Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors

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

Hosts

Mick Foley (2001-2002)

Pit Reporters

Rebecca Grant (2001) Carol Grow (2002)

Commentator

Stefan Frank

Broadcast

The New TNN: 8/20/2001-7/1/2002

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.

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". As well as each other, they would face a variety of hazards in the purpose-built "Robot Wars Arena", including the "Pit of Oblivion", "Flame Pit" and a roster of five "House Robots" ("Shunt", "Matilda", "Dead Metal", "Sgt. Bash" and "Sir Killalot") which could attack competitors upon straying into their "Corner Patrol Zones" ("CPZs"). A non-combative "House Robot", "Refbot", was also used primarily to start battles, count out defeated competitors, extinguish fires and 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.

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.

House Robots

The "House Robots" were a set of robots serving as active hazards in the arena. Up to two would be stationed in "Corner Patrol Zones" ("CPZs") in regular battles, where they would attack competitors which strayed too close to those areas. They would also deal further damage to and take defeated competitors to other hazards once they had been counted out after thirty seconds.

• Shunt - Influenced by bulldozers and railroad shunting engines, equipped with a snowplough and pneumatic lifting scoop at either end along with a powerful diamond-edged axe.

• Matilda - Based on a mutant alien boar or dinosaur, equipped with pneumatic flipping tusks and a set of "interchangeable" rear-mounted spinning weapons. The latter included a 3,000rpm chainsaw (as originally used in UK Series 1-4) or a vertical flywheel capable of severely damaging and even throwing competitors out of the arena.

• Dead Metal - An exoskeleton-style robot with a set of pneumatically-powered pincers and a 3,000rpm circular saw mounted on a hinged 'head' assembly.

• Sgt. Bash - Designed to resemble a futuristic military tank, with green army paintwork, hydraulic crushing pincers and a turret-mounted flamethrower used to set flammable robots alight.

• Sir Killalot - The largest, heaviest and deadliest "House Robot", equipped with hydraulic arms fitted with crushing claws and a rotating drill lance. Modelled on an alien knight; his name is a pun on 'Sir Lancelot' from Arthurian legend.

In addition to these, the series had a non-combative "House Robot" to enforce fair play in the arena:

• Refbot - A humanoid-style robot modelled on a sporting referee, featuring ramming ploughs and scoops as well as a variety of additional equipment. His primary roles were to separate competitors if they became stuck together, extinguish fires with an arm-mounted CO₂ fire extinguisher, prevent the other "House Robots" from attacking active competitors outside of their CPZs, and to count out defeated competitors after they had become immobilized for more than thirty seconds.

Judges

• Noel Sharkey
• Martin Smith
• Mat Irvine

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

• Robot Wars: Grand Champions - North American version of the original UK Series 4 broadcast on The New TNN between March and June 2002.
• 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)