Okay, I’m really disappointed. I love Robot Wars–it’s a fun, campy competition with wit and style–and I was kind of hoping a U.S. version would be made. Unfortunately, I got my wish. Comedy Central has a new show called Battlebots–same concept, but done like a hokey sports show–a combination of ESPNSports Night and CBS Football coverage. Like WWF wrestling with robots–no charm, no displays of styly, showmanship, skill or grace–just bam bam, let’s see parts fly!! Bummer!!! Did anyone else see this atrocious show? Did anyone–who’s seen the original British show–like this better? Is there any hope for it?
All I want is a show that is not version of some other show.
The British Robot Wars has the benefit of being hosted by Craig Charles, Red Dwarf’s Dave Lister. Unfortunately, it also has the drawback of being filmed in the UK, where the audiences just sit there in dead silence looking at these cool robots until Craig says, “C’mon, let’s give them a round of applause.” I saw a few minutes of Battlebots today, and I noticed that the crowd is a lot more enthusiastic, without any prompting from the announcers whatsoever. Not that the announcers are anywhere near as cool as Craig. I miss the “house robots,” too.
spooje: To be fair, these amateur robot competitions predate the Robot Wars program by quite a bit, in San Francisco and on campus at MIT and CalTech and all sorts of places. I saw one on Beyond 2000 almost ten years ago…
Gah! All these robot-fighting mediums!
The world only needs Robot Jox and the Mechwarrior series. 'Course, neither of those are TV shows… pity…
Ah, Robot Jox… that was a great flick… crappy acting, but still a great flick…
I always liked Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots…
as long as I got the blue one.