Robot Wars

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Robot Wars was the brainchild of Marc Thorpe, a designer working for the LucasToys division of Lucasfilm.[1] In 1992, Thorpe had the initial idea for robot combat sport after unsuccessfully attempting to create a radio controlled vacuum cleaner.[2] 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.[1]

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.

Gutteridge asked freelance producer Steve Carsey and veteran special effects experts Derek Foxwell and Mat Irvine to create a television format based on the Robot Wars concept. They produced a pilot programme in which a number of Derek Foxwell built combat robots took on three American robots. The pilot convinced the BBC to commission a series. Foxwell was the technical supervisor and senior technical consultant. He wrote the rules and regulations and was in charge of the pit area and the technical team, which scrutineered the robots, got them on and off stage and helped the contestants prepare and repair their robots. Irvine, initially a member of the technical team, served as one of the judges.

Profile sought no input or consent from Thorpe before doing this, and this 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 February 6, 2002.[2] 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 2 million viewers, and a further 27 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 TNN (now Spike) network, and a version was also shown on Nickelodeon. Series were also produced in many European countries. Although the series had various directors and producers, all were produced in the UK by Mentorn, supervised by Derek Foxwell 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 hanger at RAF Newton.

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De BBC heeft aangekondigd de tv-serie Robot Wars nieuw leven in te blazen. De originele show liep van 1998 tot 2004, waarna er geen nieuwe afleveringen meer werden gemaakt. Nu heeft de BBC laten weten opdracht te hebben gegeven voor het maken van zes afleveringen van een uur per stuk.

De reboot van de show krijgt een nieuwe formule met meer robots en meer gevechten dan bij de oude seizoenen. De tv-show Robot Wars werd niet meer geproduceerd na 2004, maar de gevechten gingen wel door als onderdeel van onder andere live-shows. De nieuwe serie wordt gemaakt in opdracht van BBC Two en wordt ontwikkeld door Mentorn Media Scotland, dat ook deel uitmaakte van de originele show, en SJP Media. Wie de presentatoren gaan worden van de nieuwe show is nog niet bekend.

Volgens de BBC gaan kijkers veel nieuwe innovatieve robots te zien krijgen, voornamelijk dankzij de grote technologische stappen die het afgelopen decennium hebben plaatsgevonden. De show wordt gefilmd in een speciaal gebouwde arena in Glasgow.

De show draaide om zelfgemaakte robots die vaak werden uitgerust met cirkelzagen, grijpers, hamers en vlammenwerpers. Deze robots werden bestuurd door hun eigenaren die de robots van de tegenstander probeerden uit te schakelen in de kooi. De kooigevechten betroffen één op één- en Battle Royale-stijl-gevechten. Tijdens deze gevechten moesten de bestuurders ook oppassen voor de iconische huisrobots van Robot Wars. Dit waren terugkerende robots zoals Dead Metal, Matilda en Sir Killalot, die een vaste plaats hadden in de kooi.