the old man is the chairman and so on for the same copyright reasons they could not use it 209 or make any reference to the robot for the rest of the cast we have yevette nipple playing of a said Lisa Madigan who is promoted early on to Detective of the Metro self police station she worked with Murphy before his transformation into Robo and knows the secret pain Murphy feels she helps him keep an eye on Nancy and Jimmy Murphy but honors Alex request not to reveal the truth one thing that bugs me about her is a bloody long hair cut that hair please it looks ridiculous bloom and kuma plays sergeant Stanley Park star watch commander he's very much like sergeant Reed in the movie but is a big softy in the show and doesn't really show any aggression and rarely stamps his authority blue did return to the Robocop franchise to play as read in the alpha commando cartoon show Andrea Roth plays Diana powers the series introduced a supercomputer that manifests itself as a hologram the hologram takes the form of the woman whose brain power was the machine like Robocop she too has been changed from a human being into a machine she is killed in the pilot episode and from then on she helps Robocop with his investigations and helps him gain access to secret information only three people know of Diane's existence within the neuro brain computer her killer Millar doe Robocop and the chairman David Garner plays the OCP chairman this role is equivalent to that of the old man in the original Robocop movie Gardner plays his role with sensitivity and insight the Chairman is not a typical evil corporate bureaucrat such as the old man in Robocop 2 he again like the sergeant is a bit of a softy and is always supportive of the police station and Robocop Sarah Campbell plays gadget the station mascot and the adopted insightful daughter of station sergeant parks Robocop 3 introduced the idea of a little girl being friends with Robocop and that proved unsuccessful so I'm not sure why they continued with that idea Alex's estranged wife Nancy Murphy is a recurring character and his son Jimmy Murphy learned that even though he spared his family's grief knowing he's now a cyborg their problems are far from over one episode they have to deal with going on welfare exciting times people Nancy meets Robocop in a couple of episodes but remains on the where he is her husband Robocop also interacts with his father and mother his father Russell comes to help Robo in two episodes and is the only one to find out his true identity there are a number of reoccurring villains most of them being corrupt OCP employees and they aren't worth discussing at great length but for those that play the biggest threat to Robocop we have PUD face Morgan played by James kidney he is similar to the melted character Emil from the first film he constantly wants to get rid of Robocop and blames him for his disfigurement James does perform on screen without his makeup in the episode trouble in Del city we also have cliff DeYoung as dr. grazie Maillard Oh a paranoid psychopathic prima donna some of you may remember cliff on the flight the navigator movie he plays David's father dr. Craig creates the Metro net and decides to use a human brain to power it his performance is very electric and over-the-top he shows signs of being completely bonkers and threatening but with it being a family show it's mostly played for last but I must not forget Roddy Piper who plays as commander Cash's creator and pretends to be him to take revenge on you guessed it OCP the outfit he wears is quite possibly one of the worst costumes I've seen on TV and film the series was edited using Video Toaster supplied by a new tech which is a company that is still around today they basically provide the client with video editing facilities and visual effects work Video Toaster was software originally developed for the Commodore Amiga it gave people the opportunity to edit digitally instead of cutting film or using high-resolution tape with the show's high budget the quality of the visual effects works really good for the time they took advantage of Lightwave 3d which was developed by a new tech that could run with Video Toaster I believe this software was also used to create Kane's CGI face for Robocop 2 there are a large number of computer-generated effects in the show they do their job and obviously look very dated today but for a TV show in the mid-90s it would have been impressive to see there was additional digital work by the company animation video special effects limited they did the digital maps to represent Delta city and also video FX for Robocop's vision and the neuro brain dianna these special effects used look like that of a feature film there are many huge explosions throughout the show really impressive stuff that gives a series an extra level of quality my favorite was seeing Robo Cop throw an explosive on a gate and shooting it you see this great slow-mo shot of the explosion and he just stands there and takes the blast the show featured short cartoon promos for the character command the cache which is used to sell OCP products to children such as toys and cereal the animation was handled by Nelvana based in Canada they are still in business today animating and distributing many popular cartoons the episode commander cash versus Robocop features a comic panel design for commander Cash's backstory the show's producers did bring over the classic Robocop theme from the 87 movie but it's arranged to sound a bit more heroic it does sound a little cheaper in its quality going with keyboards to simulate the sound of an orchestra the composers credited on the show of John stroll and Kevin Gillis most of the time the school does its job well but there are moments often during the action scenes where it sounds a bit hokey and out of place with the rest of the show's soundtrack there was an album published which featured 95% rock music but I don't think even featured in the show I don't recall ever hearing most of these tracks the main song is called a future to this life it pops up during the end credits on the episode the human factor and continues to be used throughout the remaining episodes and on the last three it ends with the cheesiest music video Robocop walks on set and stands there looking totally confused as Joe Walsh and Lita Ford belt out a power ballad to his face it's so funny the music isn't awful but is not really suitable for a Robocop going from this big percussive sound with synth mixed into a power ballad is totally the wrong direction for Robocop only one track on the album features the orchestral music on the show is a good track but it's not worth buying the whole soundtrack just for that if you love that type of music then it's worth getting but for me it's something to avoid I'm afraid but if there was a complete score to the show then yes sign me up I'll certainly purchase a copy once the series had finished many of the people involved thought they would be returning for a second season Richard Eden was very tired for making it but was more than happy to come back to continue with the character but things weren't looking good the ratings and poor scheduling resulted in the network canceling a follow-up they were hoping to continue with the relationship of Robocop and his parents and rekindling his connection to his wife and child I'm not sure if that was something Robocop fans wanted to see but this was seemingly the direction to expand upon Murphy's character I suppose it would seem a logical continuation in the 87 movie he discovered his true self again so would he want to continue his previous life the show tries to do that and it's subjective as to whether it did its job or not now after watching all 22 episodes here is my list of ones I recommend and one's to avoid the pilot episode which is called the future of law enforcement is based on the intended sequel to Robocop called the corporate Wars by the writers at new Meyer and Michael minor it was a rushed script onto pleaser Ryan who were desperate for a sequel but they could never finish it due to a writer's strike the ideas from that script make an appearance in this pilot with the introduction of the Metro net as a new AI to power the city which uses a neuro brain it was originally set 20 years after the first film and Robocop has been powered down for years and is working up again to find himself in his future world that was very alien to him but this pilot is basically set four to five years after the first film and ignores the events in Robocop 2 & 3 despite borrowing a couple of elements on those movies the pilot is recommended viewing because it sets up the new characters and gives you the background to what's going on in this series if you skip this then you'll be confused by the appearance of the AI Diana I don't think the pilot is that entertaining and it's 90-minute runtime is totally unnecessary OCP have announced the arrival of new technology called Metro net that is designed to run the city in a cost-effective way and help in apprehending criminals the designer dr. clay Millar doe requires a human brain to make it work but all these victims failed to sync with the software he decides to use the OCP executive chip jaykins assistant to power the system after she demonstrates her efficiency and intelligence Robocop's new arch-nemesis pod face Morgan has captured some victims and demands Robo make an appearance wherever cop comes to save the day in apprehends pod face Robocop learns from the young girl gadget that she witnessed the disappearance of one of dr. clays victims which launches the investigation with his partner Madigan into his practices now this episode is basically the same length as a movie and it can be viewed as one but in terms of enjoyment level its average to say the least Robocop is taken out of the picture for a while due to being attacked like pod face Morgan and it's entirely focused on dr. clay there is little action to take into Robocop is back on his feet he takes out the gang who set up camp at OCP despite some good stunt work it's like watching the a-team no one dies the co-writer of the episode Michael minor has said some of the critics praised its storyline and said it was better than Robocop to know I'd happily watch Robocop to over this any day the pilot has some interesting ideas but it's restricted heavily by its tone and its attempts to appeal to younger viewers and the introduction of gadget is a big no-no for me seeing Robocop hold her little hand reeks of Robocop 3 and it's failed approach at kid-friendly entertainment Robocop you don't hold that hand you crush it thank you in prime suspects a TV tabloid host calls Robocop the tool of Satan and he is turning the public against him Robocop finds himself blamed for a crime he didn't commit after the arrogant host is murdered shot dead by specific bullets found in Robocop's gun which indicates he is guilty Robocop goes on the run and malagant tries to prove he is innocent and discovers that the creator of many of Robocop sparts has his own copies of Robo cops gun and helmet this episode was based on the prime suspect Dark Horse Comics which ran for four issues and also borrows some elements from the film The Fugitive this episode has some really good visuals and special effects but its story is what makes it work and will keep you engaged to the end the human factor is Richard Eden's favorite episode a disgruntled ex OCP employee threatens to destroy Delta city with a nuclear weapon Russel Murphy Robocop's father who helped put this guy in jail 12 years ago helps Robocop defeat him despite the chairman establishing a new elite anti corporate terrorism squad Russell comes to appreciate the efforts of Robocop and he believes he is a damn fine cop in the episode corporate raiders which isn't really a good episode but it has Robocop team-up of his father again at the end Alex Murphy gets his helmet knocked off and his dad finally sees him he gets very emotional and upset and Robocop pleads with him not to tell the family it's a nicely directed sequence but the dialogue is proper cheesy so if you're not in the right frame of mind you may end up laughing in the episode Heartbreakers Robocop's true identity is discovered by ruthless OCP executive the enemies in the episode use a new weapon that causes cardiac arrest in its victims by destroying the heart muscle with an microwave beam rubber Pop's wife Nancy Murphy is kidnapped and he is forced to steal a top-secret weapon Robocop must break his own directives to steal the weapon it's the first time you see him override a directive Murphy comes close to revealing his true identity to his wife but stands by his rules to protect and serve and it wasn't the right time to reveal the truth the episode nano opens with an explosive bus chase feeling like something out of the film's speed and mana Gong crashes and breaks her neck and spine which is a very dark opening for an episode mannequin fears she will be disabled for the rest of her life and Robocop is struggling to comfort her needing to find a way to save her Metro net and neuro brain are crippled by nanites which are being used by criminals to gain control of the system the nanites can also be used to repair mannequins spine this episode displays your vets best performance as she breaks down due to the possibility of being paralyzed for life and Robocop seems powerless Public Enemies is the last episode of the series and has a nice send-off all the villains from the pilot appear again to take revenge on Robocop kill the President of the United States and take down the OCP chairman once and for all with a remote-controlled bomb the writers end the show with a positive Furnari that ensures if a second series didn't get commissioned then it could end without having to type any loose ends Robocop confronts the president and tells her that he is here to protect the people of Delta city and will always be around of a crime is happening now there aren't really any episodes that are just plain awful the episode Mother's Day focuses on gadget and Jimmy Murphy he helps her find her biological mother any episode that focuses on kids I recommend you skip 95% of children can't act their way out of a paper bag and these young actors are prime examples so that episode is best avoided and the rest really can be lumped into that category of just being boring there's a lot of repetition in this series it's always the same scenario just spun in a slightly different way it tends to be a corrupt OCP staff member who is abusing the law to make a profit but to continue with their crime they need to get rid of Robocop they recycle PUD face Morgan like six times it just results in the same plot device is not that these episodes are unwatchable you just find yourself failing to get involved in the story because you've seen it already the key ones I've mentioned really push to do something different they also incorporate similar tactics with their plot structures but there is something to be invested in I first saw the show back in the mid 90s I had cable TV and saw the pilot when it first came on sky1 I was coming up to 13 years old at the time and by that point I had seen all the Robocop films and only recently saw the third film which disappointed me I had some clue the show would follow a similar path of zero violence and being broadcast at 8 p.m. things weren't looking good i sat through the pilot and found it forgettable I didn't feel compelled to continue and never saw the rest of the series when you have many episodes which are a bit boring to watch you're not going to sit through for advert breaks to watch the whole episode so anytime I caught it by accident I would usually - now after 15 minutes over the years I had largely ignored the show and once I saw it had been released on blu-ray don't get your hopes up though it's not a HD transfer it just has all the episodes on one disc I felt it was time to revisit the show and give it a second chance some people still appreciate it today and from what I read online it has a cult following and the hardcore Robocop fans appreciate Richard Agence portrayal it was a strange experience at first returning to the show having vague memories of seeing it on TV and once I sat through all of it I'd actually seen more than I remembered many people still dismiss the show down to its strict attempts to reduce the violence now people still die in the show the villains often kill people or for example the episode Heartbreakers innocent people suffer from heart attacks so it's not totally void of any violence or death but no one dies due to Robocop's actions if they get killed it's due to their own incompetence Robocop will often punch people but anytime he uses his gun he shoots two weapons out of their hands or shoots an explosive to gain entrance to a villains hideout or tags him so he can track them down later his additional weapons are mostly laughable to an adult they're dis lame attempts to stop a bad guy is kind of like the weapons back would use is perfect for him but on Robocop it just seems way out of place the show does attempt to bring over the satire that was a strong part of the films with the use of the adverts media breaks and the commander cash cartoons which seem inspired by the Robocop 3 Johnnie rehab commercials but because of its direction for family viewing the adverts don't have the same effect the movie and their use of commercials like Nukem or Magna Volt had this dark violent tone to them and it was a spoof on society whereas in the TV show they seem heavily watered down I don't have the same effect very much like the media break reports which struggle to be funny and fall into being a weak Carbon Copy the cast of the show is certainly a mixed bag which eden gets all the movements right for Robocop he puts a lot of effort into copying Peter Weller but does overdo it you'll take forever to turn his bloody head and the amp up the sound effects for his movements so sometimes it's borderline overkill my turn his voice generally works for the most part but can sound a bit too robotic I think it should have been lighter like at the end of the first movie when he discovers his true identity it's always bugged me since the first movie that all the sequels and spin-offs like the series forget about him rediscovering his humanity it's like they flip the reset switch and he sounds like a robot again when they take his mask off I think they overdid it with the makeup he looks super pasty they did improve his flesh tones later on in the series but the first half he is very pale I'd put that mask back on Richard you are freaking me out a bit here Cheers I'm not a fan of the Madigan character even though it's supposed to be Lois she doesn't seem to be written in a similar way maybe it's to perform at some of your vets but I don't really get any enjoyment from her and her character really dominates the show when Robocop is not on screen you find yourself losing interest as a show attempts to focus on its supporting characters as soon as gadget or Jimmy and his mom Nancy are on screen you're just desperate for the show to move on because those characters add nothing but boredom you've tuned in for Robocop not his boring family putter face Morgan is a very weak villain James kidney I think is a very good actor but he seems to play him like a third-rate Freddy Krueger whilst looking up a generic Dick Tracy gangster it's a shame the show focused too heavily on corrupt OCP employees it really needed another robot to fight against or having something similar to ed-209 would have been ideal just to throw in more science fiction it's like the old days of the George Reeves Superman show he would just end up battling gangsters instead of supervillains it gets repetitive very quickly now let's focus on the positive aspects of this show all the directors involved have done their homework in their attempts to homage Paul Verhoeven style and camera setups the show does feel like it belongs in that world of the 87 movie the production designer has made a conscious effort to show familiar landscapes and buildings to fit that old Detroit design despite the shown being shot in Canada the feature films always had this great sense of heat like everyone was sweating and there was this sense of danger outside OCP it wasn't a safe world but with this show being shot in the winter it does look like it's a perpetual cold and it seems to clean and non-threatening it's way too clean-cut for Robocop the series is well produced on a technical level and I highly appreciate their efforts there is some great stunt work that is equal to a feature film but it does rely on too much cardboard boxes for cars and bad guys to smash into but alas I think they were fighting a losing battle rebel gob has proven time and time again that he is a character that belongs in an adult world he is not suited for daytime entertainment as much as kids love the character he is not designed for them his world is very much a violent and corrupt one and when you dilute that it becomes something else and he seems redundant in zapping out the violence Robocop is left with not much to do since never got through the studio's attempts to avoid an art or a teen rating have never proven successful it's always been disastrous with critics and fans it doesn't matter how much money you throw at it you're going to lose despite the good intentions I don't think the show should be forgotten or pushed aside because of its reduced violence and gore I say watch some of the episodes I recommended and you will notice there is some good stuff in them but just be in the mindset that it's not violent and if you can accept that you'll get some enjoyment out of it Richard Eden is a good Robocop it's just a shame he couldn't pull out his gun occasionally and blow his victims to pieces like in the movies this may sound a bit sadistic but hey that's what Robocop does stamping out crime with a few blasts to the head or chest like still take you back there too even harder the dot - she still she's down to what you anybody out there go to church Oh clothes help you understand never fidget through this light it's like and you missed her better watch her step she's got the hots for you she said that she thinks you are yummy yummy if you enjoyed the video you can find more on my youtube channel and also you can follow me on Twitter if you want to help support the channel you can donate through patreon and receive monthly perks such as updates and the latest news on my channel early access to reviews and commentaries before they go live on YouTube even the smallest donation can help keep this channel going thank you

Channel: Oliver Harper

Views: 183,886

Keywords: richard eden, robocop tv series, pudface, robocop, prime suspect, robert burke, season one, skyvision, video toaster, lightwave3D, joe walsh, soundtrack, oliver harper commentary, peter weller, review, making of, overview, ollie harper, oliver harper, ollyh82, retrospective, retrospective review, oliver harper retrospective, 1994

Id: TXeh0M-wzdA

Length: 32min 26sec (1946 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 07 2016