ROBOCOP Remake First Pics & Viral Video

[Inkthinker]

I think that might fit under "It's different than I remember it!" And I'm not completely disagreeing, but how many major corporations can you think of that go by their initials these day?

NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, NPR, DC and WB all come to mind. And in at least two of those the "C" stands for Corporation.

[Nate Grey]

Probably more stretched out scenes like this.

I was specifically responding to the part I bolded, the "horror" aspect. That vid emphasizes the sadness of his "condition" I guess you could say. Sadness and perhaps anger as well (hence his punching that monitor at the end). The second movie seemed to emphasize the horrific aspects of merging man and machine (the extraction of Cain's brain as well as it sitting in a jar also come to mind), the first the tragedy of it. Its why I'm wondering if this remake will be some sort of amalgam of the first two RoboCop movies.

[Inkthinker]

I don't know if you really need to. Especially not the way the first film was set up, because there was no in between. There was no transition, there wasn't supposed to be, that was why Robocop was supposed to work. He didn't even question his existence until Emil put it in his head -- he was just Robocop. If there was a transition, the plot as originally presented doesn't work. That was part of the gag -- it wasn't about him becoming Robocop, it was about Robocop becoming Murphy.

Well put. I'd include that part of the character of Robocop, at least at first, is that he's a little scary. He represents the concept of creating "security" through a faceless, emotionally empty killing machine rather than a human being. And part of what makes that work is that he moves and acts and looks like a machine, the only thing that even remotely reminds you of his human origins is that sliver of face between his jaw and his nose. It's not until he's badly damaged and his visor shattered that we see a human eye within the mask, and then the full reveal when the helmet comes off makes him once again a person rather than a thing.

Without that transition, it's definitely a different character being created here.

[StoneGold]

NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, NPR, DC and WB all come to mind. And in at least two of those the "C" stands for Corporation.

Most of those aren't corporations, they're individual brands, most of which are legacy mandated to go by initials. NBC is a fragment of Comcast, ABC of Disney, CBS of Viacom, DC and WB of Time Warner. And the C in none of them stands for corporation. In order, Company, Company, Columbia, Comics.


Now where you would have gotten me is with former NBC owners GE. Which is probably a decent OCP/Omnicorp stand in. Course, they've been around just short of forever, as far as megacorps go.

[StoneGold]

Well put. I'd include that part of the character of Robocop, at least at first, is that he's a little scary. He represents the concept of creating "security" through a faceless, emotionally empty killing machine rather than a human being. And part of what makes that work is that he moves and acts and looks like a machine, the only thing that even remotely reminds you of his human origins is that sliver of face between his jaw and his nose. It's not until he's badly damaged and his visor shattered that we see a human eye within the mask, and then the full reveal when the helmet comes off makes him once again a person rather than a thing.

Without that transition, it's definitely a different character being created here.

And even then, he's a fairly hideous looking human, flesh cut off and stretched over steel, the bullet hole that killed him still visible in the forehead.



Basically, there's very little in the first Robocop movie that's be accident. Damn near everything in that movie is either focused satire or metaphor for something.

[StoneGold]

Im Really Sick of People saying the stop motion for the ed-209 in the original sucked and was low budgeted, for machines stop motion is perfect as the sometimes jerky side effect of stop motion lends it self to the robots robotdic movements.
is it perfect hell no, but for me it never detracted from the film and ive seen a shit ton of far worse stop motion out there

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNcka...feature=g-vrec

It was low budget. Or at least not big budget. Same as Star Wars. It was shot for $14 million. In contrast, Beverly Hills Cop 2 was shot for $20 million.


It was good, though.

[Inkthinker]

Most of those aren't corporations, they're individual brands, most of which are legacy mandated to go by initials. NBC is a fragment of Comcast, ABC of Disney, CBS of Viacom, DC and WB of Time Warner. And the C in none of them stands for corporation. In order, Company, Company, Columbia, Comics.


Now where you would have gotten me is with former NBC owners GE. Which is probably a decent OCP/Omnicorp stand in. Course, they've been around just short of forever, as far as megacorps go.

I'm pretty sure they're fragments of larger companies now, thanks to being bought up. But they weren't always, and while they're legacy mandated to go by initials now, that's because they were known by their initials for so long that the initials effectively became the name. They didn't start out that way.

You're probably right about the "C" though, I didn't read the wikis. Coulda sworn it was National Broadcasting Corporation... woulda lost the Final Jeopardy on that one.

But, but yeah! GE!! Totally validated. :D

-EDIT-

BBC! haHA!

Also, definitely "Corporation". And British, so they're totally evil by accent default alone. :)

[Inkthinker]

And even then, he's a fairly hideous looking human, flesh cut off and stretched over steel, the bullet hole that killed him still visible in the forehead.

Basically, there's very little in the first Robocop movie that's be accident. Damn near everything in that movie is either focused satire or metaphor for something.

Just so. And I don't think it was a coincidence that they cast an actor with very noticeably blue eyes, as it helped them stand out when the time came for the reveal.

But the whole point is that it's a reveal, it's nearly 3/4 of the movie gone and done before that happens, and the lead-up to that is a slow unraveling of the initial presentation of the character; that of a cold, unemotional, robotic killing machine.

I'll be interested in hearing about the new version, but so far they're not building up my confidence in the project by leaving this aspect of the character out...

[Alex]

Just so. And I don't think it was a coincidence that they cast an actor with very noticeably blue eyes, as it helped them stand out when the time came for the reveal.

But the whole point is that it's a reveal, it's nearly 3/4 of the movie gone and done before that happens, and the lead-up to that is a slow unraveling of the initial presentation of the character; that of a cold, unemotional, robotic killing machine.

I'll be interested in hearing about the new version, but so far they're not building up my confidence in the project by leaving this aspect of the character out...

He wasn't exactly a killing machine, he was a cop.

[StoneGold]

He wasn't exactly a killing machine, he was a cop.

Who happened to kill a lot. And the people he arrested, generally maimed first.

[Inkthinker]

He wasn't exactly a killing machine, he was a cop.

He was a ROBO COP.

And yeah, he kinda killed/maimed a lot of the criminals he ran into (though to be fair, most of 'em were really, really bad people).



Not that he's dealing lethal force there inappropriately (he has been fired upon), but the scene emphasizes that he's both a killing machine AND a cop.

Anyhow, I'm sure they'll get the bad-ass killing machine part down (the new one will probably acrobatically gunkata his way through a similar scene), I just think that the characterization of Robocop is more effective when his humanity is concealed, then revealed.

[The Batman]

Maybe, but it's also worth considering it in the context of the movie where it's not so different from the kind of guns blazing two-fisted 'police work' that Murphy and Lewis are doing at the film's beginning. The hyper-violence is consistent throughout. It's also set at the point where the man's broken through the machine, so to speak, and so it seems an odd place to decide to paint Robocop as a stone cold killing machine.

[JCAll]

Who happened to kill a lot. And the people he arrested, generally maimed first.

He's still probably the least violent person in Detroit.

[Karl O'Neill]

I wonder if they will be a moment where ED is chasing someone, gets to some stairs and... actually walks down them! SHOCK! HORROR!

I'd buy that for a dollar...............

[Karl O'Neill]

He was a ROBO COP.

And yeah, he kinda killed/maimed a lot of the criminals he ran into (though to be fair, most of 'em were really, really bad people).




Not that he's dealing lethal force there inappropriately (he has been fired upon), but the scene emphasizes that he's both a killing machine AND a cop.

Anyhow, I'm sure they'll get the bad-ass killing machine part down (the new one will probably acrobatically gunkata his way through a similar scene), I just think that the characterization of Robocop is more effective when his humanity is concealed, then revealed.

I love how he locks in on target on them, waits for them to shoot at him, and then they all move positions and he still knows where to hit them ;-)