I’m a pretty big fan of animation. I’ve got cartoons saved on DVD and VHS. On VHS, I’ve got samples of tons of cartoons, both pre-recorded and taped off of the television. I’m not interested in getting the whole series of anything, I just want a good representation of the cartoon. After all, how many times do I need to see the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles defeat Shredder?
But I am a RoboCop fan. If there was any series I’d want, it would be “RoboCop: The Future of Law Enforcement,” right?
Uh … no thanks.
The series was produced by Marvel Comics animation division and Sunbow in 1988 as part of its Marvel action cartoons programming block. In general, it featured animation similar to “G.I. Joe” or “C.O.P.S.,” but while those cartoons had a large cast to draw on, RoboCop naturally had just one main character.
That led to repetitive plots, most of which dwelled on Robo’s struggles with proving he was a man in a metal suit, not a robot with a few human parts.
Now sure, that sounds fairly compelling here, but in 1988, cartoon scripting wasn’t that advanced, and RoboCop certainly proves that case.
On top of that, this cartoon was strictly for kids. It basically took every adult theme in the “RoboCop” movie and squeezed the life out of it. Sure, we couldn’t have Robo blowing people away left and right, but you can still have him be a little violent. Instead, we got scenes of Robo sharp shooting, picking up heavy objects and “cleverly” trapping his quarry by bending things around them. In all it’s a pretty yawn inducing cartoon show.
Want further proof? Look at the image here. They put underwear on RoboCop! Yep, if you look at the movie version of RoboCop, his black-plastic torso covering extends down to his crotch. In the cartoon, he got a metal covered codpiece.
Yes, Marvel thought they needed to protect us from a cyborg’s uncovered nether region — even if it was already covered.
Geez.
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