Robot Wars (TV series)
Robot Wars was a robot combat competition that was broadcast on British television from 1998 to 2004 and from 2016 to 2018. Each series involves teams of amateur and professional roboteers operating their own constructed remote controlled robots to fight against each other in an arena formed of steel and bullet proof glass fitted with arena hazards and containing areas occupied by hostile and heavier "House Robots". Earlier series included assault and trial courses for competing robots. The original version of the show was broadcast on BBC Two from 20 February 1998 to 23 February 2001 , on BBC Choice from 8 October 2001 to 7 February 2003 (later repeated on BBC Two) and on Channel 5 from 2 November 2003 to 28 March 2004. A revival was broadcast on BBC Two from 24 July 2016 to 7 January 2018. To date, the show has been broadcast as 10 main series each centred around a single competition, two "Extreme" series with several unconnected events and several special episodes. Jeremy Clarkson presented the first series, with Craig Charles taking over for the second to seventh series. Philippa Forrester co-hosted the first three series, the fifth, sixth and  Extreme 2. Forrester also hosted the spin-off series "Robot Wars Revealed" from 1998 to 1999. The fourth series and Extreme 1 were co-hosted by Julia Reed and the seventh by Jayne Middlemiss. The revived series were hosted by Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon. Jonathan Pearce provided commentary for all series. Additional series were filmed at the UK venue for specific sectors of the global market, including two series of "Robot Wars Extreme Warriors" with American competitors for the TNN network (hosted by Mick Foley with Rebecca Grant serving as pit reporter), two of "Dutch Robot Wars" for  distribution in the Netherlands and a single series for Germany. The fourth series of the UK "Robot Wars" was shown in the US on TNN as "Robot Wars: Grand Champions" in 2002 and hosted by Joanie Laurer. Its merchandising was commercially successful, being one of the most popular selling toy ranges in 2002 produced by Logistix Kids. It included a mini arena, pullback, friction and ripcord toys and radio-controlled versions of the House Robots. In 2003, the roboteers themselves formed "The Fighting Robot Association" and with their associated event organizers, carry on participating in competitions for new audiences. In  2013, Roaming Robots purchased the rights to the "Robot Wars" brand from Robot Wars LLC and operated their travelling robotic combat show under that name. The use of the name "Robot Wars" for live shows ceased in early 2017, being renamed "Extreme Robots". With a peak audience of six million viewers in the UK during the late 1990s, the format went on to become a worldwide success, showing in 45 countries including the US, Australia, Canada, China, India, Germany and Italy. In March 2003, it was dropped by BBC Two after eight series and Mentorn announced it was making 22  episodes for Channel 5, concluding with The Third World Championships broadcast in March 2004. Channel 5 later axed the show after one series due to low ratings. In July 2016, the show returned to BBC Two with a new arena, house robots and presenters. The first episode was well received becoming the top trending topic on Twitter that evening and having two million viewers, more than the last episode of the 23rd series of "Top Gear" in the same 8pm Sunday slot just a few weeks earlier. The revived show ran for three series, before it ended in March  2018. History. US Robot Wars events. "Robot Wars" was the brainchild of Marc Thorpe, a designer working for the LucasToys division of Lucasfilm. In 1992, Thorpe had the initial idea for robot combat sport after unsuccessfully attempting to create a radio-controlled vacuum cleaner. In 1994, Marc Thorpe created "Robot Wars" and held the first competition at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. Approximately one month prior to the event, Thorpe formed a partnership with New York-based record company Sm:)e Communications, later Profile Records, who provided additional funding. Between 1995 and 1997, three further "Robot Wars" events took  place in America and in 1995, Profile Records partnered with production company Mentorn to produce and televise a "Robot Wars" event in the UK. Mentorn acquired the worldwide television rights from Profile in 1995 after Tom Gutteridge (the head of Mentorn) had seen an amateur tape of a San Francisco event. Original television series. Gutteridge and one of his producers Steve Carsey created a television format based on the "Robot Wars" concept. They produced a live event opposite BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane, Shepherd's Bush, London and hired Derek Foxwell to build 3 combat robots, 2 of which  were named The Mouse and Grunt who would eventually take part in the first UK series of "Robot Wars", to take on three American robots, Thor, La Machine and The Master, all of which were veterans of the original American competition. The Controller of BBC Two, Michael Jackson, attended the event, which was not filmed and he promised to commission a series. However, it was not until 1998 that a subsequent Controller of BBC Two, Mark Thompson, fulfilled Jackson's promise and actually commissioned 6 episodes. Gutteridge and Carsey were producers and Foxwell was the technical supervisor and senior technical  consultant. He drafted the rules and regulations and was in charge of the pit area and the technical team, which scrutinised the robots, got them on and off stage and helped the contestants prepare and repair their robots. Mat Irvine, initially a member of the technical team, served as a member of the judging panel in 2002 and 2003. The three person judging panel consisted of Noel Sharkey (head judge on every series: 1998–2003, 2016–), Eric Dickinson (1998), Adam Harper (1998–99), Martin Smith (1999–2003), Myra Wilson (2000–01), Mat Irvine (2001–03), Sethu Vijayakumar (2016–) and Lucy Rogers (2016–). Profile sought no  input or consent from Thorpe before doing this, which aggravated the already troubled relationship between Thorpe and Profile Records and indirectly spurred legal disagreements surrounding the ownership of the "Robot Wars" concept. The legal proceedings surrounding these would last until 6 February 2002. Mentorn used Thorpe as a Consultant on the series, however and the initial series of "Robot Wars" in the UK was broadcast over six weeks in February and March 1998. It was an immediate hit, with more than two million viewers and a further 18 episodes were commissioned by the BBC that year. 155 episodes were produced  in total and the show was seen in 26 countries. Two series were produced in the US for The National Network (now Paramount Network) and a version was also shown on Nickelodeon. TechTV (and later G4techTV/G4) in the US aired the UK series proper. Series were also produced in many European countries. Although the series had various directors and producers, all were produced in the UK by Mentorn and executive produced by Tom Gutteridge and Steve Carsey. The initial series were staged in various film studios around London but the stage and pit area became too large to fit  into any of the conventional studios, so filming was later moved to an aircraft hangar at RAF Newton. Viewing figures dropped significantly in the early 2000s, reaching only 1.2 million in the sixth series - the final to be broadcast on BBC Two. Following its move to Channel 5 in November 2003, the show first began airing in a new Sunday night slot and launched with one million viewers; however ratings fell quickly to 800,000 resulting in the show moving to Saturday nights after just three episodes. After Robot Wars ended, an edited half-hour version of this series aired on  Fox Kids (later Jetix) from 2004, on Bravo from after 2004, on Dave from 2010 and on Challenge from before 2016. Revival. On 13 January 2016, the BBC confirmed that it would be rebooting the show for a six-part series. The revived series was hosted by Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon with Jonathan Pearce returning as commentator. The first episode was broadcast on 24 July at 8pm, the same slot as "Top Gear". Some robots from the original series returned, including Behemoth and Storm II, as well as four of the original House Robots, which were upgraded  to be heavier, faster, better armed and with new looks. The 2016 series was filmed in a warehouse at Westway Park in Renfrew, Scotland. The first episode received about two million viewers and was the top trending topic on Twitter with over 20,000 tweets. A second rebooted series was commissioned with a first celebrity special in 16 years, in which celebrities, such as Olympians Kadeena Cox and Alistair Brownlee and Jonny Brownlee, TV presenters Suzi Perry, Neil Oliver and Maggie Aderin-Pocock, singer Jordan Stevens and radio presenters Scott Mills and Robbie Savage had bespoke robots designed for them by  eight major roboteers, who mentored them during the specials. During its original airing, the first rebooted series was sometimes referred to as 'Series 1', presenting itself as a completely new show. Starting in 2017, however, the BBC began referring to it as Series 8, with the following second series appropriately dubbed Series 9, acknowledging itself as a continuation of the original show. Following the 10th series, it was revealed that the BBC had decided not to renew the show for an 11th, and Robot Wars has been axed for the second time, the complete cancellation was met with backlash from  fans. Battle rules. A robot could lose a match in several ways during the knockout format of the show: Although the format changed several times over the years, these rules remained the same across all series and competitions. Format. Extreme. There were also two series made for the UK, "Robot Wars Extreme", which did not focus on a single championship. Presenters. The first series of "Robot Wars" was presented by Jeremy Clarkson and co-hosted by Philippa Forrester. In keeping with his edgy persona established on "Top Gear", Clarkson frequently made tongue-in-cheek jokes about competitors and their robots , such as remarking that a contestant robot called "Skarab" looked like "cheese on toast". Clarkson left "Robot Wars" after the first series and was replaced with Craig Charles. Charles, well known as playing the character Dave Lister in the science fiction-themed sitcom "Red Dwarf", was seen as taking the programme and its contestants more seriously than Clarkson and was more enthusiastic while presenting it. Charles would close each episode with a four line poem ending with the words ""Robot Wars"". Charles presented "Robot Wars" until it ceased production in 2004. In comparison to Charles' background in science fiction, Philippa  Forrester was best known as co-host of the science and technology programme "Tomorrow's World". Her role on "Robot Wars" was as the pit reporter who would speak to contestants about their robots before and after battles. Forrester was pit reporter for six of the show's nine series; Julia Reed took the role for Series 4 and Extreme 1 since Forrester was unable to participate in the programme due to pregnancy, but Forrester returned for Series 5, Series 6 and Extreme 2. When the programme moved to Channel 5 for the seventh series, Forrester did not return for  unknown reasons, so Jayne Middlemiss took over the pit reporter duties. Jonathan Pearce was the show's commentator throughout its entire run, becoming one of only two people (the other being judge Noel Sharkey) to appear in every episode of the programme; he commentated in the same loud and enthusiastic manner as his football commentaries. The programme was well known for phrases such as "Roboteers, stand by", "3. 2. 1. Activate" and "Cease!". These phrases were announced by the director, Stuart McDonald and became a recognisable part of the series for the entire duration of its run. In 2016, Dara  Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon were announced as the hosts of the eighth series, with Jonathan Pearce returning as commentator. They reprised their roles in the ninth and tenth series. House robots. Throughout the series, house robots acted as obstacles to competing robots in battles and challenges. House robots were permitted to attack robots that were in the Corner Patrol Zones at the corners of the arena or upon the submission of a competing robot. The house robots were an intrinsic part of the programme's success and merchandising of these robots was highly successful. Furthermore, the house robots were  not subject to the weight limit or weapon rules that contestant robots had to adhere to, the most notable example of this was Sergeant Bash's flamethrower. From the Fourth Wars, a non-competitive "Refbot" was present during fights. This robot conveyed officiating signals (such as counting out immobile competitors) on the arena, gave occasional nudges to help battles along and could deploy a fire extinguisher where necessary. For Series 8, new versions of Matilda, Shunt, Dead Metal and Sir Killalot were constructed. They are considerably heavier with improved weaponry. All the house robots are over in weight and Sir  Killalot now weighs . Visually, all four look similar to their predecessors, but with significant differences: Dead Metal's head has been enlarged with glowing eyes, Matilda's back-mounted fins have been replaced with smaller crocodilian scales, spikes appear on her frill, her eyes are now red and her whole head section now flips up; Shunt has enlarged wheel protectors and metal chimneys replacing the smokestack; and Sir Killalot's armour and helmet has been entirely redesigned. This was said to be to show the actual shape of Sir Killalot's head, rather than the helmet he is wearing. The  other house robots did not return for this series. Bold text indicates house robots that returned for the new series. Arena and hazards. Arenas. There were numerous arena incarnations used during the original run of "Robot Wars" on the BBC. These arenas were also used by international versions such as "Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors" in the United States. The arena was approximately . For Series 1 to 3 the arena was not enclosed as such, as the audience were raised above the arena. The increasing sophistication of weaponry from contestant robots – most notably demonstrated by Hypno-Disc in Series 3 – as  well as arena hazards prompted producers to enclose the arena entirely in a perspex box high from Series 4 onwards, to protect the audience and production team from debris. In early 2004, the Robot Wars arena was purchased from the television production firm Mentorn by a company called Robot Arenas Ltd., based in the UK, an organization set up by a past competitor in Robot Wars to continue the sport of robot combat in the UK. The arena – valued originally at £11,000 – was sold for scrap in 2005 for £250 by the new owners of the former RAF  Newton air base, where the arena was housed. A suit filed against RAF Newton by Robot Arenas Ltd. found that RAF Newton had acted reasonably in the matter and owed no compensation to Robot Arenas Ltd. In 2016, a new arena was constructed in a warehouse in Renfrew, on the outskirts of Glasgow, for use in the rebooted series. This arena is square, with a steel floor and higher bulletproof walls, making it harder for robots to be thrown out of the arena. Hazards. Throughout Robot Wars' run, arena hazards were introduced and amended. Generally, hazards which proved ineffective were  omitted in later series, however some hazards proved to be a success (such as the Pit of Oblivion, Floor Flipper and the Drop Zone) and were retained. The assorted hazards in the arena that changed from one series the next included: Merchandise. Toys (from Logistix Kids & Hexbug). Pullback and friction toys were made of all the House Robots, with the exception of Cassius Chrome as the toys from Logistix Kids had stopped production when it was introduced for The Seventh Wars and the toys would have resumed production by Series 8, 9 or 10, but this did not happen until  Hexbug did so rather late in 2018. There were also pullback and ripcord toys of the Series 3, 4, 5, 6, Extreme 1 and Extreme 2 Competitors Chaos 2, Dantomkia, Firestorm, Hypno-Disc, Panic Attack, Pussycat, Razer, Stinger, Tornado, Wheely Big Cheese and X-Terminator 2. Each came with an accessory. There were remote controlled versions of Shunt, Matilda, Sir Killalot and Growler. There were also smaller remote control battlers, which had "immobilisation spots" on the rear of the toy. Sgt. Bash and the competitor robot Tornado were the only two made. These were smaller than the other remote control  robots mentioned above. There were customisable kit toys of the House Robot Matilda and competitors Hypno-Disc and Panic Attack. A Sergeant Bash pitstop kit was prototyped but never released. Minibots were a series of small die-cast replica robots. The range included all of the Series 3, 4, 5 and Extreme 1 House Robots along with competitor robots Chaos 2, Dominator 2, Firestorm III, Gemini, Hypno-Disc, Mega Morg, Panic Attack, Plunderbird 5, Pussycat, Razer, Suicidal Tendencies, Tornado, Wheely Big Cheese, Wild Thing and X-Terminator 2. They had an interactive replica arena and two additional playsets. Home media . Several VHS videos were released of the show. These included "The First Great War" a look at the making of Series 1, "The First World Championship" which was released exclusively on video and the "Ultimate Warrior Collection" featuring exclusive access to the teams of Chaos 2, Hypno-Disc and Razer, along with footage of their battles. Along the same lines an "Ultimate Archive Collection" was released showing exclusive footage of the House Robots and their operators along with some of their greatest battles and most embarrassing moments. The Ultimate Warrior Collection and Ultimate Archive Collection were also released on DVD . The footage and content remained the same as the VHS releases. Series 8 was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 29 August 2016, making it the first full series of "Robot Wars" to be released on home media. It was later released digitally. The Complete Compendium 2017 contained Series 9 and 10, along with the "Battle of the Stars" specials, were released on 11 December 2017 as a 5-disc DVD box set. Video games. "" is the first game based on the show, released on Game Boy Color in 2000. It was followed in 2001 by "" on PlayStation 2  and Microsoft Windows and "" on Game Boy Advance. After the first three titles sold over 250,000 copies, a fourth and final game, released on Game Boy Advance, Microsoft Windows and Xbox in 2002 was called "". Other. A large array of other merchandise was produced due to the success of the show. Items available included mugs, glasses, mobile phone covers, toiletries, stationery, clocks, watches, bedding, curtains and clothing. The show even produced an unsuccessful single, which peaked at number 51 in the UK singles charts in December 2000, called "Sir Killalot Vs. Robo Babe - Robot Wars (Android Love)". A custom made  game officially licensed under Robot Wars LLC was started on in October 2013, using the video game as the base engine. It featured many robots from the TV series as well as robots competing in the newer live events. It also included the original Robot Wars arena and various live arenas. It was released to the public in September 2015 and an updated version which included more robots was released in February 2016. A smaller update was released in January 2017, adding two new robots. Another update came in August 2017 which added the new Robot Wars arena from the  current series and another new arena as well as some unreleased robots from the beta and robots that were due to be released in a cancelled expansion. It is only available for Microsoft Windows. Transmissions. All episodes were announced by Jonathan Pearce. Extreme series. All Extreme episodes premiered on BBC Choice.