Top 6 Favourite Television Shows

Top 6 Favourite Television Shows

Ahh the humble television, a staple in every living room. Its big black screen stares at us and we all enjoy its wonders and delight. Sometimes we use it for movies but more often than not we watch television shows. These are my personal top 6 of all time.

 

Number 6. Friends

It was difficult to pick my favourite sitcom. It was between Friends and Two and a Half Men. I went for Friends because it’s a very easy watch pretty much all the time. It’s that show I like on in the background or when I’m feeling a bit like wasting time. It’s fun and light-hearted with enough character to make you want to come back.

 

The show simply resolves around the lives of six friends who live in New York. It’s as simple as that. Perhaps the biggest positive is each member of the cast has a unique and definable personality. Despite this however they were quite unique in both their personality and interactions. Each friends interacts with each friend differently and it is highly enjoyable to watch.

 

Being a Sitcom it wouldn’t be very good it the com bit didn’t hold up. Fortunately though there are plenty of chuckles and laughs to go around and while the studio audience is a little enthusiastic, it still is a funny show.

 

That’s not to say it doesn’t have its conflict and drama and it does done well most of the time. Whether it’s the smallest little thing or something quite crucial in their lives I am usually interested to see how they deal with it and figure things out. With five of the characters I do genuinely find them likeable enough to want them to be happy.

 

This leads me onto my biggest issue. I don’t like Phoebe. I get she has quite a tragic history and all but I just don’t think she’s a likeable character, hell sometimes she seems almost spiteful to her apparent friends. Her random outbursts and comments I usually don’t find funny, they’re not witty or clever, just random. Of all the Friends she’s the one I wouldn’t feel like I could rely on and that’s completely missing the point of the show. It wants you to feel like you know these people, except with Phoebe I wouldn’t want to.

 

The other little thing is I do think they can overdo the drama at times. Usually they have enough comedy to balance it out but some episodes are a bit devoid of humour and they do drag. This is a nit-pick however as over all 10 series these episodes are few and far between.

 

Okay, Friends isn’t perfect but it wasn’t really supposed to be. To me at least it’s just a happy feel good show and one I’m happy to stick on while browsing through the channels.

 

5. SpongeBob SquarePants

This was a weird show. I always described watching SpongeBob as showing you what it’d be like to be high and with some of the strange lines and visuals this show had to offer it is not difficult to see why.

 

SpongeBob SquarePants was a show about … SpongeBob SquarePants as he went about sometimes crazy adventures or sometimes just his daily routine. He was joined by his friends in what I thought was a delightful kids show.

 

SpongeBob was supposed to be funny. I watched some recently and I genuinely thought it was. It wasn’t even like it was a bunch of dumb humour either, there was some surprisingly smart comedy in here. A mixture of the funny dialogue, unique characters and outright strangeness made a funny show that still I can still watch to this day.

 

The characters in the show were great, each one was individual and had a fun and interesting personality. While not the most complex characters you’ll ever see, with SpongeBob being happy, Patrick being dumb etc they were never one dimensional characters and each one had their own individual charm, even the grumpy Squidward and the evil genius Plankton.

 

I think the thing SpongeBob does so well is be strange and random but heart-warming and endearing with it. This world makes no sense, the stories make no sense and the characters are mad and don’t make sense but at the same time the characters are likeable enough and the jokes funny enough to make it a genuine joy to watch.

 

The show also has a unique visual charm. It doesn’t look like underwater at all but again the visuals are strange and colourful and a very good compliment to the humour. The animation isn’t the best you’ll ever see but it’s certainly good and the colours are fun to see. It is a fun show and while I don’t exactly watch it very often these days it is definitely worth a look if you want some fun comedy and want to see what it would be like to be high.

 

4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

To be specific the series that aired between 2003 and 2009. Like many kids I grew up watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They were cool, they had cool ninja fights. They were funny and clever, what more could a kid want.

 

In my mind nothing. I watched the show, had the comics and had the action figures and the video game. What made the turtles so popular? A huge part of it was obviously the turtles themselves. The four turtles were all very different and thus I think every kid had at least one they could relate to. On top of this you genuinely believed in the connection between these brothers. They worked well together as a team but they still had their conflicts, just like real brothers do. Despite being turtles you could see the human connection between them.

 

Emotions are all well and good but let’s be honest, the best thing was the action and comedy. The turtles kicked ass, as we all know ninjas are cool. The show was never boring, it knew just how much discussion to have before going to the action packed or funny scenes.

 

The side characters were also great. Master Splinter was a brilliant wise mentor, Casey Jones was a cool and enjoyable character and as a young boy April O’Neil was probably the first female character who I thought was completely awesome. 

 

The villains were also really good. Naturally, The Shredder stands out as the best villain. He was just what I want in The Shredder. He was a badass fighter, he could easily take on anyone in a fist fight but he was also incredibly smart and cunning. He wasn’t just a big dumb oaf with no motivations like in the new film. This Shredder was interesting and he was part of a plot twist that left my young mind completely gobsmacked.

 

The foot clan looked cool, the purple dragon gang were an interesting foil for the turtles and Casey Jones and Hun I remember as a decent villain. I also like the animation, it almost looked like an anime but the sharp lines and colours I though served the action scenes well.

 

Throw in some interesting stories, excellent actions scenes and some fairly intense moments this silly concept of turtles that somehow mutated into humanoids and learned ninjitsu became a worldwide phenomenon and I sit here now wanting to find the series and watch it again.

 

3. Arrow

Hey look a show that is still on. Good for me! Arrow is about the DC character Green Arrow and his crusade to save his city. We also get flashback of his time stranded on an island in the Pacific that turned him into the warrior he is today.

 

Arrows biggest positive for me has always been the core characters of the team. They’re all very well developed, have interesting backstories and bounce off each other extremely well. Oliver Queen is a brilliant character, acted well by Stephen Amell we really feel his internal conflict and determination to do the right thing. John Diggle is like our eyes into this world. He’s from a world without super heroes and see’s the madness in what’s going on. He is also reliable and like a brother to Oliver and has become a fan favourite for good reason. Finally there’s Felicity, a quirky and clever character who is slightly more positive than the other. She’s funny and comedic but also the one person every character can turn to when they need help or are struggling with their many burdens. She’s great and I think I love her.

 

The side characters are also interesting and the show has done a great job at taking the ones I didn’t like and making them relevant and interesting such as Thea and Laurel. On top of this there are some great villains. The big bad of each series has always been a hugely memorable villain, my personal favourite of course being Slade Wilson.

 

I write a review for Arrow every week so I won’t go on any longer. It’s got a great dark atmosphere, some cool stunts and characters who are believable and interesting. Go and watch it … now.

 

2. Robot Wars

Robot Wars was a fantastic show, another show I had the merchandise for. It was a very unique concept at the time, teams built their very own fighting robots and battled them in a gruelling knock out competition.

 

The great thing about the show was its unpredictability and action packed battles. It was great to sit down and watch the two machines battle. It was also enjoyable to see the individuality and creativity that went into each machine. Furthermore the camaraderie and entertainment from the teams in the pits was a joy to watch.

 

Robot Wars was action packed. It bought out a real primal enjoyment watching these machines smash each other to bit, almost like how the Romans may have felt watching gladiators. It was simple but it was just really good entertainment. It had some iconic house robots, a good presenter in Craig Charles and some of my favourite commentary ever by Johnathan Pearce. There’s not much else to say, I’ve done a whole post on Robot Wars. If nothing else it’s a lot of fun.

 

1. Top Gear

I’m really going to miss Top Gear. This show did something that no other show I’ve seen did. Despite starting out as a humble car show it transcended its motoring audience and became a true television giant. What made Top Gear so great?

 

The chemistry between the hosts is what really made Top Gear. Most of its viewers didn’t watch it for the cars and facts, rather because Clarkson, Hammond and May were extremely fun to watch. It was never forced, they were clearly mates and always bantered back and forth as such. It was watching three big kids messing about in fast cars and I couldn’t help but enjoy it.

 

Even the individual films were great. It wasn’t serious enough to be dull but each presenter got enough passion across to make basic cars tests enjoyable and interesting. A lot of credit also has to go to the creator and producers, they came up with a lot of creative challenges for the three to partake in and while it was always a variation of buy a cheap car each challenge felt unique and thus hilarity would also ensue.

 

Another big part of the show’s popularity was obviously The Stig. A funny little idea became such an icon to television. How just a silent man in white suit could be so iconic is beyond me but there was something oddly surreal and funny about watching him. Whether it was Clarkson’s facts or Stig’s strange choices of music he was great addition to the show.

 

There were so many memorable moments in Top Gear that I couldn’t even begin to list them. To me Top Gear was the epitome of entertainment. There was never a single episode I didn’t enjoy and it’s such a shame to see it go. It really was the best tv show … in the world!!!

Robot Wars House Robots Battle Royale - Who Would Win

Robot Wars House Robots Battle Royale - Who Would Win

Ahh Robot Wars. This was one of my favourite TV shows ever, a huge part of my childhood. There’s nothing quite like watching two killing machines scrapping in a fight to the death. Like a huge number of kids at that time I was obsessed with the likes of Hypno Disc and Chaos 2 and liked nothing more than a good episode of Robot Wars.

 

The BBC needed something to help them advertise the show as well as act as extra obstacles in the Arena. Enter the House Robots. These machines were not limited to the same rules as the competitor robots, they did not have a weight limit and could have any weaponry they wanted.

 

There were problems though. House Robots had to be destructive but they also had to look good. They couldn’t resemble boxes on wheel like many competitor robots, they needed personality. They all had personality but this meant they weren’t as efficient at destroying things as they could’ve been. Nevertheless they were far more powerful than most of what went into the arena and were the mascots of the show. So in a battle Royale which House Robot would be the last one standing?

 

This will take place in the Robot Wars Arena and Robots will not gang up on each other. I’m going to start by looking at each robot individually so let’s start with the world famous Cassius Chrome …

 

 

Introduced for the seventh wars Cassius Chrome was meant to resemble a boxer. Its weapons were fists that went forwards and backwards like a boxer. It also had a front shovel for pushing other robots. It was 130 cm x 100 cm x 85 cm so it was fairly big and interestingly it was the fastest House Robot with a top speed of 20 mph.

 

Cassius Chrome was an awful House Robot. It weighed 250 kg so while it was heavy it had a high ground clearance and thus could be flipped fairly easily. Not only this its weapons were low impact and rarely caused any significant damage. It’s a terrible House Robot, one you’ve probably never heard of and it better not win this.

 

Next I’ll discuss Dead Metal. One of the original four this is much more like it. It looks great and despite being much lighter at 112 kg it had a wide wheelbase and was thus very hard to flip. Throughout Robot Wars it was only ever flipped once, by Dutch machine Gravity.

 

At 160 cm x 100 cm x 70 cm it is bigger than the dumb Cassius Chrome. It was upgraded from its original model to have far more effective weaponry, it had pneumatically driven pincers to grab a robot and a 3000 rpm circular saw for cutting into armour. The saw was very effective, easily cutting into opponents. Dead Metal was also the fastest of the first four House Robots with a top speed of 12 mph. However Dead Metal suffered with manoeuvrability issues and ended up in the pit four times across the series.

 

Growler was introduced in the Sixth Wars as Mr. Psycho’s pet dog. At the time it was introduced it was by far the fastest House Robot with a top speed of 17 mph. However unlike Cassius Chrome it could do serious damage. Weighing 375 kg it made a very good battering ram and could cause serious damage simply by charging at other robots.

 

It was 152 cm x 130 cm x 76 cm and had hydraulic jaws for a weapon. It should be noted that it briefly had a flamethrower but it was removed as it was very unreliable. Its jaw was capable of exerting four tonnes of force of its victims and Growler was my favourite of the later house Robots. It was however difficult to control and its jaws do not open that far to grab a House Robot, neither did they do a whole lot of damage.

 

Another original Matilda was to start with let’s face it, awful. Yes it looks cool but it had flipping tusks that never flipped anything and a chainsaw, a weapons designed to cut wood in an arena full of metal robots. Matilda was also only 116 kg, had a slow top speed of 8 mph and was only 140 cm x 66 cm x 66 cm. It was often picked on by competitor robots and the robot Razer once crushed her rear armour completely.

 

This all changed when Matilda was fitted with a new weapon. The ineffective chainsaw was replaced with an extremely destructive rear flywheel weighing a colossal 27 kg. Suddenly everything changed. Matilda become perhaps the most destructive House Robot with its flywheel and was actually never flipped after gaining this new weapon. She also had a very tough outer shell and was thus heavily armoured. Matilda was a force to be reckoned with and despite her small size is not to be underestimated.

 

The House Robot that certainly won’t be underestimated is Mr. Psycho. Introduced in the Sixth Wars he weighed an immense 750 kg and was by far the heaviest House Robot. He was also the biggest at 163 cm x 145 cm x 150 cm and despite having a top speed of only 8 mph he had caterpillar tracks giving him excellent traction. Along with his immense size this made him almost impossible to push.

 

Mr. Psycho had a 30 kg hammer that travelled at 60 mph and a hydraulic claw that exerted 9 tonnes of pressure. His hammer often knocked out robots in one hit as it disrupted electric with the force of impact however his claw was an odd shape and didn’t work very well at picking up robots. Despite his size he also wasn’t immune to flipping. He toppled over in German and Dutch Robot Wars and Firestorm once flipped him over in England. However his size advantage makes him extremely powerful and he is the clear favourite to win.

 

Perhaps not a favourite is another original Sergeant Bash. He weighs 120 kg and is 140 cm x 90 cm x 90 cm.  He was also slow with a top speed of 8 mph. He was also the most unreliable House Robot and broke down more times than any other.

 

He did however have an awesome propane fuelled flamethrower as well as a set of pincers at the front. His flamethrower while looking great was fairly ineffective in battle as few robots had flammable surfaces (It worked great on Diotor however) but his pincers were highly effective. Even in series seven his pincers still exerted enough force to crush robots. Unfortunately for the Sergeant he has a narrow wheelbase making him vulnerable to flipping and he once was actually accidently flipped over by Sir Killalot.

 

 Another original House Robot prone to being flipped was Shunt. From the fifth wars onwards the max weight for a competitor Robot was 100 kg, Shunt weighed 105 kg making him the lightest House Robot. He was 130 cm x 110 cm x 70 cm and was easily flipped but could not self-right.

 

His main weapon was hid diamond edged axe which delivered blows at 7000 psi. He also had a pneumatic lifting scoop and a snow plough. His weaponry was underwhelming and caused little damage. In fact if Robot Wars hadn’t been cancelled after series seven he would’ve been redesigned.

 

So were there any positives? Shunt had incredible pushing powered and a strong frame but his biggest benefit was his reliability. Shunt was used for pushing immobilised robots out of the arena and was the workhorse of the Robot Wars House Robots. Okay Shunt is not winning this but I like Shunt for being so reliable. The show would not have worked as well without his reliability for clearing the arena and while not as flashy he was almost endearing in his endeavours.

 

Now for my favourite, the classic and iconic Sir Killallot. I loved this Robot, even today I have his pull back toy in my cupboard. He was introduced during series 2 and was by far the heaviest at the time at 520 kg (Although the show claimed he weighed 280 kg to throw off competitors). He was 120 cm x 120 cm x 130 cm so was also very big and despite being the slowest House Robot with a top speed of 5 mph his caterpillar tracks gave him immense pushing power.

 

His weapons were a spinning lance and his signature hydraulic cutting claw. It exerted a massive 15 tonnes of force and actually once cut a robot in half. Even when robots adapted their armour and got too tough for Killalot to cut he could easily lift over 100 kg and put more robots out of the arena than any other with thirteen. He is also the only House Robot to have never been flipped over.

 

He wasn’t invincible however. He is very slow and he is also top heavy meaning he often fell forwards while carrying a robot. He could always get back onto his track however but his biggest weakness in this fight is probably his petrol engine. He has been set on fire, once by Sergeant Bash although he did use the arena steam vents to put himself out. However he is still flammable and this could be exploited. However Sir Killalot is the most known House Robot for a reason. He’s iconic and powerful and a true force to be reckoned with.

 

So who would win this fight? Sorry Shunt but you’re first to go, theres no way you can cause any damage with your axe and even you can’t push around Mr. Psycho or Sir Killalot. Unfortunately I think Sir Killalot would be vulnerable too. Seargant Bash could set him on fire, and his tracks are exposed meaning they could be damaged and thus putting him out of action. He could however almost certainly lift over Dead Metal, Shunt and Sergeant Bash making these four all defeat able. Sir Killalot is powerful but he is smaller than Mr. Psycho and I don’t see how he could damage the colossus. He would also struggle with Growler as his claw does not open wide enough to grab hold of Growler head on. He could grab his wheels but Growler is fast and manoeuvrable and should be able to easily evade Sir Killalot.

 

Seargant Bash has the problem of his Flamethrower being ineffective for the most part and his pincers not being big enough to grab any House Robot. Dead Metal while tough to take out has a similar problem as his pincers would struggle to grab the biggest house Robots and his saw would not cut deep enough to put them out of action. Cassius Chrome cannot inflict anywhere near enough damage to win this fight, although theoretically his fists could displace Killalot’s track. I think Killalot is too big for Cassius Chrome to bring down however with his underpowered weaponry and he could easily be toppled over by his Lance.

 

The final three are Mr. Psycho, Growler and Matilda. If I had told you one of the original four House Robots would win you would’ve laughed at me but I think you can see where this is going. Yes the once picked on Matilda I think would win this. Her shell would protect her from Mr. Psycho’s hammer and her shape would mean his claw would not be able to pick her up. His track do have protection but her fly wheel had destroyed tough armour before and I think here would be no exception. Her Flywheel would annihilate Mr. Psycho’s tracks and put him out of action. Growler also is the wrong shape for Psycho to grab and he is fast enough to avoid the hammer. Even if hit he is strong and heavy enough to survive. Being rammed at full force could do serious damage to Mr. Psycho or even topple him over if hit at the right angle. So that leaves Growler vs Matilda and I don’t fancy those wheels of Growler surviving the wrath of Matilda’s flywheel. Even if Growler could ram her he would risk having his jaws damaged by the flywheel and his jaws are not big enough to actually grab Matilda.

 

I’m glad to say the winner is the House Robot who used to be picked on by competitors. Yes it’s the matriarch of mayhem herself Matilda.

Top 5 Games that should be made

Top 5 Games that should be made

Every year many new games are released for the public to buy. Unfortunately the market becomes saturated with the same games. Gamers often speak of innovation and these are the games that I think would be great to see.

 

5. A Pokémon game with every region

Pokémon games come out every year and they’re always great. Every game feels like a grand adventure and what better way than to improve on a grand adventure than to have the player explore every region. People loved HeartGold and Soulsilver and one of the reasons was because you were able to explore multiple regions.

 

The biggest issue many have with Pokémon is how easy it is. With six different regions by the time you were at the sixth region you could be fighting incredibly high level opponents. We’d no longer have a relatively easy stroll across the land before waltzing through the elite four. The opponents could be strong and powerful.

 

Another issue people have is ‘catching them all’. The only way to get certain Pokémon is through special events. No one wants to have to go to a nearby game store just for one legendary Pokémon. Making every Pokémon available in game would make completing the Pokédex an actual realistic possibility for the average player.

 

What else would I like to see? Personally I’d like to see the feature from HeartGold and SoulSilver when you can see your Pokémon following you around. It’s not a crucial feature that has a huge effect on gameplay but it was an enjoyable feature. Another thing I’d like to see is a more mature pot. I get that Pokémon is aimed at kids but it’d be great for a Pokémon game to have a plot that people of all ages can enjoy. Also I’d like to customizable trainers return. This was a good feature in X and Y as it made your character feel more personal.

 

While slightly personal something I’d like to see is some more insight into the backstory of the Pokémon world. A lot of people, myself included have theorised about this world and it would be great to see some actual insight into the backstory. There are so many hints and secrets scattered around the world and it would be amazing to understand what some of these things mean.

 

Perhaps not the most creative thing I’ve come up with but still something I’d love to see. It’s not likely we’ll see this game admittedly but if it was ever announced I would definitely buy it.

 

4. Growing up animal

When I was younger a friend and I discovered a game on the internet where you played as a growing up Allosaurus called Al. It was similar to a board game, you moved across different squares of the map and hunting and fighting was based off numbers. This was a great idea, you could really feel your progression as you could hunt different animal as you got bigger and travel to new places.

 

I always imagined how much fun this would be if the game wasn’t stupidly hard and if instead of a turn based style gameplay, you actually played as the Allosaurus. It wouldn’t just be a typical open world game where the open world has no real purpose since you just have missions to complete. Here we could have a game with a completely unscripted experience, where everyone would have a different story to tell after playing.

 

The game would be unpredictable since life is unpredictable. I think it would be better to avoid missions completely and the aim of the game should be survival. One big survival mode would make the game extremely tense, especially when your creature is young and weak but especially rewarding when becoming the top creature in the surrounding territory.

 

Earlier I mentioned the dinosaur Allosaurus. This game would be perfect for a dinosaur and on top of this there are a very small number of games involving dinosaurs. It would be exciting to explore a prehistoric world through the eyes of a dinosaur. However the game could work in the modern day too. There are many wondrous settings and creatures in the modern day and including Human Beings in the over world would be an interesting dynamic.

 

This is a very unlikely game to be created but to me it sounds great. Who wouldn’t want to feel the experience of controlling a fantastic creature through its epic struggle being its own life? We all like adventure and this sounds like a great adventure to me.

 

3. The Police Officer Game

There are so many games where we play as criminals. While games like Grand Theft Auto are incredibly popular something recently occurred to me. I don’t like crime. Sure it’s fun to play but we don’t get many opportunities to take down these criminals, especially from inside the law.

 

There are such a small number of games to play as the Police. I’ve always been someone who enjoyed being the Hero in games. I will often take the good choice in moral choices for the personal gratification as oppose to mindless villainy.

 

This I imagine would not be difficult to make. Side missions could be stopping random crimes. You could be arresting criminals and see the impact on the city as crime decreased. That’s an issue with many sandbox games, there is very little impact on the surrounding world from your actions.

 

For a setting I’d like something a little different. A large world with both city and more rural environment would be good as staying in a city can get zany. It would also give you the chance to take car journeys to quickly arrive to a crime scene. I’m English so I’d like to see an English city. Somewhere such as London would be an interesting change.

 

A good thing about playing as a police officer could be that you would need to solve crimes rather than just fight villains. It would add a puzzle aspect to the game as well requiring you to use your brain. On top of this putting a criminal away would be far more satisfying if you had to discover their whereabouts first.

 

In video games the Police are often seen as uncool compared to those badass criminals. This would be a great way to change that as well as producing a super fun game.

 

2. The Super - Villain Game

Okay so discount everything I just said. Screw the law, let’s play as a comic book style villain. I would really like a game where you play as a villain. However it wouldn’t just be like a GTA. This would be like a villain from a Saturday morning cartoon.

 

This game could have something very few games do. Comedy. Playing as a cartoon villain could lead to hilarious consequences. For a main storyline you could do something ridiculous like create a doomsday device, perhaps a giant laser from space to hold a city to ransom where you could use weapons to make it that you could use far easily to achieve your plan. The game would be over the top and if nothing else fun.

 

We get a lot of gritty story arcs, this would be a good change of pace. The game could be a satire of the super hero genre, you could take on a super hero trying to foil your evil plan. I think a cartoony art style would be the best visual style for a game like this. The idea is to not take it too seriously, a realistic graphics engine would not fit the style at all.

 

The gameplay could use an array of crazy gadgets to use in combat. Normal guns are boring when compared to lasers and shrink. I’d also like to be able to release hounds to attack the enemies. While this would not be the most complex gameplay it would certainly be enjoyable. Even better would be to be able to create your own gadgets for battle. You could find parts scattered across the world and upgrade them as you level up. This would make levelling up rewarding as it would have in game bonuses.

 

This game would simply be fun. If someone could write some funny lines this could be a light-hearted romp through a colourful world full of ridiculous characters.

 

1. Robot Wars

There are console Robot Wars games. Unfortunately they’re not particularly good. They’re okay and they have their merits they never feel like you’re actually fighting a Robot Wars battle. These game decided that the laws of physics weren’t particularly important. Robots fly all over the place and weapons will just bounce off the Robots. Worst is seeing powerful Robots such as Hypno Disc and seeing its savage fly wheel weapon cause no physical damage ridiculous.

 

The problem with these games honestly is that they were simple cash grabs. With a bit of care and effort I think this could be a sensational game. Building your own robots was not good. The designs in the show were creative and fun and in the games you had block with axes sticking out of them. It would be amazing to be able to construct creative designs, not just set shapes. Creating Robots to battle is probably the biggest draw to playing a Robot Wars game and being free to customize as you please would be a huge improvement.

 

As I stated earlier, an improvement to the physics engine is a must. In the Old games he Robots did not play like heavy machines at all. It was like they were made of cardboard as they appeared to have no weight at all. It was a similar story with weapons. Powerful weapons would hit the opponent but it never felt like they were connecting. Crushing weapons should actually crush things, discs should either cuts or spin off the Robots armour. Armour shouldn’t randomly fall off, it should be damaged accordingly to what was attacking it.

 

While an issue in many games, the commentating was awful. Obviously the lines will be repeated but Johnathan Pearce’s commentary was simply annoying. His commentary on the show was great, so it was very disappointing to hear about five uninspired lines repeated over and over again. Sports games have improved commentaries and I see no reason why a Robot wars game couldn’t too.

 

Another improvement could be time in the pits. Rather than just automatically repairing your Robot there could be different mini games, perhaps using the damage cam from the show. This would add another layer of authenticity to the game. To add to this authenticity, the Robot wars arena needs to be the same as it was in the show. However it would also be good to have a wide variety of arenas with different challenge and obstacles to overcome.

 

Let’s face it, the people who would buy this game would be fans of the television show. It is unlikely we will ever see a good Robot Wars game but if we don it needs to be made for than fans, not a general audience. Perhaps then everyone can experience the thrill and excitement of battling in Robot Wars.

Does Anyone Else Remember Robot Wars?

Does Anyone Else Remember Robot Wars?

I remember Robot Wars. I remember the anticipation and excitement of sitting down to watch the show, waiting for the sheer destruction to begin. In fact I loved Robot Wars so much I not only had the toys, but I made replicas of the robots you couldn’t buy toys for. My mum decided to throw them away but fortunately I managed to salvage the one shown below. You may be wondering what happened to this great show. All will be revealed.

 

Firstly let’s talk about what made Robot Wars so great in the first place. I like to think watching Robot Wars bought similar thrills to watching gladiators. It’s a very similar concept, just instead of watching people die, you watch their hard work get smashed to pieces. Destruction was the name of this game.

 

When you compare Robot Wars to television shows now days there’s one crucial thing missing that Robot Wars provided in abundance. Excitement. No one can possibly claim that watching people with no talent singing on a stage is more exciting than an intense battle between 2 fighting Robots. Everyone enjoys watching stuff get smashed up and watching the all-powerful house robots demolish anything that came too close was incredibly satisfying.

 

There was also a lot of innovation and creativity in Robot Wars. The weaponry evolved, far beyond what was seen in the first series. We had monstrosities such as Hypno Disc and Razor that would completely demolish some of their opponents beyond repair. You couldn’t stand still in Robot Wars, former champions such as Panic Attack and even the only 2 time winner Chaos 2 were completely overpowered in later series. However so many robots would be rebuilt and come back stronger and better or improvements would be made. A great example of this involves the aforementioned Hypno Disc.

 

A personal favourite of mine, its fly wheel weapon was savage but perhaps the greatest display of its savagery was against a robot called splinter. Poor splinter never knew what hit it as it was torn to shreds. Below is a picture of what it looked like before the battle and then what it looked like after a few minutes in the arena with Hypno Disc. The team behind splinter did not give up though, they rebuilt it to be stronger and better, it actually fought Hypno Disc again and stood up to its ferocious onslaught.

 

This is just one example of the creativity of the teams behind the robots. There were so many Iconic moments, so many iconic robots, most iconic of all being the dreaded Sir Killalot. But even the mighty House Robots were taken on at times, even defeated. Even the mighty Sir Killalot, described in his description in the show as virtually indestructible once caught fire. The shows unpredictable nature made it entertaining, you were always on the edge of your seat.

 



The legendary Sir Killalot, just don't listen to the song

Robot Wars became so popular, that a spin off called Robot Wars Extreme was produced. There were foreign versions such as BattleBots in the U.S. There was tonnes of merchandise, magazines were produced, Sir Killalot even made a song. I haven’t even mentioned the excellent commentating from Johnathan Pearce and the interesting look behind the scenes we got as we got a close look at the damge inflicted to the Robots. This was one of, if not the most defining and important show BBC 2 had. So what happened?

 

Remember how I said the show was unpredictable? That began to change. The producers of the show got more involved, staging other teams sabotaging each other’s robots for our ‘entertainment’ like this was some dumb reality show. They tried to produce drama with ridiculous moments such as having husbands and wives and separate teams battling each other. Robot Wars was eventually moved to channel 5 but here it got even worse. They made a ridiculous rule that stated that all robots must have a moving weapon, a stupid idea that prevented robots such as fan favourite stinger from being able to compete as technically its weapon was static. The biggest controversy of all involved a robot called Storm 2 in the seventh series.

 

Storm 2 didn’t look like much at first look. It was basically just a box on wheels. But watch it for a while and you’ll see why it was so good and successful. It was extremely fast and accelerated at immense speeds. Not only that it was tough, it attacked by simply ramming its opponents and did so to great effect. Once it rammed another robot with such force that when it rammed it into the arena wall the impact sent the poor robot flying out of the arena, giving Storm 2 victory. However for some unknown reason, the shows producers took up a vendetta against Storm 2 for not using its flipping arm enough, a flipping arm only there to satisfy the moving weapon clause. In the arena there was a pit that lowered. Any robot that fell in would instantly loose. Storm 2 pushed a Robot called Tornado into the pit, but it was raised to allow Tornado to escape. Storm 2 eventually won the fight, which happened to be one of the best and most entertaining I think in the shows history. Worse however was to come.

 

In the grand final of series 7 Storm 2 was to fight a robot called Typhoon 2, an impressive robot in its own right and one of the most destructive we’d ever seen. It however was no match for Storm 2. Storm 2 was bossing the fight when the spinning Typhoon 2 hit the arena wall shattering it. The battle was put on hold as the arena was fixed and the Typhoon 2 team were actually allowed to do some much needed repairs to their robot. The fight resumed with Typhoon 2 patched up but it was still battered. All it did was break a small chip off the corner of Storm 2, like what a chipped teacup would look like. A clear victory for Storm 2 right. Right?



Typhoon 2

The judges were given false information. The shows presenter Craig Charles was told to hand the chipped piece of Storm 2 to its team for dramatic effect to prove that Typhoon inflicted more damage, despite that it had to be repaired mid fight. Charles announced that Typhoon 2 was the winner and even the crowd booed. The editors of the shows placed the sound of a cheering crowd over the top so the viewers wouldn’t know. The fight had been fixed. The Robot Wars world championship was filmed shortly after and Typhoon 2 was mysteriously unable to compete. Everyone know it was because of the toll its battle with Storm 2 had taken on it. Storm 2 went on to win the world championships.

 

Robot wars had become a children’s show, not a family show like t was intended, suitable for all ages. It had become more interested in drama than what the point of the show was in the first place, the battles. The scheduling was change over and over until the show was cancelled completely. Soon after the shows that had taken inspiration from it had died out too. Robot wars was dead.

 

Fan Favourite Stinger

Or at least that’s what I thought. Last year I went to Comicon in Birmingham. I was dressed at the Joker and I was excited to see all the costumes. What I didn’t expect was what I found at the back, a robot combat arena. Robots were battling throughout the day, I even saw the famous Stinger. Huge crowds gathered around the battles, my friends who never watched Robot Wars excitedly watched as a flipper robot flipped its opponents high into the air. We were at Comicon a place crammed full of interesting things and yet people crowded round just to get a view of robot combat.

 

I decided to do a little digging and I found at that Robot combat is as prevalent now as it ever was. Robot combat events occur all over the world, it’s just unfortunate that they are not televised. While unfortunately the Robot Wars arena was scrapped, the House Robots are still intact, they eventually ended up with a team called Team Roaming Robots who have the intention of either returning them to working order or if they can’t then creating replicas.

 

The show may be gone but its legacy lives on through the robot fighting competitions. I was never fortunate enough to be able to see the show live, but seeing some battles at Comicon showed me that Robot combat still has the appeal to succeed. After all, there was never anything quite the same as watching robots smash each other to pieces. Perhaps all hope is not lost and one day we can see the return … of Robot Wars, Goodbye. So glad I got that quote in here.