Three movies, a live action TV series and two cartoons later, ROBOCOP returns with a made-for-TV miniseries "ROBOCOP: PRIME DIRECTIVES". This miniseries consisted of four movies which attempted to bring back the gritty and darker tone of the first movie, as well as some social satire. For all intents and purposes, what we have is an ambitious project limited by lack of budget and inexperience of the creative team.Our story begins 10 years after the first movie (ignoring the continuity of the other movies and TV series). Robocop is obsolete and weary of his years trying to bring peace to the crime ridden Delta City. The megacorporation OCP, who runs the city, is experiencing inner turmoil among the management. Due to new policies preventing use of lethal force by the police, a crime wave is sweeping the city. From Kamikaze gangs to a psycho in Halloween armour armed with machine guns and rockets, this town is going to hell. Fortunately, they have a new kick ass police commander JohnCable; a dual pistol wielding ol fashioned cowboy cop. Oh, and Robocop, the supposedly invincible enforcer of law who spends the entire miniseries getting owned.Every character goes on about how awesome Robocop is, every criminal mentions his name in fear, you never see that. What you get is Robocop being blasted, kicked down, smashed, electrocuted and pummeled in every other combat scene. He only manages to take down people who refuse to take cover in a firefight.This brings me the portrayal of Robocop himself played by Page Fletcher. Fletcher is a fine actor, able to convey heavy emotions with his voice and mannerism. He is not, however, I anyway suited to the role. For starters, he is short. As in really short. And the bulky oversized armour only makes him look shorter. Everyone including the old female scientist is taller than him. His Robocop is a stumbling dwarf, always marching with his fists balled up. On the flip side, with his helmet off, Robocop looks like an old man and even acts like one. Nothing is done to make him machine-like. He very visibly pants when tired, swallows hard when scared, he even sweats.So a crappy Robocop headlines 4 made-for-TV movie length episodes of the miniseries. On the bright side, what the 4 episodes do is attempt to remake and redo some very classic elements from Robocop media history. You have a new more advanced Robocop, something Robocop 2 should have been about. You have a advanced Artificial Intelligence meant to automate the entire city, like th pilot episode of the 90s TV series. Lastly, you have a tale of a machine regaining his humanity. Throughout this story is the tale of James Murphy, son of Alex Murphy, who is now a young executive caught up in the turmoil in OCP. James must come to terms with the discovery of his father's identity as Robocop as father slowly reunites with son.The overall story is good for its drama. The actors are spot on in their portrayals and it is generally well written with many of the themes inherent in the original films. Of particular note is the hammy Kaydick and the absolutely obnoxious Damien. A huge plus is the miniseries return to R-Rated violence rather than the kid friendly style of fighting in the TV series and Robocop 3.Sadly the execution is less than sub-par. Director Julian Grant brings a lazy hand to the directing and seems to have this obsession with skip-frame slo mo (the kind of jerky slo mo you get when shooting something at half the usual Frames Per Second). The overall low budget look to the production is heightened by dated special effects, unremarkable camera-work and crappy costumes. The New cyber terrorist villains have the fashion sense of the Matrix characters, all tight, black and trench coats. They have cartoony electrical powers and can move at super speed with a basic blur effect. The low budget is most obvious in the Robopcop suits. During action scenes, they come apart at the seams letting you clearly see the black leotard underneath.With this, Prime Directives sounded the death knell of the classic Robocop franchise. Perhaps in this new century of movies with fast kicking kung fu combat, high tech special effects and tighter narratives, the concept of classic Robocop as a walking tank is in itself obsolete. With this sad closure to a once remarkably original franchise, perhaps the new reboot in 2014 would be a much welcome revival of the concept.

"RoboCop: Prime Directives" (2000) Directed by: Julian Grant Screenplay by: Joseph O'Brien & Brad Abraham Based on Characters created by: Edward Neumeier & Michael Miner Review: With RoboCop 3 the franchise went into a more family friendly direction, this style was followed with RoboCop: The Series which was a short lived TV show made in 1994. As with RoboCop 3 the violence was toned down to be more family friendly and the character was aimed to appeal with children.In 2000 Fireworks Entertainment wanted to make good use of the rights to RoboCop before they would expire so they decided to make RoboCop: Prime Directives and return the franchise to it's roots by making it dark, violent and satirical like the original 1987 Sci-fi classic.The 4 part mini-series is a mixed bag, it's got it's good points and bad points. One of the good points is that the RoboCop franchise is back to it's old roots again meaning that the violence and satire isn't toned down.Another thing I liked about RoboCop: Prime Directives was RoboCable, I thought the character was great. It was interesting to see RoboCop meeting his match.The action was pretty good, it was violent and gritty like RoboCop and RoboCop 2.The acting was okay, it's what you'd expect with a made for TV movie.The music was okay but at times it didn't fit in with RoboCop, the overture theme is definitely catchy and I do like it but it feels like it belongs in a Western and not a Sci-fi.One of the main problems with RoboCop: Prime Directives is the low budget, because of it the RoboCop suit does look like kind of rubbery. The visual effects also suffer because of the lack of money, it doesn't bother me too much since RoboCop: Prime Directives was a made for TV movie so you're going to expect effects like that.Another flaw with RoboCop: Prime Directives is that at times it doesn't feel like RoboCop. The whole computer virus plot doesn't feel like it's part of RoboCop.A minor flaw is that the actor playing RoboCop, Page Flecther is a little short for the role. Plot:Dark Justice: It's been ten years after RoboCop's creation and now Delta City has became the safest place on Earth. RoboCop now considered unnecessary is feeling tired, obsolete and quasi-suicidal. His son James now an adult is working for OCP, the mega corporation that's on the verge of bankruptcy. One night RoboCop is called in to deal with a hostage situation, there he meets John T. Cable. His old partner in Metro South before he was transferred. Whilst dealing with the incident a mysterious masked vigilante called the Bone Machine shows up, damaging RoboCop and killing the leader he escapes before the police can get him. Once repaired RoboCop discovers that the Bone Machine is working for OCP, enlisting the help of Cable they try to find out the secret behind the Bone Machine which costs Cable his life.Meltdown:Cable is resurrected as the latest crime prevention unit, RoboCop now a fugitive is hunted down by RoboCable and a band of Robohunters.Taking shelter in old Detroit RoboCop meets a young girl who's Mother and friends are tech thieves. RoboCable eventually meets up with RoboCop and the battle of the machines rages again as RoboCop tries to make RoboCable remember who he really is. Meanwhile in OCP company executive Damian Lowe kills the entire board of directors taking over the company where he plans to use his new computer program SAINT to take control of the city's systems.Resurrection:After changing sides RoboCable and RoboCop are both fugitives, badly damaged after the encounter with the Robohunters RoboCop is found by the tech thieves who decide to repair him. Meanwhile RoboCable sweeps the streets eliminating the Robohunters, while being overwhelmed by a surprise attack RoboCable is saved by another tech thief named Dr. David Kaydick. Taking him to his hideout he repairs RoboCable as well as implanting a chip in his head forcing him to do what he says otherwise he'll activate it. RoboCop now repaired wants to find Cable, following a signal RoboCable finds the hideout and attacks them. The battle is interrupted by the Robohunters now lead by RoboCop's son, Kaydick kidnaps the girl who happens to be his daughter. Using her he plans to activate a powerful virus called LEGION to destroy all technology and life in the entire planet. Crash & BurnRoboCop, his son and the last remaining tech thief go to Delta City in an attempt to stop Kaydick from unleashing his super virus by transferring it into SANIT. Once there the ultimate battle begins as RoboCop and RoboCable fight for the final time. Overall:RoboCop: Prime Directives has it's flaws but it's still an alright mini-series. Check this out, it's worth a look.

I recently bought this miniseries in its entirety at a very cheap price. Although it was well worth the money and I did enjoy it, there were numerous things that didn't appeal to me. First of all, the special effects were horrendous. Some parts of the films looked as though you were watching a video game. Also, the music was nothing like the classic RoboCop theme (I still get shivers up my spine when I hear that tune...). The theme tune in these films is campy and sounds more like something out of a western. Lastly, Page Fletcher looks nothing like RoboCop. He is short and has an annoyingly shaped mouth and chin (seeing as that's the only part of Robo's skin that you see, you'd think they'd find an actor with a 'handsome' chin). He also speaks more like Microsoft Sam then RoboCop. His performance would not have been so bad if the storyline did not keep throwing 'Murphy Memories' at us. Page Fletcher looks more like an average cop then the cool, sophisticated but compassionate Murphy that Peter Weller delivered to us all those years ago. He is also several years too old, seeing as though the memories are set before Murphy transferred to Metro South.Fletcher's costume does not help the problem either. It looks acceptable when he's wearing the Robo helmet (it actually looks pretty cool since it is so battle-damaged). But when the helmet is removed, you can tell that it is a man in a costume. Unlike the 1987 original, or even the later TV series, this suit had no complex wires and circuitry attached to Murphy's face. Murphy's face looks exactly the same as it did before he was shot down. Also, you can easily spot the seams at the chin that lead down into Fletcher's neck. Anyway, now that I'm finished ranting about the series' problems, I can tell you the good things about it. First of all, this series 'pretends' like the events of the second two movies (and the TV series for that matter) didn't happen. That means, no RoboCop 2s, no Detroit revolutions, no jet packs etc. This was a good move.Second of all was the unique comic-book plot the four movies delivered.**SPOILERS** In the first movie, Robo has to deal with the villainous Bone Machine (who looks a bit campy but anyway). He partners up with his old partner John Cable (who is unaware that he is his old partner.) By the end of the film, OCP adds a fourth 'Prime Directive' into Murphy's system, forcing him to kill John Cable. I enjoyed 'Dark Justice' because it didn't throw us right into the main story as of yet. For now, it was focusing more on the characters and where they've been for the last ten years. However there were parts I did not enjoy. But I think I've said enough about the abysmal special effects and Page Fletcher's casting.In the second movie, wouldn't you know it, Cable is now RoboCop 2 (or RoboCable). He basically looks exactly the same as RoboCop 1, except he is a shiny black and his visor is silver. Evil OCP executives use RoboCable to frame RoboCop and then use Cable to destroy RoboCop. However, Murphy recognizes his friend and frantically tries to make him remember his past. 'Meltdown' was good because we finally got to see a RoboCop 2 that didn't look an obnoxious tank or C-3PO's mother-in law. Also, we get to see Murphy's old partner go through the same confusion and pain that Murphy himself went through all those years ago. On a more negative note however, a lot of focus is put on the 'Cable' character, leading me to believe that the series on a whole has got more to do with him than to do with RoboCop.'Resurrection' was easily my favourite of the four TV movies. Crappy special effects and laughable acting is kept to a minimum. **MAJOR SPOILER WARNING** The best thing about 'Resurrection' was that we see Murphy's friends activate the part of brain that was never re-activated when he was turned into RoboCop. This part theoretically contains all of his memories as Murphy. We see him relive everything. We even see that famous Clarence Boddicker mutilation shot (which has appeared in every live-action RoboCop series or movie ever made). It is in this segment that the story of this miniseries truly unfolds. In this episode we meet evil scientist David Kaydick who is trying to upload a virus onto an OCP project called S.A.I.N.T. (a computer that is to control everything in Delta City). There was only one part of this segment I really did not like. There is a VERY cheesy bullet-time sequence where RoboCop's bullets ricochet off Cable's. This is another RoboCop 3-style attempt at making something stupid look like something cool. The last episode of the series was something of a disappointment. Although it was easily better than the first two episodes, it was not as good as 'Resurrection'. Where 'Resurrection combined action, classic RoboCop drama, a reasonably solid plot, and startling revelations, 'Crash and Burn' only delivered the action. It was still more or less enjoyable however, what with RoboCop's grown up son James Murphy now one of the good guys. It is enjoyable listening to him call RoboCop 'Dad'. In this film, Kaydick is trying to upload 'The Legion Virus' into the S.A.I.N.T. mainframe (residing in OCP control tower) and Murphy, James and their friend from the abandoned Old Detroit Ann R. Key (stupid, I know). Before long, the building is locked down by Kaydick and the gang are trapped inside, having to deal with both the defences and Kaydick.Overall, 'Crash and Burn' ended things on a satisfactory note, but not on an excellent note. The only thing I really hated about it was that they ended it in such a way that a sequel would only be ludicrous. But then again, it ended RoboCop period. It showed us how things ended with Murphy, and they ended on a happy note, which is good.'RoboCop: Prime Directives' is a must for fans of Murphy's plight. Although Page Fletcher was not an inspired choice, the story and atmosphere make up for both his performance and the RoboRubbish we've had to put up with since RoboCop 2 was released. My only advice to anyone that hasn't seen it is to buy the series in its entirety like I did. The series is made so that one episode is no good unless you see the rest of the series. I give this series 7/10.

I saw this series the first time it was aired on TV. I watched and recorded the entire thing. The first thing I found upsetting was that Mini Me was cast as Robo, the second being the costume was all cheap looking. But as a huge fan of all of the Robo's, I had to find a way to like it.. I was like 6 years old when I saw the first, and I thought it was one of the best movies I had ever seen, Not the kind of movie that can make another that is as good or even better, but part two stands next to it flawless in every way!! (you can't argue this, don't try!!) Then when Peter didn't do the 3rd and it was rated PG-13 I didn't know what was going to happen. But as I watched it the first time I started off not knowing what to think, then I heard him speak, they computered over his voice a little too much but I could tell he was even more of a fan of robo than I. His every move was as if Peter was really the one inside of the costume! They could make another, and Robert John Burke could do it, and it would kick ass by me!! All in all it will never be as good as the first 2 but it is a close second to them. And now I find myself with the thought that I will never see another big budget full production live action feature film with the name Robocop ever again, so these 4 DVD's have to do.. I can't turn on my super heros, so I have to stay true to what ever holds the name.. So after that is said, the Prime Directives series is just a continuation of a killer story... I wish it would never end.......