''RoboCop'' is a 1994

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian Futurism, futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of low-life, lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial in ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed ...

based on the ''RoboCop'' franchise. It stars

Richard Eden Richard Eden may refer to: * Richard Eden (translator) Richard Eden (c. 1520–1576) was an English alchemist and translator. His translations of the geographical works of other writers helped to foster enthusiasm for overseas exploration in Tud ...

as the

title character The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...

. Made to appeal primarily to children and young teenagers, it lacks the graphic violence of the original film ''

RoboCop ''RoboCop'' is a 1987 American Science fiction film, science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen (actress), Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Dan ...

'' and its sequel '' RoboCop 2'' and is more in line with the tone of ''

RoboCop 3 ''RoboCop 3'' is a 1993 American science fiction action film directed by Fred Dekker and written by Dekker and Frank Miller. It is the sequel to the 1990 film '' RoboCop 2'' and the third entry in the ''RoboCop'' franchise. It stars Robert ...

''. The television series ignores the events of the sequels and many character names are changed from the movie series. The RoboCop character has several non-lethal alternatives to killing criminals, which ensures that certain villains can be recurring. The OCP Chairman and his corporation are treated as simply naïve and ignorant, in contrast to their malicious and immoral behavior from the second film onward.

Background

While ''RoboCop'' was initially an American property,

Orion Pictures Orion Pictures (legal name Orion Releasing, LLC) is an American film production and distribution company owned by Amazon through its Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) subsidiary. In its original operating period, the company produced and released films ...

received a $500,000 cash infusion for TV licensing rights by Canada's Skyvision Entertainment. This allowed access to co-production agreements and possible partnerships with other countries. The series was filmed in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

and Mississauga, Ontario and originally planned for a January 1994 debut, several months after the unsuccessful release of ''

''. Skyvision was also in negotiation with

Peter Weller Peter Weller (born June 24, 1947) is an American film and stage actor, television director, and art historian. He has appeared in more than 70 films and television series, including '' RoboCop'' (1987) and its sequel '' RoboCop 2'' (1990), in wh ...

, the original RoboCop, but this did not come to fruition. 22 episodes were made, but the series was not renewed for a second season. Expense played a significant part in this; according to Skyvision VP Kevin Gillis, episodes would be produced at $1.2 million to $1.5 million each.Ayscough, Suzan
''Orion signs 'RoboCop' series deal''
'' Variety'' (April 29, 1993). Retrieved July 1, 2018. The

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other dist ...

runs two hours and was adapted from a discarded ''RoboCop 2'' script, ''Corporate Wars'', by the writers of the original ''RoboCop'',

Edward Neumeier Edward Neumeier (born August 24, 1957) is an American screenwriter, producer and director best known for his work on the science fiction movies ''RoboCop'' and ''Starship Troopers''. He wrote the latter's sequels '' Starship Troopers 2: Hero of ...

and Michael Miner. Villains on the series include Dr. Cray Z. Mallardo, OCP executive Chip Chayken, William Ray Morgan aka Pudface, Vlad Molotov. The series gave writers more of an opportunity to develop the central characters and to extend the human interest aspect through the introduction of Gadget, the station mascot and the adopted, insightful daughter of station Sergeant Parks. Gadget, along with the presence of Jimmy Murphy did much to shift the focus from the adult to the youth target audience. The writers also introduced an element of virtual camaraderie in the character Diana, formerly a secretary to crooked Vice-president Chip Chayken, who is unwillingly turned into the 'mind' of Metronet and OCP's city-running super-computer, NeuroBrain and RoboCop's biggest 'behind-the-scenes' ally in his fight-against-crime.Cook, Flyn
''A look back - RoboCop: The Series''
RoboCopArchive.com. Retrieved January 25, 2008. Many of the characters' names were also altered from their movie counterparts due to rights issues.

Cast

Main

as Officer Alex James Murphy / RoboCop. When out on duty, his

callsign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a Identifier, unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be form ...

is "Beta 1". *

Yvette Nipar Yvette Nipar (born 1964) is an American actress best known for such films and television series as ''21 Jump Street'', ''RoboCop: The Series'', ''CSI: Miami'', ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' and ''Ski Patrol (1990 film), Ski Patrol''. She is ...

as Officer / Detective Lisa Madigan, of the Metro South Police Station. She is based on the character Anne Lewis played by Nancy Allen in the film series. When out on duty, Madigan's

is "Beta 2". In ''Midnight Minus One'', Madigan mentions 'coming from money' and that 'it doesn't necessarily do anything good for a family' (her movie counterpart, Anne Lewis, mentions having a brother in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, who never bothers to call her). * Blu Mankuma as Sergeant Stanley Parks, Watch Commander of the Metro South Police Station, in Old Detroit. He is based on Sgt. Warren Reed played by

Robert DoQui Robert DoQui (April 20, 1934 – February 9, 2008) was an American actor who starred in film and on television. He is best known for his roles as King George in the 1973 film ''Coffy'', starring Pam Grier; as Wade in Robert Altman's 1975 fi ...

in the film series. * Andrea Roth as Diana Powers; the clumsy secretary of Chip Chayken at OCP, who used her brain for the NeuroBrain project. RoboCop stopped him and Dr. Cray Mallardo from erasing Diana's personality. Diana is now nigh- omniscient/ omnipresent throughout Delta City and Old Detroit, along with any computer system that is a part of Metronet/NeuroBrain or else has access to or can hack into. She would often appear as a hologram, sometimes only visible to Robocop. * David Gardner as OCP Chairman; He cares about Old Detroit and learns a lesson in almost every appearance, bettering his character, but is ignorant of certain things. He is based on The Old Man played by

Dan O'Herlihy Daniel Peter O'Herlihy (May 1, 1919 – February 17, 2005) was an Irish actor of film, television, and radio. With a distinguished appearance and rich, resonant speaking voice, O'Herlihy's best known-roles included his Oscar-nominated portraya ...

in the first two films. * Sarah Campbell as Gadget, an 8/9-year-old girl, who was adopted by Sgt. Stanley Parks following the events of the

Pilot Episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other dist ...

, "The Future of Law Enforcement". Later, in episode 17, "Mothers Day", her birth name is revealed as " Gertrude Modesto", ("Gadget" was just the name assigned to her by

Family Services Child and family services is a government or non-profit organisation designed to better the well being of individuals who come from unfortunate situations, ''environmental'' or ''biological''. People who seek or are sought after to participate in ...

), and that at the age of 3-weeks-old she was given up for adoption by her mother, Sally Modesto, who, as a

numbers runner The numbers game, also known as the numbers racket, the Italian lottery, Mafia lottery or the daily number, is a form of illegal gambling or illegal lottery played mostly in poor and working class neighborhoods in the United States, wherein a be ...

for Russian Mafia Crimeboss, Vlad 'Stitch' Molotov, could not give her daughter the life she wanted to give her. Gadget first became friends with Jimmy Murphy in episode 9, "Provision 22".

Recurring cast

Ed Sahely Ed Sahely is a Canadian actor who is best known for his role as Possum Lake business entrepreneur Murray Woolworth on the second season of ''The Red Green Show''. Career Sahely spent seven years performing and writing with The Second City and re ...

as Charlie Lippencott, RoboCop's

technician A technician is a worker in a field of technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use ...

. * Dan Duran as Bo Harlan, newscaster. * Erica Ehm as Rocky Crenshaw, newscaster. *

Patrick McKenna Patrick McKenna (born May 8, 1960) is a Canadian comedian and actor. He is best known for playing Harold Green on the television series ''The Red Green Show''. Early life Patrick McKenna became interested in Second City when a high-school teach ...

as Umberto Ortega, a

narcissistic Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism exists on a co ...

talk show host. * Jennifer Griffin as Nancy Murphy, wife/widow of the late Alex Murphy. * Peter Costigan as James Daniel 'Jimmy' Murphy, the now-adolescent son of the late Alex Murphy. He first became friends with Gadget in episode 9, "Provision 22". ** Jordan Hughes as Young Jimmy Murphy. *

Martin Milner Martin Sam Milner (December 28, 1931 – September 6, 2015) was an American actor and radio host. He is best known for his performances on two television series: '' Route 66'', which aired on CBS from 1960 to 1964, and ''Adam-12'', which a ...

as Russell Murphy, father of the late Alex Murphy, and a retired police captain and

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

master. * Nonnie Griffin as Dorothy Murphy, mother of the late Alex Murphy, and a retired teacher.

Villains

* James Kidnie as William Ray 'Pudface' Morgan; a criminal who blames RoboCop for his disfigurement caused by a toxic accident of Pudface's own making. His character is based on the first Robocop film character Emil Antonowsky, who suffers a similar (but fatal) disfigurement at the end of the film. Repeatedly thwarted by Robocop, and repeatedly requesting him not to punch him in the face when he is. (Requests which are always ignored by Robocop) * Cliff De Young as Dr. Cray Z. Mallardo; a

cyberneticist A cyberneticist or a cybernetician is a person who practices cybernetics. Heinz von Foerster once told Stuart Umpleby that Norbert Wiener preferred the term "cybernetician" rather than "cyberneticist", perhaps because Wiener was a mathematicia ...

, and a paranoid, psychopathic

prima donna In opera or commedia dell'arte, a prima donna (; Italian for "first lady"; plural: ''prime donne'') is the leading female singer in the company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given. ''Prime donne'' often had grand off-stage per ...

diva Diva (; ) is the Latin word for a goddess. It has often been used to refer to a celebrated woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, theatre, cinema, fashion and popular music. If referring to an actress, the meaning of ''diva'' is cl ...

. In the final episode, ''Public Enemies'', Mallardo's IQ is measured at a 210 IQ, and his psychological evaluation

diagnosis Diagnosis is the identification of the nature and cause of a certain phenomenon. Diagnosis is used in many different disciplines, with variations in the use of logic, analytics, and experience, to determine " cause and effect". In systems engin ...

identifies him as a paranoid psychopath. *

John Rubinstein John Rubinstein (born December 8, 1946) is an American actor, composer and director. Early life Rubinstein is the son of Polish parents. His mother, Aniela (née Młynarska), a dancer and writer, was a Roman Catholic native of Warsaw, the dau ...

as Chip Chayken, an executive of OCP who co-operated with Mallardo to harvest the brains of homeless people for use in the supercomputer, NeuroBrain. * Wayne Robson as 'Shorty', one of 'Pudface' Morgan's two "trigger men". * Donald Burda as Leo, one of 'Pudface' Morgan's two "trigger men". * Hrant Alianak as Vlad 'Stitch' Molotov, so-called because of the scar on his face which is why he doesn't like to be called "Stitch". He is the head of the Detroit branch of the Russian Mafia. *

Daniel Kash Daniel Joshua Kash (born April 25, 1959) is a Canadian actor and film director. Life and career Kash was born in Montreal, Quebec, the son of Canadian opera singer Maureen Forrester and Toronto-born violinist and conductor Eugene Kash (May 1, 1 ...

as Reggie Braga, Brazilian crime boss. * Barry Flatman as Simon Atwater * Chris Wiggins as Dr. Roger Yung

Others

Roddy Piper Roderick George Toombs (April 17, 1954 – July 31, 2015), better known as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, was a Canadian professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and actor. In professional wrestling, Piper was best known to international audiences for his ...

as Tex Jones, formally "clean-living ... mild-mannered audio-visual research scientist ... with a flair for art" working for Mili-Tech Concepts (part of OCP), before his near-death, disfigurement and addlement at the hands of Simon Atwater. At the same time of the attempt on his life, Jones had just invented the "Phase-Pulse Image-Projector", allowing for secret messages to be passed for intelligence-gathering. Jones is also the original creator of "Commander Cash", before Atwater stole the concept (and Jones' other idea, the "Phase-Pulse Image-Projector"), trying to kill Jones in the process. Appears only in ''Robocop vs. Commander Cash''; for most of the episode, Jones poses as Commander Cash in an attempt to foil Atwater for stealing his creations and using them for his plan to drug/mind-control children, en-masse, teaming-up with RoboCop to stop this. Note that the episode's "subliminal messages" theme mirrors that of the cult-classic sci-fi movie ''

They Live ''They Live'' is a 1988 American science fiction action horror film written and directed by John Carpenter, based on the 1963 short story "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" by Ray Nelson. Starring Roddy Piper, Keith David, and Meg Foster, the film ...

,'' which starred Roddy Piper.

Episodes

Soundtrack

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

entitled '' A Future to This Life: Robocop - The Series Soundtrack'' was released 24 January 1995, on both CD and cassette by Pyramid Records. Aside from the show's theme writers,

Joe Walsh Joseph Fidler Walsh (born November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has been a member of three successful rock bands: the James Gang, Eagles, and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr ...

Lita Ford Lita Rossana Ford (born 19 September 1958) is an English-born American guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. She was the lead guitarist for the all-female rock band the Runaways in the late 1970s, before embarking on a successful glam metal solo ...

, it features

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prim ...

songs from groups like The Band,

The Flamingos The Flamingos are an American doo-wop group formed in Chicago in 1953. The band became popular in mid-to-late 1950s and are known for their 1959 cover version of "I Only Have Eyes for You". They have since been hailed as one of the finest and m ...

Iron Butterfly Iron Butterfly is an American rock band formed in San Diego, California, in 1966. They are best known for the 1968 hit " In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", providing a dramatic sound that led the way towards the development of hard rock and heavy metal mus ...

, and KC & the Sunshine Band.

Home media

The first five episodes were released on VHS in 1995. Episodes of the series were also released in a Japanese laserdisc set. They include "First Suspect," "Delta City," and "Absence of Police." In Germany and Italy, "The Future Of Law Enforcement" was released as a stand-alone film on V.H.S. and D.V.D., under the name ''RoboCop 4: Law & Order''. In 2021, Rallie LLC, an affiliate company of co-production partner Rigel Entertainment, acquired the rights to the show from Robocop IP holder MGM. Coinciding with this sale, Rallie remastered all 21 episodes plus the show's two hour pilot and inked deals with streaming service Tubi, as well as home media company Liberation Hall, to release these remasters on to streaming and DVD & Blu-ray respectively.

Merchandise

action figure An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are usually marketed ...

collection for the series was produced by little-known Toy Island, a company that would continue making RoboCop figures in the future. The basic series includes RoboCop, Madigan, Stan Parks, Commander Cash (also released as "Commandant Cash"), and Pudface. It also features the OCP Interceptor, Tactical Field Vehicle, Tactical Field Ambulance, Mobile Armored Detention Vehicle, and Cryochamber playset. In 1995, the Power Glow figure series was released. This includes RoboCop variations with illuminating armor such as a basic RoboCop (blue), Thermo Shield RoboCop (red), and Xicor Shield RoboCop (lime green). Each figure in the collection includes various accessories and several points of articulation.

References

External links

*
RoboCop Archive - RoboCop
{{RoboCop RoboCop television series 1990s American science fiction television series 1994 American television series debuts 1994 American television series endings 1990s Canadian science fiction television series 1994 Canadian television series debuts 1994 Canadian television series endings CTV Television Network original programming First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Television series by MGM Television Alternative sequel television series Action figures English-language television shows American action television series Canadian action television series Live action television shows based on films Television shows filmed in Toronto Culture of Mississauga Television series set in 2005