Stephen Downing
RoboCop: The Series

It's 1994, and Fred Dekker's RoboCop 3 was a true disaster: it cost twenty-two million dollars, yet grossed only ten million six hundred thousand.

One wonders, therefore, how to continue the franchise (always considered very appealing) of the popular robo-cop. At this point, the Canadian Skyvision Entertainment steps in, purchasing the television rights for five hundred thousand dollars to produce a brand new TV series.

Negotiations immediately begin to find the lead: the original film's "RoboCop," Peter Weller, is promptly contacted. He politely declines the offer, not wanting to don the famous costume again at forty-six years of age. The same goes (albeit for different reasons) for Robert John Burke, the actor in the aforementioned RoboCop 3. In the end, surprisingly, the choice falls on a semi-unknown Canadian actor, Richard Eden, who was "famous" until then for a role in the old soap opera "Santa Barbara."

Unexpectedly, however, Eden fits perfectly into the role, thanks in part to careful study of the movements used by his predecessors, particularly Weller; as a result, he is much appreciated by fans, who recognize his skill in replicating the cyborg's movements and well representing the character's human side, an obviously crucial aspect.

The series kicks off with a pilot episode of about two hours written by none other than the two screenwriters of the first beautiful film, namely Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner; basically, the characters are more or less the same as in the film trilogy, although with names altered for cost-saving on rights (Anne Lewis - played by the beautiful Yvette Nipar - becomes Lisa Madigan, Sergeant Reed - Blu Mankuma, recently seen in "2012" - becomes Sergeant Parks, and Murphy's ex-wife is named Nancy instead of Ellen, while the Old Man is now called the President). However, new characters are added, like the orphan Gadget, who is eventually adopted by the gruff but kind Sergeant, and Diana, a secretary brutally killed by an OCP executive and stripped of her brain, which is used to construct "NeuroBrain", a "superbrain" in charge of controlling every single activity in Delta City, from traffic lights to hospitals.

The twenty-two episodes capture the incisive social satire of Verhoeven's original, through Media Break newscasts and incredible and absurd commercials (here portrayed by an animated superhero named Commander Cash, who encourages spending and "boosting" the economy); there's also the unique talk show "What's on Your Mind?" where they discuss, for example, whether "it's right or not for soldiers to pose nude for charity" (?).

The sore points, unfortunately, are others: the violence (never gratuitous, but always functional to the story) of the first two films (especially the original) is almost completely removed to make the series accessible to a broader audience (evidently, the lesson of Robocop 3 hadn't served a whit). RoboCop, instead of using his gun more "incisively," possesses gadgets and various tricks to minimize damage to his opponent. The villains themselves are depicted in excessively caricatured ways, like the main villain Bubble Morgan, a sort of poor caricature of Freddy Krueger.

A positive aspect, however, is the excellent scripts written for the show, almost always engaging and fluid; noteworthy in this regard is the second episode "RoboCop's Torture", practically a remake of "The Fugitive," and "The Winning Move", in which RoboCop works alongside his father, unaware of the cyborg's true identity.

"RoboCop: The Series" lasted only one season, mainly due to the very high production costs (each episode cost between one and two million dollars), but it remains primarily a somewhat wasted opportunity, as well as yet another blow to a franchise that potentially has much more to give.