Lost Signals: RoboCop The Series (1994)

There are variety of delivery systems when you need to get your Robocop fix, film being the most obvious choice followed by comic books, toys, novelizations and video games. Heck, there’s even a cartoon series based around everyone’s favorite steel-encased upholder of justice. There’s one more, though, that always seems to fall by the wayside even to the biggest fans: the TV series. Running for just one season, the Robocop TV series was actually a product of the Great White North, being produced by Skyvison Entertainment and shot predominately in Toronto and Missassauga, Ontario.

Released just after Robocop 3, which may help explain why no one has really heard of it, poor timing wasn’t the only thing working against this beacon of public service’s boob tube debut. The debate over what were and what weren’t appropriate levels of violence in television programming was in full swing, thanks in part to the controversy stirred up by the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers “violent” content and the effects it was apparently having on the youth. With such a political maelstrom brewing, there was no way to get a true-to-film version of Robocop on the air, at least not without almost eliminating the violence. That’s a hard thing to do when you consider violence is one of the most prominent things in the original movies, at least the first two. That’s what they did though, cutting out the most violent aspects of the character and exploring other avenues and abilities presented by his cybernetically-enhanced superhuman state.

The series did retain the most important aspects of the films, minus the violence, and added in a few new things that really helped it. Keeping the same dynamic set down in the films, Robo is partnered with a new female officer (Detective Lisa Madigan) under the supervision of a sergeant (Sergeant Stan Parks). Robocop’s relationship with both Madigan and Parks is almost exactly the same as it was with filmic counterparts, Officer Anne Lewis and Sergeant Warren Reed, so this is really the only logical reason I can come up with. Oh copyright law, how fickle ye be.

They also changed the man in the Robocop suit again to Candian TV actor Richard Eden (Freddy’s Nightmares, Total Recall 2070). Producers did, at one point, try to court Peter Weller but that eventually fell, likely due to money. It’s a shame they were unable get Weller back for the series, that would have been a major coup and would likely have shifted fans of the original film back towards this TV outing, regardless of the lack of R-rated violence. That isn’t to discredit Edens’ time as Robo as he does a pretty decent job, bringing some emotion to the cyborg policeman plagued with memories of a former life.

Also new to the cast is a little girl named Gadget, the adopted daughter of Sergeant Parks who acts as the station mascot. To the viewers, she adds another human character to give a shit about and (more importantly, I think) is a character who is relatable to the children the production company knew would be watching. Not that they needed that before, seeing as Robocop was already heavily marketed to an audience that was nowhere near old enough to actually go out and see the R rated films…. like that stopped any of us, right? I grew up in the age of VHS tapes. Ratings were more of a suggestion than anything else. If you wanted to see a movie, you were going to see it.

The plot lines tackled in each episode are, for the most part, fresh and interesting – at least for the time it aired. Ranging from commentary about pharmaceuticals being rushed through the testing phase only to be released to the public to cause great harm, the theft of organs to sell on the black market that are originally intended for transplant to storylines involving both Alex Murphey’s father and wife, the lofty plots are entertaining and at times more thought-provoking than one would expect.

Again, though, I think this is another reason why this series failed all those years ago; TV audiences of the mid-90’s weren’t tuning in to see these kinds of stories, especially when the vehicle being used to tell them is Robocop. The show also tends to sway towards the goofy side at times, whether it’s the actors hamming it up in their roles or just ridiculous situations and plot devices (I’m looking at you anti-friction spray). I can only imagine what film fans’ reactions were to such a detour from the original. Overall, if you’re a fan of Robocop and open to a slightly less violent iteration of the cyborg lawman, you’ll be well off picking this one up on DVD and giving it a go.