R.O.T.O.R.

Did You Know?

• R.O.T.O.R. was released on home video in the United Kingdom by RCA/Columbia in June 1988.
• Mill Creek Entertainment included R.O.T.O.R. in their Sci-Fi Invasion 50 Movie DVD boxed set in 2011.
• In February 2016, the film was released on Blu-ray by Shout! Factory in a double feature with Millennium.

Plot

Dr. Barrett C. Coldyron, a police captain and scientist, built a prototype robot called R.O.T.O.R., short for Robotic Officer Tactical Operations Research/Reserve, to keep the peace in a future he saw as chaotic. His boss, the crooked Division Commander Earl Buglar, pushed him to finish the robot quickly so Senator Donald Douglas, who funded the project, could use it in a presidential campaign. Coldyron quit instead of meeting Buglar’s sixty-day deadline, leaving the work to his unskilled assistants, Dr. Houghtaling and a robot named Willard.

After Coldyron left, a lab mishap activated R.O.T.O.R., which then went on patrol. It pulled over a speeding driver and, because its programming lacked higher brain functions, killed him. The robot then targeted the man’s fiancée, Sonya, seeing her as an accomplice, and chased her relentlessly. Coldyron heard about the murder and found R.O.T.O.R. was following its core directive: to judge and execute.

He rescued Sonya at a gas station and told her to keep moving, since the robot would never stop hunting her. To end the rampage, Coldyron called Dr. Corrine Steele, who had made R.O.T.O.R.’s combat body from a self-learning alloy. They figured out that as long as the robot chased Sonya, it would only kill people who got in its way. Sonya led R.O.T.O.R. to a fishing camp.

Steele sacrificed herself by tearing open the robot’s chest to reveal its power core. Coldyron tied R.O.T.O.R.’s limbs with Primacord ropes, and the robot’s own electricity set off explosives, destroying it. After filing his report, Coldyron was shot dead outside the police building by Buglar, who wanted to hide the project’s corruption and stolen money. Coldyron’s nephew, Brett, inherited the research and funds.

He built a new R.O.T.O.R., giving it the higher brain functions needed for mercy and shaping it to look like Dr. Steele.

Cast

Richard Gesswein plays Captain Barrett C. Coldyron, a scientist who oversees the police robotics lab while also running a ranch. His dream of a robotic police force is ruined by Earl G. Buglar. Jayne Smith appears as Dr. Corrine R. Steele, the engineer who designed R.O.T.O.R.’s metal body; she also plays R.O.T.O.R. II, an upgraded version that looks like Steele and shows up in the final scene. Carroll Brandon Baker is R.O.T.O.R., the killer robot that gets turned on by accident.

This dangerous machine is skilled in everything from tai chi to full combat, and it can see past events in a location by taking off its sunglasses. Made from a new self-teaching alloy, it has one known flaw: loud noises freeze it. Michael Hunter plays Earl G. Buglar, Coldyron’s police commander who has been stealing money from the project and promised Senator Donald D. Douglas the robot would be ready for the next election. Margaret Trigg is Sonya R. “Sony” Garren, an innocent woman hunted by R.O.T.O.R. after it kills her fiancé for speeding; she spends most of the movie running from it in her blue 1986 Impulse.

Shawn Brown plays Mokie Killion, a sarcastic cop who hates cleaning up after Coldyron stops armed shoplifters. Clark Moore is Dr. Houghtaling, Coldyron’s lab assistant who takes over the project after Coldyron quits, and his incompetence triggers the cyborg’s rampage. Nanette Kuczek plays Penny Gayle, Coldyron’s girlfriend. Quintin Hardtner is Brett Coldyron, his nephew.

Willard, Houghtaling’s sentient robot helper, is credited as himself and offers sarcastic commentary, reads magazines, and asks for fries. The film uses heavy ADR, with Loren Bivens voicing Coldyron, Georganna Barry voicing Steele, and additional voices from Rocky Patterson, Mike Collins, Patrick Montes, Jo Brewer, and Lawrence Morgan.