RoboCop (animated TV series)

RoboCop
Created by	Michael Charles Hill Michael Miner
Starring	Robert Bockstael Barbara Budd Len Carlson Rex Hagon
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	12
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	first-run syndication
Release	October 1, 1988 – December 17, 1988

RoboCop: The Animated Series is an animated series produced in the 1980s by Marvel Productions, and is based on the character and events of the movie RoboCop.

The animated series was derived from R-Rated source material, a trend that was maintained by series such as Rambo and Toxic Crusaders. Among the more notable changes were the removal of bullets (replaced by laser weapons) and a more science fiction setting.

Synopsis

The series follows on from the movie, with Alex Murphy still fighting 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 OCP. 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 often develops other mechanical menaces that frequently threaten RoboCop.

On the home front, RoboCop is befriended as always by Officer Anne Lewis, but is also picked up and lambasted by the prejudiced Lieutenant Hedgecock, ever determined to be rid of him and his kind, whom he sees as ticking time bombs. Their rivalry comes to a fever pitch during the episode "Man in the Iron Suit", where Hedgecock comes close to finally beating Murphy with the aid of a new weapons system developed by McNamara, but almost kills Lewis when she interferes, enraging Murphy into tearing Hedgecock's iron suit apart and almost crushing his skull before Lewis emerges to assure him of her safety.

The cartoon dealt with themes of 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") and reprogrammed assassins ("The Scrambler"). These all show the series had darker scripts than one would find when compared to the 1999 animated effort RoboCop: Alpha Commando. The series also had a high budget. The title sequence even features a brief animated variation on Murphy being gunned down by Clarence Boddicker and his gang.

Opponents

RoboCop would face a number of enemies on the show. The first of which was the ED-260 model made by Doctor McNamara who yearned to get his projects approval over the Robocop program. In the very first episode, he built a Powersuit for a police officer to show that it was superior to the cybernetic police officer which failed.

Another opponent was a robotic automated tank for the military however it was sabotaged by competitors. This tank possessed a single main gun and a targeting sensor beneath it which allowed the machine to search for targets to attack. This sensr also possessed a small blaster allowing it to attack enemies nearby. It was also capable of flight and had missile launchers.

Episode guide

1. "Crime Wave": Dr. McNamara hires a very dangerous gang, the Vandals, in Old Detroit to cause mass crime waves. If RoboCop cannot stop this threat, Dr. McNamara gets his ED-260 on the streets of Old Detroit.
2. "The Scrambler": A former OCP member, now criminal, hacks into RoboCop's controls system. After that he escapes prison with the help from a brainwashed RoboCop. Criminals now control RoboCop and give him the mission to assassinate OCP’s leader The Old Man.
3. "Project Deathspore": OCP's experiment Project Deathspore goes terribly wrong and it escapes into the sewers and streets of Old Detroit and feeds on the energy of the city, and the energy of RoboCop as well.
4. "The Brotherhood": RoboCop meets a High Tech criminal gang, who calls themselves The Brotherhood. Their goal is to destroys all robots & cyborgs in Old Detroit with high tech ball which causes errors on robots & cyborgs and they become mad & destroys all things it sees, or causes power failure.
5. "The Man In The Iron Suit": Dr. McNamera creates an iron suit that is designed to be far superior to RoboCop and gets Lieutenant Hedgecock -- who despises RoboCop -- into the suit to challenege RoboCop and prove to the Old Man that his product is far superior. The Old Man is only concerned about which product would profit the most so he has Hedgecock and RoboCop challenge one another in a competition to determine which product is superior and more profitable.
6. "The Hot Seat": 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 gets RoboCop’s chair and tries to sell it to Dr. McNamara. Will RoboCop & Anne Lewis get RoboCop’s charging chair back, before RoboCop runs out of power? Written by Marv Wolfman
7. "No News Is Good News": Dr. McNamara sabotages OCP’s great new tank AV7. AV7 thinks all things in Old Detroit are enemies and at the same time a bad reporter attempts to "defame" RoboCop, but he doesn’t know how hard it can be.
8. "Night Of The Archer": A man named Archer steals rich people's money and gives them to poor people. But what is this robber's REAL meaning and motive? Will RoboCop stop this villain?
9. "Rumble In Old Detroit": Frightening gang war threatens when a very big cargo of illegal guns 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": RoboCop & Anne Lewis are assigned as Prince Saurus’ & Ilmars bodyguards. They are two Middle East leaders that will sign a peace treaty. But two terrorists send an ED-260 to assassinate the two leaders, just before they write the peace treaty.
11. "Into the Wilderness": RoboCop tries to stop an OCP factory that pollutes the water and environment.
12. "Menace Of The Mind": A dangerous amulet with micro-circuit named Zip-Chip is for sale on the black market. RoboCop tries to stop the gang when he discovers that the gang leader is Clarence Boddicker who killed RoboCop before when he was a human officer named Alex J. Murphy.

Release

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).

As of 2007, none of the show's 12 episodes have been released onto Region 1 DVD. However, all the episodes have been released on a 42 minute laserdisc.

On February 18, 2008, Jetix Films UK released the complete series in a 3 disc box set containing all 12 episodes.