BattleBots Returning To ESPN… Verdict: Maybe Yay
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Tuesday, 25 of March , 2008 at 4:48 am
Here’s the good news: BattleBots will be returning to ESPN2 and ESPNU this November. This is, of course, awesome for us BotJunkies. I mean, what could possibly be better than robotic goliaths beating the circuitry out of each other in an arena of death? Nothing, of course. But the original BattleBots show had a lot of other, lame stuff going on in the background, including idiotic commentary and (let’s face it) Carmen Electra. Some of that is gone, but at the same time, there’s gotta be some kind of announcer, and whoever they are, they’re going to be carrying a lot of the show. Is it going to be someone who knows about the robots, or someone who has a talent for making snarky remarks?
What I’m most worried about is this quote, from BattleBots CEO Trey Roski: “It’s going to be held like a sports show. We’re going to show the pit, what they really go through. It’s not about the host, or a pretty girl. It’s about the people, what they’re getting out of it.” Wait a sec, isn’t it supposed to be about the ROBOTS? What it sounds like is that it might turn into another horrible pseudo-mechanical reality TV show, like Junkyard Wars or Monster Garage. Those shows had great themes and great creativity and some interesting characters, but I want to see people building stuff, not domestic squabbles. Same with the new BattleBots: I want to see robots being built, fighting each other, and being repaired. I don’t want to see bickering teammates with a dramatic underscore.
Otherwise, some changes are being made for the better. Wedge robots are being essentially outlawed because they “are not going to make a successful TV show.” Yeah, it could have been phrased better (and implemented better), but they did make for some boring competitions. The arena will have new and improved hazards that can actually make a difference in the battle. And there will be a new class of robots, “experimental,” which may include autonomous bots in some form (finally!).
For starters, the competitors will be university teams, and the 150+ registrants have caused the start of the competition to be pushed back from June to November of this year. A professional league will be filmed at the same time and may also be featured on the show. The competitions are supposed to be held in the Bay Area; we’ll keep you updated and you’d better believe we’ll be there when it finally kicks off.
[ BattleBots ] VIA [ Popular Mechanics ]
Category: Competitive
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