(Adaptation Series)
Dear Readers,
The Robocop we know is one that depicts every identifier for an R rated film or worse. Exaggerated violence, rampant cursing, nudity, and as much gore as possible. Logically, the only progression was to make a kid-friendly version of the story, right? That was exactly the idea behind the 1998 cartoon series Robocop: Alpha Commando. Conceptually, the pitch seems to make complete sense. Robots, cops, violence, heroes, a dastardly villain, what more do you need in a 90s cartoon? In this series’ case, a whole lot.
Airing on September 7, 1998, the series lasted laughably until February 3, 1999; only a mere four months. The series was based on the following: the year is 2030, and Robocop is reactivated after five years dormant. The necessity to reactivate the cyborg is to fight the forces of DARC, or the Directorate for Anarchy, Revenge, and Chaos, on behalf of the “Alpha Division”, a high tech federal organization. The basis from that point forward is simple; fight against new threats of evil posed by DARC with each episode.
In terms of connection with the original work, Robocop: Alpha Commando is obviously more tame. Shockingly, there is no graphic violence, instead cartoon explosions and laser beams, there is no cursing, which apparently was too outlandish for children’s television, and perhaps most surprisingly, no nudity; crazy right? Plot-wise, the series shared many of the same writers who worked on the 1980s original cartoon series, Robocop: The Animated Series. However, the story is not alike to the movie for reasons separate from the thematic elements. In the cartoon series, Robocop is already created, and simply reawakened rather than built from scratch. A similarity, I suppose, would be that both uses of Robocop were out of necessity. In the original film, due to a high level of crime, and in the series, due to a super villain. Some differences include: the only characters that make the transfer to the series are Sargent Reed and Robocop himself, Anne Lewis never makes an appearance which is never explained, and Robocop never removes his helmet. Perhaps what was the ultimate turmoil of the series was a slew of continuity errors. For example, when Robocop is accessing distant memories (Hey! Another similarity to the film), he sees his son at age 10. Later in the series, his sone makes an appearance, at the same age, wearing the same outfit, yikes.
Although the storyline seems to follow a similar general path, the series crashed quickly as continuity errors and too many differences that didn’t support the story were its undoing. Perhaps the most surprising element I encountered was the ridiculous Christmas episode, in which Robocop is tasked with a cliche task of saving Christmas for the innocent youth of the world; truly touching.
Until next time,
Lucas
Works Cited:
“RoboCop: Alpha Commando.” RoboCop Wiki. Wikia, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2016.
“Robocop (1987).” IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2016.
“Robocop: Alpha Commando.” IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2016.
Memory and Identity 