C.O.P.S.

C.O.P.S. (Central Organization of Police Specialists) is an American animated television 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". In 1993, the series was shown in reruns on CBS Saturday mornings as "CyberCOPS". The show was based on Hasbro's 1988 line of action figures called C.O.P.S 'N' Crooks.

Plot
The year: 2020. The place: Empire City. The situation: Brandon “Big Boss” Babel, along with his Crooks, is 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 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 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, 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, Squeeky 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.

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).

COPS



 * Baldwin P. "Bulletproof" Vess voiced by Ken Ryan
 * LongArm voiced by John Stocker
 * Bowser and Blitz voiced by Nick Nichols
 * Sundown voiced Len Carlson
 * Mace voiced Len Carlson
 * Highway voiced by Ray James
 * Barricade voiced by Ray James
 * Hardtop voiced by Darrin Baker
 * Bullseye voiced by Peter Keleghan
 * Mainframe voiced by Mary Long
 * Mirage voiced by Elizabeth Hanna
 * Taser
 * CheckPoint
 * A.P.E.S.
 * Airwave
 * Inferno
 * Powderkeg

CROOKS

 * Brandon “Big Boss” Babel voiced by Len Carlson
 * Doctor BadVibes and Buzzbomb voiced by Ron Rubin
 * Buttons McBoomBoom voiced by Nick Nichols
 * Berserko voiced by Paul De La Rosa
 * Squeeky Kleen voiced by Marvin Goldhar
 * Rock Krusher voiced by Brent Titcomb
 * Turbo Tu-Tone voiced by Dan Hennessey
 * Ms. Demeanor voiced by Paulina Gillis
 * Nightshade voiced by Jane Schoettle
 * WALDO
 * Nightmare the Android
 * Koo Koo
 * Bullit
 * Louie the Plumber
 * Hyena

Supporting characters

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

Minor characters

 * Judge Davis (Mayor Davis' twin brother)
 * 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

DVD Releases
On February 28, 2006, Shout! Factory released C.O.P.S.- Volume 1, a 4-disc boxset featuring the first 22 episodes on DVD in Region 1. It includes concept art, storyboard-to-screen, and the original PSAs that were shown after the episodes. Shout! Factory released Volume 2 as a direct to consumer DVD through their retail website on March 16, 2010.

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.

C.O.P.S. 'N' Crooks
C.O.P.S ’n’ Crooks was a line of action figures produced by Hasbro and sold between 1988 and 1989. These figures are made up of police and criminals of the future and uses the tagline: "Fighting Crime in a Future Time."





In the packages containing the C.O.P.S. figures, only the C.O.P.S. logo is shown while the packages containing the CROOKS figure features only the phrase "N'CROOKS" shown right next to the logo. Each figure, fully articulated and poseable, standing about six inches tall on the average, came with cap gun accessories that allowed kids, who played with them, to fire off their weapons by pulling back the trigger and releasing it to cause a spark and a popping noise when the trigger slams into a strip of cap firing paper.

Each figure also had a file card printed on the back of the package that contained a biography of the character. These file cards were written by Larry Hama, who also wrote the file cards for Hasbro’s G.I. Joe action figures. The artwork made for each package is illustrated by Bart Sears, Mark Pennington, and McNabb Studios.

Several female C.O.P.S. and Crooks characters (Mainframe, Nightshade, Mirage, and Ms. Demeanor) appeared in the cartoon and the comics, but were never released as action figures.