s part of the SCI FI Channel's "Summer of SCI FI," this eight-hour, four-night miniseries revisits the RoboCop franchise with a brand-new adventure for that justice-minded cyborg. RoboCop: Prime Directives opens with Delta City celebrating RoboCop's 10th birthday. However, RoboCop (Fletcher), formerly known as Officer Alex Murphy, is glum. He may be the reason Delta City has become "the safest place on earth," but his methods are questioned as too violent and he's feeling outdated.
After RoboCop has a run-in with a vicious vigilante named Bone Machine, he is nearly killed, and Robo begins to question his purpose even more. He wonders what he's really accomplished after 10 years. Delta City's new security commander, John Cable (Wint), has started to bring up old memories. Murphy remembers that they were partners at one time. He can't bring himself to tell Cable who he is, but together they begin to investigate who the Bone Machine might really be.
Meanwhile, at Omni Consumer Products (OCP), the corporation that owns Delta City, executives Damian Lowe (Kevin Jubinville) and John Cable's ex-wife, Sara Cable (Del Mar), are both involved in separate plots to take over the OCP. Lowe has plans to automate all of Delta City with an artificial intelligence program called SAINT, which would be under his control, while Sara leads a group of executives calling themselves The Trust, who have plans to build another robot cop, but one that they can control. Sara enlists an aggressive young executive, James Murphy (Anthony Lemke), who just happens to be the son of RoboCop. James doesn't know his father is still alive, and he's more than happy to join in on the cutthroat nature of office politics.
As RoboCop and John Cable begin to pin down the identity of Bone Machine, they discover they may both be the victims of those nasty office politics. Worse yet, RoboCop's challenge has just begun. As the miniseries continues, he will find himself up against a more advanced RoboCop and an insane genius named David Kaydick (Wyn Davies), who is obsessed with unleashing a biotech virus that will destroy all biology and technology on the face of on the earth.
Everything a RoboCop fan needs
With four full nights and two RoboCops going at it, RoboCop: Prime Directives is an action-packed, exciting mini that also has a heart. The creators have borrowed from a wide variety of sources, including everything from the old western showdowns to The Matrix. While there are plot holes aplenty, the RoboCop series strength was always in staying true to its man-meets-machine theme, and Prime Directives certainly manages that.
Fletcher does a fine job embodying the big, clunky, frozen-faced RoboCop. It doesn't hurt that he's given lots of early flashbacks that take place at a time when he was just another cop on the police force. In those flashbacks, he's able to laugh and do some real acting. It also helps give a sense of who this particular RoboCop was before he was killed and brought back to life to be pressed into RoboService. Prime Directives is well cast, especially regarding Wint as John Cable and Hope as mercenary Ann Key, who is reminiscent of Carrie-Anne Moss in The Matrix. Wyn Davies does overact as insane genius David Kaydick, but that is what insane geniuses are supposed to do, so he gets away with it.
While it's exciting to see RoboCop face an army of men, survive explosions and fearlessly take on all the bad guys and win, it's the man under the metal who keeps fans coming back.
Prime Directives focuses on RoboCop's humanity, which, after all, is the heart of this particular character. By having RoboCop go up against a superior version of himself, he finally gets to understand who he really is. It's a nice touch that's managed without anything being taken away from the action.
The weakness of this mini lies squarely in the script and the convoluted plotting by the OCP executives. Prime Directives slows down every time the executives show up for more corporate intrigue. Office politics are boring and few have been able to make them interesting to watch. Worse yet, these office politics often make no sense and things seem to happen without logic and simply to convenience the plot.
Sure, it could be better, but that's a minor quibble for RoboFans. Viewers who stay with the mini for all four nights will be treated to a slam-bang conclusion on the final night. There are bullets flying, explosions exploding, car chases, plenty of property damage and a hero standing up for RoboJustice. And isn't that what RoboCop has really always been about?
