COPS (animated TV series)


COPS is an American animated television series released by DIC Animation City, and distributed by Claster Television. This cartoon, which ran from 1988 to 1989, focuses on a team of highly trained policemen tasked with protecting the fictional Empire City from a group of gangsters led by the "Big Boss." The tag lines for the series are “Fighting crime in a future time” and "It's crime fightin' time!" In 1993, the series was shown in reruns on CBS Saturday mornings under the new name CyberCOPS, due to the 1989 debut of the unrelated primetime reality show of the same name. The show was based on Hasbro’s 1988 line of action figures called C.O.P.S. ’n’ Crooks.

Overview

In the year 2020, Brandon “Big Boss” Babel and his gang of crooks are causing crime to run rampant in Empire City enough for the Empire City Police Department to be unable to stop him.
Mayor Davis requests federal assistance. The FBI sends in Special Agent Baldwin P. Vess to help take down Big Boss. However, Vess suffered very serious injuries in a car wreck during a fight with Big Boss’ criminal henchmen and had to be taken to the hospital. Facing years of rehabilitation, Vess is outfitted with a cybernetic bulletproof torso that allows him to walk again.
While staying at the hospital, Bulletproof, knowing he cannot do all of this alone, sends out Empire City police officer P.J. O’Malley and rookie officer Donny Brooks to round up the best law enforcers from all over the country. With these men and women consisting of David E. “Highway” Harlson, Colt “Mace” Howards, Stan “Barricade” Hyde, Tina “Mainframe” Cassidy, Walker “Sundown” Calhoun, Suzie “Mirage” Young, Hugh S. “Bullseye” Forward, and Rex “Bowser” Pointer and his robot dog 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 COPS. Together, he and his COPS 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 along with the COPS file number. Bulletproof would narrate at the beginning of the episode as well as at the end, concluding by repeating the COPS file number and title, ending it with “Case Closed” with a “Closed” mark being stamped onto the file folder. The two exceptions are the first parts of each of the two-part 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 COPS 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, giving C.O.P.S. a hard time to the point of replacing them for good or taking captive a certain individual to be held prisoner for ransom.
The music for the series was created by Shuki Levy, while the COPS theme music was written and composed by Haim Saban.
Numerous characters were featured in the cartoon that did not have action figures.

Characters

COPS

COPS is short for Central Organization of Police Specialists. They were assembled in order to combat C.R.O.O.K.S. and other bad guys. Characters include:
C.R.O.O.K.S. is a crime syndicate that commits crimes in Empire City. Recurring characters include:
Other villains in the show were unaffiliated with Big Boss’ gang. They include:
On November 13, 2003, Sterling Entertainment released a DVD called C.O.P.S. — Fighting Crime in a Future Time. Unlike the later released boxsets, Part 1 of “The Case of C.O.P.S. File #1” has the two introduction scenes of Highway and Sundown excised from the episode.
On February 28, 2006, Shout! Factory and Sony BMG Music Entertainment released C.O.P.S. — [|Volume 1], a four-disc boxset featuring the first 22 uncut episodes on DVD in its original broadcast presentation in Region 1. It includes original concept art, storyboard-to-screen, and some of the original PSAs that were shown after the episodes. [|Volume 2] featuring 21 episodes was released as a Shout! Factory select title, available exclusively through their online store.
In October 2010, Mill Creek Entertainment announced that they had acquired the rights to the series and would be releasing it in its entirety. They subsequently released Volume 1, featuring the first 32 episodes of the series, on February 15, 2011. Volume 2, featuring the remaining 33 episodes, was released on September 13, 2011.
On March 14, 2017, Mill Creek Entertainment released C.O.P.S. — The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.
DVD NameEp #Release Date
C.O.P.S. Volume 132February 15, 2011
C.O.P.S. Volume 233September 13, 2011
C.O.P.S. Complete Series65March 14, 2017

In some markets, a 60-minute preview broadcast, possibly of one of the two-part stories, aired as early as September 9, and new episodes ran through February 20, 1989.

Volume 1

Volume 2

C.O.P.S. for Kids

At the end of each episode of C.O.P.S., a special Public service announcement segment known as C.O.P.S. for Kids is shown either in animated form featuring the C.O.P.S. and CROOKS or in live action form with real-life police officers giving kids information about safety issues. These included staying away from drugs, gangs, how to be safe at home and on the street, and how to help in preventing crime. Each and every C.O.P.S. for Kids segment was made with the blessing and assistance of organizations like DARE, the National Crime Prevention Council and the California Highway Patrol. These segments were omitted from some international broadcasts of the show.
TitleCharacters

Broadcast

C.O.P.S. was released into syndication in 1988. The program was re-titled Cyber C.O.P.S. and re-run on CBS from March 27 to September 4, 1993. It was re-run again on the USA Network from January 2 to March 9, 1995 under its original title.

Reception

, author of Television Cartoon Shows, An Illustrated Encyclopedia stated that “C.O.P.S. had potential--though it was a potential left unrealized by the dishearteningly flat animation style.” Erickson noted that C.O.P.S. “scored with a sturdy inner lining of social satire” such as Mayor Davis’ cost-cutting attempts that would unwittingly aid the cause of the villain. IGN gave the show a rating of three out of ten, stating that “to fully appreciate this series one must have a tolerance for clunky, mechanical animation and a love for ’80s-style action”; and that “it offers little in terms of character development. I mean, all any kid needs to know is the C.O.P.S are the good guys and Big Boss and crew are the bad guys. Beyond that, the cartoon does offer one element to behold: its emphasis on gadgetry.”