After doing the Janperson review - I felt it was time to revisit a series that was literally Robocop Lite. That's the Robocop TV series that took place in 1994. It was a CANADIAN production where Robocop was given a new timeline. It was licensed from Orion pictures. Yeah, the original Robocop movie was never meant for children. This one tried to appeal to a younger audience in a similar fashion to how Conan the Adventurer pretty much lacked the brutality of Conan the Barbarian. I didn't watch more of this (and don't intend to rewatch it). Now, it's time to revisit a primetime show. Not surprisingly, ABC-5 aired Robocop TV Series before it aired Janperson. The tagline in Filipino was, "If America has a Robocop. Asia too has a Robocop! JANPERSON!" Obviously, Janperson's design was based on Robocop even if one can say that Robot Detective K had a greater amount of influence.
Yeah, there were the Robocop TV Series toys. If I'm not wrong - there were also Janperson toys. I even remembered even seeing this collage in a toy store. I still called Kamen Rider BLACK RX as well, Kamen Rider BLACK, and both are the SAME PERSON in canon. This collage made me think what in the world was Mighty Morphin' (actually Zyuranger) doing with the rest? Yeah, screw the lack of Internet back then. Maybe, I could say screw both Toei Ltd. and Saban Entertainment too. It was also at that point I thought Janperson was Robocop. Later, I thought the Robocop TV Series came before Janperson. Though, I was hardly surprised to learn that Robocop came before Janperson. It's too obvious that Robocop's design was blatantly copied into Janperson.
The show itself was a crime drama. I could remember watching it (at times) if there was no school the next day. Some of my classmates were obsessed with it. If I'm not wrong, somebody I knew shoplifted a Robocop toy back then. I may be crazy impulsive but I'd think twice about doing that. Though, I did get tempted to steal a Super NES back then because all my friends had one. There was also the recurring villain Pudface who was pretty much Robocop's archenemy in the show's canon. The severe censorship though may have caused the villains to be like in a 1960s Batman show which starred the late Adam West. The show lasted for only 22 episodes and barely lasted a year. It's a contrast to Janperson which lasted for a year! Yes, an entire FREAKING YEAR. It was also the year when Toei Ltd. gave the greenlight for Saban Entertainment to produce Mighty Morphin'. Yeah, the monster hit that caused Toei Ltd. to most likely decide the Philippines was better off having Power Rangers on the timeslot. Strangely, Kamen Rider still gets aired though I'd forever cringe regarding Saban's Mashed Rider and VR Troopers.
While rewatching Janperson, I'd say the villains were still somewhat typical supervillains with some absurd plans for world domination. Though, the way Shogo B'Stard describes the villains in his Robocop post -- the villains are foolish and hardly threatening. I dunno, if that's an overstatement since, aren't supervillains supposed to be stupid to a certain extent? That's what adds entertainment value when they crack up plans that are just too absurd. Though, I started to think that the villains in Janperson can be more threatening even in their worst moments. For example, Ryuzaboro Tatewaki (acted by Shun Sugata) is supposedly Clarence Boddicker lite. I feel Sugata's performance was comparable to the actor However, Tatewaki was seriously threatening to think about it. Tatewaki may have had some comical episodes (such as the episode where he wanted a diamond stolen) BUT he practically sets up dangerous schemes. The episode where Tatewaki plans to eliminate both Jeff Gondo and Janperson at once was really, REALLY scary. The other villains George Makabe and Reiko Ayanokouji were also acted by legends. Both Kazuoki Takahashi and Atsuko Takahata proved to make their characters a threat. Makabe still had several good plans like Robot Jail infiltration. Reiko also had plans to create a synthetic human army or create evil bugs to take over machines.
One thing Janperson had over the Robocop TV Series was the characterization. I also felt Janperson was inspired by Robocop without trying to be its inspiration. Sure, Janperson was aimed at children (but I was a teenager when I watched it) but there were a soome bloody scenes. There was some cursing done with "onore". There was Gun Gibson who was a vengeance-crazed anti-hero. There was one episode where a police officer accidentally shot a civilian. There are some bloody scenes. Still, I felt Janperson was more compelling over the development. It even managed to take a few things from Robocop 3 (such as Kaoru Saegusa as the show's version of Marie Lazarus) and do something with it. Kaoru's not just a generic add-on. Kaoru was in the USA and later came to assist Janperson to overcome his MX-A1 former programming. All that development was fun to watch even if some of them felt weird. I still felt Reiko's whole "must save Earth" in the finale was too random in contrast to Makabe's slowly-developed plot. We all know Makabe was really human and never became a complete cyborg.
Meanwhile, the Robocop TV Series probably had no idea what it wanted to do. I still feel no matter how much I feel Conan the Adventurer isn't worth my rewatch (that's after seeing the 1982 movie) - this series failed to do what the Conan cartoon did. The cartoon Conan still gave significant development. I guess all the bad writing made it canceled. Meanwhile, Janperson still managed to get its views in Japan. I guess Janperson even with all the toning down it did - still created interesting characters. Tatewaki may have been Boddicker lite but he'd probably still murder Alex Murphy or have a partnership with Dick Jones.
Pretty much, I feel the Robocop TV Series would forever be something I'd probably never rewatch again. I could say that there are times I still rewatch a few episodes of Conan the Adventurer (but not the failed sequel). Heck, I even seldom have the guilty pleasure of rewatching Mighty Morphin' (only the Season 1 episodes and nothing beyond the 40th episode) and even Beast Morphers for eye candy. Though, the same can't be said about Megaforce which I mega-abhor as much as the Robocop TV Series.
Comments
Post a Comment