History Film / ROTOR

'''[[Podcast/RiffTrax Bill]]:''' ''(after the shot has been held for twenty seconds, exasperated)'' [[PunctuatedForEmphasis WE. SEE. HIM.]]

* LetsGetDangerous: After Coldyron indulges in a long FauxlosophicNarration, Steele's response? She's changed into camo offscreen, and growls, "Let's do it!"

-->'''Kevin or Bill:''' ''(as Sonya)'' My butt's not in the shot is it?

--> [[Podcast/RiffTrax Mike]] The poster from John Carpenter's ''The Thing'' demands royalties.
--> [[Podcast/RiffTrax Bill]] [After the shot has been held for twenty seconds]: [[PunctuatedForEmphasis WE. SEE. HIM.]]

'''Mike:''' Wait, you've ''wondered'' that?! Meaning it could go either way?

* AIIsACrapshoot: Predictably enough, though it's unclear how much is not having had the years of bug-testing Coldyron projected he'd need and how much is the robot being activated suddenly thanks to the actions of an oblivious janitor.

* BelatedBackstory: Coldyron reveals late in the third act that he spent much of his childhood on "the Indian reservation", apparently to justify his ability to find R.O.T.O.R. in the woods.

** For whatever reason, there are a ton of Music/TheBeachBoys references during Coldyron's briefing with scientists, including lines like "Good Vibrations", "God Only Knows", "I Get Around", "Heroes and Villains", "Rock and Roll", and so on.

* FailedAttemptAtDrama: R.O.T.O.R.'s EstablishingCharacterMoment includes a moment where it walks through several rows of empty folding chairs to try to present itself as an ImplacableMan... unfortunately, it is pretty easy to see the actor had difficulty doing so.

** At one point Willard decries how stupid the R.O.T.O.R. Project idea is by snarking "I think this is how ''Film/TheTerminator'' got started". The irony being that Willard is a robot himself.

* ConflictBall: The snarling Commander Bugler seems to exist entirely for this purpose. He orders Coldyron to finish R.O.T.O.R. within sixty days, although the project is not slated to be complete for four years - and has a personality to deal with an assumed societal breakdown in 25-40 years (!). Bugler's unreasonableness and unexplained hostility seem calculated to initiate drama and cast Coldyron in a sympathetic light.

* ActionSurvivor: Sonya, who spends the whole movie running away from the KillerRobot and the only true weapon she has is a car horn (amusingly, it's [[WeaksauceWeakness the only weapon]] she ''needs'').

* AlmightyJanitor: Definitely averted with Shoeboogie. He fancies himself a ladies' man with a trove of 'Indian lore', but he's just an annoying loser whose clumsiness activates the killer robot.

--->'''Coldyron:''' A brain without a heart. A conscience without recognition. A will without a soul.
--->'''Steele:''' If I miss, you’ll be fighting your own base instincts. To combat pure will, you’ll have to use pure illogic.
--->'''Coldyron:''' What do you mean?
--->'''Steele:''' You will have to allow yourself to fail. Use your failure against him! Your failure, is his failure. Your weakness, is his weakness. Then, only then, can you do something.

--->'''Coldyron:''' Remember what I said at R.O.T.O.R.’s christening? First prototype of a future battalion, on the battlefield highways of the future. He’d be the Judge, Jury and Executioner. Now I’ve got to wonder, were we playing God, breathing life into our artificial Adam? Or have we lost sight of Paradise? What was it [[Creator/JohnMilton Milton]] said? "Did I request Thee, Maker, from my clay to mold me Man? Did I solicit thee from darkness to promote me?" Is it his fault he is what he is, or is it ours?

---> Dr. Steele, will you be my friend? I don’t want to push. Who knows where this could go? I know: You are huge. You could pick me up and toss me across the room. And, frankly, [[TooKinkyToTorture I would love every minute of it.]] Your [[SkunkStripe skunk mullet]] would draw attention to us at restaurants and people would say "Who are they who believe they can flaunt societal decorum?" and I would tell them to "Cram it!" because you and I should be friends. Good friends. I’m making you a mix tape, downloading it to my [=MP3=] player and sending it, online, to your heart. Call me?

-->'''Mike:''' ''(as R.O.T.O.R.)'' You have exceeded all douchebaggery protocols.

''R.O.T.O.R.'' was written, produced, and directed by Cullen Blaine Houghtaling, who had previously worked mainly as a storyboard artist for Saturday morning cartoons. It was released in 1987, quick on the heels of ''[[Film/RoboCop1987 RoboCop]]''. It started getting a reputation as classic trash, making the rounds of bad movie sites such as [[http://www.jabootu.com/rotor.htm Jabootu,]] [[https://web.archive.org/web/20130713074953/http://bleedingskull.com/r-o-t-o-r-1988/ Bleeding Skull]] and [[http://www.monstershack.net/sp/index.php/r-o-t-o-r-1988/ Monster Shack.]] In 2013, it was featured in an episode of ''WebVideo/BestOfTheWorst'', where its cheesy charms were revealed to a new generation of B-movie enthusiasts. In 2014, the film became the subject of a comedic commentary by Podcast/RiffTrax. After languishing in obscurity for a quarter of a century, ''R.O.T.O.R.'' continues to languish, but not in quite as much obscurity as before.

* MaleGaze: Due to the positioning of the camera, Sonya's rear takes up the whole screen for a moment

* SuspectIsHatless: When Sonya calls the police for help, she doesn't give them much to work with. Lampshaded in the Rifftrx version:

** At one point Willard decries how stupid the R.O.T.O.R. Project idea is by snarking "I think this is how ''Film/TheTerminator'' got started". The irony being that Willard is a robot himself.<

* SuspectIsHatless: When Sonya calls the police for help, she doesn't give them much to work with.

** While she's doing that, mind, what ''he's'' doing is having a colleague fly down from another city, picking her up from the airport, taking her to check into a hotel and change clothes, ''then'' finally going after R.O.T.O.R.

Barrett Coldyron is a cyberneticist with the [[UsefulNotes/DFWMetroplex Dallas]] Police Department. To save society from itself, he works to create a perfect robotic lawman, codenamed Robotic Tactical Operations Research. It will be four years before the kinks are worked out[[note]]He estimates that in 25-40 years, society will have degraded enough to need the robot[[/note]], but Coldyron is a patient man. Unfortunately, a conniving politician demands that the prototype be released in its current form, and Coldyron resigns in protest. The project is taken over by a couple of bumbling subordinates, who accidentally launch R.O.T.O.R. on a killing spree. It's up to Coldyron to stop it.

''R.O.T.O.R.'' was written, produced, and directed by Cullen Blaine Houghtaling, who had previously worked mainly as a storyboard artist for Saturday morning cartoons. It was released in 1987, quick on the heels of ''[[Film/RoboCop1987 RoboCop]]''. It started getting a reputation as classic trash, making the rounds of bad movie sites such as [[http://www.jabootu.com/rotor.htm Jabootu]], [[https://web.archive.org/web/20130713074953/http://bleedingskull.com/r-o-t-o-r-1988/ Bleeding Skull]] and [[http://www.monstershack.net/sp/index.php/r-o-t-o-r-1988/ Monster Shack]]. In 2013, it was featured in an episode of ''WebVideo/BestOfTheWorst'', where its cheesy charms were revealed to a new generation of B-movie enthusiasts. In 2014, the film became the subject of a comedic commentary by Podcast/RiffTrax. After languishing in obscurity for a quarter of a century, ''R.O.T.O.R.'' continues to languish, but not in quite as much obscurity as before.

* RecklessGunUsage: At the mart hold-up scene, Coldyron sticks a Desert Eagle gun in his pants. For those of you not familiar with the model, the thing weighs ''10 pounds''. It's a good thing the gun Coldyron has is a plastic movie prop.

''R.O.T.O.R.'' was written, produced, and directed by Cullen Blaine Houghtaling, who had previously worked mainly as a storyboard artist for Saturday morning cartoons. It was released in 1987, quick on the heels of ''[[Film/RoboCop1987 RoboCop]]''. It started getting a reputation as classic trash, making the rounds of bad movie sites such as [[http://www.jabootu.com/rotor.htm Jabootu]], [[http://bleedingskull.com/r-o-t-o-r-1988/ Bleeding Skull]] and [[http://www.monstershack.net/sp/index.php/r-o-t-o-r-1988/ Monster Shack]]. In 2013, it was featured in an episode of ''WebVideo/BestOfTheWorst'', where its cheesy charms were revealed to a new generation of B-movie enthusiasts. In 2014, the film became the subject of a comedic commentary by Podcast/RiffTrax. After languishing in obscurity for a quarter of a century, ''R.O.T.O.R.'' continues to languish, but not in quite as much obscurity as before.

** From [[http://bleedingskull.com/r-o-t-o-r-1988/ Bleeding Skull]]:

* AcronymConfusion: On the BondOneLiner "Justice delivered. C.O.D.". The film doesn't seem to know "C.O.D." means "cash on delivery", and it's unclear what the film is confusing it for (D.O.A.?)[[note]]Certificate of Death, maybe?[[/note]]

* DisproportionateRetribution: For R.O.T.O.R., minor traffic violation + $20 bribe = death.

* HollywoodLaw: The cause of the movie's problems begin because Coldyron's benefactor, Senator Douglas, wants to unveil R.O.T.O.R. and ride the publicity to win a Presidential election in six months -- or else Douglas will have everyone associated with the project jailed for graft and corruption. Never mind that such a move would likely get Douglas in trouble as well[[note]]or why he'd need to secretly fund such a project to begin with[[/note]], how would the Senator become one of the major parties’ candidates for President just a few months before an election?

* PurpleProse: Coldyron's "cowboy poetry".

* BadassBystander: An ordinary-looking woman is taken hostage by a thug. After she is freed by Coldyron, another thug appears, and the woman attacks him with martial arts moves. Her skills are so ludicrous, it seems odd that she would have been taken hostage by some petty thug in the first place.
-->'''Mike Nelson:''' Forget R.O.T.O.R.! I want to see a movie about ''her''!

* RidiculouslyHumanRobot: Willard, at least personality-wise. He sighs, moans, and even asks for his co-worker's fries. It's almost as if the role was written for a human character.