History Trivia / Robocop

* AwesomeDearBoy: Part of the reason why Paul Verhoeven did the first film. He initially rejected the opportunity to direct it when he read the script and thought it was silly and stupid. He changed his mind when his wife convinced him that there were more layers to the story than he initially thought, and because the writers pointed out the amount of {{Gorn}} there was, to which he responded "Well, I've never seen the hero [[{{Fingore}} get his hand blown off]]!"

** And from ''Prime Directives'' Ann Kay is Leslie Hope, aka [[TwentyFour Teri Bauer.]]

** Dick Jones is [[StargateSG1 Senator Robert Kinsey]], [[{{Freespace}} Admiral Aken Bosch]] ''and'' [[Film/TotalRecall1990 Cohaagen.]] There's just something about Ronny Cox's screen persona that lends itself perfectly to "corrupt high-ranking jackass." He was in fact PlayingAgainstType at the time -- he had normally played morally upright characters up to that point.** OCP in the third movie was ran by [[Film/MenInBlack Zed]] and he answered to OCP's new owner, [[SamuraiJack Aku]]. Oh, and Cain, the drug-addicted (and making) cult leader in the second movie, was [[Film/{{Manhunter}} the original Francis Dolarhyde]].

** [[{{Smallville}} Lionel Luthor]] seems to have gotten his start pitching lethal car theft deterrent devices.

** Clarence Boddicker is [[That70sShow Red Forman]] and his gang includes the aforementioned ''ER'' doctor and [[{{Reaper}} The Devil]].

** [=RoboCop=] himself in the first two films is both BuckarooBanzai and [[Series/TwentyFour Christopher Henderson]]. In the third film, he's [[{{Thinner}} Billy Halleck]]/[[GenerationKill James Mattis]]/[[LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Ed Tucker]].

** The anti-OCP movement in the third movie was led by [[TheShield Claudette Wyms]] and consisted of [[MalcolmInTheMiddle Commandant Spangler]], [[TheRock The President of]] [[{{Armageddon}} The United States]], and [[NewsRadio Jimmy James]], [[spoiler: the last of whom turned out to be TheMole.]]

* AwesomeDearBoy: Part of the reason why Paul Verhoeven did the first film. He initially rejected the opportunity to direct it when he read the script and thought it was silly and stupid. He changed his mind when his wife convinced him that there were more layers to the story than he initially thought, and because the writers pointed out the amount of {{Gorn}} there was, to which he responded "Well, I've never seen the hero [[{{Fingore}} get his hand blown off]]!"

* HeyItsThatGuy

** [=RoboCop=] himself in the first two films is both BuckarooBanzai and [[TwentyFour Christopher Henderson]]. In the third film, he's [[{{Thinner}} Billy Halleck]]/[[GenerationKill James Mattis]]/[[LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Ed Tucker]].

** The original animated series had an unexpected nod to Murphy's death, with a flashback to the very end of the scene, Boddicker's [[BondOneLiner "Fun's over"]] and the final shot to Murphy's head, rendered in animation.

** Dick Jones is [[StargateSG1 Senator Robert Kinsey]], [[{{Freespace}} Admiral Aken Bosch]] ''and'' [[TotalRecall Cohaagen.]] There's just something about Ronny Cox's screen persona that lends itself perfectly to "corrupt high-ranking jackass." He was in fact PlayingAgainstType at the time -- he had normally played morally upright characters up to that point.** OCP in the third movie was ran by [[Film/MenInBlack Zed]] and he answered to OCP's new owner, [[SamuraiJack Aku]]. Oh, and Cain, the drug-addicted (and making) cult leader in the second movie, was [[Film/{{Manhunter}} the original Francis Dolarhyde]].

** [=RoboCop=] himself in the first two films is both BuckarooBanzai and [[TwentyFour Christopher Henderson]]. In the third film, he's [[{{Thinner}} Billy Halleck]]/[[GenerationKill James Mattis]].

** Dick Jones is [[StargateSG1 Senator Robert Kinsey]], [[{{Freespace}} Admiral Aken Bosch]] ''and'' [[TotalRecall Cohaagen.]] There's just something about Ronny Cox's screen persona that lends itself perfectly to "corrupt high-ranking jackass." He was in fact PlayingAgainstType at the time -- he had normally played morally upright characters up to that point.
** OCP in the third movie was ran by [[Film/MenInBlack Zed]] and he answered to OCP's new owner, [[SamuraiJack Aku]]. Oh, and Cain, the drug-addicted (and making) cult leader in the second movie, was [[Film/{{Manhunter}} the original Francis Dolarhyde]].

** The original animated series had an unexpected nod to Murphy's death, with a flashback to the very end of the scene, Boddicker's [[BondOneLiner "Fun's over"]] and the final shot to Murphy's head, rendered in animation.

* ShoutOut: The ShowWithinAShow ''I'd Buy That for a Dollar'' is a homage to the idiot's TV-derived catchphrase from the dystopic SF novel ''The Marching Morons'', updated for inflation. Originally: "I'd buy that for a quarter!" [[hottip:*:The star of the show, Bixby Snyder, is possibly a homage to BennyHill. Or a parody. In a supposedly-filmed scene, there's one final newscast where the newsreaders announce that Snyder has been arrested for receiving sexual favours from underaged co-stars.]]

** When Robo boards a helicopter to get into the blocked-off OCP building in one episode of the TV series, he asks the pilot to "[[StarTrek Take me up, Scotty."]]

*** He probably didn't know that [[TwinPeaks Albert Rosenfeld's]] design team gave Robocop balls of steal.

* AwesomeDearBoy: Part of the reason why Paul Verhoeven did the first film. He initially rejected the opportunity to direct it when he read the script and thought it was silly and stupid. He changed his mind when his wife convinced him that there were more layers to the story than he initially thought, and because the writers pointed out the amount of Gorn there was, to which he responded "Well, I've never seen the hero [[{{Fingore}} get his hand blown off]]!"

* CaliforniaDoubling
** Most of the first movie was shot in [[DFWMetroplex Dallas]].
** ''[=RoboCop=] 2'' was shot in [[GreaterHouston Houston]].
** ''[=RoboCop=] 3'' was shot in Atlanta, using many of the buildings that would soon be torn down to make room for the facilities for the 1996 Summer Olympics.
* {{Defictionalization}}: There is a real life company called Omni Consumer Products. They specialize in... making Defictionalized products. In an nicely full circle manner, the company's owner gave 25,000 dollars to a project seeking to build a statue of [=RoboCop=] in Detroit.

* LicensedGame: Many, including a CrossOver: ''RobocopVsTerminator''. The original [=DataEast=] arcade game is considered to be an exception to TheProblemWithLicensedGames.
* TheOtherDarrin: Because of the costume and general similarity between [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000693/ Peter Weller]] and [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0121559/ Robert John Burke]], it isn't too noticeable.
* PlayingAgainstType: Prior to playing Dick Jones, Ronny Cox played nice guys. However, Dick Jones also set up a new type for him, as proven by [[StargateSG1 Senator Robert Kinsey]] and [[TotalRecall Vilos Cohaagen]].

* ShownTheirWork
** Many setting details are correct despite the films being shot elsewhere. The first was filmed in Dallas, the second was filmed in Houston, and the third was filmed in Atlanta.
*** The DPD precinct system -- it is organised by geography not the usual precinct numbers.
*** The local hospitals. There really is a Henry Ford Hospital that's a Level 1 trauma center.
*** The neighborhoods: "Cadillac Heights" from the third movie is apparently somewhere in the old Black Bottom, across Woodward from the university district and just south of Hamtramck.
** The trauma team that works on Murphy as he dies is a real trauma team, and their dialog was mostly ad-libbed. In the commentary, the writers say they wished they could have come up with a line like "Let's shock a flat line and quit."
* TakeThat: The [[KillSat SDI Defense Satellite]] misfiring in the first movie. The incident killed two former presidents. One is understandable but two seems like carelessness. At the time the movie was filmed, there were two former american presidents living in California where the fictional laser struck. RonaldReagan and RichardNixon.

* CaliforniaDoubling: Similar to its predecessors, the 1994 TV series (and ''Prime Directives'') use Canadian locations as a stand-in for Detroit.

** OCP in the third movie was ran by [[Film/MenInBlack Zed]] and he answered to OCP's new owner, [[SamuraiJack Aku]]. Oh, and Cain, the drug-addicted (and making) cult leader in the second movie, was [[{{Manhunter}} the original Francis Dolarhyde]].

** OCP in the third movie was ran by [[MenInBlack Zed]] and he answered to OCP's new owner, [[SamuraiJack Aku]]. Oh, and Cain, the drug-addicted (and making) cult leader in the second movie, was [[{{Manhunter}} the original Francis Dolarhyde]].

* HeyItsThatVoice: In the first film, ED-209 was voiced by an uncredited Jon Davison, who was the producer of the film.

** Robo's partner, Lewis, is [[{{Carrie}} Chris Hargensen]].

** The anti-OCP movement in the third movie was led by [[TheShield Claudette Wyms]] and consisted of [[MalcolmInTheMiddle Commandant Spangler]], [[TheRock The President of]] [[{{Armageddon}} The United Stated]], and [[NewsRadio Jimmy James]], [[spoiler: the last of whom turned out to be TheMole.]]

* Robo's partner, Lewis, is [[{{Carrie}} Chris Hargensen]].

** [[AustinPowers Alotta Fagina]] is in an ad for sunblock.

** [=RoboCop=] himself in the first two films is both BuckarooBanzai and [[TwentyFour Christopher Henderson]]

** Hob, Cain's child henchman in the second movie, is played by [[TheLandBeforeTime Littlefoot]].