from Drew Deitch
| Published
We live in an age where a movie with a giant robot doesn’t seem all that special. Thanks to over a decade of Transformers movies and the excellent The Pacific Rimthe novelty of having a giant robot movie that takes itself seriously is lost on modern audiences. But there was a time when fans of giant robots had to settle for cartoons and cartoons only.
Fortunately, one man came along and changed all that with a giant robot movie that would eventually become the definitive edition of a movie empire. This director deserves much more credit than he gets today for blazing a trail in giant robot cinema.
Stewart Gordon’s Jox the Robot
Directed by Stuart Gordon, best known for his HP Lovecraft adaptations A re-animator and Beyondwas a fan of cartoon series like the popular ones Transformers and the influential anime Macros. He always wanted someone to make a live action movie with giant robots. So, after no one else stepped up, he took aim Robot Joxa story of a divided future where disputes between the two remaining great nations are settled by gladiatorial robot battles.
Gordon teamed up with science fiction author Joe Haldemanwho won the Hugo Award for his novel The eternal war. The novel is a sci-fi riff on Haldeman’s own experiences during his deployment to Vietnam. This will ultimately be one of the first factors that will lead to To Jox the robot many possible problems.
Haldeman and Gordon would clash over the tone of the story, with Gordon leaning towards keeping things more cartoony and fun while Haldeman wanted to explore some of the darker and more complex aspects of the idea. They knew they had to meet somewhere in the middle, but that wasn’t necessarily where audiences wanted to be with a giant robot movie. We will come back to this later.
Images of Robot Jox Destroyed Empire
More important to the bigger picture of Robot Jox is the story of Empire Pictures, the low-budget genre studio from longtime producer Charles Band. Empire Pictures churned out tons of sci-fi and cult horror classics in the 1980s, inclusive Ghouliesthat made their way onto our very own list of ’80s creature gems.
In time Robot Jox rolled the cameras in 1986, Empire Pictures was at the end of its rope. In fact, they almost lay all their remaining eggs in the Robot Jox basket and ended up being the last film produced under the Empire Pictures banner.
Even then, the finished film had to be sold to another distributor to get things across the finish line, and the film didn’t get a full release until 1990. Rarely does a long journey to the screen help a film.
Robot Jox’s influence on Disney’s honey, I shrunk the kids
Another element that added to the post-production stress was that Stuart Gordon had to run to a studio to complete the placement Robot Jox together in editing and another studio run by none other than Mickey Mouse. During the time he was getting Robot Jox ready, Gordon was in the development stage Teenie Weenies (yes, that was actually the title), a Disney a sci-fi family comedy for shrinking kids. Yes, Stuart Gordon was one of the original developers of the story behind what would become Honey, I shrunk the kids.
It was not a pleasant period for Gordon. It was his first time working with a major Hollywood studio and he was known to be impatient for all the Disney bigwigs.
Gordon claims he got a nosebleed during a business meeting just from the stress of handling it corporate work applied to art. It was so bad that Gordon left Honey, I shrunk the kids before they rolled cameras and he never felt he could handle any major studio again.
He remained an independent filmmaker for the rest of his career. This didn’t make Stuart Gordon a household name, but it did mean he had to prioritize creativity in his work, resulting in a varied and fascinating filmography.
It’s called RoboJox, not Robot Jox
So this whole business goes on RoboJox is also on his plate. yes RoboJox was the original title of the film, but in the time it took to assemble the entire film, RoboCop was released in theaters and the distributor felt they had to change the title so it didn’t seem related.
Poor Stewart just couldn’t catch a break, could he? He even liked to tell people that “T” c Robot Jox silent and still privately called a film RoboJox even after everything was done.
What’s great about Robot Jox
Well, let’s actually look at some of the Robo- I mean, Robot Jox it actually worked in his favor. Like legendary designer Ron Cobb, who sci-fi fans immediately recognize as one of the key designers behind extraterrestrial. Cobb’s overall design for the two giant robots featured really brings the entire production to a level.
It doesn’t hurt that Empire Pictures backstage mainstay David Allen lends his stop-motion talents to the big fights. Although we only get book robot fights, it’s forgivable when the effects are this fun. Still, anyone who wants more Robot Jox Robot Jox there is a valid criticism of the film.
While it’s certainly on a B-movie budget, the sci-fi world of Robot Jox tells you a lot about the kind of society that civilization looks like now after a devastating nuclear world war.
Gordon even took advantage of a real ad campaign in Rome encouraging women to get pregnant. That seems a bit strange The Handmaid’s Tale support and Gordon realized he would give the world Robot Jox seemingly greater thematic scope.
Although Gordon wanted the film to be funny, he also wanted to take it seriously. He and his team did research by spending time at an Air Force base to understand certain military jargon and procedures.
Gordon quotes The right thingsthe brilliant film adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s remarkable story about the US space program as his biggest cinematic influence for what he wanted to do with the film. This commitment to the film’s belief in itself permeates Robot Jox with a lot of charm.
There’s a tone problem, who was this movie for?
However, remember the whole issue with the story’s warring tones due to Gordon and Haldeman’s different take on the material? Robot Jox can’t quite settle into the right kind of rhythm for what audiences expect from a movie called Robot Jox. The miniature opening credits sequence, which was the first thing shot for the film, looks fantastic, but it creates a darker experience than parents and kids want from a big robot-fighting movie.
The inciting incident for Robot Jox the story is the death of an innocent crowd during a battle with robots. It’s a great conflict for the film’s hero, Achilles, but it also feels like a potential exit moment for parents who brought their kids to see a live-action cartoon.
There are other shiny spots robot Jox, with Michael Aldridge as the over-the-top American stereotype Tex Conway, who Gordon says was directly inspired by Ronald Reagan. It’s goofy but enjoyable acting, but the performance of the film belongs to Danny Kamekona as Dr. Matsumoto. To see someone bring such weight to a tragic role in a film like Robot Jox always worth highlighting.
Robot Jox fails and becomes a colossal failure
Unfortunately, no actor or advertising campaign can save Robot Jox at the checkout. Opening at 16 on a budget that Gordon claims is $6.5 million, Robot Jox barely made over $1 million.
Thanks to the long time it took to reach the screen amid the dissolution of Empire Pictures, it was dead in the water. Although it eventually found its audience on home video, it would be many years before the film established itself as a cult film.
Stuart Gordon made Jox the Robot for the right reasons
Stuart Gordon didn’t make it Robot Jox simply to cash in on a trend or exploit audiences looking for a little escapism. Stuart Gordon did Robot Jox because he wanted to see a live action movie about giant robots as a fan. He loved the genre and the imagination it brought to the stories.
The failure of Robot Jox proved to be something of a black mark against Gordon in Hollywood, but history is the only true judge. Stuart Gordon is now a revered figure in genre film circles.
In addition to his horror movie hug communityscience fiction fans have discovered the pleasures of Gordon’s films as Space trucksa light adventure in the mold of Robot Joxand must be seen A fortress. Seriously, Fortress gets an even more offbeat anime influence and it’s the best Robocop a movie that has nothing to do with Robocop. Imagine what prisons are like Robocop are as it is A fortress.
Stuart Gordon passed away in 2020. 72 years old and yet Robot Jox might have been a flop at first, Gordon’s legacy has given the film new life and even new fans. From the silly to the serious, Robot Jox offers something to enjoy.
