Robot Wars

[90sWereBetter]

Does anyone remember watching this on Friday evenings on BBC2 around the turn of the century? I've been rewatching the first two series recently on YouTube, and it's fantastic seeing how awful some of the early robots were, in comparison to the later series. Series 2 is still great to watch though, many of the well-known robots/teams debuted during this series.

Personally, my favourite series is Series 3, which had just the perfect balance of good robots and amateur charm, something that disappeared during Robot Wars Extreme and Series 5. My favourite robot at the time was Hypno-Disc, the sheer destruction that robot caused was awe-inspiring to the 5 year old me at the time. I was gutted he lost to Chaos 2 in the Series 3 final at the time. Nowadays, I'm more of a fan of Panic Attack, Killertron, Roadblock, Behemoth and Firestorm.

It was a shame the quality of the show started wavering around the Extreme series and during Series 5, and then fell through the floor during Series 6. The last series (Series 7) was absolutely miserable. Probably because it was on Channel 5.

So yeah, use this thread to reminisce about a great show.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

I remember finding great solace in watching the demise of Granny's Revenge at a time when my mother in law was being particularly difficult.

 

[EM2]

Razer was king.

 

[GearJammer]

Im off to look at Youtube and reminis, lol

 

[SS4]

Razer was king.

Sir Killalot would like a word

 

[bussnapperwm]

Razer was king.

As matilda found out to her cost!!!

http://youtu.be/_e4cHWS2758

 

[507 001]

Absolutely brilliant show. Still love it to this day.

Even went to see a non televised version live

 

[Rick1984]

Razor was good but shame about reliability. Hypno Disc early on was great the tailed off.

 

[Drsatan]

I remember being quite envious, as a little boy, of the lad who drove Bigger Brother with his dad!

I was never much of a fan of Razer, as the team behind that robot came across as very arrogant.

 

[Searle]

Ahhhh the memories. Absolutely loved it Chaos 2 was always my favourite, the flipper was so simple and effective!

 

[EM2]

Sir Killalot would like a word

He's just a bullly And a bit backwards in coming forwards when Matilda was being ravished.

I was never much of a fan of Razer, as the team behind that robot came across as very arrogant.

I met them at Brighton Modelworld one year and found them very pleasant.

 

[Butts]

Was Craig Charles the host from day one or was it someone else ?

I used to love it when the competitors bots attacked the House Robots as someone mentioned earlier

 

[SS4]

Was Craig Charles the host from day one or was it someone else ?

I used to love it when the competitors bots attacked the House Robots as someone mentioned earlier

Jeremy Clarkson was the first presenter IIRC

 

[richw]

Jeremy Clarkson was the first presenter IIRC

Correct, he presented the first series around 98 before Craig Charles took over

 

[satisnek]

Remember it well, it was one of the last things I regularly watched on TV (in my opinion and experience there was less and less 'good stuff' on TV as the 1990s wore on).

The company I work for deals with power wheelchair control systems and we supplied controllers for 'robot wars' in the broad sense. The simplest was just a standard integral wheelchair controller with model aircraft r/c servos operating the joystick. A more sophisticated method was to interface the radio receiver directly with the controller's joystick lines. The controller had all its settings maxed out and all safety checks disabled - and we sprayed them bright orange to prevent them being accidentally installed on a wheelchair with potentially fatal results.

I've a feeling, though, that the robots we saw on TV had bespoke control systems in them.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

Quality show. I caught the back end of the show when I was very young, I loved it so much I asked for the PS2 game for Christmas! :P

 

[CC 72100]

Quality show. I caught the back end of the show when I was very young, I loved it so much I asked for the PS2 game for Christmas! :P

I've still got the PS2 game - If I remember rightly, flippers don't work very well at all, but a wedge shaped robot with a strong circular saw on the back and a fast motor is the way to go

 

[Phirstman]

Loved this show, particularly the first two series' where the robots had to do the gauntlet and trials as well as beat each other up!

Always remember it was after Double Simpsons or the Fresh Prince on a Friday night - oh to be nine years oldvagain!

 

[90sWereBetter]

I've grown to like the Gauntlet and Trials whilst watching the first two series again. Kinda wish they'd kept it for later series really.

Psychosprout is now my new favourite robot. Absolutely brilliant idea.