RoboCop 2: The Hidden Gag Aimed at its Makers

This article comes from Den of Geek UK.

If you’re opening this piece expecting a prolonged defense of RoboCop 2, you’re not going to get it. We’ve tried lots of times to really like the film, but it just doesn’t hang together, nor does it come anywhere near close to matching the original.

At the time it was being made, Orion Pictures, which was backing the film, was in deep trouble. So much trouble in fact that RoboCop 2 was the film that needed to be a big hit to save the studio. It wasn’t, and within a couple of years, Orion was no more. While it would put RoboCop 3 into production, it wouldn’t be around to release it.

The first RoboCop was relatively off the radar, and wasn’t subjected to much in the way of studio interference. But the second? That was a different story. So much so that there’s a hidden jab against Orion Pictures hidden in the film.

It comes just past the 48 minute mark, as RoboCop is attempting to process the range of new prime directives he’s had uploaded to him. Blink and you miss this one (it’s not even on screen for a second), but check out directive 262…

So how did it get there? The August 1991 issue of Premiere magazine has the answer.

Watch Robocop 2 on Amazon

It revealed that the inclusion was the work of Peter Kuran, a visual effects artist with no shortage of hugely impressive credits to his name (The Empire Strikes Back, for a start). As he told the magazine at the time, “I just sort of put it in. I figured somebody at home might see it and be amused.” Orion had no comment at the time, and we’re pretty sure it’s got no comment now.

Peter Kuran is the man behind VCE Films, incidentally, and you can see its website here.