If I can never sleep again, I won’t mind, because Robot Wars is on Challenge. Growing up, Robot Wars was my favourite TV show, and watching it again now brings back a massive amount of nostalgia. All of the names hold memories; Chaos 2, Razor, Hypno-Disc… I used to have the models, and an arena complete with a pit that opened. I spent many hours of my childhood playing with.
Running from 1998-2003 on BBC 2 (and briefly Channel 5), Robot Wars was an insanely cheesy show fronted by Craig Charles, in which teams of engineers pit their robots against each other in metallic combat.
Similar to most prime time shows, it has the main event punctuated by VTs which are a masterpiece in their own right. With tongue in cheek camera angles, the views from “The Pits” introduce teams and engineers, featuring terrible attempts at trash-talking: Trash-talking that is given by engineers who are generally quite awkward, and have very little experience in front of a camera.
Even so, I feel this level of nerdiness has disappeared from the prime time television schedule, to be replaced with a lot of singing and dancing and other things on ice. For me, Robot Wars has a faster pace than more up-to-date entertainment shows like Strictly Come Dancing, mainly due to the presenters. Jonathan Pearce’s commentary is masterful; between Pearce and Craig Charles, the pair maintains a level of excitement that is less apparent in current day shows. I’ll admit, it can get a bit shouty, but the atmosphere created is great.
Robots are announced with some vital statistics about them, and teams often appear in hilarious outfits, I approve far more if they all match. Then, robots do battle until one is immobilised, dropped in the pit or thrown outside the arena.
Should the battles go down to a judges’ decision, robots are judged on Style, Control, Damage and Aggression. The phrase “Style, Control, Damage and Aggression” rolls off the tongue in a memorable way, and the show’s vocabulary is easy to accumulate. The judging panel is led by Professor Noel Sharkey, and this segment of the show is always kept very short, whereas in other shows the judging section can become very bloated.
I love how cheesy Robot Wars is, and it knows it’s cheesy, but it’s great to see a game show where the contestants really do enjoy what they’re doing, a sentiment that has been lost in celebrity-based game shows that humiliate the contestants. It’s this enjoyment that makes the Robot Wars format contagiously fun to watch, and I’d whole-heartedly recommend you stay up until 1 in the morning and watch the re-runs. What’s more, Robot Wars Live is touring the country next year and I cannot wait to get my ticket. No doubt I’ll see you all in the front row!
The Daily Spittoon 