Police themed stuff is a popular genre! It's full of tropes and stylised aspects and generally very different from the reality, both from the actual police perspective and the perspective of those that deal with them, and I think I prefer it that way because the reality is usually pretty sad and ugly for all involved. So today we're talking about police theme things, set in the present, past, and future!

One of the tropes we covered is the savant cop. It's a character that's based on Sherlock homes, they're not always officially police, in fact like him they're often private detectives or “consultants” is the popular thing these days. Sherlock Holmes was basically just a super genius but these days it's fashionable to make the expertise pathological, even stuff that's based directly ON Sherlock. They often NEED to be neurodivergent, from Monk, to High Potential, to Patience, The Finder, Bones etc, Though not always, like The Mentalist and White Collar.

Then there's Law and order (and it's spin-offs). This highly venerable show made its mark by doing what most cop shows never do: showing what happens AFTER an investigation. You actually always got too see the trial. Other shows sometimes did that but for Law and Order it was solidly part of the format and that was pretty cool. It's not realistic because everything happens way too fast and orderly but it was good to see anyway.

My fave manga/Anime cop themed stuff is Dominion Tank Police and Ghost in the Shell. They cover things from the police perspective and they're amazing. They envisage how police would work in a future world, one with tanks that can tackle even the most severe aspects of crime in an exaggerated and comical way, and one that has expertise hacking and taking a more black-ops, specialised military approach to their work. Patlabor is like Tank Police in that they use heavy vehicles but in their case it's mecha instead of tanks and the approach isn't comical. There are good sci-fi approaches in Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5, and even Galaxy Rangers.

Stuff set in the past is fun too, we have the Sherif of Nottingham in Robinhood as a very bad fellow, there's The Name of The Rose and Cadfael with actual monks acting as investigative policemen during the time of the crusades, then Tombstone and a host of other cowboy shows and movies that cover all aspects of the law in the late 19th century American West. Rush was one of my faves, it was about a policeman in Australia during the gold Rush in the mid 19th century, that was a very unique view and a great theme song! Almost as good as the theme song for the original 1970s version of Van Der Valk, a British show about a Dutch police investigator in the Netherlands.

I would say my faves are Miami Vice due to the style, The Mentalist due to the cleverness of the main character without resorting to supernatural or neurodivergent abilities as well as having a woman in charge of the team and the way they generally had a non-adversarial relationship with their captain, Dominion Tank Police, Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex, and The Bill- but only the early seasons of it before it turned into a ridiculous soap opera- It began as a very procedural cop show showing every aspect of policing from the most minor crimes to more serious stuff in a very realistic way without flashy fights and car chases or constant gristly murders, nothing else did that.

So what are your faves? Do you like copshows? Would you prefer them to be more realistic? Do you like the fantasy/historical/Sci-Fi stuff or do you prefer them to be set in the present day?

Another best-off from Gunwallace and this week it's - Grey Sky Blue Moon - I’m tempted to write a bad early 80s rap for this, but I won’t torture people that way. This tune is remarkably 1980s in style: rap, dance style music, exactly like you’d get from a big budget movie from 1984 or ‘85. Think Beverly Hills Cop or Police Academy. It’s perfect! It’s a great match for the crazy light night hi-jinks that the girls of Grey Sky Blue Moon get up too! Originally Quackcast 462 4th January 2020 - the start of Covid!

Topics and shownotes

Links

Featured comic: LAVENDER - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2025/sep/23/featured-comic-lavender/

Featured music: Grey Sky Blue Moon - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Grey_Sky_Blue_Moon/ - by xailenrath, rated M.

Special thanks to: Gunwallace - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Gunwallace/ Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/

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