RoboCop is back. Maybe. Ten years after the José Padilha-directed reboot film starring Joel Kinnaman, and nearly four decades since the 1987 Paul Verhoeven masterpiece that started it all, the tragic cyber policeman could finally see action again. And this time, the medium should be ideal for the concept. The world was never really ready for RoboCop in 1987, but Alex Murphy is overdue for a return.
According to Deadline, James Wan will executive-produce a new RoboCop series written by Peter Ocko. Wan is well-known for his horror movies like The Conjuring, while Oko’s writing credits span several TV shows, from Elementary to The Office. What would a 21st-century RoboCop series from these creators look like? And will it correct the mistakes of previous sequels and remakes?
This is somehow the fifth RoboCop TV series
While it’s easy to think of a hard-hitting, prestige-era RoboCop TV series as a breath of fresh cybernetic air, this series will actually be the fifth time the half-man, half-machine has been brought to the small screen. In 1988, there was a short-lived animated RoboCop TV series aimed at kids, followed by a 1994 series that also had a family-friendly vibe. Note the moment in the opening credits when nine-year-old Gadget (Sarah Campbell) says “Wow!” like she’s in a commercial for Sunny Delight.
This version of RoboCop was quietly one of the most bonkers sci-fi shows of the 90s; among other changes, the show ditched OmniCorp’s corruption and gave RoboCop (Richard Eden) a hologram bestie in the form of Diana Powers (Andrea Roth), who sometimes merged with his brain and body. Eden did his best to imitate Peter Weller, but almost nothing about this version came close to the subversive brilliance of the first two films. Sometimes, the show even felt like a sitcom along the lines of the 1994 TV version of Weird Science, which, oddly enough, had an episode written by new RoboCop writer Peter Ocko.
Next, another animated series called RoboCop: Alpha Commandos ran from 1998 to 1999, and was essentially a continuation of the 1988 Disney-fied version. Finally, there was a 2001 miniseries, RoboCop: Prime Directives, a very low-budget Canadian production that billed itself as an alternate sequel to the original film. Unsurprisingly, none of these series are well remembered.
The new RoboCop can and should avoid the mistakes of the past
Now, however, is the perfect time to reboot RoboCop as a hard-edged, adult-focused sci-fi drama. While the best versions of the character exist in two films (RoboCop and RoboCop 2), the basic format lends itself well to television, just not the family-friendly versions attempted in the past. For all the merits of the 2014 reboot, its fundamental problem was that it was saddled with a PG-13 rating.
RoboCop needs to be free to be serious and bloody. While many, many superheroes have been subjected to the dark-and-gritty treatment, RoboCop, bizarrely, has had more light-hearted reboots than serious ones. This makes no sense when you look at the source material; the original 1987 film was deeply concerned about corporate corruption and police brutality. If the new RoboCop series can return to its serious and satirical roots, then for the first time in a long time, the adventures of Alex Murphy might mean something again.
