MovieChat Forums > RoboCop (1987) Discussion > Did Bob Morton secretly sabotage Dick Jo...

Did Bob Morton secretly sabotage Dick Jones' Ed 209 demonstration?

posted 8 years ago by McGannahanSkjellyfetti
5 replies | jump to latest

Bob Morton would of done anything to get ahead in OCP. In the beginning he seemed bound and determined to have that goal come true. Perhaps he was more calculative than people imagined. Who's to say that just before the ED 209 presentation began, he secretly had his people work in all the "gliches" while he stayed at the meeting with complete plausible deniability of everything? When all the smoke cleared, he would rise up like the knight in shiny armor in the eyes of the old man to save the day with his ideas all the while making Dick Jones looking like the complete incompetent jack a$$...

[–] AFriendOfMrWhite 8 years ago

Well, he does have something planned, because he tells the OCP Chairman that his program has already placed suitable targets (= good cops) in rough neighbourhoods, just waiting for something to happen. He would sabotage Dick if he got the chance, but I'm glad that none of it made it into the movie, it would've take away all the fun from ED-209's performance.

[–] Mr-Fusion 8 years ago

That sounds more like Jones' conniving M.O. compared to Morton's opportunism. It's possible he didn't think the ED-209 program was feasible, so he had his own idea cooking in the meantime.

---
Oh no, it's Michael Landon! What else could go wrong?

[–] creatorof2002 8 years ago

My guess is that it was a genuine malfunction and he being an opportunist immediately took advantage of the situation but I do not believe he purposely sabotaged it. Bob Morton was an A$$hole and I loved seeing him die a horrible death but had he done that it would have put him on a level of evil to rival Dick Jones and Boddicker.

Plus he was IN THE ROOM and you would think he would be afraid to be in the same room as a malfunctioning robot armed with machine guns. Even if they were not aimed right at him thats a pretty scary thing. I think he would have "called in sick" or something had he been the saboteur.

[–] Mr-Fusion 8 years ago

Well said

---
Or else Pizza is gonna send out for you.

[–] everlone_2000 8 years ago

Nah - Bob wasn't a strategist, just an opportunist. If they'd set him up to be that forward thinking and underhand, it wouldn't make sense for him to be outplayed by Dick Jones later in the film.

Plus, IMO it would take something away from the film overall if ED 209 was built well but sabotaged. I think it's important to the theme of corporate irresponsibility that ED is simply a poorly designed piece of crap.