Detroit, the
near future, well, probably not too far in the future considering
Detroit's reputation as being a crime-ridden cesspool for
generations. Gangs are running rampant, stealing blood plasma, hiding
out in their lairs playing arcade games, OCP is evil and ED-260 -
even though it's a new model that “is not programmed for failure”
- is still a piece of crap. I'm speaking of course of the Robocop
animated series – and no, I don't mean Robocop: Alpha
Commando because the Best Cartoon Ever (of the Month) is a series
about GOOD CARTOONS.
Robocop wasn't
exactly the most kid-friendly trilogy to begin with, but it has been
“dumbed down” for this 1988 Marvel Production series without
losing a lot of what makes the movies so enjoyable. Like several of
the other shows I plan to feature in this series, there are very few
episodes so there isn't much opportunity to “develop” any
in-depth stories. The show doesn’t require having seen the films,
but to really enjoy it and appreciate it the way it deserves, I
highly suggest at least watching the first one since it is primarily
what the show goes off of. The intro gives the kiddos a little
insight into how Murphy makes his transmogrification into Robocop,
which actually portrays a dude that looks like Kurtwood Smith doing
the dirty work, major props there. It's a little intense compared to
other Saturday morning cartoon intros, but it wouldn't be Robocop if
it wasn't violent. While the movies were rather laden with gunfire,
the cartoon doesn't let it's infantile audience hold it back in that
department, they just did what most shows in the late 1980s did, and
converted to laser guns. It probably goes without saying, but I'm not
the kind of person who ever has a problem with laser guns; nor does
it affect my ability to suspend whatever lingering disbelief I may
have (okay, well most of the time).
Robocop
and Anne Lewis – Like, Totally BFF
Animated series
Anne Lewis is quite a bit different than film Anne Lewis, but they're
both good lookin' ladies, so who cares. Animated series Lewis has the
occasional hots for Robocop - they even go out on a date - and while
I can't blame her, it's definitely out of character per the movies.
Robocop's wife and son are only mentioned once, in the episode where
Clarence Boddicker makes his return (but Kalan, Clarence Boddicker
dies in the movie. Yeah, I know, it's a cartoon, deal with it; he's
back), the series focuses mostly on thwarting the evil-doers and
reclaiming shreds of humanity than rehashing some back story that
most kids watching the show are not familiar with.
One of the
things that I was incredibly happy to see carry over from the movies
were the quirky commercials and TV programs broadcast within the
show. My favorite is a newscaster's punchline, “and he said, that
wasn't my wife, that was a hedgehog!”
This series has
a lot of word play and puns, which is a big contribution to how
awesome it is. In the first episode Sergeant Reed has a serious
obsession with football quips. Luckily that doesn't last the other 12
episodes, because it is insanely annoying. I mean, if it had been a
good sport, like baseball, I would have found it much more
tolerable, but like I said, it only lasts the first episode.
The bad guys in
this show are not quite as evil as the ones from the movies, but
they're pretty sincere in their villainous intentions. The Vandals
are the main gang and are rather inept until a little nudge from OCP
higher-up and ED-260 developer Dr. McNamara. Thanks to him, they're
substantially technologically outfitted to wreak havoc.
I'm one of the
first to admit that I have a rather annoying tendency to pick out
ridiculously trivial parts of things that I watch, things that really
have nothing to do with anything else going on in the show/film. The
one instance of this that comes into play this month with the Robocop
animated series is the fact that one of the Vandals, Crash, has the
same annoying high-pitched laugh that Joe P. Cox (Jesse Goins) had in
the first film.
The backgrounds
in the show are absolutely phenomenal. I wish every cartoon paid the
same attention to detail that this series did to what could arguably
be an insignificant aspect. The city is rugged, it's dirty. The
buildings, especially the OCP headquarters, are looming. In the
street scenes the names of the shops are funny. If you're looking
close enough, the Vandals take on Robocop in front of a store called
“Whang's Co.” and that just makes me chuckle. The only time I
know that Delta City is mentioned is in the “Project Deathspore”
episode (my favorite one for so many reasons), but there are
billboards advertising it throughout the rest of the series.
Robocop
encounters some very adult themes in this series, especially compared
to “cartoons” these days. One episode in particular pits the
super cop against a Ku Klux Klan style gang, and when I say “style”
I mean it's pretty damn obvious what it is they're trying to convey
and what direction the episode is going to go. This episode, “The
Brotherhood” is my second favorite of the series because of its
absurdity. I remember watching the series all the way through the
first time and when the 4th episode came on I was slack-jawed and
shortly thereafter in the throes of hysterical laughter. The
“flesh-brothers” (because that's not a weird way to refer to one
another) are beyond perturbed that machines have made life so much
easier for people in Detroit - “they terk our jobs”, if you catch
my South Park drift. The Brotherhood has this great idea to use an
electronic device that emits a frequency that destroys
electronics. What better way to get back at Robocop and other
machines than to, you know, create a very high tech machine, right?
A few of the
episodes are really difficult to accept as part of the Robocop brand
– like the one where he goes camping or the Robin Hood one. There
are times while watching this show when I think to myself “okay,
who was on vacation and let the intern give the green light?” Like
I said at the beginning though, I don't want to be “internet-gative”
(hahahahaha, okay, now that was a good 'un and you can't deny it). To
be fair though, in the second movie when the advisory board is
meeting to discuss Robocop's new directives one of them mentions that
he never does anything for environmental awareness, so I guess that's
where “The Wilderness” comes to fruition and another mentions
that Robo doesn't really make an effort to be a “positive”
influence for Detroit's youth, I assume “The Archer” is an effort
to address that because apparently ridding the city of it's more
nefarious citizens isn't positive when you use a big gun and explode
buildings, go figure.
If you're looking for a solid way to spend a Saturday morning, or
any morning in my case, look up the Robocop series. While it is
important to disconnect slightly from the films in order to fall in
love with this show, it is not impossible. It's fantastically
animated, written fairly well, and most importantly, it's a Marvel
Production and it's ROBOCOP. Best cartoon EVER (of the month).
-Kalan
Very nice.I watched few episode.Keep posting thumbs up.
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