A few months ago, in Edit Wars #5, I postulated that the original series of Robot Wars would be an excellent show to release on DVD because of all the lovely potential bonus content. So why not imagine what such content could look like with a series of fantasy DVD listings?
The First Wars
The First Wars is just six half-hour episodes, which would easily fit on one disc. That then gives you a second disc for special features.
In March 1999 a 74-minute behind-the-scenes documentary on this series was released on VHS, 'The First Great War'. This was quite good and would be nice to have for archival purposes; it included footage of the 1995 live events that predated the TV show and interviews with the visual effects designers. However, quite a lot of it was footage of the episodes and a new documentary, going into subjects such as the near-decapitation of Jeremy Clarkson, the mix of weights in the main competition, several of the robots having to be dragged through the doors on fishing wire and exactly when they realised having the audience and roboteers be completely unprotected wasn't a great idea, would also be welcome. If any teasers or trailers for the show still exist (and they clearly have something in the archives, as the fact that they dragged this out to promote the last series proves), then seeing them would be welcome; the First Wars had a trailer with narration by Norman Lovett which would be good to have.
The Second Wars
This is sixteen half-hour episodes - twelve heats, two semi-finals, a grand final and the 'Grudge Matches' special. You could get them on three discs and then have a bonus disc for special features.
This series featured the controversial rigging of a Trial round in the semi-finals - that could be covered in a featurette of its own, if the roboteers in question can be tracked down and are willing to talk about it. A dedicated making-of documentary could also cover topics such as the addition of Sir Killalot and replacing Jeremy Clarkson with Craig Charles.
Far more of the roboteers and personnel involved in the show are still contactable for this series - the Behemoth, Killerhurtz, Razer, Diotoir and King Buxton teams are still competing today, so maybe they could participate in audio commentaries alongside Noel Sharkey and other members of the production team? If Robot Wars Revealed, the BBC Choice companion show, still exists then featuring every episode might be a bit of a stretch, but maybe just the highlights of the behind-the-scenes footage from there?
The Third Wars
This is where disc space starts to be a problem. There were 21 episodes in this series - 19 of the main competition, plus the First World Championship and International League specials. The latter two could be split off into a boxset of 'specials', but the running time of the show was increased to 45 minutes with this series, so even then you're looking at five discs to get all the episodes on there.
The making-of documentaries have the potential to be fascinating here, though. The Third Wars saw massive leaps forward in technology, the phasing out of the trials, the arrival of Chaos 2 and Hypno-Disc, the accident in the pits which had such serious fallout and the disqualification of Pussycat. The Hypno-Disc team are still around and considering competing in the new series one day (they were interviewed for local radio when it was announced the show was coming back), so maybe they could join in on the interviews and audio commentaries?
Oh: And there was an excellent specially-filmed trailer for the Grand Final which would be lovely to see here.
The Fourth Wars
This series contains 24 x 45-minute episodes. Yikes. Five of those were the Christmas specials (Annihilators, Tag Team, Celebrity Special and War of Independence), so it would definitely make sense for those to join the Series 3 specials in a boxset of their own, leaving us with five discs plus a sixth bonus disc for this release.
The redesigned set in light of the Series 3 accident could be a topic of discussion on the special features, as could the MTV Robot Wars pilot which was filmed around this time, the introduction of the Refbot and the producers changing the seeding order to try and get Chaos 2 and Gemini to fight. The Tornado and possibly Thermidor teams are candidates for audio commentaries this time round. The appalling Sir Killalot single was also released to coincide with this series, and the music video would make a great extra for both archival and humorous purposes. Robot Wars toys were also beginning to take off around this time, and a featurette on those would be excellent. Three battles from this series were included as part of the Cut Your Own Battle features on the Ultimate Warrior Collection, with the raw studio footage used (see Edit Wars #4 for more); those would be good to have here.
Extreme I
17 episodes, which could possibly squash to 4 discs, especially if you want to include the Second World Championship on the Specials Boxset. The concept behind this series and the updating of the show's image (new title sequence, graphics, costumes, roboteers told to 'act mean', the transition to a combat-only format) would make for a good making-of, as would other elements such as the cancelled People's Challenge event and the perils of filming alongside Series 5 leading robots to pull out of Extreme events.
This series also includes the renaming of Anthrax to Draven between broadcasts - if the original version of the fight still exists, it would be nice to have here. This series also features the only battle in the history of the show to be recorded but not broadcast, in the form of Hypno-Disc vs TX-108, which would also be good to see if it still exists. (Stuff like the Series 4 Chaos 2 vs Tornado fight which had to be fought three times, or the Extreme I Razer vs Gemini fight which had to be edited, also falls under the category of 'to be included if the footage wasn't junked'.)
The Fifth Wars
15 x 45-minute episodes, so 4 discs and a fifth bonus disc. A tribute to the late David Gribble, the driver of Pussycat who was sadly killed between filming and broadcast of this series, would be a must here. Other than that, the only thing that springs to mind is the uncut version of Chaos 2 vs SMIDSY take one. Prizephita and Crushtacean are also teams who could contribute to this release for the first time. The interviews and documentary material with the Chaos 2, Hypno-Disc and Razer teams, plus the team behind the House Robots, for the Ultimate Warrior Collection was all filmed around this time, so this set would be the appropriate place for them.
The Sixth Wars
Same runtime as the fifth series, plus the UK vs Germany Special (Noel Sharkey could be interviewed on the controversial decision to declare a draw there). The deeply controversial Grand Final bout between Razer and Tornado could be discussed in-depth here, with both teams contributing; I'd also finally like to find out how the two 'banned' Tornado weapons worked. The Dantomkia and 13 Black teams would also be welcome additions to this set, as would a feature on the new house robots. A featurette on the many Robot Wars computer games would also be appropriate to put here, if only to ask the makers of Metal Mayhem what they were on during the production of the game.
Extreme II
16 45-minute episodes on four discs. Hard to see what else could go here, apart from discussion about the change in format between the two series of Extreme. The Storm II team's thoughts on the New Blood Championship would be welcome, especially given what was to follow...
The Seventh Wars
Where to start? If we only got a making-of documentary on one series of Robot Wars, this would be the one to choose, hands down. The move to Channel 5. Terrorhurtz pulling out because it wasn't finished in time. The controversial new weapon rules. The large number of non-returning robots such as Chaos 2 and Hypno-Disc. The producers' interference to stop Storm II. The seeded machines dropping like flies. Teams from the Dutch series competing. The producers telling the house roboteers to deliberately destroy the featherweight robots. The producers having to change the 'All Stars' competition because so many of the all stars had taken terminal damage. The show's cancellation. There are 22 episodes here, three of which were 'specials' which could go on the Specials Boxset, so five discs plus a sixth of extras again. But what extras they would be! A nice big documentary on the making of this series could run up to 2 hours. If there is one reason to release the original series on DVD, then a fair and balanced examination of why this series was so controversial would be it.
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