Meet the House Robots is a short preview episode of Robot Wars: Series 8, 4:43m in length, released exclusively on BBC iPlayer on 11 July 2016.
Content[]
Show Retrospective[]
Hypno-Disc vs. Splinter, shown on a retro television
The preview opens with Jonathan Pearce drawing reference to the late nineties-early 2000s, when Robot Wars first aired, stating "before smartphones, before drones, before Instagram, we had Robot Wars." Clips of battles from Series 2-5 were screened on a retro television over his commentary.
Clips of the following battles from previous series were shown, in this order, excluding the re-appearance of the same battles further into the preview:
- Chaos 2 vs. The Big Cheese (Heat E, Series 3)
- Chaos 2 vs. Fire Storm (Robot Wars: The Third Wars/Grand Final)
- Razer vs. Widow's Revenge (Heat K, Series 5)
- Chaos 2 vs. Pussycat (Grand Final, Series 4)
- Hypno-Disc vs. Splinter (Semi-Final 2, Series 4)
- Chaos 2 vs. Hypno-Disc (Prior to the battle, Grand Final, Series 3)
- Razer vs. Firestorm 3 (All-Stars, Extreme)
- Chaos 2 vs. Wild Thing (Semi-Final 1, Series 5)
House Robots Retrospective[]
After introducing the show itself, Jonathan Pearce talked about the House Robots that appeared across Series 2-5, showing clips of them attacking competitors.
Clips of the following House Robot attacks were shown, in this order:
- Sgt. Bash on The Big Cheese
- Sir Killalot on Mortis
- Shunt on Chaos 2 and Wild Thing
- Shunt on X-Terminator
- Dead Metal on Axios
- "But when the arena fell silent, the House Robots went into retirement, and lay dormant."
- — Jonathan Pearce
This was followed by shots of these House Robots, as they appear today, using their older models.
Series 8 Introduction[]
A shot of the new arena started a montage of clips from the new series. Seconds of a selection of battles were shown, before showing teaser shots of Carbide, Terrorhurtz, Behemoth and Nuts, while Jonathan Pearce discussed the weapon types available.
New House Robots Introduction[]
After this, the new House Robots were introduced.
Shunt[]
Shunt axes a washing machine
- "Shunt is the arena's bruiser, a real junkyard dog."
- — Jonathan Pearce
Shunt's new statistics were revealed, then Shunt destroyed a washing machine, Pearce remarking that it is Shunt's favourite pastime.
Dead Metal[]
Dead Metal cuts into an engine
- "Ah, Dead Metal, a cross between a hedgehog and a stealth bomber."
- — Jonathan Pearce
Dead Meal's new statistics were revealed, then Dead Metal cut through and pushed a metal engine.
Matilda[]
Matilda attacks a pallette with her flywheel
- "Oh, Matilda, I have missed you!"
- — Jonathan Pearce
Matilda's new statistics were revealed, then Matilda flipped and destroyed wooden pallets. Interestingly, Jonathan Pearce gives the information that Matilda's flywheel is made of HARDOX. This was directly contradicts the way the Robot Wars website and most episodes deliberately avoid mentioning the term 'HARDOX', as this is a brand name, which the advertisement-free BBC outlets would generally avoid promoting.
Sir Killalot[]
Sir Killalot holds a car door
- "The heaviest, deadliest, most regal robot ever made, the king of carnage himself, an absolute liability... in a china shop!"
- — Jonathan Pearce
Sir Killalot's new statistics were revealed, before he ran over, crushed and held a car door aloft.
Closing section[]
To end the preview, a few more clips of the series were played, including a shot of the new presenters Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon, and the new title graphics were played over the new "3, 2, 1, Activate!"
The preview closed with a "Coming Soon" message.
Programme description[]
Taken from the BBC iPlayer page:
Back in the days when the internet was a little baby, and we had to make our own entertainment… we all watched a programme called Robot Wars. Full of clever people who made robots in their garages that smashed each other up for fun. In the arena keeping order were a team of angry robots called the House Robots. They were there to keep the peace or if they felt like it, smash, bash and crash the competitors on a whim.
But when the show finished, the House Robots went into retirement.
Shunned by their public, they never lost sight of the dream.
Over the years they have evolved, growing bigger, badder and much much more dangerous. Now they’re back and this time they’re really cross.
The presenters have also been rebooted, the competitors are ready to fight, and the new series of Robot Wars is back.
3, 2, 1, Activate.
Trivia[]
- Meet the House Robots was never aired on television, and was originally expected to remain on BBC iPlayer for 29 days after its release, before being removed from official public viewing. However, the special was later made available until 29 September 2016, after which it was removed from BBC iPlayer. It is, however, still available to view on the iPlayer Facebook account.
- The end of the special marked the first instance in which the reboot Robot Wars opening logo animation was seen.
- It was also the first piece of Robot Wars media to feature commentary from Jonathan Pearce since The Third World Championship, over 12 years prior, and was the first episode to be broadcast in HD.
- This episode was released on Craig Charles' 52nd birthday.
External Links[]
- Meet the House Robots on BBC iPlayer
- Meet the House Robots BBC Programmes page
- Meet the House Robots on Facebook
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