In my humble opinion, Jose Padilha’s RoboCop “remake” isn’t killing the franchise or embarrassing it, in fact that film is actually REVIVING the RoboCop franchise for a new generation. Over the past 15 years, RoboCop has seen sequels, animated series and much, much more. However, sometimes MGM has taken the license a little bit too far which has possibly ruined RoboCop’s image and reputation. Let’s take a look at some hilarious appearances or incarnations of the RoboCop character. Please note that this list is in no particular order.
Robocop: The Animated Series
While this one isn’t too bad, it pretty much ditched almost everything RoboCop is known for except the basic story. The intro to the series details the first movie in 30 seconds, but that’s pretty much all that’s kept besides Anne Lewis. Now, I’m not one of those guys who think “RoboCop needs violence!” but this show didn’t have enough action as I’d like. It’s still a decent watch if you’re a RoboCop fan, but this is the beginning of where it all went downhill…
RoboCop 3
People are always going on about how Jose Padilha’s remake is ruining RoboCop and how it will be terrible. Despite their judgmental uninformed opinions, I can’t think of any ways that the film could even come close to being as bad as RoboCop 3. This is the final nail in the coffin and solidified RoboCop’s rightful place in the list of franchises that went too far. Instead of exploring the universe of RoboCop and how it could be fully expanded, such as interesting concepts like “What if OCP used their technology to bring back Dick Jones as RoboCop 2?” or “Does this technology ever reach other cities, and how will it affect the world?”, RoboCop 3 decided to go bigger and better and implement an insane amount of terrible CGI, campy action and horrible dialogue. The whole time, I felt like I was watching an Adam West Batman film because it’s really that terrible. The only good thing about this film is Robert John Burke’s impressive movements as RoboCop, capturing almost the same essence that Peter Weller used in the first two films.
Robocop: Alpha Commando
Before I get into this, I want you to watch the intro first. It’s only one minute. Okay, you’re done? Awesome, so now you see why that show deserves a spot on this list. Despite sharing some of the same writers from the previously mentioned animated series, this show had absolutely nothing in common with that series and was undeniably worse. About a year ago when the script to Jose Padilha’s RoboCop leaked, people were freaking out because rumors claimed he was a transformer (he isn’t), but if you want to basically see RoboCop as a transformer, you’ve come to the right place. Sporting gadgets and weird contraptions in his armor such as roller skates and a parachute, this is the reason we haven’t gotten another RoboCop series whether it is live-action or animated. However, if The Killing ends soon, I’m sure Joel Kinnaman would be up for the role on TV…
RoboCop Prime Directives
Now this one is more interestingly funny than horrible, but it still deserves a spot on this list. RoboCop: Prime Directives is a series of four short films produced on an incredibly low budget for television as Fireworks Entertainment wanted one last stand with the RoboCop rights before their contract expired. This film takes place years after RoboCop 3 and introduces a “clone” of RoboCop as the enemy. The story is quite interesting and features some decent performances; however the incredibly low budget shows too much in this production with the Styrofoam-like costumes and the rubber weapons flopping all around in the scene. A RoboCop mini-series for television could’ve been incredibly cool, but unfortunately this is just unbearable to watch at times. You should check it out if you’re a fan of RoboCop, but this somehow looks worse than the RoboCop TV series.
World Championship Wrestling – RoboCop Saves Sting
Now this video is awesome and horrible at the same time. Back in the day, RoboCop was pretty huge right? So in an interesting piece of cross-promotion, WCW actually had the cyborg appear on their Pay-Per-View and help out Sting when he needed backup. This could’ve been extremely cool! Would RoboCop strange Arn Anderson until he passed out? Nope, instead he saved Sting from a conveniently placed cage that just happened to be at ringside and wasn’t cleared out from a previous angle. So what did RoboCop do? He ripped the obviously fake door off of its hinges and left. How exciting. I mean, it was cool at the time but to really promote, I would’ve had RoboCop cut a small promo with Sting. It doesn’t help that whatever stand-in was in the RoboCop gear was absolutely horrible at walking like a robot, probably due to the limitations of a decent-looking but low-budget costume.
All in all, RoboCop has shown up in a lot of interesting media and I, for one, can’t wait until Joel Kinnaman brings RoboCop back to the glory he deserves. With a trailer imminent, keep your eye on ComicBookMovie.com!
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