Fun, but cant find its identity

finkelman

Battlebots is a show that can be enjoyed by everyone. However in its aim to please everyone, it forgets its major appeal - the robots fighting.

The show has to last for a short season which is essentially to root of the problem. The robot fights themselves are limited to 10 minutes, however many of the fights are won in a few seconds. That means there is an extraordinary amount of fluff and time-filler to stretch the show.

The builders' bios, while moderately interesting, last longer than the fights.

There is a "boxing pre-game" type segment where non-technical people talk about utterly meaningless and arbitrary stats about the robots. One of the hosts is a MMA fighter. What insight does a MMA fighter have in robot fights? The answer is simple: none. While I am not overtly complaining, the director really seems to like Molly McGrath's legs. Obviously, she is there for the male audience and brings nothing but exceptionally good looks to the show.

Another fault, which I believe is an unfortunate oversight, is the show could be an excellent vehicle for education in electronics, mechanical engineering, robotics, etc. The show offers no information on how anything works.

Again, while I think the show if fun to watch, there is a lot that could be improved.

score 7/10

finkelman 6 July 2015

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3276841/