SPOILERS
So it's been quite a few months since i have last reviewed the Returned, but as I received S2 for my birthday I figured now was the right time to start again.
The Returned is a French television season set in Annecy, South West France, near the Alps. The Returned or Les Revenants are a group of dead people who have come back to life and try to reintegrate back into their old lives in their isolated mountain town. The dead are unaware of their recent demises, which makes it all the more painful for those left behind. The cast is large and sometimes confusing, but the cinematography is gorgeous and the storytelling is rich, even if the many narratives can be difficult to follow at time. Here is a brief summary of the characters and story so far.
Camille (Yara Pillartz) is a fifteen year old girl who dies in a coach crash behind her twin sister Lena (Jenna Thiam) and parents Jerome (Frederic Pierrot) and Claire (Ann Consigny) Camille is the first to return causing this family's world to fall apart. Another major character is Simon (Pierre Perrier) a young man who killed himself leaving behind his wife Adele (Clotilde Hesme) and daughter Chloe. (Brune Martin) Upon returning, he wants nothing more than to be with his family. However, Adele has moved on by starting a relationship with the captain of the police force: Thomas Mezache. (Samir Guesmi) Other major characters, both alive and dead, include the cannibalistic serial killer Serge (Guillaume Goux) and his big brother Toni (Gregory Gadebois) the psychic Lucy (Ana Giradot) who upon being killed by Serge becomes the leader of Les Revenants, as well as the morally questionable Pierre (Jean-Francois Sivadiar) a religious leader who runs the homeless shelter, the Helping Hand. Lastly, there is the creepy Victor (Swann Namboutin) a little boy killed in a burglary gone wrong. Upon returning he forms an inexplicable, but wonderful relationship with Julie (Celine Salette) a young hospice nurse whom before Victor had very little to live for. All of this is set against the backdrop of a town, which has been devastated by floodings in the past.
The end of the first season saw a horde of Returnees led by Lucy and Simon demanding that Camille, Victor and the other returnees join them, leaving behind their families. Camille and Victor comply and are joined by their respective mothers Claire and Julie. Then it is revealed that Adele is a returnee too, but Thomas refuses to give her up. He gathers the townspeople in the Helping Hand, whilst he leads the police to fight of the dead. Come morning, the police and the dead have disappeared and the town has flooded.
Perhaps, a little confusingly, this isn't where the second season starts. Rather it begins with a six month time jump with everything in between condensed into expository dialogue. I understand that this is only the first episode and more cold be sown later, but I feel that in this case, showing would have been far stronger than telling. Anyway, the season starts with Adele being rushed tot he hospital after complications with her pregnancy of which Simon is the father. Yes I know that Adele and Simon are dead and therefore cannot have children, but the dead also can't get come back to life, so this isn't a point worth arguing. What is interesting is that Adele is afraid of whatever the child is, she later confides in her priest, that she tried to have it aborted. Whilst it didn't follow on from the last season, this certainly made it hit the ground running.
After this,w e are introduced to the character of Berg who has been sent to investigate why the town has flooded. At this moment, Berg, whilst being creepy and obviously having ulterior motives, was largely used an audience surrogate. Through him, we learn that part of the town is completely submerged with another part being cut off completely. The residents were stranded had to be airlifted out and the bodies of the police officers were never found. Whilst this exposition is necessary, it wasn't the most interesting way to introduce a character.
What was far more interesting was the reintroduction of Toni who Berg hits with hits driving on a dark road. Toni was the landlord of the Lake Pub, quite a prominent landmark in the first season, and big brother of Serge the serial killer. Toni actually killed Serge to stop his murderous ways, but has been racked with guilt ever since. In the penultimate episode of season 1, Toni dies via "suicide by Victor." The little boy makes Toni hallucinate Serge (again, bigger picture, folks) who encourages Toni to shoot himself. When he reappears, it is obvious that he has returned, not that Berg knows that of course. He rushes Toni to the nearest hospital, which is also the same hospital where Adele is, and this is where Jerome, Lena and Pierre are reintroduced. They know full well about the Returned and Toni's less than alive state.
One thing that the show has always done well has been its portrayals of character relationships. This is best established in Jerome and Lena. It is obvious that the father and daughter have fallen apart since Camille and Claire were taken. The grief hasn't united, but divided them and resentment bubbles just below the surface. Jerome's unshaven face, messy hair and Lena demanding that he leave are all that's needed to say that all is not well. This was a great example of when "less is more."
So Pierre, Jerome and Lena were all at the hospital to determine what to do with Toni, whom they know is dead, even if nobody else does. Pierre is still running the Helping Hand shelter and I've always gone back and forth between him being the true villain of the show. He had a hand in victor's death and has always seemed morally questionable.
However, as I have come to realise, the Returned is a show where there are no clear-cut heroes or villains- the Returnees aren't zombies vampires or malevolent spirits, but lost people, so it isn't entirely fair to say that Pierre is a villain.
In the hospital, there is a great face-off between Pierre and Berg, but the hospital scenes also caused a problem for me. It is revealed that two childhood friends of Lena and Camille, Frederic and Lucha are now working for Pierre. There isn't any explanation given as to why this is, which I feel is wrong. Whilst it's obvious that they are suggestible and not too smart, I thin that their motivations need to be properly addressed.
Whilst the first half of the episode focused on the living, the second focused on the Returnees. This began with the introduction of Audrey- one of Camille's classmates who died in the bus crash. She escapes from her soldier escort only to run into Lucy- the leader of the Returned, who takes her via raft, and some stunning cinematography, to the stranded section of town, where Camille and Claire are. The parallels between them and Jerome were great to see, with Camille and Claire having a similarly tense relationship. Claire feels it best to lie to Audrey, but Camille is determined to tell her the truth. Whilst I've gone back and forth about liking Camille, I feel that she's right here. Audrey's going to find out eventually and Claire's well-intentioned but misguided attempt to protect her is going to do more harm than good. Besides there are bigger things threats, such as how the Returnees won't let Claire or Camille leave their house. Seriously, how creepy was that shot of all of the Returnees stepping up to the house out of the dark?
From here we jumped to Simon who we've seen throughout the episode walking through town to finally meet up to Lucy who ominously claims "that soon, they'll join us again." I feel that they are laying the foundations for this season's story-arc. I say story-arc loosely, as for the most part, the Returned is largely episode with self-contained, disparate narratives.
The episode ended on my two favourite characters Victor and his surrogate mother Julie. Their bond is the most touching part of this series. There is something undoubtedly creepy and off about Victor, but I still find him misunderstood. He's a lost, scared little boy, which is one reason why he attached himself to Julie. Just like Camille and Claire, Julie and Victor are also trapped in a house by the Returned. However, unlike the former, these two have become stronger for the experience. Their relationship is one of love and respect, which is why the final shot of the scene is so powerful. In their house, Victor's mother, who died with her son in the burglary, is revealed to have returned. She embraces Victor and we see Julie's confusion and heartbreak. Before Victor, Julie lives a dull, mundane life and Victor gave it meaning. Now this meaning could be snatched away. Although Victor didn't seem the happiest to see his mother again. What is more interesting is how the camera pans over the drawings that Victor drew during his imprisonment. As we've seen in season 1, these drawings have also acted as premonitions. The camera focuses on a picture of Adele and her unborn child asking the importance of this child, which the episode is named after. I'm only presuming that "L'enfant" is referring to Adele's unborn child, it could just as easily be Victor, Camille or some character we haven't seen yet. But I think it's the unborn child. Adele is obviously scared of what it could be and I'm sure that we'll find out what this is soon. Or not. This show's never been big on answers.
So as a season opener, L'enfant wasn't too explosive, but the Returned has always been on the subtler side. What it did do was lay out a bunch of new narrative treads that's made hungry for more. True, it wasn't always the most engaging, but the great cinematography and focus on character relationships reminded me of why I loved the show in the first place.
Tuesday, 6 September 2016
Monday, 29 August 2016
Robot Wars Episode 6 Review
So this is it. The big one. What we've been building to for the last five weeks. The Robot Wars grand final. Our five grand finalists are:
the immensely destructive Carbide with a 2300 rpm spinning hammer
Shockwave, who produced a shock win against the fan favourites Thor. They are a rambot with interchangeable weapons
TR2, the family team from Gateshead with a fearsome flipper and my favourites to win
Apollo, another flipper who has flipped 3/4 house robots
and Pulsar with a 9000 RPM spinning drum who made it through by virtue of another robot bowing out
The final place was awarded by the judges to one of the five runners-up: Behemoth, Thor, Dantomkia, Storm 2 and Gabriel. The judges chose Thor which I was happy with. They were very unlucky to go out to Shockwave in the second heat.
The structure of the final is as so: two three-way battles where one robot each will be eliminated. The four remaining robots will enter the usual round robin with the two best scoring machines facing off in the grand final.
LET THE WARS BEGIN
Pulsar vs TR2 Vs Thor
In this first battle, TR2 hung back whilst Thor and Pulsar traded blows. Pulsar started strongly crashing into Thor and tearing chunks out of its armour. Then Pulsar seemed to lose mobility. Both Thor and TR2, sensing weakness, came in for the kill. Thor scored some great blows onto Pulsar, along with Shunt. Together they stopped its spinning drum. Meanwhile, TR2 began flipping Thor around the arena, but they self-righted in great style. Whilst this was happening, Pulsar completely lost mobility and they were immobilised. After a strong start, Pulsar disappointingly bowed out.
Carbide vs Shockwave Vs Apollo
In this fight, Apollo was the one who hung back. Shockwave's initial tactic was to charge Carbide before they had a chance to spin up to speed. This worked about as well as they bringing an MDF robot into the arena. *cough cough* Overdozer. Shockwave bounced off Carbide. Whilst this was happening, Apollo tried to live up to their earlier promise of flipping Sir Killalot, which worked about as well as bringing an MDF robot into the arena *COUGH COUGH* Overdozer. But the real fight was between Shockwave and Carbide. Carbide shredded Shockwave's right side, locking up their wheels and drive train. The force of this attack caused Carbide to ricochet into the arena wall, taking apart the 6mm steel armour panelling designed to protect the audience. For safety reasons, the fight was stopped, similarly to Typhoon 2 and the S7 grand final. The original idea was to to repair the arena and continue the fight. But Shockwave was beyond repair and had to withdraw. Carbide and Apollo join TR2 and Thor in the next round.
Carbide Vs Thor
Thor prepared for this fight by adding extra armour and changing their weapon from a hammer to an axe, which could penetrate Carbide's weak armour. This worked as well as bringing an MDF robot into the arena *COUGH COUGH* Overdozer. Carbide were on top form, reducing Thor to scraps. Armour panelling, wheels were buckled, Thor was bashed and crashed around the arena.
TR2 vs Apollo
A battle between the two most powerful flippers in the competition. Apollo took advantage of TR2's high ground clearance by flipping them around the arena. TR2 wasted CO2 by self-righting- they used their flipper defensively, not offensively. However, this was when Apollo got cocky by taking on Dead Metal. The plucky little TR2 did their best to recover, but their flipper was too weak, their robot too sluggish. Apollo flipped TR2 one last time and they couldn't self-right. This was a shame, as TR2 are my favourites, but due credit to Apollo,
Carbide vs Apollo
Apollo's tactics in this fight were to go straight for Carbide before they reached full power. This worked about, yes you guessed it, as bringing an MDF robot into the arena. *COUGH COUGHCOUGHCOUGHCOUGH* Overdozer. With just two hits, Apollo were down for the cont.
Thor Vs TR2
Although Thor was much faster than the sluggish TR2, they hadn't recovered from their previous battering from Carbide. TR2 flipped them again and again and again and again and again and Thor just could not recover. The battle ended when Matilda flicked Thor out of the arena with her tusks. Anyone else think Matilda's tusks are a lot more powerful than they used to be?
TR2 vs Carbide
This was a battle of two halves. Carbide dominated the first half by tearing chunks out of TR2, buckling their flipper and then something strange happened. Carbide suffered an electrical fault and their spinning hammer lost all power. They then spent the rest of the fight running away from TR2's flipper, which was powerful at first and then lost power. However, TR2 proved why the 15yo Alex Brown is one of the best drivers in the new Robot Wars, by repeatedly pushing Carbide into Shunt. The super-plucky TR2 hung onto a judge's decision, which they eventually won. This gave them enough points to move into second place and have a rematch with leaders Carbide for the championship. This all depended on the winner of the final head to head.
Apollo vs Thor
For TR2 to be in the grand final, they needed Thor to beat Apollo. However, Thor was a beaten machine and this wasn't going to happen. By this point, Thor had already gone out and they were playing for pride. But they were just too weak for Apollo's mighty flipper. With a couple of flips, pieces were falling off and Thor were immobilised. Apollo winning, meant that sadly, they had gained more points than TR2 thus consigning them to third place. This was a shame as they're a great robot with a lovely family team, but third place is still a great achievement.
Apollo Vs Carbide
In the final, we had the series' most powerful flipper and spinning hammer pitted against each other. Anyone else have flashbacks to the S3 grand final between Chaos 2 and Hypno-Disc?
3...2...1. Activate!
As before, this was a battle of two halves. Carbide dominated the first half, tearing Apollo apart and sending them hurtling across the arena. Whilst Apollo got a few flips in, they were definitely on the ropes. And then Carbide suffered electrical faults...again. Their spinning hammer stopped working and they were weak without their weapon. Apollo took full advantage of this by flipping them around the arena and into the house robots. And then Apollo's flipper lost power and refused to close. The fight went to the judges and they unanimously awarded it to...
Apollo.
Apollo are the winners of Robot Wars 2016 and they are deserving winners. Their robot was durable enough to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Carbide should have won, but their electrical problems stopped this. Also, Apollo flipped over three house robots. Well done to the Apollo team. Worthy winners.
And that's it for the first season of Robot Wars. Will there be more? I sure hope so. This wasn't perfect, but neither was the original first season *COUGH COUGH* Jeremy Clarkson. It took years for it to evolve into how we remember it today. I'm sure that this Robot Wars will be the same. Dara O'Briain will never replace Craig Charles, but he is great in his own right. I found Angela Scanlon bland and insipid, but as always Jonathan Pearce has been great as commentator. If it continues for a second season than brilliant, if not then I am satisfied with what I have already seen,
Cue the lights
scream your applause
Apollo is our new champion
on Robot Wars.
the immensely destructive Carbide with a 2300 rpm spinning hammer
Shockwave, who produced a shock win against the fan favourites Thor. They are a rambot with interchangeable weapons
TR2, the family team from Gateshead with a fearsome flipper and my favourites to win
Apollo, another flipper who has flipped 3/4 house robots
and Pulsar with a 9000 RPM spinning drum who made it through by virtue of another robot bowing out
The final place was awarded by the judges to one of the five runners-up: Behemoth, Thor, Dantomkia, Storm 2 and Gabriel. The judges chose Thor which I was happy with. They were very unlucky to go out to Shockwave in the second heat.
The structure of the final is as so: two three-way battles where one robot each will be eliminated. The four remaining robots will enter the usual round robin with the two best scoring machines facing off in the grand final.
LET THE WARS BEGIN
Pulsar vs TR2 Vs Thor
In this first battle, TR2 hung back whilst Thor and Pulsar traded blows. Pulsar started strongly crashing into Thor and tearing chunks out of its armour. Then Pulsar seemed to lose mobility. Both Thor and TR2, sensing weakness, came in for the kill. Thor scored some great blows onto Pulsar, along with Shunt. Together they stopped its spinning drum. Meanwhile, TR2 began flipping Thor around the arena, but they self-righted in great style. Whilst this was happening, Pulsar completely lost mobility and they were immobilised. After a strong start, Pulsar disappointingly bowed out.
Carbide vs Shockwave Vs Apollo
In this fight, Apollo was the one who hung back. Shockwave's initial tactic was to charge Carbide before they had a chance to spin up to speed. This worked about as well as they bringing an MDF robot into the arena. *cough cough* Overdozer. Shockwave bounced off Carbide. Whilst this was happening, Apollo tried to live up to their earlier promise of flipping Sir Killalot, which worked about as well as bringing an MDF robot into the arena *COUGH COUGH* Overdozer. But the real fight was between Shockwave and Carbide. Carbide shredded Shockwave's right side, locking up their wheels and drive train. The force of this attack caused Carbide to ricochet into the arena wall, taking apart the 6mm steel armour panelling designed to protect the audience. For safety reasons, the fight was stopped, similarly to Typhoon 2 and the S7 grand final. The original idea was to to repair the arena and continue the fight. But Shockwave was beyond repair and had to withdraw. Carbide and Apollo join TR2 and Thor in the next round.
Carbide Vs Thor
Thor prepared for this fight by adding extra armour and changing their weapon from a hammer to an axe, which could penetrate Carbide's weak armour. This worked as well as bringing an MDF robot into the arena *COUGH COUGH* Overdozer. Carbide were on top form, reducing Thor to scraps. Armour panelling, wheels were buckled, Thor was bashed and crashed around the arena.
TR2 vs Apollo
A battle between the two most powerful flippers in the competition. Apollo took advantage of TR2's high ground clearance by flipping them around the arena. TR2 wasted CO2 by self-righting- they used their flipper defensively, not offensively. However, this was when Apollo got cocky by taking on Dead Metal. The plucky little TR2 did their best to recover, but their flipper was too weak, their robot too sluggish. Apollo flipped TR2 one last time and they couldn't self-right. This was a shame, as TR2 are my favourites, but due credit to Apollo,
Carbide vs Apollo
Apollo's tactics in this fight were to go straight for Carbide before they reached full power. This worked about, yes you guessed it, as bringing an MDF robot into the arena. *COUGH COUGHCOUGHCOUGHCOUGH* Overdozer. With just two hits, Apollo were down for the cont.
Thor Vs TR2
Although Thor was much faster than the sluggish TR2, they hadn't recovered from their previous battering from Carbide. TR2 flipped them again and again and again and again and again and Thor just could not recover. The battle ended when Matilda flicked Thor out of the arena with her tusks. Anyone else think Matilda's tusks are a lot more powerful than they used to be?
TR2 vs Carbide
This was a battle of two halves. Carbide dominated the first half by tearing chunks out of TR2, buckling their flipper and then something strange happened. Carbide suffered an electrical fault and their spinning hammer lost all power. They then spent the rest of the fight running away from TR2's flipper, which was powerful at first and then lost power. However, TR2 proved why the 15yo Alex Brown is one of the best drivers in the new Robot Wars, by repeatedly pushing Carbide into Shunt. The super-plucky TR2 hung onto a judge's decision, which they eventually won. This gave them enough points to move into second place and have a rematch with leaders Carbide for the championship. This all depended on the winner of the final head to head.
Apollo vs Thor
For TR2 to be in the grand final, they needed Thor to beat Apollo. However, Thor was a beaten machine and this wasn't going to happen. By this point, Thor had already gone out and they were playing for pride. But they were just too weak for Apollo's mighty flipper. With a couple of flips, pieces were falling off and Thor were immobilised. Apollo winning, meant that sadly, they had gained more points than TR2 thus consigning them to third place. This was a shame as they're a great robot with a lovely family team, but third place is still a great achievement.
Apollo Vs Carbide
In the final, we had the series' most powerful flipper and spinning hammer pitted against each other. Anyone else have flashbacks to the S3 grand final between Chaos 2 and Hypno-Disc?
3...2...1. Activate!
As before, this was a battle of two halves. Carbide dominated the first half, tearing Apollo apart and sending them hurtling across the arena. Whilst Apollo got a few flips in, they were definitely on the ropes. And then Carbide suffered electrical faults...again. Their spinning hammer stopped working and they were weak without their weapon. Apollo took full advantage of this by flipping them around the arena and into the house robots. And then Apollo's flipper lost power and refused to close. The fight went to the judges and they unanimously awarded it to...
Apollo.
Apollo are the winners of Robot Wars 2016 and they are deserving winners. Their robot was durable enough to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Carbide should have won, but their electrical problems stopped this. Also, Apollo flipped over three house robots. Well done to the Apollo team. Worthy winners.
And that's it for the first season of Robot Wars. Will there be more? I sure hope so. This wasn't perfect, but neither was the original first season *COUGH COUGH* Jeremy Clarkson. It took years for it to evolve into how we remember it today. I'm sure that this Robot Wars will be the same. Dara O'Briain will never replace Craig Charles, but he is great in his own right. I found Angela Scanlon bland and insipid, but as always Jonathan Pearce has been great as commentator. If it continues for a second season than brilliant, if not then I am satisfied with what I have already seen,
Cue the lights
scream your applause
Apollo is our new champion
on Robot Wars.
Friday, 26 August 2016
Robot Wars Episode 5 Review
Our penultimate heat before the final is arguably the least destructive and spectacular so far.
Thermidor 2 Vs Chompalot Vs Pulsar Vs Ironside 3
Whilst there were a number of returning robots, the only one who achieved any real success was Thermidor 2 who reached the semi-finals in season 4 and once flipped Behemoth and Stinger OOTA in the same fight. They are modelled on a lobster with grabbing pincers and a flipper. The other robots included the dragon-esque Chompalot with a crushing beak, Pulsar with a 9000 RPM spinning drum and Ironside 3 who were armed with a 1500 rpm spinning hammer.
Considering Thermidor's pedigree, I had high hopes for them. This was why it was so disappointing to see them chase Chompalot into the CPZ, fail to flip them, before conking out after an encounter with Shunt. Ironside 3 were far more impressive immobilising Pulsar by taking out their wheels. They also tore Chompalot's armour to pieces. Although, Pulsar managed to hang onto a judges' decision, Chompalot and Ironside took the win.
Crazy Coupe 88 Vs Gabriel Vs Beast vs Infernal Contraption
Crazy Coupe 88 had two spinning hammers, but also exposed wheels, which as we've seen have always been a major weakness. Gabriel was a curious machine. My friend Jamie described them as a Poundland Stinger, which is about right. Their robot consisted of two massive wheels and a bludgeoning axe/spike. The idea is to use the robot's momentum to thwack other robots. Beast sacrificed having armour in favour of a powerful flipper and Infernal Contraption had a vertical spinning drum.
Gabriel was a clumsy machine, but also difficult to get hold off. The effectiveness of its weapon is to be questioned, but it also withstood attacks from the more obviously powerful Beast and Crazy Coupe 88. Beast's sacrifice paid off, as they soon flipped and immobilised Crazy Coupe 88. Meanwhile, Infernal Contraption opened the pit and then dived into it. Gabriel and Beast were the winners.
Gabriel vs Chompalot
Due to Gabriel's strange shape, it is difficult to get hold off, which is what Chompalot soon found out. Having said that, their claw seemed more effective than Gabriel's bludgeoning axe. Chompalot were on top until they were toppled by the floor flipper. The house robots then came in for the kill, leaving Chompalot a smoking mess. But where there's smoke, there's fire. Chompalot's lithium batteries short-circuited with the damage being so severe that they had to withdraw from the competition. However, the judges picked Pulsar as a replacement.
Beast vs Ironside 3
Beast's best chance to take out Ironside 3 were in the few seconds where Ironside was spinning up to full power. However, Ironside were clever and initially ran away, allowing their spinning hammer time to power up. From here, Beast was mainly chasing them around the arena, unable to get their flipper into play. In contrast, Ironside 3's spinning hammer was effective, taking full advantage of Beast's lack of armour by shredding their wheels. We've seen it time and time again. DO NOT BRING EXPOSED WHEELS INTO THE ARENA.
Gabriel Vs Ironside 3
Ironside 3 continued to impress, whilst Gabriel continued to perplex. Gabriel's bludgeoning spike was clumsy and continuously missed its target. When it did make contact, it didn't seem to cause any visible damage. Ironside 3 were far more potent. Their spinning hammer reduced Gabriel's flimsy wheel treads to scraps and bent its bludgeoning spike out of of shape. Although they followed Stinger's design, Gabriel's spike lacked the same power and for that reason, Ironside 3 were the winners.
Pulsar Vs Beast
This was Pulsar's first fight since their reinstatement and they proved why they were worthy of a second chance. I was initially sceptical of their high-mounted spinning drum, but I was left eating my words, after only two hits, they knocked out Beast.
Beast Vs Gabriel
I continued eating my words, as Gabriel finally showed what they were capable off. Whilst Beast managed to get a few flips in, they had little effect against the bemusing Gabriel. Meanwhile, Gabriel hammered blows onto Beast's unarmour body until they were immobile on side. Gabriel could have come in for the kill, but out of courtesy, they refused to do any more damage. Courteous? Yes. Entertaining? No. THIS IS ROBOT WARS. WE WANT METAL MASHING, CHROME CLASHING AND STEEL SMASHING. No more Gentleman's agreements please.
Pulsar Vs Ironside 3
This match had all of the makings of a Robot Wars Controversy. Two evenly matched robots, misbehaving house robots and a judge's decision. Pulsar seemed to have the match one, when the force of their spinning drum flipped over Ironside 3. Ironside 3's schrimech was faulty and they seemed immobile, until Killalot intervened and unfairly righted it. Ironside 3 took full advantage of this by opening the pit and pitting Pulsar before following them in. The decision went to the judges and I was braced for controversy. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had awarded the decision to Pulsar. They determined that Ironside 3 was immobilised and unfairly righted by Sir Killalot.
Pulsar Vs Gabriel
The heat final was between the reinstated Pulsar and the ponderous Gabriel. Gabriel continued to be cumbersome and inaccurate, hammering the arena floor and not their opponent. Pulsar was far more impressive, sending Gabriels' tyre treads and armour plates flying around the arena. But Pulsar also had transmitter problems, experiencing periods of immobility. The fight went to the judges and they gave it to Pulsar who joins Carbide, Shockwave, TR2 and Apollo in the final. The final spot will be decided by the judges out of the five runners up: Behemoth, Thor, Dantomkia, Storm 2 and Gabriel. I would be very happy to see Thor back. They were an impressive robot with a nice team. I didn't particularly like the Gabriel robot nor the Dantomkia team.
Thermidor 2 Vs Chompalot Vs Pulsar Vs Ironside 3
Whilst there were a number of returning robots, the only one who achieved any real success was Thermidor 2 who reached the semi-finals in season 4 and once flipped Behemoth and Stinger OOTA in the same fight. They are modelled on a lobster with grabbing pincers and a flipper. The other robots included the dragon-esque Chompalot with a crushing beak, Pulsar with a 9000 RPM spinning drum and Ironside 3 who were armed with a 1500 rpm spinning hammer.
Considering Thermidor's pedigree, I had high hopes for them. This was why it was so disappointing to see them chase Chompalot into the CPZ, fail to flip them, before conking out after an encounter with Shunt. Ironside 3 were far more impressive immobilising Pulsar by taking out their wheels. They also tore Chompalot's armour to pieces. Although, Pulsar managed to hang onto a judges' decision, Chompalot and Ironside took the win.
Crazy Coupe 88 Vs Gabriel Vs Beast vs Infernal Contraption
Crazy Coupe 88 had two spinning hammers, but also exposed wheels, which as we've seen have always been a major weakness. Gabriel was a curious machine. My friend Jamie described them as a Poundland Stinger, which is about right. Their robot consisted of two massive wheels and a bludgeoning axe/spike. The idea is to use the robot's momentum to thwack other robots. Beast sacrificed having armour in favour of a powerful flipper and Infernal Contraption had a vertical spinning drum.
Gabriel was a clumsy machine, but also difficult to get hold off. The effectiveness of its weapon is to be questioned, but it also withstood attacks from the more obviously powerful Beast and Crazy Coupe 88. Beast's sacrifice paid off, as they soon flipped and immobilised Crazy Coupe 88. Meanwhile, Infernal Contraption opened the pit and then dived into it. Gabriel and Beast were the winners.
Gabriel vs Chompalot
Due to Gabriel's strange shape, it is difficult to get hold off, which is what Chompalot soon found out. Having said that, their claw seemed more effective than Gabriel's bludgeoning axe. Chompalot were on top until they were toppled by the floor flipper. The house robots then came in for the kill, leaving Chompalot a smoking mess. But where there's smoke, there's fire. Chompalot's lithium batteries short-circuited with the damage being so severe that they had to withdraw from the competition. However, the judges picked Pulsar as a replacement.
Beast vs Ironside 3
Beast's best chance to take out Ironside 3 were in the few seconds where Ironside was spinning up to full power. However, Ironside were clever and initially ran away, allowing their spinning hammer time to power up. From here, Beast was mainly chasing them around the arena, unable to get their flipper into play. In contrast, Ironside 3's spinning hammer was effective, taking full advantage of Beast's lack of armour by shredding their wheels. We've seen it time and time again. DO NOT BRING EXPOSED WHEELS INTO THE ARENA.
Gabriel Vs Ironside 3
Ironside 3 continued to impress, whilst Gabriel continued to perplex. Gabriel's bludgeoning spike was clumsy and continuously missed its target. When it did make contact, it didn't seem to cause any visible damage. Ironside 3 were far more potent. Their spinning hammer reduced Gabriel's flimsy wheel treads to scraps and bent its bludgeoning spike out of of shape. Although they followed Stinger's design, Gabriel's spike lacked the same power and for that reason, Ironside 3 were the winners.
Pulsar Vs Beast
This was Pulsar's first fight since their reinstatement and they proved why they were worthy of a second chance. I was initially sceptical of their high-mounted spinning drum, but I was left eating my words, after only two hits, they knocked out Beast.
Beast Vs Gabriel
I continued eating my words, as Gabriel finally showed what they were capable off. Whilst Beast managed to get a few flips in, they had little effect against the bemusing Gabriel. Meanwhile, Gabriel hammered blows onto Beast's unarmour body until they were immobile on side. Gabriel could have come in for the kill, but out of courtesy, they refused to do any more damage. Courteous? Yes. Entertaining? No. THIS IS ROBOT WARS. WE WANT METAL MASHING, CHROME CLASHING AND STEEL SMASHING. No more Gentleman's agreements please.
Pulsar Vs Ironside 3
This match had all of the makings of a Robot Wars Controversy. Two evenly matched robots, misbehaving house robots and a judge's decision. Pulsar seemed to have the match one, when the force of their spinning drum flipped over Ironside 3. Ironside 3's schrimech was faulty and they seemed immobile, until Killalot intervened and unfairly righted it. Ironside 3 took full advantage of this by opening the pit and pitting Pulsar before following them in. The decision went to the judges and I was braced for controversy. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had awarded the decision to Pulsar. They determined that Ironside 3 was immobilised and unfairly righted by Sir Killalot.
Pulsar Vs Gabriel
The heat final was between the reinstated Pulsar and the ponderous Gabriel. Gabriel continued to be cumbersome and inaccurate, hammering the arena floor and not their opponent. Pulsar was far more impressive, sending Gabriels' tyre treads and armour plates flying around the arena. But Pulsar also had transmitter problems, experiencing periods of immobility. The fight went to the judges and they gave it to Pulsar who joins Carbide, Shockwave, TR2 and Apollo in the final. The final spot will be decided by the judges out of the five runners up: Behemoth, Thor, Dantomkia, Storm 2 and Gabriel. I would be very happy to see Thor back. They were an impressive robot with a nice team. I didn't particularly like the Gabriel robot nor the Dantomkia team.
Tuesday, 16 August 2016
Robot Wars Episode 4 Review
The last aspect of Robot Wars that I have neglected to mention is the Robot Wars arena itself. This is the stadium where the robot gladiators compete. Whilst smaller than its previous incarnation, it shares a lot of the same features. There are flame-pits designed to burn out electricals and floor-spikes to topple robots. There is also the pit of oblivion where robots can be pushed down and immobilised. Finally, there is the floor flipper which has changed since the old series. Before, it was used once in a fight to bring a final humiliation onto defeated robots. Now it is used to flip any robot fool enough to drive over it. This is far more entertaining. The audience are protected by sheets of bulletproof polycarbonate, but this hasn't stopped robots from being flung out of the arena (OOTA.)
Kan Opener Vs Apollo Vs PP3D vs Sweeney Todd
Kan-Opener armed with a pair of crushing claws is the only returning robot in this heat. Although they always had a poor record in the main competition, they did well in the Robot Wars Extreme annihilators. Apollo was armed with a full-body flipper. The Scottish PP3D had a 31kg undercutting spinning disc and Sweeney Todd also had spinning discs.
Apollo and PP3D dominated this fight, although Kan-Opener put up a valiant attempt. Apollo flipped around Kan-Opener and PP3D, but the latter got their own back by chewing into Apollo's vulnerable underbelly and taking out one of their wheels. At one point Kan-Opener had PP3D in their claws, but lacked the necessary power to crush them. This was disappointing to see considering how powerful they've been before. Even more disappointing was when Kan-Opener was flipped by Apollo and immobilised when their removable link came out. Meanwhile Sweeney Todd stayed out of trouble by hiding in the corner and conking out. Apollo and PP3D were the winners in this match.
Eruption Vs Sabretooth Vs Storm 2 Vs Terror Turtle
Eruption were the only new robot in this heat with the rest having competed before. By far Storm 2 has had the most success, being runners-up int he Seventh Wars and winning the Third World championship. They are essentially a box on wheels, a rambot, using their speed to batter other robots into submission. Sabretooth armed with a flipper and spinning disc has always crashed out early, as has the Terror Turtle Team. Terror Turtle also armed with a spinning disc as well as a smaller cluster bot is, unsurprisingly, modelled on a turtle. It was armoured with a fibreglass shell and had big exposed wheels. Meanwhile, Sabretooth's main weakness was its lack of a self-righting mechanism or schrimech.
This proved to be its ultimate downfall, as it was quickly flipped over and immobilised by Eruption. Eruption continued to impress, as they soon flipped Terror Turtle OOTA. But not before Storm 2 shunted it around the arena, in a fight where the World Champions did little else. Whilst Terror Turtle, driven by the Canadian John Frizell have always been a sweet team, their robots have always underperformed. But when you make a robot out of fibreglass, what do you expect?
Apollo vs PP3D
This was always going to be a good fight. PP3D's lethal disc against Apollo's flipping power. But Apollo always had the upper hand, flipping PP3D all over the arena, at one point ripping off one of their exposed wheels. However, this wasn't the killing blow. Similarly, to Supernova, a few weeks earlier, PP3D's destructive disc made it difficult to control. It got a few good whacks onto Apollo, but by doing so, they knocked themselves out. Apollo were the winners.
Storm 2 Vs Eruption
In their first battle, I think Storm 2 were very quiet. In the old wars, they sped around the arena at 25mph. Yet they didn't seem anywhere near as speedy in this fight or in the previous one. Whilst they did still push around Eruption, they were nowhere near as impressive as they have been. Eruption still put up a good fight, but their flipper wasn't able to get under Storm 2's low ground clearance. The fight went to the judges and despite being fairly even, the win was awarded to Storm 2.
Apollo vs Storm 2
Time for the rambot to fight the second flipper. This battle was one of two halves. Apollo dominated the first half by flipping over Storm 2, despite initially struggling to get their low ground clearance, and in wonderful style, also flipped over the house robots, Dead Metal and Matilda. But Storm 2 gained ground in the second half by shoving around Apollo. It went to the judges, but Apollo's audaciousness at flipping the house robots swung it for them. Just be careful, Apollo, the house robots don't forgive and they don't forget.
Eruption Vs PP3D
Again this was a battle of two halves. In this fight, PP3D's disc was at full spinning speed, stopping Eruption from coming close. PP3D tore chunks out Eruption, as well as its "anti-spinning plates," until one powerful blow led to Eruption losing drive on one side. However, this blow led to PP3D losing drive on side. Both robots spun in circles as the clock ticked down. Whilst the fight started with a bang, it soon fizzled out. PP3D won on the judge's decision due to how much damage it did to Eruption.
Apollo Vs Eruption
By this point having lost every single fight, Eruption had already been knocked out. They were only playing for pride. But by hell they went out with a bang. Where there are two flippers in the ring, it always comes down to who can use their flipper more aggressively, who can get the more flips in and who's got more CO2. Eruption won all counts, exposing Apollo's ground clearance and making them waste their CO2, by making them use their flipper defensively. It was cleeve tactics and they worked Apollo were turned and couldn't self-right. Eruption went out in a blaze of glory.
Storm 2 Vs PP3D
The final battle before the heat final was against Storm 2 and PP3D. Like the battles before it, this was one of two halves. PP3D absolutely battered Storm 2, tearing chunks out of it and buckling its titanium armour. PP3D looked set to win until they lost drive on one side, thus breaking down nowhere other than the pit of oblivion. Storm 2 cunningly took advantage of this by hitting the pit release button consigning PP3D to Davy Jones' locker.
Storm 2 Vs Apollo
The heat final was the classic match between underdog and veteran. And it was a good fight, Storm 2 were winning at first, ramming around Apollo and avoiding their powerful flipper, but then Apollo managed to flip them over. Storm 2's ramming scoop now became an easy target for Apollo's flipper. But again, Apollo couldn't contain themselves and they flipped over another house robot: Shunt. In the dying seconds of the fight, Apollo had Storm 2 pinned by the edge of the arena. I was screaming for Apollo to leave Storm 2 there, as they were obviously immobilised. I thought that in a moment of inexperience, they would inadvertently right Storm 2 when trying to flip them out of the arena. However, I was wrong and out of the arena Storm 2 went. Apollo's powerful flipper launches it into the grand final with Carbide, Shockwave and TR2.
Kan Opener Vs Apollo Vs PP3D vs Sweeney Todd
Kan-Opener armed with a pair of crushing claws is the only returning robot in this heat. Although they always had a poor record in the main competition, they did well in the Robot Wars Extreme annihilators. Apollo was armed with a full-body flipper. The Scottish PP3D had a 31kg undercutting spinning disc and Sweeney Todd also had spinning discs.
Apollo and PP3D dominated this fight, although Kan-Opener put up a valiant attempt. Apollo flipped around Kan-Opener and PP3D, but the latter got their own back by chewing into Apollo's vulnerable underbelly and taking out one of their wheels. At one point Kan-Opener had PP3D in their claws, but lacked the necessary power to crush them. This was disappointing to see considering how powerful they've been before. Even more disappointing was when Kan-Opener was flipped by Apollo and immobilised when their removable link came out. Meanwhile Sweeney Todd stayed out of trouble by hiding in the corner and conking out. Apollo and PP3D were the winners in this match.
Eruption Vs Sabretooth Vs Storm 2 Vs Terror Turtle
Eruption were the only new robot in this heat with the rest having competed before. By far Storm 2 has had the most success, being runners-up int he Seventh Wars and winning the Third World championship. They are essentially a box on wheels, a rambot, using their speed to batter other robots into submission. Sabretooth armed with a flipper and spinning disc has always crashed out early, as has the Terror Turtle Team. Terror Turtle also armed with a spinning disc as well as a smaller cluster bot is, unsurprisingly, modelled on a turtle. It was armoured with a fibreglass shell and had big exposed wheels. Meanwhile, Sabretooth's main weakness was its lack of a self-righting mechanism or schrimech.
This proved to be its ultimate downfall, as it was quickly flipped over and immobilised by Eruption. Eruption continued to impress, as they soon flipped Terror Turtle OOTA. But not before Storm 2 shunted it around the arena, in a fight where the World Champions did little else. Whilst Terror Turtle, driven by the Canadian John Frizell have always been a sweet team, their robots have always underperformed. But when you make a robot out of fibreglass, what do you expect?
Apollo vs PP3D
This was always going to be a good fight. PP3D's lethal disc against Apollo's flipping power. But Apollo always had the upper hand, flipping PP3D all over the arena, at one point ripping off one of their exposed wheels. However, this wasn't the killing blow. Similarly, to Supernova, a few weeks earlier, PP3D's destructive disc made it difficult to control. It got a few good whacks onto Apollo, but by doing so, they knocked themselves out. Apollo were the winners.
Storm 2 Vs Eruption
In their first battle, I think Storm 2 were very quiet. In the old wars, they sped around the arena at 25mph. Yet they didn't seem anywhere near as speedy in this fight or in the previous one. Whilst they did still push around Eruption, they were nowhere near as impressive as they have been. Eruption still put up a good fight, but their flipper wasn't able to get under Storm 2's low ground clearance. The fight went to the judges and despite being fairly even, the win was awarded to Storm 2.
Apollo vs Storm 2
Time for the rambot to fight the second flipper. This battle was one of two halves. Apollo dominated the first half by flipping over Storm 2, despite initially struggling to get their low ground clearance, and in wonderful style, also flipped over the house robots, Dead Metal and Matilda. But Storm 2 gained ground in the second half by shoving around Apollo. It went to the judges, but Apollo's audaciousness at flipping the house robots swung it for them. Just be careful, Apollo, the house robots don't forgive and they don't forget.
Eruption Vs PP3D
Again this was a battle of two halves. In this fight, PP3D's disc was at full spinning speed, stopping Eruption from coming close. PP3D tore chunks out Eruption, as well as its "anti-spinning plates," until one powerful blow led to Eruption losing drive on one side. However, this blow led to PP3D losing drive on side. Both robots spun in circles as the clock ticked down. Whilst the fight started with a bang, it soon fizzled out. PP3D won on the judge's decision due to how much damage it did to Eruption.
Apollo Vs Eruption
By this point having lost every single fight, Eruption had already been knocked out. They were only playing for pride. But by hell they went out with a bang. Where there are two flippers in the ring, it always comes down to who can use their flipper more aggressively, who can get the more flips in and who's got more CO2. Eruption won all counts, exposing Apollo's ground clearance and making them waste their CO2, by making them use their flipper defensively. It was cleeve tactics and they worked Apollo were turned and couldn't self-right. Eruption went out in a blaze of glory.
Storm 2 Vs PP3D
The final battle before the heat final was against Storm 2 and PP3D. Like the battles before it, this was one of two halves. PP3D absolutely battered Storm 2, tearing chunks out of it and buckling its titanium armour. PP3D looked set to win until they lost drive on one side, thus breaking down nowhere other than the pit of oblivion. Storm 2 cunningly took advantage of this by hitting the pit release button consigning PP3D to Davy Jones' locker.
Storm 2 Vs Apollo
The heat final was the classic match between underdog and veteran. And it was a good fight, Storm 2 were winning at first, ramming around Apollo and avoiding their powerful flipper, but then Apollo managed to flip them over. Storm 2's ramming scoop now became an easy target for Apollo's flipper. But again, Apollo couldn't contain themselves and they flipped over another house robot: Shunt. In the dying seconds of the fight, Apollo had Storm 2 pinned by the edge of the arena. I was screaming for Apollo to leave Storm 2 there, as they were obviously immobilised. I thought that in a moment of inexperience, they would inadvertently right Storm 2 when trying to flip them out of the arena. However, I was wrong and out of the arena Storm 2 went. Apollo's powerful flipper launches it into the grand final with Carbide, Shockwave and TR2.
Monday, 8 August 2016
Robot Wars Episode Three Review
So before we go into a battle breakdown, there are two things I would like to address.
Firstly, the new structure of the competition. As we have already seen, it has changed from a straight knockout to a round-robin all vs all competition. Whilst the earlier incarnation tested pure power and strength, the Round Robin tests the robot's endurance and stamina. I think this is better. it gives a chance for, not only the most destructive robot to take centre-stage, but the best engineered. it doesn't matter if you can flip robots around the arena or smash them up and leave them in pieces, if your robot isn't good enough to last more than one battle, you're not going to win.
Secondly, the house robots. The house robots answer to no-one. If you get too close to them, they will soon punish you for your mistakes. In the days of old, there were nine house robots patrolling the CPZ, now, due to the BBC, there are only four: Shunt, Matilda, Sir Killalot and Dead Metal. It is their job to inflict as much damage as possible on any robot fool enough to enter their territory. Matilda, which looks like a demonic pig, but don't tell her I said that, is armed with lifting tusks and a 27kg vertical flywheel. Dead Metal, which I've always thought looks like a scorpion, is armed with pincers and a vertical saw. Shunt, looks like a JCB with his bulldozing and lifting scoops, as well as his diamond edged axe. Finally, there is the leviathan 750KG Sir Killalot, who is nothing like the knights of the round table. He is armed with a lance and cutting pincers fashioned from the jaws of life.
Let the Wars Begins
Glitterbox Vs Dantomkia Vs Overdozer Vs King B Remix
This heat was dominated by returning teams and robots. The two in this battle were Dantomkia (DTK) and King B Remix. DTk reached the S6 and S7 semi-finals and King B Remix reached the semi-finals way back in S2. However, whilst DTK was the same old robot with the same powerful flipping arm, they had a new team. Meanwhile, King B Remix armed with lifting forks an the same team was the same old box on wheels.
The new-boys were the Welsh Glitterbox an the Scottish Overdozer. Glitterbox was controlled by the Baker family team. Its predominantly pink and feminine design was engineered by the wonderfully sassy nine year old girl April Baker. They were armed with a deadly axe. The Overdozer team made the amazingly fantastic, intelligent idea of entering a robot that was made from wood. To top off their previous intelligence, they decided to use a petrol engine instead of an electric one. Their weapon- a glorified petrol strimmer was another work of genius. Can you tell I'm being sarcastic yet?
So whilst nobody expected Overdozer to do well, I think everyone was expecting them to last longer than 23 seconds. One flip from DTK and they were immobilised. Further flips turned their wooden armour into sawdust. DTK also quickly flipped over Glitterbox which were unable to self-right. DTK went through with King B Remix who just stayed in the shadows allowed DTK to do all the work.
I didn't like the DTK team. Like the Foxic team last week, they were arrogant and giving it "Charlie Big Potaters." However, unlike Foxic, and all credit to them, DTK shone in this battle. All credit to Overdozer too. Whilst their robot was rubbish, they were good fun.
I didn't like the DTK team. Like the Foxic team last week, they were arrogant and giving it "Charlie Big Potaters." However, unlike Foxic, and all credit to them, DTK shone in this battle. All credit to Overdozer too. Whilst their robot was rubbish, they were good fun.
Big Nipper Vs TR2 Vs Arte Vs Supernova
So the three returning robots/teams here are Big Nipper, Arte and Supernova. Big Nipper with an interchangeable spinning disc/crushing/lifting claws, competed in S7 with little success, but has since won competitions outside of Robot Wars. Supernova was runner-up in the third world championships an Arte, whilst a new machine, was captained by the veteran Ian Watts of the old Bigger Brother team. Supernova had a horizontal flywheel and Arte a pneumatic flipper. TR2, a family team from Gateshead also had a pneumatic flipper and an axe protecting the rear of their machine.
Going into the battle, Arte confessed antenna problems, which Supernova soon took advantage of. Just one blow from, Supernova's disc ended Arte's dreams. In the old wars, the problem with Supernova was that it's too powerful for its own good. Whenever, its spinning disc hits another robot, both machines fly out of control. This is exactly what happened in this fight. After Supernova took out Arte and traded blows with Big Nipper, it then took on TR2. But the power of their own disc sent Supernova spiralling into the pit. After starting as early favourites, they bowed out to TR2 and Big Nipper.
Head to Heads
DTK Vs King B Remix
The first of the head-to-heads was dominated by DTK. They took full advantage of King B Remix's high ground clearance flipping them all over the place. King B Remix eventually ended up on the side of the arena, but not for long as Matilda soon flicked them out with her tusks. DTK won this fight.
TR2 vs King B Remix
In TR2's first battle, we saw little of it, as their pneumatics system failed. However, they came into their own here. Again King B Remix was tossed around the arena before eventually being immobilised. An early win for TR2.
TR2 vs Big Nipper
TR2 continued going strong in their fight with Big Nipper who had changed their weapon back to their crushing jaws. However, their crushing jaws didn't stop them from being sent into orbit multiple times. They ended the battle by taking a suicide run into the pit of oblivion.
DTK vs TR2
The battle of the flipper. A veteran robot against the new kids on the block. For those who thought DTK would storm it, you'd be wrong. TR2 continued to dominate by flipping DTK until their pneumatics system failed and they were unable to self-right. So other than excellent driving and use of their flipper, how did TR2 take out DTK, who in their hay-day trashed and bashed previous champion Chaos 2. The answer is that TR2 was able to get under DTK much more and use their flipper offensively, whilst DTK used their flipper defensively. Three wins to the very impressive TR2.
King B Remix vs Big Nipper
This fight was King B Remix's last chance to stay in the competition. Initially they were on top, pushing Big Nipper around the arena, but Big Nipper, who had changed back to their vertical disc, managed to wallop them a few times. This led to King B's removable link (essentially a kill-switch) falling out rendering them immobile.
DTK Vs Big Nipper
For their next battle, Big Nipper kept on their spinning disc. However, this did little good against DTK's powerful flipper, which sent them flying around the arena. But they were unable to finish them off and in the dying seconds of the fight, Big Nipper ended up on top by tearing off DTK's flipper. But they still lost the fight on a judge's decision.
DTK vs TR2
The heat final was a rematch between DTK and TR2. TR2 once again took advantage of DTK's high ground clearance and flipped them around the arena. DTK, whilst getting one or two flips in, just lacked the same power. They were out despite a valiant run.
However, this meant that TR2 was through to the grand final undefeated. Whilst aiming all of their battles, they also won their heat and I'm rooting for them in the final. They're a good robot with a wonderfully close knit family of engineer dad Clive Brown, driver son Alex Brown and tea-maker mum Wendy Brown. Alex was rendered bashful and embarrassed as Clive beamed about his son's driving skills. It was great to see this kind of love and affection.
Overall, another good episode. Whilst I think Angela Scanlon is pretty generic, I'm warming to Dara O'Briain. Although, I never disliked him, I didn't think anyone could ever live up to Craig Charles. But Dara O'Briain, as he always is, is witty and funny, especially in the post-match interviews where he was teasing teams for building robots made of wood *cough cough* Overdozer. And best of all, he isn't Jeremy Clarkson.
Tuesday, 2 August 2016
Robot Wars Episode 2 Review
The second episode of the metal mashing, chrome clashing, steel smashing show aired last Sunday. If course I'm talking about the rebooted version of Robot Wars.
As we found out last week, a lot has changed: new presenters, a smaller, revamped arena and rebooted house robots. Other than the severe lack of Craig Charles, sorry Dara O'Briain, the biggest thing the show was criticised over was the sheer amount of talking that happened. I was originally part of this mob, but I now retract my comments. The interviews and roboteer segments are necessary for the show to reach its one hour run time. It's no different to the old series where on many occasions the roboteers took centre stage over their creations. The interview segments are funny, as it's obviously the roboteers don't take themselves too seriously and it's a damn sight more entertaining than watching an advert about how I've been missold PPI insurance.
LET THE WARS BEGIN
The first four-way melee was against the Dutch horizontal crusher Tough as Nails, Thor, armed with a hammer, Disctructor a horizontal spinning disc and Shockwave, a lifting scoop.
Tough as Nails and Thor were the veterans of this heat. Tough As Nails reached the S7 semi-finals before crashing out to BullDog Breed Three. Thor competed in S6 and S7, but significantly underperformed.
Disctructor with its heavy spinning disc looked lethal, so Shockwave did the smart thing and pitted it as soon as possible. Shockwave, with its strong pushing power, reminded me of the rambots of old: Tornado and Storm 2.
Meanwhile, Tough as Nails were having its own private battle with Thor. Tough as Nails looks similar to a crab and its tactics have always been to grab a robot in its claws/grabbing arms and then pit them or leave them with the house robot. This is what it tried to do with Thor. However, Thor fought back and the two robots were caught in a epic tug of war. However, Thor won in the end, as its four-wheel drive gave it more pushing power than Tough as Nails' two wheel drive. Thor pushed the Dutch robot to the edge of the arena, where they delivered a killing blow with their hammer immobilising Tough as Nails. After this they were able to break free and pit the Dutch machine. Honestly, I think Thor got lucky here. They should have been pitted by Tough as Nails who should have gone through with Shockwave, but as it always has done, controversy reigns on Robot Wars.
The second four-way melee was against Chimera, Mr Steel Squared, Draven and Foxic. Chimera was armed with steel spikes, which I have always seen as a rubbish weapon as they do nothing. They also had exposed wheels, which as we've already seen from the infamous Nuts and Carbide battle, are vulnerable to spinning discs. Mr Steel Squared was a full-body spinner, Draven had a crushing beak and Foxic, modelled on a fox, had a lifting scoop.
Chimera's weakness was always going to be its exposed wheels and Mr Speed Squared proved this by sending them flying across the arena, quickly immobilising Chimera. They also battered Draven. Mr Speed Squared were convincingly through with Foxic which is one of the crappest robots I have seen in Robot Wars. They got through their first battle by doing nothing and running away, although the team claimed they were having drive problems. Foxic was only 97kg, making it the second lightest robot in the heat, meaning that it could easily be shunted about.
Onto the head to heads
Thor Vs Mr Speed Squared
This fight was where we saw the power of Thor's hammer, as they bore down on Mr Steel Squared who was looking significantly weaker in this fight. Their driving was off and something was wrong with their spinning disc. It didn't speed up quickly enough. With full-body spinners, you need to take them out before they have time to reach full speed. However, this wasn't the case for the sluggish Mr Speed Squared who were pitted by the far more potent Thor.
Foxic Vs Shockwave
Foxic claimed to have corrected their drive problems, but this time they had problems with flipping arm, leaving them defenceless. This meant that they could be shunted around by Shockwave. Foxic seemed to resign themselves to defeat, as they decided to take on Dead Metal, and in fairness, managed to push them around the arena. But in the end, Foxic ended up in the pit, continuing their attempt to win the title of least most impressive robot ever.
Thor Vs Shockwave
This was where we started seeing tactics brought into play. Shockwave changed their weapon from a ramming scoop to a lifting bucket scoop made from a garden pipe. The team thought that this scoop would better protect them from Thor's hammer, oh how wrong they were. What actually happened was that Thor battered and buckled the lifting scoop before pummelling the life out of Shockwave. They obviously won, but it wasn't a perfect victory. They showed poor control by reversing onto the flywheel of the house robot, Matilda, thus sustaining damage.
Foxic Vs Mr Speed Squared
Foxic continued to disappoint, as they once again had intermittent control problems and instead of fighting Mr Speed Squared, they went on a kamikaze attack against the house robots Dead Metal and Sir Killalot. Meanwhile, Mr Speed Squared's weapon failed to work again, so the whole bout was spent with the two robots dancing around each other. Nothing happened. There was a severe lack of actual battling. To quote Craig Charles, "that wasn't a fight. It was just pushing and shoving and calling names. Handbags at dawn." The fight went to the judges who awarded it to Mr Speed Squared, but not before dubbing it the worst fight in the history of Robot Wars.
Shockwave VS Mr Speed Squared
This was more interesting. Shockwave had repaired their damaged bucket scoop and this time it did its job. It absorbed the power of Mr Speed Squared's spinning weapon. More so, Shockwave was able to shunt Mr Speed Squared around the arena. In a moment of inexperience, Shockwave had Mr Speed Squared pinned against the arena side wall, with no hope of escape. But instead of leaving it there to be immobilised, it knocked it down to continue the fight. Graham Bone of the legendary Firestorm team wouldn't have been so forgiving. Anyway, this didn't matter in the end as Shockwave pitted Mr Speed Squared.
Thor Vs Foxic
Foxic was a tiny more impressive in this fight, as it showed just a tad more aggression, but it just couldn't fend off Thor's mighty hammer. After only a couple of blows, Foxic was left to chargrill on the flamepit, as a tasty snack for Dead Metal.
Thor Vs Shockwave
The heat final was between the group winners- Thor, who had stormed through the heats, and the underdogs Shockwave. Shockwave had wisely switched back to their ramming scoop for this fight and it served them well. They were able to push Thor around the arena. Yet Thor defended well and got some good hits with their hammer in. This scared Shockwave enough to run for the pit release button in the hopes of pushing Thor down there, which was exactly what they did. In a massive Robot Wars upset, the underdogs took out the crowd favourites in spectacular fashion. All credit for Shockwave for doing so. They go on to join Carbide in the grand final. Roll on week 3.
As we found out last week, a lot has changed: new presenters, a smaller, revamped arena and rebooted house robots. Other than the severe lack of Craig Charles, sorry Dara O'Briain, the biggest thing the show was criticised over was the sheer amount of talking that happened. I was originally part of this mob, but I now retract my comments. The interviews and roboteer segments are necessary for the show to reach its one hour run time. It's no different to the old series where on many occasions the roboteers took centre stage over their creations. The interview segments are funny, as it's obviously the roboteers don't take themselves too seriously and it's a damn sight more entertaining than watching an advert about how I've been missold PPI insurance.
LET THE WARS BEGIN
The first four-way melee was against the Dutch horizontal crusher Tough as Nails, Thor, armed with a hammer, Disctructor a horizontal spinning disc and Shockwave, a lifting scoop.
Tough as Nails and Thor were the veterans of this heat. Tough As Nails reached the S7 semi-finals before crashing out to BullDog Breed Three. Thor competed in S6 and S7, but significantly underperformed.
Meanwhile, Tough as Nails were having its own private battle with Thor. Tough as Nails looks similar to a crab and its tactics have always been to grab a robot in its claws/grabbing arms and then pit them or leave them with the house robot. This is what it tried to do with Thor. However, Thor fought back and the two robots were caught in a epic tug of war. However, Thor won in the end, as its four-wheel drive gave it more pushing power than Tough as Nails' two wheel drive. Thor pushed the Dutch robot to the edge of the arena, where they delivered a killing blow with their hammer immobilising Tough as Nails. After this they were able to break free and pit the Dutch machine. Honestly, I think Thor got lucky here. They should have been pitted by Tough as Nails who should have gone through with Shockwave, but as it always has done, controversy reigns on Robot Wars.
The second four-way melee was against Chimera, Mr Steel Squared, Draven and Foxic. Chimera was armed with steel spikes, which I have always seen as a rubbish weapon as they do nothing. They also had exposed wheels, which as we've already seen from the infamous Nuts and Carbide battle, are vulnerable to spinning discs. Mr Steel Squared was a full-body spinner, Draven had a crushing beak and Foxic, modelled on a fox, had a lifting scoop.
Onto the head to heads
Thor Vs Mr Speed Squared
This fight was where we saw the power of Thor's hammer, as they bore down on Mr Steel Squared who was looking significantly weaker in this fight. Their driving was off and something was wrong with their spinning disc. It didn't speed up quickly enough. With full-body spinners, you need to take them out before they have time to reach full speed. However, this wasn't the case for the sluggish Mr Speed Squared who were pitted by the far more potent Thor.
Foxic Vs Shockwave
Foxic claimed to have corrected their drive problems, but this time they had problems with flipping arm, leaving them defenceless. This meant that they could be shunted around by Shockwave. Foxic seemed to resign themselves to defeat, as they decided to take on Dead Metal, and in fairness, managed to push them around the arena. But in the end, Foxic ended up in the pit, continuing their attempt to win the title of least most impressive robot ever.
Thor Vs Shockwave
This was where we started seeing tactics brought into play. Shockwave changed their weapon from a ramming scoop to a lifting bucket scoop made from a garden pipe. The team thought that this scoop would better protect them from Thor's hammer, oh how wrong they were. What actually happened was that Thor battered and buckled the lifting scoop before pummelling the life out of Shockwave. They obviously won, but it wasn't a perfect victory. They showed poor control by reversing onto the flywheel of the house robot, Matilda, thus sustaining damage.
Foxic continued to disappoint, as they once again had intermittent control problems and instead of fighting Mr Speed Squared, they went on a kamikaze attack against the house robots Dead Metal and Sir Killalot. Meanwhile, Mr Speed Squared's weapon failed to work again, so the whole bout was spent with the two robots dancing around each other. Nothing happened. There was a severe lack of actual battling. To quote Craig Charles, "that wasn't a fight. It was just pushing and shoving and calling names. Handbags at dawn." The fight went to the judges who awarded it to Mr Speed Squared, but not before dubbing it the worst fight in the history of Robot Wars.
This was more interesting. Shockwave had repaired their damaged bucket scoop and this time it did its job. It absorbed the power of Mr Speed Squared's spinning weapon. More so, Shockwave was able to shunt Mr Speed Squared around the arena. In a moment of inexperience, Shockwave had Mr Speed Squared pinned against the arena side wall, with no hope of escape. But instead of leaving it there to be immobilised, it knocked it down to continue the fight. Graham Bone of the legendary Firestorm team wouldn't have been so forgiving. Anyway, this didn't matter in the end as Shockwave pitted Mr Speed Squared.
Foxic was a tiny more impressive in this fight, as it showed just a tad more aggression, but it just couldn't fend off Thor's mighty hammer. After only a couple of blows, Foxic was left to chargrill on the flamepit, as a tasty snack for Dead Metal.
Thor Vs Shockwave
The heat final was between the group winners- Thor, who had stormed through the heats, and the underdogs Shockwave. Shockwave had wisely switched back to their ramming scoop for this fight and it served them well. They were able to push Thor around the arena. Yet Thor defended well and got some good hits with their hammer in. This scared Shockwave enough to run for the pit release button in the hopes of pushing Thor down there, which was exactly what they did. In a massive Robot Wars upset, the underdogs took out the crowd favourites in spectacular fashion. All credit for Shockwave for doing so. They go on to join Carbide in the grand final. Roll on week 3.
Wednesday, 27 July 2016
Robot Wars Episode One Review
I know it's been over a month since my last post and I apologise. I have been kept very busy by the writing of my novel of which I have just hit twenty-five thousand words. But as Robot Wars is one of my favourite television shows ever, I just had to review the first episode of the rebooted season.
If you've had the misfortune of knowing me for the last twelve years, then you know I love Robot Wars. I've watched it countless times on Youtube and have been a vocal advocate for bringing it back, to the extent that I signed numerous petitions and had many people tell me to shut the hell up. So you can imagine how vindicated I felt when I saw it would be returning July 24th 2016 at 8pm.
So was it as good as the original series which was cancelled in 2004. No. Not in the slightest. But I felt it was a good effort in its own right.
From the off, it was obvious that this series would be smaller than its predecessor, which makes sense as the BBC was relaunching a show that had been off the air for twelve years. The arena was smaller, the pit was shallower and the floor flipper had lost a lot of power. Although they did bring back the house robots, they had retired Sgt Bash, Refbot, My Psycho, Growler and Cassius Chrome.
However, the biggest change were the new presenters. Although Jonathan Pearce was quite rightfully returning as commentator, Angela Scanlon had replaced Jayne Middlemiss as pit reporter and Craig Charles had been replaced by Dara O'Briain. Craig Charles' relentless enthusiasm was what made the old Robot Wars so watchable and the new series definitely suffered without him. This wasn't to say that Dara O'Briain wasn't any good, but Craig Charles left some very big shoes to fill.
At times there was also too much talking which slowed up a show about metal mayhem. True the same can be said of the old series, but I think that the new series really overdid this. I say cut some of the talking and bring back the Pinball tournament or the Gauntlet.
I've seen other people criticise the show for its lack of music during battles, which I would agree with. The same level of tension and enjoyment just wasn't there.
At times it felt like an episode of Top Gear, which is ironic for two reasons: firstly Robot Wars had taken over Top Gear's old slot on BBC Two and Jeremy Clarkson presented the first season of the original series.
LET THE WARS BEGIN
Another change was the structure of the competition. Instead of entirely having straight knockout fights, there were two four-way melees. The two winners of each melee would then fight each other in a one-on-one Round Robin system. The robot with most points would then go straight through to the grand final. Gone were the semi-finals of old.
The first four-way melee saw the return of two Robot Wars veterans: Razor and Terrorhurtz. I was surprised to see Razor back. After winning pretty much everything in the original series, they retired after a number of controversial battles against Tornado.
Meanwhile whilst Terrorhurtz, armed with a double-bladed axe, had come 4th in Robot Wars series 6, they achieved greater success in the years following the televised broadcasts having won two separate UK championships.
Their opponents were the massive underdogs Nuts and Kill-E-Crank-E. Kill-E-Crank-E had pedigree as it was manned by one of the former members of the Pussycat team who placed second in Robot Wars Four. They were armed with a vertical spinning disc. Nuts was more of an...interesting...robot. It was obvious that they were in it for the laughs. The team was bonkers and reminded me of the Irish Diotoir team who always dressed their robot in polkadot fur, no matter how many times it caught fire. Whilst they never achieved great success, they were fun to have around. The same could be said for Nuts whose main weapon was a chain flail attached to a steel chassis designed to cause maximum damage when the robot spun in a circle. The main body of Nuts also housed two smaller clusterbots which did little other than annoy and pester.
Now considering Razor's pedigree and its nine-tone hydraulic crushing beak, I think a lot of people expected them to annihilate the competition. This was why it was such a shock went they inadvertently drove themselves into the pit whilst pitting Kill-E-Crank-E. Personally I think they came back for one last swansong, not because they expected to do well.
The other four-way melee consisted of Robo-veterans Behemoth, newbies Carbide, the General and Bonk who was controlled by Adam Emmett who created the series 7 robot Mute who crashed out in the semi-finals. Behemoth was armed with a lifting scoop, Carbide a wicked horizontal spinning hammer and the General a vertical spinning disc and Bonk an axe.
Now the stripy black and yellow Behemoth always underperformed on the original Robot Wars, so I wasn't expecting much. However, they proved me wrong when they effortlessly flipped over and immobilised the lacklustre Bonk. Far more impressive was Carbide who punished the General for having exposed tires by sending them flying across the arena. Carbide's awesome destructive power reminded of Hypno-Disc. Behemoth and Carbide convincingly won this heat.
However, Carbide suffered technical damage to their motor, which led to them losing very quickly to Terrorhurtz in their first knockout battle.
The much more entertaining was against Behemoth and Nuts. Nuts were far more impressive with their chain flail ripping chunks out of Behemoth, but Behemoth was also on top form flipping Nuts' cluster bots around the arena. It was flipping fantastic and great fun to watch. Even though Nuts did well to take it to a judge's decision, Behemoth won in the end.
Next up was Terrorhutz vs Behemoth which Behemoth won easily after Terrorhurtz suffered from transmitter problems leading to them being shunted around the arena.
More spectacular was Carbide's next battle against Nuts. Here we saw the power of Carbide's 2500 rpm spinning hammer, as it decimated Nuts. The sparks flew as every collision between the two robots leading to one of them flying away. There was very little left of Nuts by the end. Its chassis and chain fail had been reduced to shrapnel and one of its exposed tires was sent into orbit after an assault by Carbide who won this round convincingly.
Next up was Carbide vs Behemoth and Carbide did to Behemoth what they did to Nuts. They destroyed it. Chunks were torn from Behemoth's scoop, which was left a buckled mess. Poor driving led to them reversing into the house robot Matilda's flywheel didn't help either. Behemoth was pitted and Carbide was through to the heat final. In the post-match interview, Dara questioned the Carbide team about their so-called technical issues, but I think they were just lulling the other teams into a false sense of security. "Come into my parlour said the spider to the fly," as Jonathan Pearce would say.
The last battle before the heat final was between Terrorhurtz and Nuts. Although it seemed doubtful that Nuts would make the fight, due to how much damage they sustained, they were able to repair their robot in time thanks to the Carbide team helping out. It was great to see the old Robot Wars Team spirit. However, this spirit wasn't enough to stop Nuts from taking a battering from Terrorhurtz. All credit to the Nuts' team, they put up a good fight and were great entertainment, but their Robot Wars dream came to an end when they lost their final battle. As did Terrorhurtz' who despite beating Nuts, scored less points than Behemoth in the Round Robin leading to them missing out on a spot in the heat final.
For the heat final, it was obvious that Behemoth hadn't fully recovered from their previous pummelling against Carbide. A few good whacks from their spinning hammer led to them losing drive on one side and having even more chunks ripped from their machine. In the end they committed suicide by reversing into the pit, which was probably the smart decision. Carbide was through to the grand final and is one to watch I think.
So it is obvious that like its predecessor, this new incarnation doesn't take itself too seriously. There were some funny moments and some truly thrilling moments in the form of Carbide, but it was missing Craig Charles. Please BBC come to your senses and invite him back. Dara O'Briain is many things, but Craig Charles. He is not.
So was it as good as the original series which was cancelled in 2004. No. Not in the slightest. But I felt it was a good effort in its own right.
From the off, it was obvious that this series would be smaller than its predecessor, which makes sense as the BBC was relaunching a show that had been off the air for twelve years. The arena was smaller, the pit was shallower and the floor flipper had lost a lot of power. Although they did bring back the house robots, they had retired Sgt Bash, Refbot, My Psycho, Growler and Cassius Chrome.
At times it felt like an episode of Top Gear, which is ironic for two reasons: firstly Robot Wars had taken over Top Gear's old slot on BBC Two and Jeremy Clarkson presented the first season of the original series.
Another change was the structure of the competition. Instead of entirely having straight knockout fights, there were two four-way melees. The two winners of each melee would then fight each other in a one-on-one Round Robin system. The robot with most points would then go straight through to the grand final. Gone were the semi-finals of old.
The first four-way melee saw the return of two Robot Wars veterans: Razor and Terrorhurtz. I was surprised to see Razor back. After winning pretty much everything in the original series, they retired after a number of controversial battles against Tornado.
The other four-way melee consisted of Robo-veterans Behemoth, newbies Carbide, the General and Bonk who was controlled by Adam Emmett who created the series 7 robot Mute who crashed out in the semi-finals. Behemoth was armed with a lifting scoop, Carbide a wicked horizontal spinning hammer and the General a vertical spinning disc and Bonk an axe.
Now the stripy black and yellow Behemoth always underperformed on the original Robot Wars, so I wasn't expecting much. However, they proved me wrong when they effortlessly flipped over and immobilised the lacklustre Bonk. Far more impressive was Carbide who punished the General for having exposed tires by sending them flying across the arena. Carbide's awesome destructive power reminded of Hypno-Disc. Behemoth and Carbide convincingly won this heat.
Next up was Terrorhutz vs Behemoth which Behemoth won easily after Terrorhurtz suffered from transmitter problems leading to them being shunted around the arena.
More spectacular was Carbide's next battle against Nuts. Here we saw the power of Carbide's 2500 rpm spinning hammer, as it decimated Nuts. The sparks flew as every collision between the two robots leading to one of them flying away. There was very little left of Nuts by the end. Its chassis and chain fail had been reduced to shrapnel and one of its exposed tires was sent into orbit after an assault by Carbide who won this round convincingly.
The last battle before the heat final was between Terrorhurtz and Nuts. Although it seemed doubtful that Nuts would make the fight, due to how much damage they sustained, they were able to repair their robot in time thanks to the Carbide team helping out. It was great to see the old Robot Wars Team spirit. However, this spirit wasn't enough to stop Nuts from taking a battering from Terrorhurtz. All credit to the Nuts' team, they put up a good fight and were great entertainment, but their Robot Wars dream came to an end when they lost their final battle. As did Terrorhurtz' who despite beating Nuts, scored less points than Behemoth in the Round Robin leading to them missing out on a spot in the heat final.
For the heat final, it was obvious that Behemoth hadn't fully recovered from their previous pummelling against Carbide. A few good whacks from their spinning hammer led to them losing drive on one side and having even more chunks ripped from their machine. In the end they committed suicide by reversing into the pit, which was probably the smart decision. Carbide was through to the grand final and is one to watch I think.
So it is obvious that like its predecessor, this new incarnation doesn't take itself too seriously. There were some funny moments and some truly thrilling moments in the form of Carbide, but it was missing Craig Charles. Please BBC come to your senses and invite him back. Dara O'Briain is many things, but Craig Charles. He is not.
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