After eleven years, “Robocop” returns the big screen, courtesy of director José Padilha and starring Joel Kinnaman, Michael Keaton and Samuel L. Jackson. The first “Robocop” movie (1987), directed by Paul Verhoeven and inspired by the Toei tokusatsu hero Uchuu Keiji Gavan (Space Sheriff Gavan), boasted an iconic poster, a sharp script and effects that hold up well even today. It is one of the best examples of grounded sci-fi. Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) is a good cop who gets brutally gunned down and is rebuilt as Robocop, harder, better, faster, stronger.

Still from Robocop 1987

The original film (1987) was followed by a series of movies, cartoons and comics of varying quality. While “Robocop 2″ (1990) did an admirable job of continuing the story of Alex Murphy, the subsequent “Robocop 3″ (1993) is best described as a misstep. It was forced to keep a PG-13 rating, and despite the success of the previous movies, chose to incorporate robot ninjas, jetpacks, and just generally missed the point.

Still from Robocop 2

“Robocop 3″ was shortly followed by “Robocop: The Series”, a TV series filmed in Toronto and Mississauga, which actually wasn’t bad. It lacked the over the top brutality of the first two movies, but covered some really interesting topics in a way the movies couldn’t, including Murphy’s interactions with his family. Although not as good as the original movie, it’s pretty good and worth a look if you get the chance.

Still from Robocop 3

There were also two animated Robocop series, one in 1988 and another in 1998. It was pretty standard at the time for movies that weren’t suitable for kids to get an animated show (Rambo, for one), but these were largely forgettable. Enjoyable enough kids fare, but never hitting the heights of contemporary cartoons like “The Real Ghostbusters” or the “DCAU”.

Then in 2001, we had “Robocop: Prime Directives”, a tv miniseries. The less said there, the better. They largely ignored every prior portrayal, and even though they attempted to get back to the roots of the original, the low budget shows. Best described as a brave failure.