Dave, would you believe that what you described was almost the exact original plot for RoboCop 2? RoboCop gets killed literally at the start of the film, and then we go to decades later when OCP finally decide to pay to have him rebuilt after crime skyrockets again. (Also, Paul Verhoeven said in the 2003 interview that he would use a storyline like that for RoboCop 4, i.e. became obsolete, put away into storage, new threats of terrorism etc. RoboCop brought back online).
The story was scrapped after Orion execs were shocked that the main character dies so early in the film and isn't seen until later in the film, so they ordered a re-write, but the idea was used in the pilot episode for the 1994 TV series, (RoboCop gets shot badly and 'dies', crime rate goes high, OCP are under threat, so they bring him back).
The writers of the original movie wrote the unused storyline for RoboCop 2, and still had the rights to the story of a TV series, if one were ever made, so they decided to use it for that).
Apparently because of the strong sales of the RoboCop Triolgy on DVD, Sony are using the character more as it had practically went unused since 1994, and is still popular today. You can't deny Sony have done quite a bit for the character since they got the rights to the MGM catelogue, and that was only a few months ago, so maybe they are going to do something new for the character and resurrect the franchise...
Paddy
