C.O.P.S. (TV series)

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This article is about the animated TV series. For other uses of C.O.P.S. or cops, see Cops.
C.O.P.S.

Logo shown for C.O.P.S.
Genre Animated series
Running time 30 mins
Creator(s) Hasbro, DiC Entertainment
Starring Ken Ryan, Paul De La Rosa, Len Carlson, Ron Rubin, Paulina Gillis, John Stocker, Marvin Goldhar, Jeri Craden, Darrin Baker, Elizabeth Hanna, Nick Nichols, Ray James, Mary Long, Dan Hennessey, Jane Schoettle, Brent Titcomb, Michael Fantini, Barbara Hamilton, Ray Kahnert, Jon Roncetti, Ruth Springford, and Noah Zylberman
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
Original channel Syndication
Original run September, 1988–February, 1989
No. of episodes 66
IMDb profile

C.O.P.S. (Central Organization of Police Specialists) is an animated series released by DiC Entertainment in association with Paramount Television and distributed by Claster Television Inc.) and Celebrity Home Entertainment (some VHSs went through to Golden Book Video, though). This cartoon, which ran from 1988-1989, used the tag line: “Fighting crime in a future time, protecting Empire City from Big Boss and his gang of Crooks.” Each character in the series is totally different in appearance from both the toys and the comic series. The series is unrelated to the reality TV show, COPS.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

The year: 2020 in the near future. The place: Empire City, a megalopolis (while Kansas and Oklahoma have an Empire City, the one in the series is a coastal city). The situation: Brandon "Big Boss" Babel, along with his Crooks, are holding the entire city under the palm of his iron hand and the Empire City Police Department can do nothing to stop him. As a last resort, Mayor Davis sends in Special Agent Baldwin P. Vess (Codename: Bulletproof) to take him down. However, Bulletproof suffered very serious injuries at the hands of Big Boss' criminal henchmen and had to be taken to the hospital, where he is given a cybernetic bullet-resistant torso to save his life.

While staying at the hospital, Bulletproof, knowing he cannot do all of this alone, sends out Police Officer P.J. O'Malley (Codename: LongArm) and rookie officer Donny Brooks (Codename: HardTop) to round up the best law enforcers from all over the country. With these men and women - including Highway, Mace, Barricade, Mainframe, Sundown, Mirage, Bullseye, and Bowser and Blitz - he forms a team that is "the finest law enforcement agency there is in the country". Bulletproof becomes the proud founder and commander of C.O.P.S. Together, he and his C.O.P.S. team are able to take down Big Boss and his gang of crooks and thwart the first of many of Big Boss' criminal schemes.

[edit] About the Show

Each episode has a title that begins with "The Case of...." with a different phrase being added to it (i.e. The Case of the Iron C.O.P.S. and Wooden CROOKS; The Case of The Half-Pint Hero; and The Case of the Crime Nobody Heard) along with the C.O.P.S. file number. Bulletproof would narrate at the beginning of the episode as well as the end, concluding by repeating the C.O.P.S. file number and title, ending it with "Case Closed" with an abrupt "Closed" stamp mark being plastered onto the file. The two exceptions are the first parts each of the two-parter episodes, The Case of Big Boss' Master Plan and The Case of C.O.P.S. File #1, where the conclusion of the episode is marked with a "Case Continued" plastered on the files.

In the cartoon, the C.O.P.S. frequently shouted, “It’s Crime Fighting Time!” as a battle cry when it was time to bag the CROOKS and solve a caper. Meanwhile, the CROOKS would shout “Crime’s a-wasting!” whenever they went to do another caper, whether it was pulling another heist (as in so many episodes such as The Case of The Blur Bandits), giving C.O.P.S. a hard time to the point of replacing (actually disposing) them for good (as in The Case of Big Boss' Master Plan) or taking captive a certain individual to be held prisoner for ransom (as in The Case of The Ransomed Rascal).

The show had a slightly unique artistic style for the time. The series had many similarities to the British comic book Judge Dredd, albeit a more kid-friendly sensibility. While character models were usually in line with DiC's own art style, the Crooks(with the exception of Nightshade) were given a more exaggerated face, to the point of making them look more cartoonish or ghoulish(for example, Squeaky Kleen had a large round head with a large nose, Rock Krusher resembled various bald muscle men from old Warner Bros. cartoons, and Buttons McBoomBoom had a somewhat stretched face with yellow eyes), often to the point of making the Crooks stand out amongst the normally-drawn COPS and citizens. The toy line featured normal faces for the Crooks figures.

The music for the series was created by Shuki Levy, who wrote and compose music for The Real Ghostbusters, X-Men: the Animated Series, DragonBall Z (English Dubbed Version), and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers while the C.O.P.S. theme music was written and composed by the creator of the Power Rangers series Haim Saban and sung by Nick Carr.

The show became a hit with both parents and children when it was shown, but not enough of a hit to last very long. There were 66 episodes before the show was cancelled. Numerous characters were featured in the cartoon that did not have action figures (Including Mainframe, Brian O'Malley, Whitney Morgan, Nightshade, Ms. Demeanor, and Mirage.). It then was featured in reruns in syndication on CBS in 1993 and was renamed CyberCOPS in order to avoid confusion with the reality prime time show COPS, which was then gaining popularity.

[edit] C.O.P.S. For Kids

Main Article: See C.O.P.S. For Kids

[edit] The Case of The Boy Nobody Wanted

Many websites that talk about the C.O.P.S. series, including TV.com, tvshowsondvd.com, and this site have erroneously claimed that there were 65 episodes in the series while there are actually 66. They omit The Case of The Boy Nobody Wanted, the episode where Brian O'Malley (LongArm's son), Linda O'Malley (LongArm's wife) and Bulletproof helps an underprivileged boy. At the end of the episode, a mishap occurs in Big Boss' penthouse that involves his computer system malfunctioning when a fake disk, switched from a real disk Big Boss was after, gets inserted into the computer, making the whole system malfunction greatly. A large vacuum cleaner chased and sucked up skinny Squeeky Kleen inside - and there was Big Boss yelling out from his penthouse window, "YOU DID THIS TO ME, BULLETPROOF!!!" as the camera zoomed out, concluding the penthouse scene. In the end, when Bulletproof was closing his C.O.P.S. file, he put multiple pictures in the file instead of just one like he done in the previous episodes of the series, including the photo of Bulletproof and Linda waving goodbye at the boy as he left to go home. At this time, the only way to see this episode is through bootleg recordings.

[edit] Memorable Quotes From The Show

[edit] Well-Known Repeated Quotes From The Show

  • "It's Crime Fighting Time!" - All C.O.P.S.
  • "Crime's A Wasting" - All Crooks
  • "Freeze! We're C.O.P.S., and you're under arrest!" - All C.O.P.S.
  • "Freeze! We're CROOKS, and this is a stick-up!" - All Crooks
  • "Here's how the caper came down." - Bulletproof
  • "I want 20 million dollars..." - Big Boss
  • "If you want wrong-doing done right, you('ll) have to wrong-do it yourself." - Dr. BadVibes

[edit] Rare Quotes From The Show

  • "There's always a non-violent alternative to resolve conflict." - Barricade
  • "Even I keep a promise sometimes." - Dr. BadVibes
  • "Good work, Buzzbomb! Today you've earned your steel wool cupcakes!" - Dr. BadVibes
  • "My Cheddar-brained nephew might be a nincompoop, but it makes me look bad if one of my crooks gets caught! - Big Boss
  • "Make sure the reporters spell my name right! It's McBoomBoom. That's one 'Mc' and two Booms." - Buttons Mc BoomBoom
  • "I want this, I want that! Someday I'm gonna tell Big Boss off!" - Nightshade
  • "I want $10,000 and some chocolate chip cookies" - Berserko

[edit] Place in the Series

  • Empire City

[edit] Characters in the series

[edit] COPS

Enlarge

[edit] CROOKS

Enlarge

[edit] Supporting and Other Misc. Characters

[edit] Major Supporting Characters

  • Mayor Davis
  • Commissioner Highwaters
  • Whitney Morgan with Beamer
  • Brian O'Malley (LongArm's son)

[edit] Minor Supporting Characters

  • Judge Davis
  • Linda O'Malley (LongArm's wife)
  • Mickey O'Malley (LongArm's Dad)
  • Johnny Yuma (C.O.P.S.)
  • Big Momma (Big Boss's Mother)
  • U.S. President (African-American female)
  • The Bugman and Gaylord
  • Suds Sparko
  • Brannigan
  • Shifty, The Shape-Shifting Android
  • Prince Baddin
  • Nancy and Kathleen (Nightshade's Sister)
  • Greasy
  • Francis Malcolm Pittermore
  • Grace Elizabeth Victoria Winsmore
  • Ian Oliver
  • Traylor Turbiné Totallinski
  • Audrey Ferrer
  • Dr. Gregory Timothy Adams
  • Ronald Harvard
  • Vargas and the Instant Justice Machines
  • Samantha
  • Captain Crimefighter
  • Baby Bad Guy
  • Addictem
  • Inspector Yukon
  • Agent Belson (FBI)
  • Jammie Wheeler (Con Artist)
  • Mukluk

[edit] C.O.P.S. Episodes

Main Article Complete List of C.O.P.S. Episodes

[edit] DVD

A DVD box set of the first 22 episodes was released in the United States on February 28, 2006 from Shout! Factory. It includes concept art, storyboard-to-screen, and the original PSAs that were shown after the episodes.

Trivia: In the Shout! Factory boxset, Part 1 of The Case of C.O.P.S. File #1 has 2 introduction scenes of Highway and Sundown excised from the episode. It is not known, other than possible time constraints, why Shout! Factory did this. The C.O.P.S. 3-episode DVD single, C.O.P.S. - Fighting Crime In A Future Time, does have the footage, however.

[edit] External links

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