If you were anything like me in the 90’s, Saturday morning cartoons reigned supreme. At some point TV networks seemed to lose their minds and green light anything for a cartoon. Multiple Jim Carrey movies (which will be covered), Musicians, rated R movies and even toys that you would never think of as a cartoon. Have you ever thought back about these and been like “Hey, what the fuck was that about”. Well I did, and I’ve decided to go back and revisit some of these cartoons, for you all (and a little for me as well).
Robocop is one of my favorite movies of all time. It was an early episode of the podcast “It Used To Be Better” and something that is ingrained in my very being. That being said, Robocop is not a kids movie. You know when older people tell you, “Well, it was a different time.” It truly was. What was I doing in my early years watching the Paul Verhoeven classic? Sure I’m born and raised just outside of Detroit, the titular setting for the movie, but I didn’t understand that one of the huge shootouts was set in a drug factory. I didn’t fully understand the scene in which Murphy gets caught and seemingly left for dead. So like most things in the 80s/90s they made this ultra violent movie into a kid friendly cartoon.
Robocop the animated series started in 1989, a full year after the movie had come out. Clear changes include Old Detroit being more of a future city, enemies having special weapons (boots that give you the ability to cause small earthquakes) and replacing bullets with lasers. Also in a weird move, they make Lewis in love with Robocop? It’s an odd move seeing this was a cartoon for children, like who was clamoring for a romantic undertone to this cartoon. Another weird thing added, was now Murphy and Lewis are both redheads. I don’t know why it bothered me, but it did.
The show centers around the aforementioned Robocop and Lewis keeping the city of Old Detroit safe. They are doing this as Dr Macnamara, who works for OCP, is releasing different technology or gangs out to prove that Robocop is useless. Lt. Hedgecock, while a cop, is also against Robocop because Robocop makes them all look bad.
Episode 1 as you can watch below is a great introduction. We get to see Robocop in action, as well as the primary villain, Dr Macnamara. The intro to Macnamara is amazing, he’s trying to tell The Old Man how expensive and horrible Robocop is and that his new ED-260 is the wave of the future. Then he turns on a screen that shows ED-260 directing traffic, AND IT STARTS DESTROYING CIVILIAN VEHICLES AND THE CITY OF OLD DETROIT! Robocop comes in and calms everyone down. This only enrages the Doc even more.
Mcnamara then goes and gets a gang called the vandals, who he finds trashing an arcade. In fact Mcnamara smashes a wall with ED-260 as well, this poor arcade owner. Doc pays the Vandals a briefcase of cash to essentially destroy the city and prove Robocop is useless. Which they almost do, as they attack a shopping mall, Robocop is left under a pile of rubble as his freaking arm falls off.
As you see though Robocop comes through and takes out the Vandals, saving Old Detroit, flirting with Lewis and a happy ending all around. The Robocop Animated Series didn’t spawn any toy lines, although Robocop has had multiple toy lines. I think if you take anything away from this cartoon, it’s the fact that most cartoon series from this time we’re getting 13 episodes, but Robocop only got 12. See, the show was produced by Marvel, and they used the money for the 13th episode, to help produce a pilot for a little show called X-Men. Robocop walked so X-men could run.
What say you? Were you a fan of the Robocop cartoon? Do you have another cartoon that rattles around you brain that you can’t seem to shake might’ve been a little weird? Leave a comment below, hit us up on facebook or IG, or even email me!
FrankenCulture 