Cool News
"RoboCop: Prime Directives" ((casting and details re: the 4 part live-action miniseries)) !!!
Glen here...
...with some news which just goes to prove my old adage: even people who think they know
a lot really know very little in the grander scheme of things. I'm referring to myself in this
particular instance.
For example: did you know a miniseries based on the legendary RoboCop franchise
begins shooting early next week? Well, I sure as hell didn't know that - I had to be clubbed over
the head with it before it dawned on me (note to Canadian spies: how did this one sneak
past you?)
Anyways: sure enough, a four part RoboCop miniseries begins filming immediately
in Canada. It is called RoboCop: Prime Directives. It is being produced for Fireworks
Entertainment, the folks who bring us the Le Femme Nikita series. The four installments
of the miniseries are entitled "Dark Justice", "Meltdown", "Resurrection", and "Crash and Burn"
respectively.
The miniseries will be distributed in syndication throughout the world, with airing currently
slated for the Fall 2000 season. The mini will likely be released on DVD soon after airing. Julian Grant is producing and directing from a script by Joseph O'Brien and Brad
Abraham.
Page Fletcher (the eponymous narrator of Showtime's Hitchhiker
series) stars as Alex Murphy / RoboCop. Maurice
Dean Wint (Cube) will appear as Delta City Security Commander John T.
Cable. Maria Del Mar (TekWar) will portray Security Concepts exec Sara Cable.
AnthonyLemke is cast as James Murphy, Alex's son (who has grown up to be an executive at
OCP). David Fraser plays OCP technical genius Edwin Hobley, and Geraint Wyn-Davies
(Forever Knight) stars as one of the mini's central villains.
RoboCop: Prime Directives picks up ten years after the events of the
original Paul Verhoven RoboCop film. The two theatrical Robo-sequels (and
subsequent TV series) are pretty-much being overlooked - in favor of more directly continuing the specific
mythos created by the first film alone.
During the course of the miniseries, Alex Murphy's past will be revisited - including the
fateful events which led to Murphy's
transfer to Detroit's Metro West Precinct (which resulted in his subsequent murder &
rebirth as RoboCop). The miniseries is said to be very much aware of our current
"Millennium" society - in the same way Verhoven's original film was conscious of the corporate
/ consumer culture of the 1980s.
RoboCop: Prime Directives is said to be drawing influences from William Gibson,
Mad Max, The Texas Chansaw Massacre (???????????), the films of Howard
Hawks & Sergio Leone, as well as Hong Kong action cinema.
Rob Bottin is once again handling RoboCop's design, as well as contributing other elements
to the miniseries. Robo's design is said to be very consistent with the character design from the
original film: but aged and weathered by ten years. As such, expect a certain amount of wear on
Murphy / RoboCop - much like an old car which has been mechanically maintained to keep it on
the road, with little or no attention being paid to the car's cosmetic appearance.
From what I gather, the makers of RoboCop: Prime Directives are keenly aware that RoboCop has degenerated into a franchise which is softer and more kid-friendly than it was intially intended to be - and would like to
restore the property to its tough and gritty Verhoven-esque roots.
Needless to say, I will be following the production and progress of this miniseries as
closely as possible, and very much look forward to seeing if justice will indeed be done to
RoboCop with this endeavor. RoboCop is a wonderful and daring concept -
which has seen little justice since the first film was released. Perhaps Prime Directives
will turn the tide in Robo's favor once more...
Glen
If you send a message to the above address & bounces back to you,
address!
Or call:
(512) 347-1992
Mail can be sent to:
Glen Oliver
P.O. BOX 160812
Austin, TX 78716-0812
USA
P.O. BOX 160812
Austin, TX 78716-0812
USA
Austin, TX 78716-0812
USA
USA
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This actually sounds like it might be watchable. I have stayed away from Robocop ever since the abominable Robocop II. I hope they can create a villain half as charismatic as Clarence Boddiker. (Kurtwood Smith, who now rocks the world in 'That 70's Show'--Dumbass
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Could it be that the second film is not being overlooked entirely? Remember the smart-ass kid from Robocop 2? His (nick)name was Hob. Now there is a young OCP genius named Hobson. Coincidence? I think not. It's not the same kid (dead), but maybe a brother. The second film, while not as good as the first, was FAR superior to the third film and the TV series. I mean, Peter Weller was still involved, so how bad could it have been? It's appropriate to include references from the second film, if for no other reason than that Peter Weller was still playing Robo. I hope this mini-series does justice to the first 2 movies and isn't just a miserable attempt at resurrecting the franchise that has been killed by Robocop 3 and the TV series.
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I'm retarded, the character in the TV series is named Hobley, not Hobson. Guess I should pay attention before opening my yap. Excuse me...
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The Robocop franchise has been overlooked for far too long, I can only hope that they go for the robo we know and love i.e. He shoots and people bleed, instead of the TV Series "shoot the legs of the cupboard and it will trap the bad guys" version.
It's just a shame they could not get Peter Weller back for one last time. -
hey I kinda liked sam hamm's superhero approach on Robocop 3 but the series SUCKED ROCKS (still I was impressed by the costume if for nothing else) yeah the franchise was dumbed down for our pleasure, I'll hold my breath... what we need is VIOLENCE VIOLENCE VIOLENCE!!!! BIG SHOOT`em UP! and characters getting turned into toxic drippy characters getting smeared across a windshield of a moving car!!!!! if this is being produced for television, then they are going to have to tone down the violence...we'll see....it cant be any worse than the TV show was..........
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Man, I dig this! I've got a complete set of original Robocop toys, right now worth more than $300. Maybe with the renewal of the Robo-franchise, they'll go up in value! Yay!
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What I really want is some one to show a couple hundred years later, where someone has taken the messianic themes in RoboCop to an illogical conculusion, and turned him to an object of worship.
(Dieing for our since, the Murph was cut down to but his soul, put in a holy vessle, and, yay, verily came down like the wrath of an angry Jehovah on motown...give me AN AMEN!!!!)
But since that is as likely to happen as me paying money to see any Matrix sequels, I won't hold that against this one. While Canadian films are often very good, the tv has been mixed to say the least. Still, I like some of the names mentioned in the cast list, and hey, if you want to have souless streets needing protection of a mechanical nightmare, you can;t do worse than Toronto. -
Well, this is interesting. I agree with Brado that the 2nd movie was worthy--the "politically correct" Robocop with hundreds of directives was priceless, enough to justify the films' existance. Part 3 had potential, some interesting ideas...the idea of OCP being bought out by the Japanese and their own mechanical warrior...but it really stunk. And the TV show, though I liked it at the time, I realize now was pretty lame. But still, this miniseries better be for cable, or else it stands no chance of beating any of the other followups(translation: extreme violence is integral to the concept). By the way, I have to laugh at the idea of Robocop being "dumbed down"...the original was satirical, innventive, and energetic, but "smart"? I don't think so.
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...until you guy's reminded me of the S-I-L-L-Y way they handled fighting/action. Still it was the first really big-budget tV sci-fi done in Canada, so I think they were PETRIFIED of being too violent and being overlooked by alot of TV stations (American AND Canadian). Still this franchise is very soon going to have a continuity as screwed up as Highlander. Like Highlander, Robocop should of been left alone.
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Am I the only person who hates when the term franchise is used to discuss a series? When ever I hear franchse I think of a husk of a former artistic attempt that has been drained of any soul, or purpose. I liked the story and ideas of the first Robocop, but after that what point is there to continuing on? Robocop 2 didn't have anything new to tell about the ideas putforward in the original, it was just an excuse to see Robocop shoot some more guys. Well I can't speak for everyone, but that isn't what I necesarily liked about the first film. Robocop 3 I never saw, and what I did see of the series was terribly pointless. Just an excuse to see Robocop shoot inanimate objects, and be "Robocop: Friend to Children". The same goes for the Highlander film series. The first film was great, and put forward some cool and creative concepts. Like Robocop it also had a point to the story that went above the obvious plot. The sequels had nothing new, or good for that matter. At least the Highlander TV series salvaged much of itself, by creating stories with a point that just happen to involve those characters. I guess the main problem with "franchises" is that they never include the original creators input in the expansions. I thought that these movies were supposed to be art. Well if I go to a museum to see Monet's painting "Water Lillies" and like it a lot, I'm not going to rush off to see Joey Joe Joe Jr. Shabadoo's "Water Lillies 2: The Vengence". Monets' "Water Lillies 2" I might give a chance, but I'm not really interested in all these Joe Shmo sequels. I guess that I just hate to see people use the term "franchise in anything but a negative fashion, because I don't see how it could be a positive.
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Well, this could be a very good series if they play it right. The whole RoboCop concept can work if you give RoboCop more humanity than the people around him. If the people making this mini don't turn it into another comic book crapfest, they could have something.
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On one hand I agree with you; once an Artists vision is removed, all you are left is what the Special effex department can rustle up. On the other hand, we may be some of the few who actually see a movie expecting to see anything other than PRODUCT. Hollywood Movies are to FILM, what Mcdonalds is to fine dining, cheap (but amazingly costly), and widely available. This is how studio executives, and many of the "artists" involved think and treat there creations (Star Wars anybody?), and to expect anything else is to fool ones self (something I frankly do far too often)
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Alright!!! Another Robocop!!... I can't wait!!...I remember the first time I saw Robocop 1 in the movie theatre...my dad actually dragged my mom and I to see it...It was probably not the best kind of movie for a 7 year old to see but oh well..*L*...I've been a fan of the movie series ever since...I wasn't too fond of the live action series*either of them*...It was rather odd and didn't have the flare of the movies...and as for the animated series..well I've only seen a couple eps of that one...It was also short lived*both live action shows and both animated shows!*....In the meantime I can't wait for this new miniseries*umm..haven't all the Robocop tv shows been mini??* *L*...Im definatly going to tell my dad about this one!
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Hey, just out of curiosity, what WAS the continuity, if any, of all the TV spin-offs? Was the live-action series a continuation of the three movies, or a complete retelling? What about the animated series? (And how many were there? I seem to recall there were two, maybe even three, animated RoboCop series! And if there were more than one animated series, did they share continuity?) Anal retentively geeky for me to ask, I know, but I suppose it just goes to illustrate what a confusing, over-franchised mess the RoboCop brand has become.
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Huh, a comeback has indeed come for Robocop. But if they're pretending that Robocop 3 never happened, then Robo's partner Anne Lewis should still be alive right? Okay, she wasn't that cool. The heck with her, just bring back Dan O'herlihy as "the Old Man." He was like Mr. Burns, he MUST come back! Even if he's ancient now, he was cool. And another thing Robocop's son would only be in his early twenties ten years after the original, he's not old enough to be an OCP exec is he? Or maybe that's their satire.
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The original. Anybody remember Firstborn?
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Actually I felt the TV show and the movies each had half of the concept correct...the movies had the extreme violence but screwed up (or killed off) the characters, lost the humor, and Robocop seemed to lack his ability to intimidate. The TV show had that idiotic non-lethal violence, silly villains and super-weapons, but Robocop, the Old Man, and some other characters stayed true, and the social satire was better-done (the news airheads, the stupid consumer products--some of which carried over in more than one episode like in the Simpsons) The mini-series needs both the body count and the satire to really work.
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The Old Man (Dan O'Herlihy) has officially become the Dead Man. In other words, he is unavailable for casting. The original film is the only thing with the Robocop name on it that doesn't smell of shit. Do any of you REALLY think that is going to change? In CANADA? LOL.
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Outer Limits, David Cronenberg, Kissed, need I go on? As long as Canadians aren't trying to be as inane as hollywood produced TV and film, then we manage to steer WILDLY clear of PCness. Granted we dont quite have the Homo-erotic relationship that Americans have with guns, but we do KNOW satire. Remember what Robocop was about. It was a satire of american culture, by a European. Unless that dynamic is restored then you will continue to get superficial treatments on the "character" of Robocop.
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Aug 30, 1999 9:12:18 AM CDT
Protect the innocent, serve the public trust, uphold the law...
by mrekoletmelive
I am a huge fan of the first film. It's such a great Frankenstein story and satire of the Reagan era. I hate everything else having to do with the series, and have no interest whatsoever in seeing this miniseries. ROBOCOP was made to comment on a very specific time and place, and I'm not even sure it would be the same filme if it was made now. For those of you out there who love the first film, go out and get the Criterion Collection DVD. It's da bomb.
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It's funny that so many people associated Robocop and Highlander and their bad TV efforts. Both of those syndicated properties were owned and produced by Rysher (the people who did the Howard Stern Movie). Rysher has just been purchased by the syndication arm of Paramount who has been selling of all of the Rysher owned properties. Which may be why we are now seeing something new for Robocop.
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Charlies Angels: The Movie!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!? What the HELL are they thinking?!?!? This is a joke right? please tell me it's a joke! What's next? A-Team - The Legend continues? Diferent Strokes: The Next Generation? Perfect Strangers: Strangers no more?
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I never understood why Robocop 2 got so badly bashed. True, it wasn't as inventive as the first but I found it to be quite entertaining (I just wished it had it's title shown in the beginning of the film, I hate it when they don't show any kind of credit until the end of a movie). However, I was definately disappointed in Robo 3. As for the show, I loved watching the gorgeous Andrea Roth every week even if the stories were a bit weak due to television restraints. I can't wait to see this latest update!
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I could be wrong, but wasn't robocop2 written by frank "sin city" miller? does anyone know if I remember correctly?
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I personally enjoyed RoboCop 2 quite a bit. It was certainly a better sequel than most other movies get. As for RoboCop 3... after the opening sequence, I left (technically... I changed the channel, but who's the wiser? ;) There was no mistaking this movie as anything more than a REALLY bad movie! As for the TV series, I don't know one from the other (the little I've seen of any of them were blaaahhh), but a search of the Internet Movie Database turns this up:
"Robocop" (1991) TV series
"Robocop" (1994) TV series...aka "RoboCop: The Series" (1994)
"Robocop: Alpha Commando" (1998) TV series
"RoboCop: The Animated Series" (1994) TV series
Alpha Commando is an animated series also. For more info, go to the The Internet Movie Database
And just HOW does the video game fit into the continuity anyways? ;)
(I hope this HTML worked) *fingers crossed* -
Ok... the HTML didn't work! Well here's the series list again. The latter two are animated. Search the Internet Movie Database, http://us.imdb.com for more info...
1. "Robocop" (1991)
2. "Robocop" (1994) ...aka "RoboCop: The Series" (1994)
3. "Robocop: Alpha Commando" (1998)
4. "RoboCop: The Animated Series" (1994)
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Well the A-Team movie is supposed to come out sometime this year but I haven't heard anything about it in a while...All I know is that most of the original cast is in it*Yes including Mr. T* The only recasting they had to do was George Peppard's character of Hannible since George Peppard died a couple years ago of Pneumonia..
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his name attatched to the other two Robocop sequels????? Killed any chance he had in hollywood (who else agrees that Dark Knight is simply the Storyboard to (potentially)one of the greatest movies of all time??) Miniserise vote: Could be meat, Could be cake IOW: could suck could be cool (would bet money on the sucking part though...)
I TOTALLY agree with killing Lewis what kind of shit is THAT?!?!?!!? One of the greatest sidekicks of all TIME!!
"Murphy, I'm a mess." -
have people been begging for more RoboCop? EVERY RoboCop installment besides the first has sucked. Yes, geek comic fanboys, Frank Miller should just stick to writing Batman and Daredevil stories. Sin City's already gotten stale, too. But back to RoboCop. The first was brilliant. A great movie. Unfortunately they just couldn't leave well enough alone. Too bad. Let me know how the "RoboCop Miniseries" is. On second though, don't bother.
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Anyone who says the word:'Da Bomb' and seriously 'means it', should be thrust head first into a dead elephants ass and left there for all eternity.
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and did'nt he spend the whole summer in the Alt.Horror newsgroup beating up on George lucas, saying things like "he uses your money as toilet paper" and "sellout" and now he's writing another robocop? hypocrite! check out the shitty film "papertrail" to see how a real hack writes!
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...and no one is more willing to admit that "Papertrail" isn't a great movie than him, so you're not "exposing" anybody! Don't judge a writer on one effort when you don't know anything about how the production went down. Things are never as simple as, "bad movie=bad script".
And I agree with O'Brien, Lucas does wipe his ass with our money (figuratively, if not literally...). -
my,what inside scoop do you have on"what went down" on this production? i don't care how bad the film looks or if they had $1.00 to spend on the production, if the film had some good writing or lines, it would have stood out.
yes, O'brian has stated what a bad film it was and points the finger to everone and anything but has yet to come to terms that he was a big part in the film being as bad as it was. now calm down and crawl back in your fanboy hole, i just that it was funny that a writer who has spent a lot of time bashing other writers and directors for writing sequels is writing one himself. a hack is a hack is a hack is a hack...... -
Hello All,
I wasn't going to get into this, but since "drome" saw fit to attack me personally in this forum, I felt it was necessary to respond in my own defense, and set the record stright.
I have never bashed Mr. Lucas for making a sequel, per se. I've criticised him quite heavily for making a sequel that respects neither its fans or its source material - two things the makers of PRIME DIRECTIVES are very conscious of.
As for comments made about earlier projects I have been involved in, I should point out that "drome" has probably not even seen the film in question, as 1) it was never released under that title, and 2) he can't even spell my name correctly.
As for the quality (or lack thereof) of the film in question, well, no one bashes that movie (or its script) harder than me. I suppose I could invoke PIRHANA 2: THE SPAWNING here... but that would be arrogant :)
Regards to all,
Joseph O'Brien
co-writer
ROBOCOP: PRIME DIRECTIVES -
Well hack, i did see your film at a market screening (you were prob. to ashamed to show your face) as "Papertrail" and in a desperate attempt to get a distributer it was retitled but a simple search of deja news will show that you have blamed everything and anything but the crappy writing for the reason your film failed so badly. also a simple search of deja news will show you have done more then simply bash lucas and other writers for writing sequals and selling out. your a hypocrite who has been very vocal about brain-dead writers and directors who can't come up with a original idea. your no better then they are, your a hack for hire and a crybaby to boot,remember, a simple serch of deja news will show how hack has put down many a writer for writing sequels yet he lords above all with his crappy "Trail of a serial killer" ( a wannabe silence of the lambs) rip-off and his "original" robocop sequel. don't bash others for selling out when your doing the same thing.
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Have you ever seen a GOOD Damien Lee film? No, no wait! He just hires really shitty writers all the time, right? Many a fine film maker has said that everything after the script is damage control. Believe it.
If hack (Mr. O'Brien, I presume...) has something to bring to the Robocop mythos (has anyone since the original?) then I welcome the attempt. If he fails, I'll rake his ass over the coals then, and ONLY then. -
Geeee whiz! The first film was ok, but is a new rehash of this old idea really something to get excited about? I think not.
AICN used to be a must hit site, but coaxal and Glenn (I'm sad to say) have completely lost the plot.
Nothing has been the same here since Glenn made some daft OTT comments about Crusade and pulled it's forums which got a hell of a bigger response than all this dull nonsense on tired idea's such as Robocop and that nightmare of a series Battlestar Galactica (funny how Trekkies love that show!).
For those who want some decent news...
Two Blake's 7 tv movies have ben commisioned in the UK and have financial backing.
As well as the Dr Who movie, the beeb are throwing round an idea for a BBC produced TV series under the pre - production title of Dr Who 2000.
Crusade is set to get a repeat run in the UK after being a ratings puller for Sky 1. Channel 4 have announced that they have purchased the rights to screen Crusade.
Warners UK will also be releasing Crusade on video as a special boxset for the Xmas market.
Now that's a bit more like it eh?! -
When i first heard the news i was hit like a bolt of lightning and i still can't believe it! More Robocop! YEAH!
I hope they don't disregard the sequels though. Come on! Look what they did with Highlander when every sequel disregarded all previous movies!
Anyway, yeah I love Robocop: The Series, especially the pilot by Miner & Neumeier(writers of Robocop 1!!) but a lot of the shows were kinda dopey :) but for tv not that bad.
As far as I'm concerned, if each one is as good as Robocop:Future of Law Enforcement (the pilot) then i'll be in heaven. -
Yay! More RoboCop!! I am happy about this. I hope the mini-series is more like the original RoboCop. I also liked the second one. I saw it at the drive-in (which has since closed down :( with friends. I actually saw 2 before the original and was not really into going to see it. But, I LOVED IT and ran out and rented the original and loved it. I didn't like 3 at all. I liked the scary gory violence and the hard-assness of the 1st. one. I loved all the fake commercials. And, something that I don't see anybody talking about here, and something I have never bothered to research is, what was the deal with that TV show that was always on with the old man with the ladies in lingerie..."I'll buy that for a dollar"...can anybody explain it? -Eve
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What's up with Coax? We're just starting to enter the 1999-2000 TV season and why is it that we never see anything here about the new shows and returning series?! Where's the scoops on Buffy, E.R., X-Files, Party of Five, etc., etc., etc. Heck, I understand if Glen is unable to work on Coax regularly or frequently (as I imagine he and Harry don't get much $$$ doing this) but I've always figured that getting fan sites of specific TV series to contribute their scoops (and in return having Coax link back to their sites) would have be a better alternative rather than have nothing much else to report. As weird as this sounds, I love TV series -- in fact, I'll go as far to say I prefer watching a good TV series over a movie. So what is up -- how come Coax has been seeing so little updating? I'm not ragging on you, Glen, as I myself understand the need to make a decent living $$$ (believe me, I DO), but what's up, man?
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I've had time to think about this. I thought that seeing RoboCop on tv would be exciting, but it's just going to be another 'Watered Down ' version. Isn't anyone out there going to take 'RoboCop' seriously? I'm talking about the most bloodiest scariest RoboCop ever. And NO Cartoony violence or corny quips.
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I am adding a "RoboCop: Prime Directives" page to my website. the URL is: http://www.angelfire.com/ct/ams/primedirectives.html
When the series airs, I'll put in my own synopsis and commentary on each episode. Until then, you can e-mail me with a comment, question or correction at: perdicus98@yahoo.com
Thank you! -
RoboCop rules. the first movie was awesome and better than everything else, but they're nothing to put down. just because the general opinion of many is that the sequels and tv series (live action and animated) is that they sucked doesn't mean that has to be yours. and that crap about george lucas being made out as a bad guy is shit. star wars is the best movie series ever. i don't know why everyone out there that doesn't like what came after the first RoboCop movie has to voice their negative opinion. leave us sci-fi lovers alone and go watch titanic again. and if you think the sequels and other such suck so much GET OFF YOUR ASSES AND WRITE IT THE WAY IT SHOULD BE YOU MORONS!!!
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