Dutch Robot Wars: Series 2 (partially lost footage of BNN robot combat game show; 2003)

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Robot wars title.jpg

Title card for the show.

Status: Partially Lost

Dutch Robot Wars: Series 2 was the final BNN spin-off series of the British robot combat game show Robot Wars. Airing from 17th March to 4th August 2003, PulverizeR would defeat Philipper 2 in the Grand Final to claim its sole title. Whereas most footage of the series has been made available on YouTube, some clips of Heat C, E, and the Grand Final remain missing.

Background

Dutch Robot Wars: Series 2 would crown a new champion, as Series 1 winners Slicer elected not to defend its title.[1] The tournament would follow a similar, condensed format comparable to Series 5 of UK Robot Wars, consisting of five heats of eight robots each in one-on-one knockout battles.[2][1] The Grand Final would not only consist of the five heat winners, but also three wildcards to decide the new champion.

The series was originally intended to air from 17th March to 28th April 2003.[1] But after broadcasting Heat A on 17th March, news concerning the declaration of the Iraq War three days later brought the show to a halt for three months.[3] Because of the delay in airing new episodes, BNN opted to re-broadcast Heat A on 16th and 23rd June.[3] However, just as Heat B was to be broadcast a week later, news of Prince Johan Friso's engagement to Mabel Wisse Smit prompted BNN to pre-empt the show once more.[3] The remaining episodes would air consecutively from 7th July to 4th August.[3] However, the pre-empts may well have implied BNN's declining interest in carrying the show.[3] On 30th September, more than a month following the Grand Final broadcast, BNN decided to drop the show after two series.[3]

In Heat A, Lizzard defeat Neater in the Heat Final to reach the Grand Final. Philipper 2 overcame Twister, Krab-Bot (more commonly known as Crushtacean) defeated Twisted Metal EVO,[4] Scrap-2-Saur beat Gravity, while PulverizeR outmatched √3².[5] Alongside these machines, Twister, Bamm Bamm, and Meshuggah were granted wildcards.[6][7] Philipper 2 defeated Krab-Bot, while PulverizeR fully ended Twister's run.[4] Bamm Bamm became the only wildcard to progress by beating Lizzard, with Meshuggah beaten by Scrap-2-Saur. Philliper 2 and PulverizeR reached the Grand Final by beating Bamm Bamm and Scrap-2-Saur respectively.[7][5] After flipping Philipper 2 and damaging its flipper, PulverizeR was declared Dutch Robot Wars: Series 2 champions via a Jury's Decision.[8][9] It would later compete in Robot Wars Extreme: Series 2's European Championships, losing in Round 1 to Razer.[10][8] Philipper 2 would also compete as the Belgian champion, defeating Rawbot and German champion Black Hole before losing to UK champion Tornado in the Final.[9]

Availability

Both series of Dutch Robot Wars were generally obscure outside of the Netherlands, with no known airings having occurred in Robot Wars' main markets the United Kingdom and United States. Still, episodes from the show would be uploaded to YouTube as far back as March 2008, courtesy of 2GTEN and BNNRobotWarsNL. However, whereas BNNRobotWarsNL uploaded most footage from Heats A, B, and D, 2GTEN opted only to provide battle footage and a few interviews, resulting in considerable footage for Heat E, the Grand Final, and especially Heat C becoming lost. To this day, all three episodes are considered partially lost, with some interviews and other highlights having yet to be found. Nevertheless, robot combat streaming service Mech+ announced they would upload HD footage of Dutch Robot Wars: Series 1 onto its platform, with this becoming a reality on 7th April 2023.[11] It brings optimism that Series 2 may be available in its complete form in the future.

Gallery

Videos

Heat A.

Heat B.

An incomplete Heat C.

Heat D.

An incomplete Heat E.

An incomplete Grand Final.

See Also

External Links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Archived Dutch Robot Wars post announcing the original heat line-ups (forum in Dutch). Retrieved 18th May '23
  2. ↑ Run Amok detailing Robot Wars: Series 5's tournament bracket, which has similarities to Dutch Robot Wars: Series 2. Retrieved 18th May '23
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Archived The Black Beast detailing the delays in airing new episodes and BNN announcing they would no longer carry the show (website in Dutch). Retrieved 18th May '23
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Fighting Robots Association page on Crushtacean/Krab-Bot. Retrieved 18th May '23
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Fighting Robots Association page on Scraptosaur. Retrieved 18th May '23
  6. ↑ Fighting Robots Association page on Twister. Retrieved 18th May '23
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Fighting Robots Association page on Bamm Bamm. Retrieved 18th May '23
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Fighting Robots Association page on PulverizeR. Retrieved 18th May '23
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Fighting Robots Association page on Philipper. Retrieved 18th May '23
  10. ↑ Archived Robot Wars announcing Robot Wars Extreme: Series 2's European Championships. Retrieved 18th May '23
  11. ↑ Mech+ announcing it would upload all Dutch Robot Wars: Series 1 episodes to its streaming service. Retrieved 18th May '23
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