Robot Wars

At the moment in Australia we are in the non-ratings period so all kinds of unfamiliar shows are showing up at odd times. Most are dreck, 'Robot Wars' isn't. It's actually one of the most entertaining TV shows I've seen in quite a while. The basic idea is that contestants build their own "robots" (remote controlled fighting machine on wheels) which then battle each other in a ring. The ring contains obstacles, "house robots" which can attack at certain times, and a pit in which you must attempt to push your opponent's robot. Simple concept, but highly addictive viewing! Maybe I'll get sick of it after a few more weeks, but right now I'm hooked. Great fun!

This show angered me from the start, and the only reason I'm coming out of retirement to review this thing was because it took an all inclusive event started by an ILM employee, and turned it into this faux kid friendly event, complete with three or four supermassive "arena bots" that you could never beat because of the restrictions on design parameters.

I was at the 1995 Robot Wars, I was also at the 1997 Robot Wars where Bio Hazard took out everyone, even the much feared La Machine. I remember Joel Hodgson from Mystery Science Theatre 3000 as the Master of Ceremonies, being freaked out by the 300 pound Snake-bot build by the guy who had built "the Master" the previous two years. I remember Joel Hodgson taking a dollar from the guy sitting next to me and trying to auction it off to the audience during down time between matches. I remember San Francisco's fire inspector looking none-too happy as he quite literally was inspecting the place (at some point it was SRO). None of the energy, none of the excitement, none of the engineering creativity that was at Fort Mason San Francisco from 1995 to 1997 was in this TV show. It simply wasn't.

What this TV show had was "Dave Lister" popping off smiles and kid friendly witticisms in a venue that was so restrictive as to be obnoxious. You had no chance of taking on the in show arena bots, even though that was part of the challenge. And you couldn't use any of the more effective techniques that were developed by the Fort Mason participants.

I'm sorry the creator of the event lost creative control. I'm sorry his idea got sold to some outfit in the UK that did a half baked high-restrictive version of the San Francisco competition. I'm sorry all that creative Bay Area and American energy got truncated in what seems like a revenge plot for the Revolutionary War. And, worse yet, I'm sorry the show got revitalized last year much to the chagrin of all.

If you see blurays or DVDs of this thing for sale, pass them up, and check out the American Robot Wars videos on YouTube.

Avoid this trash.

I managed to catch an episode of this wonderful show purely by accident. We decided to stay home one Saturday afternoon, and as we were flipping around the channels, we happened across it. The first thing I heard was the voice of the host, Craig Charles, that I immediately recognized from another wonderful show, Red Dwarf. My girlfriend was ready to keep on going around the dial, but I wanted to watch, mainly because I like Craig so much. He's just plain cool! So we watched the show, and it was amazing! It's like...as we Americans talk about how it'd be cool to do this or that, and it's usually just talk, the Brits are getting out into the garage, and actually building this stuff, and finding their way onto international television, as well!

Hey, I'm gonna have to subscribe to TV Guide so I can find out when and where this shows going to be on again.

Peace!

I loved this show so much as a kid! The robots were super creative and the commentary made this feel like a big deal! Always rooted for Wheely Big Cheese, didn't win too often, but when he did I was hyped! The house robots were also so much fun. Dead Metal was always a beast. It was kinda hard to find when I was a kid. I live in the US, so it would always just come on whenever. There were always robots I rooted against. Could never stand Chaos II. Don't get me wrong it was an amazingly build machine, just seemed like it always would win. Gotta root for the underdog. We need more competition shows like this in modern television. Just fun.

They don't make shows like this any more - and that's a great pity. This is a game show where people bring in the robots they have made and fight them while trying to not get killed by the house robots. It's kind of like boxing or pro-wrestling when nobody actually gets hurt so the robots fight violently and then everyone is quite civilized after.

It's entertainment for the whole family. In fact, whole families often run their teams including grandparents and little kids. It's also inspirational to get kids interested in engineering and computers. They have a really funny announcer too.

The USA versions are fun but this is more fun. They have

If you can catch this on reruns, try it. You may well like it.

Oh, my fav's are Razer (of course) and Bigger Brother.