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Dead or alive, you're coming with me.
The original RoboCop (1987) was set Twenty Minutes Into The Future in Detroit, where the police force has been recently privatized and handed over to the megacorporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP). Peter Weller stars as officer Alex Murphy. Trailing a vicious criminal gang led by Clarence Boddicker, Murphy is separated from his partner Anne Lewis. Boddicker and his gang find him and take delight in unloading half their ammunition into him. After being pronounced dead, OCP takes his remains and effectively resurrects him into the Nigh Invulnerable cyborg police officer RoboCop. His mind is supposedly wiped, but signs indicate that he hasn't forgotten, and is out for revenge. Even worse, it seems OCP executive Dick Jones is connected to Boddicker, and Jones had some influence on his software programming.
Directed by Paul Verhoeven, RoboCop was a gritty, ultra-violent, darkly humorous film. The film features a great deal of social commentary and political satire on such subjects as capitalism, privatization, the environment, petroleum dependency, and public apathy. The film works as a pure summer entertainment as well, with taut action sequences, impressive production design, and memorable characters. Its smash success spawned a whole series of sequels and spin-offs.
The first sequel RoboCop 2 (1990) was even more violent and edgier then the first, going so far as to include a child as one of the primary villains. The plot involves the spread of a new the drug called NUKE, considered the most addictive narcotic in history, while the police department goes on strike. RoboCop struggles to stem the flow by going after Cain, a drug kingpin with a messiah complex. Meanwhile, OCP has failed to replicate their success creating the first RoboCop. After several failed attempts, an unscrupulous executive in OCP (seeing a pattern here?) hypothesizes that the mind of criminal with a strong desire for power and immortality could survive the procedure. When RoboCop finally takes Cain down, OCP immediately sticks his brain in RoboCop 2 and counts on his addiction to NUKE as a Restraining Bolt. No points on guessing how long he stays loyal. Now RoboCop must face an Evil Counterpart who is far more heavily armed than himself.
Relying too heavily on raw violence and shock value, the film was not as popular as the first. Frank Miller wrote the original screenplay. Although the script was heavily altered to fit a movie format, his influence in the themes of the film can be identified, including scenes in which a focus group attempts to make RoboCop more family-friendly, rendering him unable to do his job. Miller later turned his original vision into a comic book series called Frank Miller's RoboCop.
The third film RoboCop 3 substituted the adult violence for something more tame, being rated PG-13. The third movie has OCP working to finish what they've been trying to do in the first two movies — tear down a Detroit "beyond saving" and rebuild it as Delta City. As usual, it comes down to Murphy vs. OCP. RoboCop (now played by Robert John Burke) finds himself working to keep them from forcibly removing citizens to make way for a "better Detroit." Along the way, he gets a jetpack and fights robot ninjas. Far and away considered the worst of the trilogy, this film bombed both financially and critically.
Despite the very adult material, the character of RoboCop has the general makings of a classic Superhero Origin Story, and as such has appeared in at least four incarnations on TV. In all of them, to one degree or another, the ultraviolence and corporate/political satire is stripped away in favor of superheroics and corny humor.
- RoboCop: The Animated Series: Animated (of course), 1988. Like the above. Also introduced a toyetic group of sidekicks called the Ultra Police. At least some of the stories were good.
- RoboCop: The Series
 : Live action, 1994. Gave Robo a holographic woman partner, a kid sidekick, and a variety of gadgets. On the other hand, it was occasionally hysterical. "I can't believe it! He's a Milken Scholar!"
- RoboCop: Alpha Commando: Animated, 1998. Considered horrible by millions. Filled the world with smartass AI's.
- RoboCop: Prime Directives: Live-Action, Miniseries, 2000. Has Unpleasable Fanbase syndrome given some people like/hate it for good story or say the movements of the main character destroy the whole series.
Rumors of a new film are abound, of interest is that the direction seems to be going in the form of a revival instead of a Continuity Reboot, meaning Alex Murphy will not be RoboCop.
Fun fact: The title character's design was loosely based on the Toku Metal Heroes series, particularily Space Sheriff Gavan, which Paul Verhoven apparently enjoyed watching on his hotel room TV set while visiting Japan.
There was also a series of videogames for home computers and arcades, mostly adhering to what is now called the Run And Gun format (although he also has a mean punch). The ZX Spectrum version is recognised as one of the most successful - and hardest - games on that system.
The film series provides examples of:
- Adaptation Decay
- An Offer You Cant Refuse - Jones to bunches of people. Notable examples include Kenney (the junior exec who becomes ED-209 bait) and later Clarence Boddicker (taking out Robo in exchange for a vice monopoly in Delta City).
- As You Wish - several times in the first movie. Lewis initially recognizes Robo as Murphy by his trademark gun spin in the precinct firing range. Later, Emil notices something's amiss when Robo repeats "Dead or alive, you're coming with me" during the attempted gas station hold-up.
- Barrier Busting Blow
- BFG: Boddicker and crew use anti-tank weapons, such as the "Cobra Assault Cannon", against RoboCop in the first movie, which Robo eventually uses himself in later installments. In the third movie, RoboCop got arm mounted weapon attachments which combined a machine gun, a flamethrower and even a grenade laucher.
- Big Bad - Clarence Boddicker and Dick Jones in part 1 and Cain in part 2
- Big Bad Diumvirate - Clarence Boddicker and Dick Jones
- Bowdlerized - The "edited for TV" version that aired as an ABC Sunday Night Movie in the early 90's, which cut half the movie and overdubbed the rest. "Ladies, leave!" and "You finked on the wrong guy" had this troper laughing madly, knowing the original lines.
- Buddy Cop Show - Not a show, precisely, but the Murphy & Lewis dynamic held through all three movies. And unlike most Buddy Cop Show situations, they were good buddies from the first, rather than rubbing each other the wrong way.
- Character Tics - Murphy had several that carried over into his cyborg persona. For example, he learned how to spin his pistol to impersonate T.J. Lazer, the hero of his son's favourite show.
- Cool Gun - Robocop's heavily modified Beretta 93R, sometimes referred to as the "Auto-9".
- Corrupt Corporate Executive - Pretty much every employee of OCP.
- Crapsack World - Detroit. Full of crime, Corrupt Corporate Executives and awful sequels.
- Crosses The Line Twice - The scene near the beginning with the demonstration of the ED-209 in the Director's Cut. In the theatrical version, it merely just shoots the executive for a second or two to kill him in a perfunctory manner. In the uncut version, it unloads hundreds of bullets into him with gallons of High Pressure Blood spraying everywhere as the engineers try to disable the robot.
- Complete Monster: Clarence Boddicker in part 1 and Cain in part 2.
- Condemned Contestant
- Crowning Moment Of Awesome: When Murphy, reborn as an Invincible Warrior of Living Steel, bravely marches into Boddiker's lair and sends every drug-pushing monster in it to Hell where they belonged with his Mighty Beretta.
- Crowning Moment Of Funny: For such a dark, violent series, there were a few. Notable examples include Robo bending the party store robber's gun barrel 90 degrees, ED-209 falling down a flight of stairs and throwing a temper tantrum, the many, many satirical commercials, and the hapless would-be robber who tried holding up a donut shop full of cops (one of them even quips "How's it feel being a rocket scientist?")
- Making the ED-209 temper tantrum even more hilarious is the fact that his programmers apparently gave him a squealing pig noise to make when he falls over and can't get up.
- Crowning Music Of Awesome: The movie's soundtrack was written by none other than Basil Poledouris, who is best known for his work on the score for Conan The Barbarian. And it was awesome.
- Curb Stomp Battle: Robocop versus the ED-209 near the end of the film. Especially satisfying because their earlier fight wasn't exactly concluded.
- Cute Kids And Robots: Screwed with in the second film, and then played straight in the third. If there was such a thing as a third film.
- Cyberpunk
- Da Chief - Sergeant Reed.
- Dirt Forcefield - Until middle to end of any movie, Robocop is shiny and pretty.
- Dramatic Unmask - Robo removing his helmet in the first movie. "You may not like what you're going to see."
- And in the second movie, a demonstration of "Robocop 2" removes his face-plate and helmet... and reveals to be nothing more than a bloody, screaming skull, which then collapses.
- Dystopia
- Eat That: First movie. Robo's organic processing systems are "extremely simple," presumably because he has practically no digestive tract left after being shot in the abdomen umpteen times, so he can only eat "a rudimentary organic paste" - baby food. Yes, Detroit's #1 cyborg asskicker runs on Gerber strained beef and tapioca. A Crowning Moment Of Funny ensues when the OCP execs figure it out.
- Ensemble Darkhorse/Misaimed Fandom: The ED-209. Who's a cute widdle stupid Mecha Mook? Yes you are, yes you are!
- Everything Is Online: Or, it at least has a port for a half-foot-long data jack.
- Including the villain's jugular vein!
- Executive Meddling: In-story, to Murphy's brain. OCP in the second movie saddles him with many dozens of politically correct software directives.
- Fridge Logic: The disastrous ED-209 demonstration in the first film where the malfunctioning robot shoots a board member. It's only later when it occurs to you, "Hey, who was the moron who loaded that demonstration robot with live ammunition?! Worse, they go on to repeat the mistake in the second movie, loading Cain with a small arsenal and turning him loose with little more than a wave goodbye.
- This is justified later on, when it turns out Dick Jones had intended to kill that particular executive... knowing that the robot would malfunction somehow.
- This is only more fridge logic... he deliberately allowed his own robot to completely screw over his presentation and get himself publicly humiliated, when he already has the city's biggest criminals under his thumb and can easily have the guy bumped off quietly?
- Also, in real life - contrary to what movies may tell you - blank ammunition can be dangerous from that distance anyway.
- If only it was possible to not load a gun at all, for the purposes of a demonstration...
- Gory Discretion Shot - More often than not the violence was showed, but several times in the second movie, we simply got strong hints as to how awful the violence being done was, such as A doctor showing us Cain's agonized face after the skull holding it was sliced away.
- The Great Politics Mess Up: The news broadcasts imply the Cold War is still ongoing.
- Groin Attack: You're trying to take down a would-be rapist who's holding his victim hostage. He's using her as a human shield. What do you do? Shoot between the hostage's legs and neuter the guy.
- Later in the first movie, a psychopath tries to kick Robocop himself between the legs, with predictably self-defeating results.
- Guns Akimbo - Subverted, as human Murphy tries to shoot up the Boddicker gang's panel truck this way and fails spectacularly.
- Good Night Sweet Prince: Painfully parodied by one of Boddicker's goons.
- The Gunslinger: Subverted in that the human Murphy was a notably crappy shot in the first movie. About the only remotely gunslinger-like move he could pull off was the trigger-guard gun spin, and that only because he forced himself to learn it to impress his son. Robo's Improbable Aiming Skills are strictly programming (well, all except the spin).
- Hey Its That Guy What's Dr. Romano from ER doing working as a street thug in future Detroit? Getting splattered after a toxic waste bath, that's what!
- Clarence Boddicker is Red Forman and his gang includes the aforementioned ER doctor and The Devil.
- Attentive fans of 80s comic books will also notice ROM.
- RoboCop himself in the first two films is both Buckaroo Banzai and Christopher Henderson
- Speaking of Christopher Henderson, what's Graem Bauer doing killing him?
- Homage - The "I'd Buy That For A Dollar" show was an homage to Benny Hill.
- Hookers And Blow
- I Know You Are In There Somewhere Fight - In the first movie, Lewis talks to Murphy shortly after his memories begin to surface, and helps him finalize his consciousness overcoming his programming.
- Happens twice in the second movie. The first occasion, RoboCop tells Murphy's wife, who insists RoboCop has her husband in there somewhere, that Murphy is dead and they gave RoboCop Murphy's face as a way of honoring the fallen officer. The second time, Murphy does it to himself upon hearing that the options for overriding the programming that has turned him useless could kill him. He decides to force the issue rather than continue as a parody of all he stood for in life.
- Immune To Bullets: Not the villains, but the hero.)
- Improbable Aiming Skills - Subverted, in that Robo's are all software. The human Murphy empties four magazines at a speeding panel truck and only manages to hit with one round. When the software craps out after Robo's run-in with Directive 4, he's right back to being unable to hit the broad side of a barn, and Lewis has to help him reprogram himself.
- Improvised Weapon - Most notably the data jack.
- Infrared X Ray Camera - Robo has one of these in the first movie.
- Licensed Game: Many, including a Cross Over with The Terminator.
- Mega Corp: ...which we get in the form of Omni Consumer Products, or OCP.
- More Dakka - The ED-209 series in general (autocannon and anti-tank rockets for a police robot?). Robo's Auto-9 also fits the trope relative to the standard-issue DPD service pistols.
- Well, to be fair it was discussed in the first movie (albeit only briefly) that ED-209 would be marketed to the military after its success in Delta City.
- Narm: "It's turning into a WAR ZONE!"
- No OSHA Compliance
- Not Himself - In the second movie, when Robo starts showing off his new Politically Correct programming:
Lewis: Uh, hey, this is a 30 zone. You could drive a little faster.
Robo: We should set a good example for the public.
Lewis: (frowns) You feeling OK?
Robo: Isn't the moon lovely tonight, Anne?
Lewis: What the...? It's the middle of the day!
Robo: It's the thought that counts.
Lewis: (stares at Robo with slack-jawed shock, finally mutters) Murph, there is something wrong with you...
- Nice Job Fixing It Villain
- The Other Darrin - Because of the costume and general similarity between Peter Weller and Robert John Burke, it isn't too noticeable.
- Out Of The Inferno - The gas station hold-up in the first movie.
- Quirky Mini Boss Squad - Clarence's henchmen.
- Parody Commercial - Piles of them, throughout all of the movies.
- Pieta Plagiarism - Shortly before Lewis's death scene in Robocop 3.
- Prime Directive/Restraining Bolt: Named after the former, but has more resemblance to the latter.
- Reading Your Rights - In the second film, Robo Cop reads Miranda to a dead body, and is astonished when Lewis points it out.
- First film. Robocop catches Boddicker, and reads him his rights while repeatedly tossing him through windows.
- This troper always found that to be a great cross between a Crowning Moment Of Awesome and funny
- In the commentary, the crew confess that they were terrified about how real cops would react to that scene. They did a test screening and it was a roaring success.
- Really Big Gun - Robo, natch, as well as many of the bad guys. Murphy's gun is a Beretta 93R fully automatic pistol, modified to look even bigger and spit foot-long flames with every three-round burst.
- Reverse Funny Aneurysm: The ED-209 stop-motion animation now looks more silly than anything.
- Your Milage May Vary-this troper still thinks it's excellent stop-motion work, and that the jerkiness actually accentuates the creepy factor.
- Robo Cam - Trope Namer.
- Shown Their Work - Despite the fact that not a single scene of the movies was filmed in Detroit (the first was filmed in Dallas, the second was filmed in Houston, and the third was filmed in Atlanta), the producers managed to get an amazing amount right. Notable accuracy points include the DPD precinct system (we do it by geography not precinct numbers), the local hospitals (there really is a Henry Ford Hospital that's a Level 1 trauma center), and 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).
- Show Within A Show - Several:
- The "I'd Buy That For a Dollar" show
- Media Break
- T.J. Lazer.
- Commander Cash from the series
- Soft Glass - The first movie has plenty of things being thrown through glass, including Robo himself.
- Squick - Cain gets a spiffy new robot body and kills most of his old gang. Upon seeing his former wife/prostitute/cucumber however, he opens up his head to reveal his screen-face and makes suggestive expressions and weird electric moans as she giggles for about a minute of film. It was almost a relief when she offended him by mistake and he killed her.
- First movie. One of Boddicker's henchmen gets dunked in toxic waste, causing him to literally melt. And then he gets hit by a car, and explodes into gory kibble.
- And his head slides gracefully along the top of the car, and a substance like dirty water emerges from his exploded body to coat the windshield.
- Murphy's death. Made more so by the fact that the gang members taunt him viciously as they're turning him into hamburger. "Give the man a hand!" "Does it hurt? Does it hurt?"
- Watching the trauma team at Henry Ford try to resuscitate the poor guy is every bit as painful. It's one of the more realistic trauma code scenes committed to Hollywood film.
- This is because the trauma team were played by real paramedics. Yes, they did the research.
- In the second movie, one (or more) of the demonstrations of initial attempts post-Murphy Robocops could qualify for Nightmare Fuel. In particular, one of the attempts removes the helmet (which unlike the original, didn't show any face whatsoever), taking the skin of his or her head (it's not clear which) with it.
- Superhero
- Take That - The SDI Defense Satellite misfiring in the first movie. The incident killed two former presidents.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Murphy's death in the original movie.
- Also Kenney's death from the same. Poor guy was more lead than flesh by the time they shut ED-209 down.
- Thirteen Going On Thirty - Hob, Cain's Side Kick in the second film.
- Throw It In - Robocop was supposed to stop the rapist holding his target as a shield with a precision headshot. When staging the scene, they saw how perfectly a bullet could fly through the woman's dress...
- The politician being thrown to the ground was supposed to be just out of sight. The dummy they used for the scene had its legs kick up comically when it landed and was visible to the cameras. It looked too funny to leave out.
- Twenty Minutes Into The Future - A good chunk of which they got pretty accurate, at least as far as the setting was concerned: the gas-guzzling cars and bankrupt industries, the criminally corrupt city government, the flat broke police department, the rampant crime rate...
- Not to mention predicting DVD's rise to the norm of visual media, as shown in Rob Morton's chilling death scene.
- And the PDA/GPS that Jones and Boddicker use to track Robo's movements through the city. It even looks like a Palm V-series.
- Crime rates are going down across the Western world, by the way, although given that the 1980s was the peak of the last big wave, you can forgive their error.
- ...though not here. Detroit regained the "murder capital of the US" title in 2007, despite the best efforts of the DPD statistics people to cook the numbers (i.e. reporting manslaughters and murders as suicides (?!) and "justifiable homicides").
- Another Verhoeven prediction that makes the above look even worse: rampagingly sensationalistic "news entertainment."
- Ultimate Showdown Of Ultimate Destiny: One of the greatest of debates, RoboCop versus The Terminator.
- This crossover was actually an excellent graphic novel before a game, and the answer? Robocop wins, but only because of a bizarre time travel plot involving no less than three alterations to the timeline, and in the end, it makes sense.
- We Can Rebuild Him: What happened to Murphy after the above overkill.
- We Will Use Micros In The Future - Played straight and averted. The DPD Records Department apparently still stores everything on reel-to-reel tape, and the one human-usable computer in the place (everything else is rack-mounted) features a painfully kludgy GUI. Over at OCP, we have the giant wall o' monitors in the board room, all of which are CRTs; the media center sports a VHS player. On the other hand, as shown by the playing of Dick's final taunts to Rob as he died, DVDs do seem to have become the norm of visual media.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness - "Can you fly, Bobby boy?"
The television shows provide examples of:
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