It had the potential to be one of the most ridiculous b-movie releases of the ‘80s. Instead, Robocop became a cult hit and one of the decade’s seminal science fiction films.

THE MOVIE
Paul Verhoeven's first English-speaking film was a far cry from the arthouse pics he was known for in his native Holland. Little did anyone know—including the director himself—that Robocop would be the first of a string of satirical sci-fi juggernauts, including Total Recall and Starship Troopers.

In Detroit of the not so distant future, a policeman (Peter Weller) is brutally gunned down and left for dead by a cartel of drug dealers. Barely alive, he is rushed to a hospital where a private company put in charge of the police force erases his memory and integrates what is left of his body with a state-of-the-art cybernetic shell. The result is the half-man, half-robot knight of a future, a cyborg built to revolutionize law enforcement and clean up the ever-worsening streets of the city. As Robocop hits the streets, his cache grows. But when he finds himself in pursuit of the very men who “killed” him, his human half with its tortured, Swiss-cheesed memory begins to resurface and in a re-imagining of the Frankenstein myth, pits the creation against his creators.

Robocop his theater screens like a thunderbolt. Chock full of action, a gratuitous bloodlust, and a wicked, satirical wit, audiences staggered from theaters unsure of what they’d seen. Although crafted for American sensibilities, Robocop operated as an audacious critique of democracy and capitalism. And who better to do that than a foreign director? A sci-fi blockbuster reminiscent of The Terminator, Robocop was a bleak, cynical, post-modern look at crime and violence, the role of the media, and Reaganomics in general.

SOUND + VISION
Robocop is presented in 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen. The film comes equipped with English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, English Dolby Digital 4.0 Surround and French Dolby Digital Stereo Surround tracks. Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

This new edition goes a long way to clean up the imperfections of the previous releases. While the audio has always been respectable (and continues to thunder away here), the video, once regarded as “dirty” is now scrubbed and shiny as Robocop’s titanium noggin. Since Robocop is most certainly the sort of film for which you want superior A/V transfers, you’ll be pleased to know this package delivers all the goods.

PACKAGING/ LAYOUT
You probably never read this section do you? And why would you? It is consistently the most boring, repetitious paragraph of any DVDFanatic review. “’Your Film Here’ is presented in a standard plastic keepcase... yada yada yada…” NOT THIS TIME! For the first time in a very long time, it is my great pleasure to announce an absolutely gorgeous steelcase packaging for Robocop. This thing is breathtaking. The cover art is a long angle image of Robocop looking away from the viewer. The backside includes an image of our hero firing a burst from his weapon alongside a synopsis of the film, the bonus feature list, and the disc’s technical specs. Inside, beneath the disks and (gasp) and insert listing making-of trivia are several more large-sized images from the film. Spectacular packaging from start to finish.

The menus, the main of which is animated, are relatively simple and easy to navigate.

SPECIAL FEATURES
There are two versions of the film presented here. Disc One contains the original theatrical release, while Disc Two contains an extended version. The extended version is essentially the same but re-inserts the more violent footage toned done to appease the MPAA.

DISC ONE:
• Audio Commentary with Director Paul Verhoevan, Writer Ed Neumeier and Executive Producer Jon Davison — What’s the most important thing the filmmakers were looking for in casting the part of Robocop? Why a good jawline of course! Listen in as these three revisit the production twenty years later, recounting their paltry $10 million budget and almost entirely on-location shoots. Learn how they left the scene in which Murphy is killed until the very end to ensure now defunct Orion pictures, which shut the film down for going over time and budget, would have to allow them to continue shooting. Hear how director Verhoevan was physically ill with insecurity over being ably to handle the big, American production. And discover what influence Capt. Kirk had over Weller’s acting.
• Flesh and Steel: The Making of Robocop (37 min.) — It’s great when filmmakers take their film seriously. It’s even better when a DVD release takes its viewers seriously. Here is a terrific and lengthy new featurette in which all the filmmakers sit down before the camera 20 years after the fact to admit that they all thought Robocop was going to be the most ridiculous b-movie piece of crap ever made! Studios didn’t give the film the time of day because of its title, Director Verhoeven thought the script was ridiculous, and the special effects guys thought they were making little more than a cartoon until they saw the first rough cut. While Verhoeven may have culled inspiration from Fritz Lang, he intentionally wanted Robocop to have overt Christ-imagery: “I wanted to show Satan killing Jesus,” he says, “an American Jesus who uses guns!” Unsurprisingly, the MPAA freaked over Verhoeven’s over-the-top gun use and forced him to tone it way down. Everyone admits the production was pure hell, with one crewmember stating that by the time the shoot was over everyone hated each other. “Working on it was like being the victim of a violent crime...I swore I'd never do another film again!” For his part, Verhoeven felt his “fascism for liberals” merely reflected the social conditions in the United States. “America without guns is not America.” Sadly, Robocop may be more relevant today than 20 years ago.
• 1987 Featurette: Shooting Robocop (8 min.) — This featurette opens with a silly, fake news conference open before moving on to lots of behind the scenes stuff, cast and crew on set interviews and a glimpse into the film’s make-up and special effects.
• 1987 Featurette: Making Robocop (8 min.) — Paul Verhoeven sees Robocop as only half an action film. The other half is an existential look at the unquenchability of the human soul. All that and a glimpse at the film’s stunts.
• The Boardroom: Storyboard with Commentary by Animator Phil Tippett (6 min.) — As ED 209 wreaks havoc on the boardroom in frame-by-frame slow-mo and an inset storyboard plays in the corner, stop-motion animator Tippett describes how the magic was made. In the pre-digital age, the film’s budget couldn’t even afford blue screens, so Tippett did everything the old fashioned, Ray Harryhausen way, with rear-screen projection.
• Deleted Scenes — Four very short scenes comprised of an “OCP Press Conference,” a “Nun in the Street Interview,” “Topless Pizza,” and one “Final Media Break.”
• Photo Galleries — Six extensive photo galleries encompassing Design, Special Effects, Director Paul Verhoeven, Behind the Scenes, Cast, and ED 209
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spot
• Previews — The Great Escape Collector's Edition, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

DISC TWO:
• Villains of Old Detroit (17 min.) — This featurette treats us to new interviews with all of Robocop’s old bad guys. Each of them gets a glimmer in their eye when thinking back to the mayhem they created. The baddies remember hanging out together offset and their antics onset — a storefront explosion so powerful that the actors’ clothes and skin were pitted with debris allowing for stunt pay; stealing and racing the AD’s golf carts; a hilarious story about Verhoeven’s misuse of the word, “bitches.” Each of them recall the surprise at having their careers skyrocket after the film, though it is still unthinkable to imagine that before Robocop, Ronny Cox was an actor known for playing softies!
• Special Effects Then and Now (18 min.) — Special effects have come a long way and this featurette is fantastic at showing what a lost art form the special effects of yesteryear have become. Nowadays computers can do everything, but it wasn’t so long ago that matte paintings and stop-motion puppets won the day. What the special effects artists interviewed for the featurette are doing now is anybody’s guess.
• Robocop: Creating a Legend (21 min.) — 20 years later, the Robocop costume is still stunning and not dated in the slightest. I guess the filmmakers were right to spend most of the film’s budget on the suit. With eight months prep time and a creative process so toxic that the sculptor refused to even speak to director Verhoeven, the suit was not delivered until the first day of shooting! A million dollars worth of fiberglass or not, it still took actor Peter Weller nearly 11 hours to get into the suit the first day, an incident over which he nearly quit the film. Though he trained in football gear with a mime coach, Weller found that he could barely move once in the suit. To make matters worse, the Dallas heat was so intense that he lost several pounds a day just from having it on. While most of this featurette focuses on the Robo-suit, it also highlights Robocop’s massive gun and his extensive make-up. The funniest bit is easily the part where the cast and crew reveals that Weller was such a method actor that, while he was on set, he would only carry on conversations as the cyborg! For his part, Weller admits he's made some clunkers but this is not one of them!
• Easter Egg — Click on the numbers sequence on the Special Features menu screen for a Verhoeven special treat!

MR. ROBOTO
Let’s face it, the original Robocop is a classic, while it’s two sequels deserve to rot in a junkyard for malfunctioning appliances. While the trilogy set was quite popular a few years ago, it had one fatal flaw—it included Robocop II and III. This release is the answer for everyone who loves the original yet still wants all the goodies that came along with the other releases. Heck, the packaging alone is worth the price—just think how great it will be once you get the thing into your DVD player!

DVD Film Score: A
DVD Sound + Vision Score: A
DVD Packaging/ Layout Score: A
DVD Special Features Score: A
DVD Overall Score: A

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