RoboCop: The Series
Encyclopedia
RoboCop: The Series is a 1994 television series based on the film of the same name
. It stars Richard Eden
as the title character
. Made to appeal primarily to children and young teenagers, it lacks the graphic violence that was the hallmark of RoboCop
and RoboCop 2
. RoboCop has several non-lethal alternatives to killing criminals, which ensures that certain villains can be recurring. The OCP
Chairman and his corporation are treated as simply naïve and ignorant, in contrast to their malicious and immoral behavior from the second film onward.
property, Orion Pictures
received a $500,000 cash infusion for TV licensing rights to Canada
's Skyvision Entertainment. This allowed access to co-production treaties and possible partnerships with other countries. The series was filmed in Toronto
and Mississauga, Canada and originally planned for a January 1994 debut, several months after the unsuccessful release of RoboCop 3
. Skyvision was also in negotiation with Peter Weller
, the original RoboCop, but this did not come to fruition. Twenty-two episodes were made, but the series was not renewed for a second season. Expense played a significant part in this; according to Skyvision VP Kevin Gillis, episodes would be produced at $1.2 million to $1.5 million each.
The pilot episode runs two hours. It was adapted from a discarded RoboCop 2 script, Corporate Wars, by the writers of the original RoboCop, Edward Neumeier
and Michael Miner.
Villains on the series include Boppo the Clown, Dr. Cray Z. Mallardo, OCP executive Chip Chayken, William Ray Morgan aka Pudface, Vlad Molotov.
The series gave writers more of an opportunity to develop the central characters and to extend the human interest aspect through the introduction of Gadget; the station mascot and the adopted, insightful daughter of station Sergeant Parks. Gadget, along with the presence of Jimmy Murphy did much to shift the focus from the adult to the youth target audience. The writers also introduced an element of virtual romance and deus ex machina
in the persona of Diana, formerly a secretary to crooked Vice-President Chip Chaykin, who becomes transmogrified through her death into the 'face' and 'body' of Metronet, OCP's city-running super-computer.
Many of the characters' names were altered from their movie counterparts due to rights issues.
in 1995. Episodes of the series were also released in a Japan
ese laserdisc
set. They include "First Suspect," "Delta City," and "Absence of Police."
An action figure
collection for the series was produced by little-known Toy Island, a company that would continue making RoboCop figures in the future. The basic series includes RoboCop, Madigan, Stan Parks, Commander Cash (also released as "Commandant Cash"), and Pudface. It also features the OCP Interceptor, Tactical Field Vehicle, Tactical Field Ambulance, Mobile Armored Detective Vehicle, and Cyrochamber playset. In 1995, the Power Glow figure series was released. This includes RoboCop variations with illuminating armor such as a basic RoboCop (blue), Thermo Shield RoboCop (red), and Xicor Shield RoboCop (lime green). Each figure in the collection includes various accessories and several points of articulation.
A soundtrack
entitled A Future to This Life was released January 24, 1995, on both CD and cassette
by Pyramid Records. Aside from the show's theme writers, Joe Walsh
& Lita Ford
, it features classic rock
songs from groups like The Band
, The Flamingos
, Iron Butterfly
, and KC & the Sunshine Band.
released RoboCop: The Beginning: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 (Canada only) for the very first time.
In Region 2, the complete series was released by Stax Entertainment on DVD in the UK on March 20, 2006. The series was re-released with slimmer packaging on January 22, 2007.
In Region 4, Madman Entertainment
released the entire series on DVD in Australia on July 25, 2006.
RoboCop
RoboCop is a 1987 American science fiction-action film directed by Paul Verhoeven. Set in a crime-ridden Detroit, Michigan in the near future, RoboCop centers on a police officer who is brutally murdered and subsequently re-created as a super-human cyborg known as "RoboCop"...
. It stars Richard Eden
Richard Eden (actor)
Richard Eden is an actor, best known as Alex Murphy/RoboCop in the television series RoboCop: The Series.-External links:...
as the title character
RoboCop (character)
OCP Crime Prevention Unit 001 is a fictional Detroit cyborg police officer and protagonist from the feature film series of the same name. The character begins as a human being who is killed in the line of duty by a vicious crime gang...
. Made to appeal primarily to children and young teenagers, it lacks the graphic violence that was the hallmark of RoboCop
RoboCop
RoboCop is a 1987 American science fiction-action film directed by Paul Verhoeven. Set in a crime-ridden Detroit, Michigan in the near future, RoboCop centers on a police officer who is brutally murdered and subsequently re-created as a super-human cyborg known as "RoboCop"...
and RoboCop 2
RoboCop 2
RoboCop 2 is a 1990 science fiction action film directed by Irvin Kershner and starring Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Belinda Bayer, Tom Noonan and Gabriel Damon. Set in the near future in a dystopian metropolitan Detroit, Michigan...
. RoboCop has several non-lethal alternatives to killing criminals, which ensures that certain villains can be recurring. The OCP
Omni Consumer Products
Omni Consumer Products may refer to:*Omni Consumer Products , a fictitious mega-corporation seen in the RoboCop series of Movies and TV shows.*Omni Consumer Products , a company that manufactures products based on fictional movie items...
Chairman and his corporation are treated as simply naïve and ignorant, in contrast to their malicious and immoral behavior from the second film onward.
Background
While RoboCop was initially an AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
property, Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures Corporation was an American independent production company that produced movies from 1978 until 1998. It was formed in 1978 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and three former top-level executives of United Artists. Although it was never a large motion picture producer, Orion...
received a $500,000 cash infusion for TV licensing rights to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's Skyvision Entertainment. This allowed access to co-production treaties and possible partnerships with other countries. The series was filmed in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
and Mississauga, Canada and originally planned for a January 1994 debut, several months after the unsuccessful release of RoboCop 3
RoboCop 3
RoboCop 3 is a science fiction action film, released in 1993, set in the near future in a dystopian metropolitan Detroit, Michigan, and filmed in Atlanta, Georgia. Most of the buildings seen in the film were slated for demolition to make way for facilities for the 1996 Olympics. Nancy Allen as...
. Skyvision was also in negotiation with Peter Weller
Peter Weller
Peter Frederick Weller is an American film and stage actor, director and lecturer.He is best known for his roles as the title character in the first two RoboCop films and Buckaroo Banzai in the cult classic The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension...
, the original RoboCop, but this did not come to fruition. Twenty-two episodes were made, but the series was not renewed for a second season. Expense played a significant part in this; according to Skyvision VP Kevin Gillis, episodes would be produced at $1.2 million to $1.5 million each.
The pilot episode runs two hours. It was adapted from a discarded RoboCop 2 script, Corporate Wars, by the writers of the original RoboCop, Edward Neumeier
Edward Neumeier
Edward Neumeier is an American screenwriter best known for his work on the science fiction movies RoboCop and Starship Troopers...
and Michael Miner.
Villains on the series include Boppo the Clown, Dr. Cray Z. Mallardo, OCP executive Chip Chayken, William Ray Morgan aka Pudface, Vlad Molotov.
The series gave writers more of an opportunity to develop the central characters and to extend the human interest aspect through the introduction of Gadget; the station mascot and the adopted, insightful daughter of station Sergeant Parks. Gadget, along with the presence of Jimmy Murphy did much to shift the focus from the adult to the youth target audience. The writers also introduced an element of virtual romance and deus ex machina
Deus ex machina
A deus ex machina is a plot device whereby a seemingly inextricable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object.-Linguistic considerations:...
in the persona of Diana, formerly a secretary to crooked Vice-President Chip Chaykin, who becomes transmogrified through her death into the 'face' and 'body' of Metronet, OCP's city-running super-computer.
Many of the characters' names were altered from their movie counterparts due to rights issues.
Episodes
| Episode | Name | (Other names) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (Pilot) | The Future of Law Enforcement | |
| 2 | Prime Suspect | (First Suspect) |
| 3 | Trouble in Delta City | (Delta City) |
| 4 | Officer Missing | (Absence of Police) |
| 5 | What Money Can't Buy | |
| 6 | Ghosts of War | |
| 7 | Zone Five | |
| 8 | Provision 22 | |
| 9 | Faces of Eve | |
| 10 | When Justice Fails | |
| 11 | The Human Factor | |
| 12 | Inside Crime | |
| 13 | Robocop vs Commander Cash | |
| 14 | Illusions | |
| 15 | Tin Man | |
| 16 | Sisters in Crime | |
| 17 | Heartbreakers | |
| 18 | Mothers Day | |
| 19 | Nano | |
| 20 | Corporate Raiders | |
| 21 | Midnight Minus One | |
| 22 | Public Enemies |
Home videos and merchandise
The first five episodes were released on VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in 1995. Episodes of the series were also released in a Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
set. They include "First Suspect," "Delta City," and "Absence of Police."
An action figure
Action figure
An action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors...
collection for the series was produced by little-known Toy Island, a company that would continue making RoboCop figures in the future. The basic series includes RoboCop, Madigan, Stan Parks, Commander Cash (also released as "Commandant Cash"), and Pudface. It also features the OCP Interceptor, Tactical Field Vehicle, Tactical Field Ambulance, Mobile Armored Detective Vehicle, and Cyrochamber playset. In 1995, the Power Glow figure series was released. This includes RoboCop variations with illuminating armor such as a basic RoboCop (blue), Thermo Shield RoboCop (red), and Xicor Shield RoboCop (lime green). Each figure in the collection includes various accessories and several points of articulation.
A soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
entitled A Future to This Life was released January 24, 1995, on both CD and cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
by Pyramid Records. Aside from the show's theme writers, Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh
Joseph Fidler "Joe" Walsh is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has been a member of three commercially successful bands, the James Gang, Barnstorm, and the Eagles, and has experienced notable success as a solo artist and prolific session musician, especially with B.B...
& Lita Ford
Lita Ford
Lita Ford is a British-born, American rock musician and singer who was the lead guitarist for The Runaways and achieved popularity for her solo career between the 1980s and late 2000s.-Early life:...
, it features classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
songs from groups like The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
, The Flamingos
The Flamingos
The Flamingos were a doo wop group from the United States, most popular in the mid to late 1950s and best known for their 1959 cover version of "I Only Have Eyes for You".-Early quintet:...
, Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly is a US psychedelic rock band best known for the 1968 hit "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida".Their heyday was the late 1960s, but the band has been reincarnated with various members. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is the 31st best-selling album in the world, selling more than 25 million copies.-History:The...
, and KC & the Sunshine Band.
DVD releases
On July 27, 2010, Alliance Home EntertainmentAlliance Films
Alliance Films is a major Canadian motion picture distribution/production company, which serves Canada, the United Kingdom, and Spain.-History:It was formed in 1984 by Stephen Roth, Denis Heroux, John Kemeny, Robert Lantos and Jay...
released RoboCop: The Beginning: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 (Canada only) for the very first time.
In Region 2, the complete series was released by Stax Entertainment on DVD in the UK on March 20, 2006. The series was re-released with slimmer packaging on January 22, 2007.
In Region 4, Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment is an Australian company that distributes international films as well as Japanese anime and manga in Australia and New Zealand. The company is owned by Funtastic Limited and is one of the major entertainment companies in Australia. It employs 130 people and has an annual...
released the entire series on DVD in Australia on July 25, 2006.
External links
- RoboCop: The Series at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- RoboCop: The Series at TV.comTV.comTV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...
- RoboCop Archive - RoboCop: The Series