BattleBots

Americans, dont you love `em? They see something they like, and then try to copy it. Thing is, they are like parrots, copying what ever they see with no comprehension of what they are doing. And this show is another example of this. Some US TV exec sees Robot Wars, thinks "we can do that", and makes a right mess of it. Robot wars has some structure behind it, the biggest part of the show is taken up with (sometimes brutal) competition - The US counterpart is mostly posturing. I could go on all night but, lets just put it this way.... Robot Wars` female presenter (Phillipa Forrester) has a PHd, Battle Bots has some woman out of Playboy. Watch the original, Robot Wars is still the best.

This has to be one of my favorite shows on TV right now. I just absolutely love watching these robots kick the crap out of each other! The new seasons keep getting better and better, with the current 3rd season looking to be the best yet.

For those of you that haven't seen this show yet, or just saw the spots on the Tonight Show, here's a basic breakdown.

People build some robots in varying weight classes. They then sic the robots on each other in a large cage filled with "hazzards" such as a 200 pound sledge hammer that slams down on one of the robots, or "killsaws" that spring up out of the floor. Enter laughter at the silly excitement.

Watching newcomer Mechagore carve Vlad the Impaler (the odds on favorite for the heavyweight class) into metal sushi was a trip! It goes to show, that there's all sorts of new ideas out there. I personally like the bots that are designed to kill the largest design style of robots, that being the wedges.

Personal favorites:

Lightweight: Ziggo Heavyweight: Mechagore and Mauler Superheavyweight: Toro

Now that the show is one hour long, its even more of a treat. Even if you hate machines, its a show that touches on that primal urge to break expensive stuff. (Some of the bots had over $20k put into parts/design/etc!)

The problem with most of the robots on this show is that the builders work too long on armoring them up and then forget to give them a decent weapon. The battles usually either are 2 seconds long, consisting of one robot pulverizing the other with the first hit or they last forever with the robots just slamming into each other to no avail. I could see a future for the sport if they put stricter guidelines on the robots people submitted. As it is, there's a few which are basically Radio Shack remote control cars with a head welded on top. The show also needs to be longer than it is, only 1/2 an hour with 3 fights. Much more time is spent gearing up for the fight which could last as little as 5 seconds long. One thing I don't understand though... why was this show put on Comedy Central, of all networks?

Before I go into the show Battlebots, I'd just like to point our friend TheUnholyArmpit to this web-page: http://robotcombat.com/history.html Combat robotics STARTED in San Francisco, not the UK. Yep, we copied you..

I first got caught up in the Battlebots craze in it's second season. Every preceding season after that I watched every week, never missing an episode. By it's 4th season Battlebots was Comedy Centrals 3rd highest rated show, following South Park and The Man Show (both extremely hard to beat). Then somewhere between the 5th and 6th seasons there was an executive change in Comedy Central and Battlebots got moved to a new, and worse, air time with no notification. Well of course if no one knows when the shows on, no one can watch it and the rating sank. This gave the new CEO enough leverage to cancel Battlebots in mid-season, or we can only assume that's what happened.

But there's still hope. After years and years of legal battles, the creators of Battlebots are now looking for a new channel to air their show. There had been rumors that a few channels were interested, including Bravo and possibly WGN. For us Battlebot fans we can only hope. That is, unless you feel like building your own bot or just going out to see a competition in person. There are now hundreds of events held every year for bots that weight 150 grams (~5.3 ounces), 1 pound, 3 pounds, 12 pounds, 30 pounds, 60 pounds, 120 pounds, 220 pounds, and 340 pounds. There's a list of upcoming events as well as bots competing in them here: http://www.buildersdb.com/index.asp

There is way too much dead weight cluttering up the show.

The Sklar brothers are exasperating.

I have no clue what purpose Bill Nye serves. Was he the only guy the producers could find who was able to pronounce words like "titanium" and "actuated" without stumbling?

Donna D'Errico was actually fairly decent, so of course they replaced her with a woman who looks and talks like a a cheap tart. (Ms. D'Errico was at least a classy-looking, top-dollar tart.)

If they canned most of the jabber, there'd be time for many more fights.