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Robot Wars returns!

Jonathan

TS Member
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Helix <3
For those of you who grew up in the late 1990s and early 2000s, you'll probably remember the television series 'Robot Wars'. For those who don't know what it was (if you were quite young, then I'll let you off), then what kind of rock were you living under during that time?! :p In all seriousness, it was a brilliant TV show, seeing teams come together with robots that they'd spent many painstaking hours designing, building and testing, only for them to potentially be destroyed in seconds. Which is exactly what happened to Robogeddon in Series 3 and Splinter in Series 4 against Hypno-Disc, with the videos for those battles being linked below.




Just look at the power of that spinning disc. Ooft <3

The last series was shown in 2003 and 2004 on Channel 5. I've missed it since then, and when I found out earlier this year that it was returning, I was absolutely delighted, and I know several other members on here are looking forward to it. It'll be hosted by Dara Ó Briain, with Angela Scanlon as pit reporter and Jonathan Pearce returning to do the commentary. I am of course disappointed that Craig Charles won't be returning, but with the greater focus on the science and technology side of things, I'm confident that Dara will do a very good job. Filming was done in Glasgow back in March this year, and I believe it may only be a few more weeks until it's finally transmitted on BBC Two. Info has gradually been released, with four of the original house robots - Shunt, Matilda, Dead Metal and Sir Killalot - returning, with all of them having received major redesigns and upgrades. Forty robots will be taking part, with a few notable returnees - Behemoth, Terrorhurtz, Dantomkia, Storm 2, Thermidor 2, and perhaps the greatest robot to ever grace the arena, Razer. Further information can be found here and also on the Robot Wars website. I'm very much looking forward to seeing it again. All the old episodes are available to watch on YouTube, if anybody's interested.
 
I was a huge fan of Robot Wars back in the day. I think it played a big part in getting me interested in engineering along with programmes like Scrapheap Challenge and Techno Games. I bought all of the toys and the computer games which I still have stored away somewhere. Hypno-Disc was my favourite robot. It was so much more destructive than anything else, it's a shame that it was often let down by bad driving.

I am tentatively looking forward to the reboot but I'm slightly concerned. Often with things like this, it turns out that good memories are better off staying good memories. I saw some old episodes on Challenge or Dave recently and I have to say the spectacle of metal boxes glancing off each other didn't seem quite as thrilling as it did when I was younger. Particularly not when you have things like FPV drone racing these days which is a genuinely exciting thing to watch. Hopefully, they've done something to change up the format a bit and make it relevant for the current-day audience. If it's just a nostalgia-driven re-tread, I can't see it holding my interest too long.

I saw some pictures of the reworked House Robots and new studio the other day. Mostly, they've kept the spirit of the originals but the redesigned Killalot is quite difficult to swallow as the old one was such an icon of the series.

If nothing else, it will be interesting to see how it turns out.
 
Been watching old programmes on "Challenge" channel on cable.
Discovered it is much better to watch it on catch up,
you can skip all the chat and bull,
an hour programme can be watched in about fifteen minutes.
 
Loved Robot Wars as a kid! Chaos 2 was always my favourite, such a nippy little thing that looked like a small printer!:p

That being said, I'm really looking forward for this, more so than the disastrous Top Gear reboot. House Robots' redesigns look not bad, though Killalot's design is somewhat questionable. But my main gripe is why Sgt Bash not with them? Does seem that something is missing from that pack.:(
 
Ahh Robot Wars...

I, like others, am a huge fan of Robot Wars and I was the same when I saw the adverts for the new series teasing us. Anyone know the date which it starts? all I've seen is "coming soon" on the adverts which is rather annoying.

I'm gutted that Craig Charles isn't presenting it as he was brilliant, but I'll give Dara o'Brien a chance purely because I like him on mock the week.

I'm also glad the old school house robots are making a return. I really am looking forward to this series and I hope they continue with this and not just scrap it after a couple of series.

Can't wait!!
 
No confirmed date as of yet, but I've heard the end of this month has been mooted as a possibility. If not, then I'd say transmission starting in August is likely. Anyhow, I don't think we'll be waiting too long now. :)
 
I used to love Robot Wars. I'm looking forward to the reboot. I have to say the production quality of the trailers is fantastic (Ignoring the outro's). There's a great exclusive preview on the BBC iPlayer. They make Dead Metal look so menacing:
 
I always thought Typhoon 2 was brilliant apart from it had one weakness which I would have fixed. The spin-up time was too slow. What it needed was some kind of pneumatic torque vectoring system which could yank it into high speed quickly and then let the motor take over.
 
I hope they do a better job of rebooting this, then they did with top gear.
The show was great in it day, i hope this can be captured again.
 
Like many I too was a huge fan of Robot Wars back in the day. I'm looking forward to seeing its return but am remaining very cautious about it at the same time (for various reasons). Disappointed to see only four house robots this time around, what was wrong with poor Sgt Bash? Do we know if Refbot will be returning?

I think Chaos 2, Hypnodisc and Tornado were my favourites from the old series. Still got all of the toys stored away somewhere as well!

:)
 
Refbot will not be returning - Shunt, Dead Metal, Matilda and Sir Killalot are the only House Robots that will be returning. I've still got a few Robot Wars toys somewhere as well. Chaos 2 was one of my favourites as well. My uncle almost got onto Series 6 with a robot he'd helped to build, but unfortunately, I believe they lost in the final qualification round, which was a shame.

Transmission date has been confirmed as well - Sunday 24th July at 8pm on BBC Two. Bring it on.
 
Disappointed to see only four house robots this time around, what was wrong with poor Sgt Bash? Do we know if Refbot will be returning?

:)

While I do bemoan that the Sgt won't be returning (Unless in the next series, if this first series is successful that, returns then), though with Refbot I don't personally care about him and always found it funny one of the contestant robots attempt to try and put him on his side. :D
 
While I do bemoan that the Sgt won't be returning (Unless in the next series, if this first series is successful that, returns then), though with Refbot I don't personally care about him and always found it funny one of the contestant robots attempt to try and put him on his side. :D
And I believe one or two robots did succeed in tipping Refbot over. What was even funnier was when he drove himself into the pit!
 
Well here's Sgt. Bash going rogue and attacking the Ref Bot.



And here's Ref Bot driving himself into the pit...



My favourite robot was either Tornado or Hypnodisk! Hope they make a return!
 
Unfortunately, Hypno-Disc and Tornado will not be returning for this series. A return for Hypno-Disc in future series is unlikely, but Andrew Marchant from Tornado has said that a newer version of Tornado will be ready in time for another series, assuming it goes ahead.
 
Diotoir will not be returning either, but I believe another robot covered with fur will be making its appearance. Can't remember which one of the 40 it is, though. :p
 
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