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

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Not to be confused with COPS (TV series).

This article is about the animated series. For the comic book series, see C.O.P.S. (comics). For the action figure line, see C.O.P.S 'N' Crooks.

C.O.P.S.
Logo shown for C.O.P.S.
Format	Animated series
Created by	Hasbro, Claster Television 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	United States
No. of episodes	66 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	30 mins
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original run	September, 1988 – February, 1989
External links
IMDb profile

C.O.P.S. (Central Organization of Police Specialists) is an animated series released by DiC Entertainment (distributed by Claster Television Inc.) and Celebrity Home Entertainment (some VHS tapes went through 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.

1 Plot
2 The Case of the Boy Nobody Wanted
3 Characters in the series
- 3.1 COPS
- 3.2 CROOKS
4 Supporting and other misc. characters
- 4.1 Major supporting characters
- 4.2 Minor supporting characters
5 Home entertainment releases
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Plot

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.

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 “Closed” mark being stamped onto the file folder. 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 the 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 unusual artistic style for the time, which can be credited to Peter Chung, best known for the Aeon Flux and Reign: The Conqueror animated series. The series had many similarities to the British comic book Judge Dredd^{[citation needed]}, 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 composed music for The Real Ghostbusters, M.A.S.K., X-Men (the animated series), DragonBall Z (English dubbed version), Digimon (English dubbed version), and 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, and lasted 66 episodes over the course of two seasons. 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.

The filecards for some of the toys indicate that the characters are descendants of members of G.I. Joe. This then connects C.O.P.S. to the "Hector Ramirez Universe" of shows produced by Sunbow: G.I. Joe, Transformers, Jem and the Holograms and Inhumanoids, all of whom features appearances, cameo or major, by Hector Ramirez.

[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 Geocities (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 with 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 did 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] Characters in the series

[edit] COPS

"Bulletproof" with Mainframe (left) and Bowser (right)

[edit] CROOKS

Big Boss and Nightshade (left)

[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
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 sisters)
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
Small Guy
Addictem
Inspector Yukon
Agent Belson (FBI)
Jammie Wheeler (Con Artist)
Mukluk
Brandon Welch Master 5000

[edit] Home entertainment releases

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. The rest of the series has yet to be released on DVD.

In the Shout! Factory boxset, Part 1 of “The Case of C.O.P.S. File #1” has two 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. three-episode DVD single, C.O.P.S.—Fighting Crime in a Future Time, does have the footage, however.

Cover Art	DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date	Additional Information
	C.O.P.S. Volume 1	22	February 28, 2006	Concept art storyboard-to-screen C.O.P.S. for Kids Original PSAs
	C.O.P.S. Fighting Crime in a Future Time.	3	November 13, 2003	Contains three episodes, “The Case of C.O.P.S. File #1” Parts 1 and 2 and “The Case of the Bogus Justice Machine.”