On Oct 7, 11:00 pm, Josh Hill  wrote:
> On Sun, 07 Oct 2007 10:52:23 -0700, "David E. Powell"
>
>
>
>
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>  wrote:
> >On Oct 7, 10:21 am, Josh Hill  wrote:
> >> On Sun, 07 Oct 2007 06:56:18 -0400, "Hank Arnold (MVP)"
>
> >>  wrote:
> >> >Captain Infinity wrote:
> >> >> In "The 22 Most Awful Moments in Science Fiction"
> >> >> At Something Awful
> >> >>http://www.somethingawful.com/d/most-awful/most-awful-scifi.php
>
> >> >> **
> >> >> Captain Infinity
>
> >> >The guy is a raving idiot.
>
> >> I'm sure Stanley Kubrick, Isaac Asimov, and JMS are, er, suitably
> >> abashed.
>
> >I didn't know about Frank Miller and the RoboCop stuff, in his defense
> >III was much better than II was.
>
> Didn't see it. Don't remember II all that well, either. But then, I
> wasn't a big fan of the original . . .

Well, let's just say that a lot of things were better than RC II. I
can see Miller's point about Studio influence, because I can imagine
the things that suits thought would work forced in. "Ooh... wait, we
know kids like RoboCop.. so put a kid in there!" So they make a top
crook and drug dealer like a 12 year old or something. No, not some
street kid, but a guy in a suit no less. (Then again it was the 1980s
and that was in.)  Then I can see the people at the studio saying:
"Oh, wait, we have a video game out! Let's put the arcade game in the
actual movie!" Never mind that this is set decades in the future, and
who is going to have 1980s games still as the most advanced things in
an arcade then? And where did all this glitter come from in the dark
city of the first movie?

RC III was actually a decent grafting of the Cyberpunk/Eastern style
influences into RoboCop as well as the corporate stuff of the 80s with
the US and Japan. (Seen from a more gentle perspective in "Die Hard"
and a comedy called "Gung Ho.") Unfortunately the budget was reduced
and Peter Weller had taken off for other parts by the time it came up.
(After part II I really can't blame the man, he's a legit History
professor as well as an actor so he has a lot of stuff he likes doing
and can use his judgement to pick his projects.) It also let one of
the coolest guys through the past 2 movies become head of OCP, and
that was both a nice thing to see because he was a nice guy, and also
sort of a "Peter Principle" commentary because he was the only guy
left! It still was nice to see him in charge at the end :)

I still think that if RC III had been RC II, it would have been much
better for everyone. The jet pack for Robocop was a bit much,
though. ;)

Mainly because the flying effects budget wasn't that great, it still
wasn't as horible as the effects in Superman IV were. Then again they
could have rotoscoped things on luncheon meat and not looked as bad as
Superman IV's effects did.

As for why I like the original Robocop, well it is a good action
piece, as a kid I dug it, but also I have a wierd sense of humor and
so does Verhoeven in the original RC, so I like it there too for the
commentary on stuff like business practices, the media, etc.

(On a similar note, I absolutely loved Starship Troopers from the
black humor perspective, though I love Heinlein's books and know the
arguments of the purists have a lot of weight.)

> --
> Josh
>
> "Playing 'Bop' is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels
> missing." - Duke Ellington- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
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