Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors

The topic of this page has a Wikia of its own: Robot Wars wikia.

Hosts

Mick Foley (2001-2002, Extreme Warriors) Joanie Laurer (2002, Grand Champions)

Pit Reporters

Rebecca Grant (2001) Carol Grow (2002)

Commentator

Stefan Frank

Broadcast

The New TNN: 8/20/2001-7/1/2002 The New TNN: 24/3/2002-6/9/2002

Packagers

Mentorn International

Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors was an American adaptation of the British robot fighting series Robot Wars broadcast by The New TNN between August 2001 and July 2002. Competitors brought remote-controlled fighting machines with a variety of designs, weapons and armor, facing each other in a purpose-built arena as well as a variety of hazards including the "House Robots".

Two seasons were produced, each hosted by then-recently retired WWF wrestler Mick Foley and commentated by Stefan Frank. A "pit reporter" was also present to interview teams and present trophies to winning competitors; Rebecca Grant in Season 1 and Carol Grow in Season 2.

A spin-off, Robot Wars: Grand Champions, was also broadcast on TNN between March and June 2002; this was a re-edited and redubbed version of the fourth UK series hosted by Joanie Laurer with commentary by Stefan Frank.

Premise

Similar in concept to BattleBots, the series featured competitors building fighting robots (weighing up to 220lbs or around 350lbs for walking robots in Seasons 1-2) and pitting them against each other in a variety of elimination-based competitions, such as the "US Championship", "Annihilator" and "Tag Team Terror". A roster of five "House Robots" ("Shunt", "Matilda", "Dead Metal", "Sgt. Bash" and "Sir Killalot") could attack competitors from their "Corner Patrol Zones" ("CPZs"), with a sixth, "Refbot", being mainly used to start battles, count out defeated competitors and extinguish fires as well as enforce fair play.

Robots won their battles by immobilizing opponents, pushing them down the "Pit of Oblivion" or, in very rare cases, throwing them out of the arena. One event, the "Robot Rebellion", involved a team of competitors facing the "House Robots" which had free reign of the arena.

In the event that more than one robot survived the full battle duration or if there was a rules infraction (e.g. excessive attacks from a "House Robot"), a panel of "Judges" would decide the winner of the battle based on a set of four criteria: "style", "control", "damage" and "aggression".

Filming took place at Earl's Court, London (Season 1) and Shepperton Studios (Season 2) in the United Kingdom, using the same arena, pit area and "House Robots" as in the original UK version. Likewise, Grand Champions (the redubbed UK Series 4, also known as Robot Wars: The Fourth Wars) was filmed at Park Street Studios, St Albans, Hertfordshire.

A number of internationally-themed competitions (such as the "World Championship" and "War of Independence") also featured a small number of competitor robots from the original UK series.

Judges

Seasons 1-2

• Noel Sharkey
• Martin Smith
• Mat Irvine

Grand Champions (UK Series 4)

• Noel Sharkey
• Martin Smith
• Myra Wilson

Inventors

Marc Thorpe (based on the British show and 1994-1997 US live competitions of the same name); Tom Gutteridge and Steve Carsey (executive producers).

Spin-Offs

Nickelodeon Robot Wars - Children's version filmed alongside Season 2 and aired in August-September 2002 on Nickelodeon.

TV Rating

Link

Official Website (via Internet Archive)