Guess who hasn’t seen the new Robocop movie yet?! Yes, good guess! Hopefully a review of it will come soon so instead i’ve got something even better for you – Robocop: The Animated Series. Who says Screenkicker isn’t up to date?
Robocop: TAS was a spinoff from the hyper violent social satire movie of the same name. This was in 1988 when you got a cartoon version of all the most violent adults only movies of the day. There were animated adaptations of Rambo, Police Academy, and I Spit on your Grave (only two of these actually exist). Those were the good old days when cartoons were for cool kids and not sappy wimps who talked about their feelings and other shit like that. I’m sounding really old aren’t I?
So on to the actual review. Don’t laugh but this version of Robocop is pretty faithful to the source material. A lot more than the blasphemy that was Robocop 3. The title sequence alone is stupendous. We see Alex Murphy getting murdered by Clarence Boddicker’s crew and then being rebuilt as Robocop. Well we don’t see him being blown limb from limb like in the Paul Verhoeven classic but it’s insinuated.
After this the first episode starts with a generic street gang robbing a blood bank for reasons that are undisclosed. Robo and Officer Lewis show up, beat the bad guys, and stop a bomb from killing the public. But as we see later the higher ups are pissed off that Murphy broke an expensive window and pledge to shut the Robocop program down. Nnnooooo!!!!
From here things get crazy. An obviously half robotic evil doctor hires a group of thugs known as The Vandals to er, vandalise stuff and discredit Robocop. Throw in the classic ‘angry back lieutenant’, a bad cop named ‘Hedgecock’ who utters the immortal line “don’t get cute with me you walking tin can!”, Lewis screaming “MURPHYYY!!!” constantly, and the bloodcurdling sight of Robocop smiling and you have a classic 80s cartoon show.
You can watch the whole thing on YouTube. It only ran for one season that included the KKK, Hedgecock getting a robot suit (presumably becoming Robocock), and the return of Clarence Boddicker. Enjoy!!!?
What’s your favourite childhood animated series? Mine was the excellent ‘Defenders of the Earth‘. This can also become a competition to see who is the oldest fart among my readership. Let battle commence!
Screenkicker! 
OMG There was an animated TV show on Robocop? I’ve missed out! I would have loved this as a kid.
I remember the terrible TV show – where NO-ONE died and Robocop just shot the weapons out of people’s hands! Criminals Robocop locked up were out free in the next episode – even at my young age I was worried about the justice system in Detroit!
Great review – going to check out the cartoon!
Fav cartoon when I was growing – Batman: The Animated Series. Closely followed by Transformers, Ninja Turtles, He-Man…and Animaniacs lol
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Thats a fantastic list of cartoons! Batman TAS was actually far too good for kids.
I actually remember that Robocop TV show, it was so so bad. Ive never been to Detroit but that made it look so boring.
Plus it takes a lot of skill to shoot a gun out of someone’s hand so go easy on old Robo!
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Batman TAS – most definitely! Grown up cartoon that didn’t pander down to kids. Kevin Conroy still remains my favourite Batman.
Alright I’ll go easy on Robo for his targeting system! Still didn’t make the TV show any better! 🙂
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Why was this film marketed to kids so much? Toys and everything. What?
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In the 80s there was a toy of everything. I remember I had a few Rambo toys!
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Haha 😀
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Captain Planet Saves Belfast!
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Oh thats brilliant!!! I’m doing that next! Nice work D!
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I hate the original robocop, I much prefer the ITV dubbed version. ‘Shit’ was ‘Baloney’.
Fave 80’s cartoon is easy: M.A.S.K
PS – this review was baloney.
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I remember that version. There’s a bit someone says “Stick it up your nose”. Nose is said in a completely different voice!
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And I agree M.A.S.K was great. Cher should have won an oscar for it
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LOL. That actually looks pretty good!
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You know something? It actually is pretty good. Ive watched five episodes already!
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Favorite animated series? That’s tough. I was quite fond of Batman. I also remember liking Rugrats, Hey Arnold, and Gargoyles. But my favorite show hands down was Are You Afraid of the Dark. Not animated, but THE BEST.
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Either you’re a lot younger than me or you were watching kids shows when you were far too old! 🙂
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I hesitate to reveal my age because I see the crap Zoe gets for it on Twitter…lol.
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Haha there are worse things than being teased for being young 😦
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Lol. It’s true. But I’ll still leave you guys guessing. 😉
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The rule is that if a girl asks you to guess her age you should subtract 7 from what you really think
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Hmm. So if you guessed my actual age should I be offended because you thought I was 7 years older??
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Exactly! You should try it, it never fails 🙂
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Very cool post. I remember the toys too. That credit sequence wouldnt even pass today on TV. I’m asuming that “I spit on your grave”was made into a animated series over “Rambo” because at least that one at least had a positive role model for girls. Plus I could have sworn the girl from that movie teamed up with Jem and the Holograms to beat down some sadistic men in an episode.
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Haha thanks! They don’t make em like they used to. I remember Jem, it was so cheesy it was painful
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