RoboCop

On the data. Eight screen entries and at least five incompatible continuities, which is the single most misunderstood thing about this franchise. Only the three films follow one another. The 1994 television series aired after RoboCop 3 but follows the 1987 film and disregards both sequels; it exists because Orion had planned a fourth film, went bankrupt, and licensed a series instead, and its pilot was adapted from a discarded RoboCop 2 script. Prime Directives from 2001 is set ten years after the first film and was written to steer clear of the sequels and the series alike. The two animated series share nothing with anything. The 2014 film is a remake, and although it is sometimes called the fourth installment, that is a count of releases rather than a claim about continuity. The recasting in RoboCop 3 catches people out. Robert John Burke replaces Peter Weller, which looks like a reboot and is not. It is a direct sequel with a new actor. On dates, the original trilogy is deliberately undated. None of the three films states a year, and the phrase about Detroit in the near future that appears in every summary is the summarisers' description rather than confirmed on-screen text, so no setting years are listed against them here. The one entry with a stated year is the 2014 remake, which is set in 2028. Alpha Commando contradicts itself, giving 2030 in the series and 2020 in its own pilot. The episode count for the 1994 series is genuinely disputed and is flagged here as unconfirmed. It is listed as 22, counting the two hour pilot as a single episode. Listings that split the pilot into two broadcast parts give 23, and listings that exclude it give 21. All three numbers are in circulation. Four separate things are titled simply RoboCop: the 1987 film, the 1988 cartoon, the 1994 series and the 2014 remake. The year is the only way to tell them apart. Alpha Commando, at forty episodes the longest entry in the franchise, is also the one most often left off lists entirely.

On your progress. Checkmarks are saved on this device and are tied to permanent title IDs, not to list positions, so new episodes, titles, and whole franchises can be added later without disturbing anything you've already marked. Use Sync & backup to move progress to another device.