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Charles Band set a precedent when he founded Full Moon Features over thirty years ago, creating a narrative blueprint that many modern horror filmmakers adhere to, and was an enduring and provocative figure during the VHS Boom of the ’80s and early ’90s. When Epic Entertainment bought the bankrupt Empire Pictures (Empire produced Ghoulies and Re-Animator), Charles, with an eye for the cultural merits of truly great cinema, founded Full Moon Features. Already familiar with studio filmmaking and the machinery surrounding it, including distribution, Band now had complete control.

The polymath (Band was involved to a greater or lesser extent in several other entertainment subsidiaries) went on to spawn cult movie franchises such as Puppet Master, The Gingerdead Man, and Subspecies. Most readers will remember Blockbuster Video putting out most of Band’s catalogues in their “straight-to-b-movie” bargain bins. Horror fans were enamoured with VHS covers featuring lurid images of interdimensional tentacled sex fiends,...

Exclusive: The UK has a long history of producing hit property shows such as Kevin McCloud’s Grand Designs and Phil and Kirstie’s Location, Location, Location. The BBC is now moving into the virtual reality-led future with its latest format in the genre.

I understand that the British public broadcaster has ordered Watch This Space from Endemol Shine’s Remarkable Television. For the first time on British television, cutting edge Vr technology and visual effects will be used in a property format, transforming ordinary homes with unique designs.

Hosted by Robot Wars’ Angela Scanlon, the eight-part series, which will air on BBC Two, will see two couples who disagree about the best designs for their home work with architects Laura Clark and Robert Jamison. The pair will produce two conflicting briefs and then the homeowners will be able to “step into” the redesigned properties using the Vr tech. Through...

HBO’s “Westworld” offered some of the most profound questions in the series to date in Episode 2, “The Reunion.” This flashback heavy installment dared to take a look outside of the park and set up an exciting endgame for the season. Take a look below at the biggest mysteries introduced in Episode 2.

Our World – After a tremendous amount of speculation as to what the outside world looks like, the series granted viewers their first glimpse when Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) wakes up in “our world.” The scene takes place in a flashback, as evidenced by Arnold’s (Jeffrey Wright) argument with Ford (Anthony Hopkins), and the mention of Arnold’s still living son Charlie. Dolores is awestruck by the skyline of a modern city, remarking “have you ever seen anything so full of splendor?” The most fascinating tease occurs in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sign reading “Space 47” with Mandarin characters appearing underneath.

Louisa Mellor Dec 13, 2017

We’ve taken a highlighter to this year’s Christmas and New Year TV schedules and circled what we’ll be watching this festive season…

Amid the cosy repeats and cranberry-stuffed cookery shows on TV over the next few weeks are a few gems. There’s no Sherlock or Charlie Brooker’s TV Wipe this year, but there are plenty of treats, not least the return of The League Of Gentlemen for a three-part anniversary series and Peter Capaldi’s last hurrah in the Tardis in the Doctor Who Christmas episode.

See related 26 new TV shows to watch in 2017

Over on Netflix, six new episodes of Black Mirror are coming to usher in the New Year, two days into which we welcome the return of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton’s genius anthology Inside No. 9.

Not to gloss over a spooky M.R. James night on BBC Four,...

Louisa Mellor Dec 7, 2017

UK kids wouldn’t have survived the 90s without The Crystal Maze, Knightmare, Gladiators and more…

Remember boredom? Boredom was to a nineties childhood what stress is to modern adulthood – a constant and inescapable presence, relieved only by television.

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The difference is, even television could be boring in the nineties. Grown-ups exclusively watched One Man And His Dog, The Budget and Ballykissangel, the sort of programmes that gave you Sunday-night-dread any day of the week. Try as you might to escape border collies, Kenneth Clarke and priests having harvest festival scrapes in picturesque Irish villages, it simply wasn’t possible. There were no streaming services to come to your rescue. Video rental was a birthdays-only treat. What else were you supposed to do? Read?

Every so often, a bright light would shine through, illuminating the murk of Ground Force and Oh,...

Despite not exactly having a Hollywood budget, Full Moon’s 1993 sci-fi actioner Robot Wars still holds up pretty damn well. It’s set to finally be released on Blu-ray on December 15th in a digitally remastered HD format and will be available on Full Moon Direct. Gotta love how they used the badass original release poster […]

The post Full Moon’s Robot Wars Assembling on Blu-ray appeared first on Dread Central.

Rob Leane Oct 18, 2017

We interview Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Robert Llewellyn, Danny John-Jules and Doug Naylor about Red Dwarf Xii and more...

It’s a good time to be a Red Dwarf fan. After years off our screens, and talk of a movie that ultimately came to naught, the show made its return with Back To Earth in 2009. UKTV Freeview channel Dave was revealed as the new home of the show, and it’s fair to say that they’ve treated the small rouge one very well in the years since the big comeback.

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Red Dwarf X followed in 2012, and Red Dwarf XI in 2016. Both series gave fans what they wanted to see: character-driven episodes, stuffed with creative insults,...

Kirsten Howard Oct 9, 2017

What are you doing Sunday week at 8pm? A brand new series of Robot Wars is about to start...

Robot Wars fans, rejoice! We're about to get a brand new series of the show, starring Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon (and, of course, commentator Jonathan Pearce), starting on the 22nd of October at 8pm on BBC2.

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Series 9 will feature a new competition format, which is set to include both Robot Redemption and a magnificent-sounding Ten Robot Rumble - a fight to the death between ten robots, with no time limit, which will decide who'll snatch the wildcard for the Grand Final.

The Robot Wars arena in Glasgow will also see old and new bots alike duke it out in fresh settings, such as The Fog Of War, where the robots will struggle to defend - and also...

Dave Lawrie Jul 20, 2017

Dave talks us through the highs and lows of fulfilling his dream of building a robot to compete in Robot Wars...

I think it is safe to say that I’ve never worked harder at anything in my life than Robot Wars. The show began in 1998 when lightly armoured wheelchairs would push each other about a bit and a 10-year-old me declared to my mother that I wanted to be on the show. “I’m not sure you’re old enough,” came her politely discouraging reply. Fast forward the best part of 20 years and I had taught myself the basics of robot construction, fought my way up through the ranks in the antweight class (tiny 150g machines rarely featured on the show but with a thriving community outside of it) and dabbled in a couple of naff attempts to build one of the big boys in the heavyweight division.

Dave Lawrie Jul 6, 2017

Using his experience on Robot Wars, Total Wipeout and more, Dave shares some tips for anyone wanting to appear on a TV gameshow...

Have you ever watched a TV show and thought 'I’d quite like a go at that', quickly replaced by the follow-up thought 'but I’m not sure that I could?'

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Me too.

My name is Dave and I have now been involved with five TV productions at various levels. I have auditioned for The Weakest Link, been part of a pilot that never made it to air, and featured as a contestant on Total Wipeout, Ninja Warrior UK and Robot Wars. I suffer from low self esteem and rollercoaster depression and I have found no finer therapy for it than the character-validating world of television production.

My quest today is to try...

Kirsten Howard Apr 19, 2017

Team Carbide crushed it last week during the final moments in series 2 of the BBC's revived Robot Wars. Here's what they're planning next...

It was a case of 'good things come to those who wait' for Team Carbide captain Dave Moulds and his partner Sam Smith last week as they finally took home the Robot Wars 2017 trophy, after narrowly missing out on victory the previous year.

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"After the disappointment of getting to the final last year and losing to Apollo, we were very nervous when we found out we would have to fight another flipper in the final," Cadbury worker Moulds admitted. "Eruption is a great machine but we are delighted to have come out on top this time around though.

I hope you guys are ready, because April 11th looks to be an incredible day of home entertainment releases for genre fans, especially if you’ve been patiently waiting for the stunning new Phantasm Blu-ray set from Well Go USA, which features every film from the franchise together in one nifty package. Arrow Video has also assembled the first two House movies for a limited edition Blu-ray set that arrives this week, and Severin Films has resurrected the cult classic Cathy’s Curse in HD for the first time ever.

Severin Films is also keeping busy with a pair of other releases—Dark Water and The Other Hell—and Scream Factory is giving both The Vampire and Demented the Blu-ray treatment as well.

Other notable horror and sci-fi home entertainment offerings for April 11th include The Bye Bye Man (Unrated), The Violent Shit Collection, Chupacabra Territory, Naciye, Takashi Miike’s Dead or Alive trilogy,...

April is shaping up to be a great month for horror and sci-fi VOD releases, as we have over a dozen great titles making their way home this month. Things kick off with Universal’s release of M. Night Shyamalan’s Split and the Sasquatch-themed The Bigfoot Project on April 4th. Then, on April 7th, we have a pair of stellar indie horrors coming our way—The Void and Bethany—with The Bye Bye Man making its VOD bow just a few days later.

April’s digital genre offerings continue throughout the month, with the releases of The Dark Tapes on April 18th, Detour on April 25th, and both Rupture and A Dark Song rounding out the month’s VOD titles with their April 28th releases. Read on for our full breakdown of all the genre VOD releases for April 2017.

The Bigfoot Project (Gravitas Ventures) – April 4th

A bush-league group...

Louisa Mellor Apr 2, 2017

The latest episode of Robot Wars had it all. Spoilers ahead in our review of series nine’s last heat…

This review contains spoilers.

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Series nine’s final heat had everything there is to love about Robot Wars: impressive engineering, scrappy underdogs, kooky newcomers with it’ll-never-work designs (they didn’t work), and at the centre of it all, a grudge match.

A real one, by the feel of it. Team Apollo may have been heavy on the bantz, but under the pantomime laughter appeared to be some genuine animus aimed at opponents Carbide. “Dave again, goes for his little tactics and tries to take away the wheels, same as he did last year, sly, sly,” needled Team Apollo after the pair’s first head-to-head.

“People want to see stuff getting smashed, that’s why we’re here,...

Louisa Mellor Mar 26, 2017

Few robots are left standing in the latest, ultra-destructive episode of Robot Wars…

This review contains spoilers.

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It’s somewhat in the lap of the gods, the entertainment value of any given episode of Robot Wars. If they smile upon the arena, the spinners spin and the crushers crush and we all have a jolly old time of it. Every so often though, things just never quite get going. Drive motors burn out, bots are immobilised after a single collision, and it all ends not with a bang but a whimper.

When that happens, it’s the job of the production team to string out the pre and post-bout interviews and make up for the thrills absent in the arena...

Louisa Mellor Mar 20, 2017

There was more carnage, venting CO2 and frustration in the latest great episode of Robot Wars...

This review contains spoilers.

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Tell me where else on television you’re going to hear somebody say, “I’ve certainly got a lot of experience controlling sticks with my thumbs”? That’s why you have to love Robot Wars; there’s nothing else quite like it (unless you count BattleBots, which is quite like it but is also American and therefore twice as noisy with half the charm).

Congratulations this week go to winners Concussion, who did Dorset proud by taking their battle-untested bot all the way to victory in the final. They saw off veteran competitor Thor through a fog of vented CO2 and hasty repairs,...

Den Of Geek Mar 17, 2017

Planning a glass of red wine later today? This might just help you get the most from it...

It’s Friday, chums, and one or two of you may like to have a tipple to mark the coming of a weekend. And that inevitably means that the age-old question is going to rear its head somewhere: should you let red wine ‘breathe’ before you start glugging the stuff.

See related Robot Wars series 9 episode 2 review Robot Wars series 9 episode 1 review Robot Wars: revisiting the original show

If you’re like us, and you’ve stocked up on a bottle in the Spar 2 for £9 offer, then truth be told chums, you could let it breathe for a million years and it’s still going to retain that particular Echo Falls-y taste.

However, this is apparently something to this red wine breathing stuff. The basic idea is that you open a bottle,...

Rob Leane Mar 17, 2017

Guardians Of The Galaxy, Doctor Strange and the Avengers movies are all represented in our list of Marvel Lego kits...

Across comics, TV shows and massive movies, Marvel has infiltrated every facet of geek culture. It’s no surprise, then, that Lego has been churning out loving brick-based tributes to the Marvel superhero stable for years. It's a match made in heaven, really.

See related Robot Wars series 9 episode 2 review Robot Wars series 9 episode 1 review Robot Wars: revisiting the original show

A Lego tie-in range comes out to match each new Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, allowing fans to rebuild their favourite scenes and bring those primary-coloured big screen heroes into their front rooms. What fun!

Including many of these movie kits, and a few others, here’s a selection of awesome Lego Marvel sets you can buy on Amazon right this second. If you fancy clicking...

Louisa Mellor Mar 12, 2017

Some controversial judges’ decisions made for a chin-stroking Robot Wars episode this week…

This review contains spoilers.

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What a lovely lot those Colliass kids were; gracious in both victory and defeat, and as bemused by Cherub’s success as we were. Up and up went their robot, floating to the final on a cloud of goodwill and favourable judges’ decisions.

When Eruption cut short the last bout with the fourth of four consecutive Ooa flips, the Cherub children laughed and counted their blessings, having spent the rest of the hour offering each other nothing but support and affection. “Just have fun” one of the twins told her brother, all of them at the age when most siblings are busily working out the best strategy to give each other dead arms while evading parental detection.

Louisa Mellor Mar 5, 2017

The revived Robot Wars is back for a second series featuring a few new bots and some familiar faces…

This review contains spoilers.

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Here’s what I love about Robot Wars - the people. Forget gear boxes and weaponry; this is a show about human beings and the lengths to which they’ll go to achieve their dreams.

It is ‘dreams’ plural rather than singular too. Not all Robot Wars contestants share the same goal. Some, like twenty-five grand armour-plated Rapid, obviously enter because they fancy their chances in the grand final. Others,...

Ryan Lambie Feb 21, 2017

Before he made The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola got his start by editing monsters into a Soviet sci-fi film...

Everyone loves a good success story, and Hollywood history's full of them. Actors sleeping in their cars until they get their first lucky break. Writers papering the walls of their lodgings with rejection letters until they finally get a script in front of a receptive producer. Filmmakers who've spent years paying their dues before a studio finally comes calling.

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Director Francis Ford Coppola, before he shot to fame - and, for a time, considerable wealth - with such films as The Godfather, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now, scrabbled around at the lower end of the industry like just about everyone else.

Louisa Mellor Dec 12, 2016

We’ve taken a pen to the UK Christmas TV and radio schedules and circled the shows we’re looking forward to. Add yours below!

Amid the cosy repeats, big movies and inescapable cranberry-stuffed cookery shows on TV this month are a few original gems. Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton’s Inside No. 9 festive special The Devil Of Christmas (Tuesday the 27th of December, 10pm, BBC Two) is top of our must-watch list. Hot on its heels is Yonderland’s family friendly Yonder Yuletide (Saturday the 24th of December, 6.30pm, Sky One). Another for families on Sky is the Christmas Day Jasper Fforde adaptation The Last Dragonslayer, while Channel 4 has the non-festive-but-essential-for-fans-of smart-sci-fi Humans series two finale (Sunday the 18th of December, 9pm).

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Not to forget, of course, the Doctor Who Christmas Special, a brand-new series of Sherlock,...

Louisa Mellor Feb 22, 2017

A new 6-part run of Robot Wars with Dara O'Briain and Angela Scanlon starts on BBC Two on Sunday the 5th of March...

Robot Wars fans, here's a date for your diary: Sunday the 5th of March. That's when the first of six new episodes of the bot-battling show will air in the slightly earlier-than-last-time slot of 7pm.

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Here's the official confirmation Tweet:

It's time for another rumble in the metal jungle! %uD83D%uDD25

We're excited to confirm that #RobotWars returns to BBC Two on Sunday 5 March at 7pm. pic.twitter.com/50qqSJXsrP

— BBC Two (@BBCTwo) February 22, 2017

The revived show was officially renewed for series two last October. Presenters Dara O'Briain and Angela Scanlon will be back talking to teams in the pits and...

Louisa Mellor Aug 28, 2016

In the revived Robot Wars grand final, can anyone beat the mighty blade of Carbide?

This review contains spoilers.

I think I finally get boxing. Endurance, tactics, grudge matches, underdogs coming back from the brink of failure to pound opponents into paste after their drive motor fails and they start venting CO2… No wonder Stallone made all those movies about it.

The final had a touch of the sports movie genre about it. The seemingly undefeatable champions—Team Carbide, who built a robot so tough it didn’t only tear through its competitors like tin cans but also through the arena’s much-vaunted steel walls—was bested by a plucky flipper. Apollo, star of episode four, concluded its sterling work by launching Carbide into outer space.

Not quite outer space admittedly, more a few feet off the floor. The hyperbole of the final is obviously catching. The...

Alex Warren Aug 26, 2016

After last week's Robot Wars arena blaze, we chat to cool expert Dr Chris Aldham about how to keep a robot from bursting into flames...

Between flamethrowers and fire pits, in the Arena of Destruction it’s all too easy for robots and roboteers to get a little hot under the collar. While most viewers would be happy to watch the new series and appreciate it for little more than the fiery destruction it is, we had to take it that step further and unleash our inner geek.

That’s why we took a look under the hood of this year’s competitors to find out how they’ve tried – and in some cases failed – to stop their machines bursting into flames.

To lead us on this journey, we spoke to Dr Chris Aldham, a thermal management expert from simulation software firm 6SigmaET. With over thirty years...

Louisa Mellor Aug 21, 2016

The final heat in the revived Robot Wars doesn't quite live up to last week’s excitement…

This review contains spoilers.

It strikes me that the Robot Wars arena would be a good place to weather a nuclear apocalypse. While the outside world poofs into hot dust, the collective engineering expertise inside that Glaswegian warehouse could probably whip up a new civilisation inside the timeframe of a two hour repair window.

That thought was prompted by a sound, specifically the siren whirr of Pulsar’s spinning weapon, the sort of powerful noise you could imagine being used to signal the four-minute warning and just the thing to psych out your opponents. That, or hypnotise the judges. Either way it worked and Pulsar was eventually awarded the place in next week’s grand final.

Being awarded a victory isn’t the same as winning one outright. So much...

Louisa Mellor Aug 14, 2016

Robot Wars episode 4 was the series’ best yet, thanks to a thrilling performance from an impressive flipper…

My friend Julie getting a Snes for Christmas 1992. The Incredible Hulk Roller Coaster at Universal Studios, Orlando. David Tennant sitting two rows behind me at a play.

Hitherto the three most exciting moments in my life were just eclipsed by an episode of Robot Wars. Specifically, the moment in an episode of Robot Wars that Team Apollo went on a flipping rampage. That’s not just a Britishism, Apollo literally flipped its way around the arena on a flipping rampage. It was flipping brilliant.

It’s not for nothing that Team Apollo shares its name with the space missions that put man on the moon; that performance, which left House Bots Dead Metal and Matilda as helpless and paralysed as upturned woodlice and booted the series’ most expensive robot out of the arena,...

Louisa Mellor Aug 7, 2016

A wooden robot tests its mettle in the third episode of the new Robot Wars. Does it succeed? Er…

High-energy celebratory displays don’t come naturally to Robot Wars competitors. Every fist pump and double thumbs-up in a post-battle interview comes at a clear cost to the roboteers’ natural sense of reserve and decorum. That the winning teams do it anyway, throwing their unsynchronised arms in the air and haltingly yelling ‘yeah!’ at the mention of their victory, is one of this show’s most endearing features.

Robot Wars is packed with endearing features. This week’s included the proud-as-punch dad of winning team TR2 repeatedly singing the praises of his fifteen-year-old son while said son shifted bashfully on his feet. Then there was the nervous laughter of students Team Overdozer well aware of the impending folly of taking a robot only marginally more high-tech (and less...

Louisa Mellor Aug 2, 2016

Fun and frivolous, Robot Wars continued this week with another shock exit and some unforgiveable showboating…

This review contains spoilers.

I’ll tell you who’s doing well out of the Robot Wars revival, those print shops you drive past on the outskirts of towns that make custom hoodies. You’re no-one on this show if you’re not wearing a lightweight, breathable polo shirt embroidered with a word that probably sounded like a good idea when you made it up in your shed. Those guys must be raking it in.

Viewers at home, as it goes, aren’t doing badly out of it either. The second episode of Robot Wars was just as much frivolous fun as the first, even if it did feature what judge Professor Noel Sharkey called “the worst fight I’ve ever seen on the whole of Robot Wars”.

That was a...

Louisa Mellor Jul 26, 2016

A third series of the BBC historical military strategy game Time Commanders appears to be on the way...

Is it your dream to replicate the military achievements of Alexander the Great via the medium of modern games engines, live on TV? Then you, my friend, are in luck.

BBC Four has put out a call for teams of three people to take part in the return  of Time Commanders, a "popular historical military strategy series, where teams go head-to-head with some of the greatest generals from history".

During its brief 2003-2005 tenure, Time Commanders saw teams reenact historical battles using a games engine more or less imported wholesale from real-time strategy game Rome: Total War. It was hosted by Scottish broadcaster Eddie Mair before Top Gear's Richard Hammond took over. 

The call for participants appears to have preceded an official announcement in this case. The revived...

Louisa Mellor Jul 24, 2016

Robot Wars has rejigged its bots and presenters for a hugely entertaining return to BBC Two...

Whatever Robot Wars got up to during its twelve year absence from TV, it evidently wasn’t a period of deep, meditative reflection and personal change. The revived series is back on BBC Two with barely a hair different.

Well, the hair’s different. Returning original series teams who never stopped battling robots in the interim have lost some of theirs, while the ‘dos of Dara O’Briain and Angela Scanlon replace those of the previous presenters.

The pair conduct this latest symphony of TV nostalgia with welcome pep and an even more welcome sense of the show’s inherent folly. O’Briain hypes the crowd over the increased ferocity of the ‘biggest, baddest’ house bots and lists engineering statistics as if he were introducing The Beatles at Shea Stadium, but...

Louisa Mellor Jul 25, 2016

We chat with one of the new Robot Wars presenters about carnage and camaraderie behind the scenes on the revived BBC Two show...

Read our review of the first episode of the revived Robot Wars, here.

Irish broadcaster and journalist Angela Scanlon makes up one half of the new Robot Wars presenting team. For the next few weeks, she and Dara O'Briain will be talking viewers through the hyper-competitive world of flippers, pushers and spinners at 8pm on Sundays on BBC Two as the destruction-happy show counts down to its final battle.

Move over Top Gear, there's a new sheriff in town...

We love Robot Wars. I think because it showcases the best and worst of humanity, our ingenuity and our bloodthirsty desire to destroy things.

[Laughs] Me too! That is a perfect, perfect summary of the show.

Tell us about the relationships between the teams. You’ve...

Aaron Birch Jul 22, 2016

Ahead of the return of Robot Wars to BBC Two, we revisit the classic original run of the show...

3. 2. 1. Activate!

In early February 1998 a new TV game show surfaced on BBC Two, one that was about as different as anything we'd ever seen. It didn't feature general knowledge questions or sprints around a super market, it was equal parts testosterone and techno-geek chic. It was, of course, Robot Wars and it would quickly become one of the most popular programmes on TV.

Before appearing on UK TV, Robot Wars was first dreamt up over the pond. The story goes that a Lucasfilm-employed toy designer by the name of Marc Thorpe came up with the idea in 1992 while failing to build a remote control vacuum cleaner. The results ended up being less about cleanliness, and more about carnage. This unexpected turn out made Thorpe realise that radio controlled...

A couple of years ago, I wrote a story for Sports Illustrated about something called chess boxing. It’s pretty much like it sounds - people box for a couple minutes and then switch to playing chess for a few more minutes. This goes back and forth until someone gets knocked out or checkmated. I affectionately referred to it as “Fight Club for Nerds.” I stand corrected. That title really should belong to the ABC series BattleBots. The show, which is a reboot of the old Comedy Central program of the same title, is a competition between robots (and their drivers) that look to pulverize each other into fine bits of shrapnel while throngs of fans scream in excitement. And when you consider each robot costs around $14,000, that’s some expensive shrapnel. It’s as wacky as it sounds. Nerds like me inexplicably watch it because…that’s what we do.

Aaron Birch Jul 13, 2016

The Crystal Maze, Cyber Zone, Fort Boyard... We look back at the UK game shows that dared to ask more than just quiz questions...

If the idea of yet another TV game show with an uninspiring presenter and ever so slight spin on the tried and tested Q&A formula fills you with apathy, you're not alone. Although TV quiz shows often rake in the viewers for a relatively low production budget, hence their popularity with TV studios, the whole genre feels a little stagnant. Perhaps it's the rise of the Internet, a general change in viewer culture, and the changing tastes that come with it. While many shows of the past delighted audiences with images of shiny new appliances, cars, and holidays to far-off destinations, today's shows mostly award cold, hard, and boring cash. Great for the winner, but not too interesting for the viewer. Give...

Organisers have announced that the McM London Comic Con this May will host the European premiere of new Sunrise film Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin III. Comic Con will also welcome the series’ mecha designer and producer, Mika Akitaka and Osamu Taniguchi – both of whom will be signing autographs for fans and presenting a panel on the Saturday of the Excel London show.

Mika Akitaka has worked as a mechanical designer on a slew of Mobile Suit Gundam titles prior to The Origin, such as Mobile Suit Gundam Zz and Mobile Suit Gundam 0083, along with series such as Martian Successor Nadesico, A Certain Magical Index: Miracle of Endymion, Date A Live, Sakura Wars and Super Robot Wars Og: The Inspector. As well as producing The Origin, Osamu Taniguchi’s credits include The Piano Forest, Lupin III (TV Special), Moyashimon and slice-of-life comedy Ramen Fighter Miki.

An adaptation of Yoshikazu Yasuhiko’s best-selling manga,...

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Netflix’s Voltron series will be called Voltron: Legendary Defender, and we’ve got the first huge robot image here…

When Netflix announced its plan to bring back 1980s astronauts-assembling-a-giant-robot-to-fight-evil series Voltron in collaboration with Dreamworks Animation, it was overshadowed a little by the fact that they also announced Trollhunters, an animated series from the mind of Guillermo del Torro.

Today, though, Netflix is putting Voltron centre stage. The streaming service has announced that the new series will be entitled Voltron: Legendary Defender, and this first piece of promotional art was also unveiled…

There’s no word yet on when to expect Netflix’s take on Voltron to reach our screens. There’s also no official confirmation thus far on whether the series will be a reboot or if it will take the shape of a belated sequel (although the former seems likeliest). It's been called a 'reimagining,...

The robots have returned. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the cancelled BBC game show Robot Wars will be coming back for six new episodes.

The series, which featured contestants pitting hand-built robots against each other, ran from 1998 to 2004. Robot Wars evolved into BattleBots in the United States. That show was recently revived and renewed for a second season on ABC.

Read More…...

'Robot Wars' is set to make a return. The technological game show, which is branded an 'absolute TV classic', last appeared on screens 12 years ago but is now being rebooted by BBC Two for a new six-part series. Alan Tyler, BBC acting controller of entertainment commissioning, said: ''The redeveloped 'Robot Wars' proved compelling, offering a mix of real people, real passion and raw power. It is remarkable to see how much more powerful these robots have become since the series last aired, with battles now staged in an arena that is literally bullet-proof.'' Bosses have promised the forthcoming series will involve...

BBC Two has commissioned a reboot of the famous Jeremy Clarkson-led 1998 game show "Robot Wars".

LucasToys designer Marc Thorpe created the series in which amateur roboteers pit their creations against one another in an arena battle. The UK update follows in the wake of U.S. network ABC scoring success this past summer with the similar "BattleBots".

Mentorn Scotland will produce six episodes of the reboot which boasts "more robots, more battles and more science than ever before" along with more innovative fighting machines who will duke it out in front of a live audience in Glasgow.

Source: Deadline...

Ever conscious of an unduly beloved dormant property the BBC have given the green light to a new series of Robot Wars. We are promised 6 shows with a ‘new structure with more robots, more battles and more science than ever before.’ So we may get GoPro cameras on the robots themselves but will we

The post Tin Gladiator Hobbycombat show Robot Wars is coming back to the BBC appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Man vs machine game show Robot Wars is getting a new incarnation. Producer Mentorn Scotland has been commissioned by BBC Two to make a six-episode reboot that will feature “more robots, more battles and more science than ever before.” The show first aired in 1998 with Jeremy Clarkson as host (see video below) and ultimately sold around the world. The brainchild of former LucasToys designer Marc Thorpe, the entertainment series sees amateur roboteers pit their creations…...

Louisa Mellor Rob Leane Jul 12, 2016

The BBC has given us our best look yet at the new Robot Wars, with a four-minute preview clip...

Please note: we've moved the comments for Robot Wars here

The BBC has released a whopping four-minutes-long trailer to get us all hyped up for the new series of Robot Wars. Unfortunately, because this preview clip is hosted on iPlayer, it's not yet possible to embed it here.

You need to click here to see the mammoth new Robot Wars trailer.

The BBC has also released this tantalising text about the show...

"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.

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The BBC is bringing back 1990s classic teatime mechanical battle show, Robot Wars...

The basis of many happy late 90s Friday teatimes and a cracking episode of Spaced, Robot Wars is coming back.

For the uninitiated, the series showcased amateur robotics and wanton destruction for an hour a week on BBC Two between 1998 and 2001, before moving off the channel and finally packing its bags in 2004.

The premise was simple: build a robot, arm it to the teeth, and use it to attempt to take out imaginatively named house robots including Shunt and Sir Killalot while presenters Craig Charles and Philippa Forrester looked on.

A dozen years after it ended, BBC2 has recommissioned a revived Robot Wars from Mentorn Scotland, which promises to deliver "more robots, battles and science."

A six-episode run of the rebooted series has been ordered, with no official word yet on who the presenters will be.

'Robot Wars' is set to make a return. The technological game show, which is branded an 'absolute TV classic', last appeared on screens 12 years ago but is now being rebooted by BBC Two for a new six-part series. Alan Tyler, BBC acting controller of entertainment commissioning, said: ''The redeveloped 'Robot Wars' proved compelling, offering a mix of real people, real passion and raw power. It is remarkable to see how much more powerful these robots have become since the series last aired, with battles now staged in an arena that is literally bullet-proof.'' Bosses have promised the forthcoming series will involve...

By 1967 the dictatorial Nikkatsu studio president Kyusaku Hori had had enough. He approached filmmaking like an auditor going over a company’s finances, there were boxes to be ticked and conventions to be adhered to. His corporation was a factory, mass producing entertainment for the cheaply exploitable youth market. The constant spanner in Hori’s assembly line was Seijun Suzuki. Over the previous twelve years, he had directed thirty-nine films and in that time had developed a canon of hysterical, hallucinatory and heretical works. With each production, the insanity became more liberated, excessive and frenzied. He was the enfant terrible of Japanese cinema and Hori was done with his shit.

As a warning shot, Suzuki’s next film would be given only a shoestring budget with the cautionary note that he was ‘going too far’ and needed to ‘play it straight’. Suzuki responded with Branded to Kill, an expressionist fantasia...

Humans has already been a big hit for Channel 4. Ryan looks at what makes its low-key approach to sci-fi so brilliantly effective...

Warnings: contains mild spoilers for Humans episodes one and two.

A delicious air of tension hangs like cobwebs over Humans, the Channel 4 and AMC co-production which began airing earlier this month. It presents a near-future where a new breed of robots - called Synths - are both cheap and commonplace. They clean our schools, look after our elderly and do our cooking and cleaning.

The Synths carry out their menial tasks with serene eyes and an eerie half-smile, yet not everyone is comforted by their presence. Take Laura Hawkins (Katherine Parkinson), for example: a busy mother of two, she returns home from work one day to discover that her husband Joe (Tom Goodman-Hill) has purchased a Synth called Anita (Gemma Chan) to help with the household chores.

Suzi Perry will host new robot show 'Airheads'. The BBC's Formula 1 presenter has been signed by TV bosses to front the 'Robot Wars'-style program that will feature drones in battle and take over Top Gear's traditional slot in the BBC Two schedule on Sunday nights. Suzi is joined by co-hosts Andrew Maxwell, a stand-up comedian and Ski Sunday commentator Ed Leigh on the show, which is reportedly hoping to appeal to 'Top Gear' fans and tech lovers alike. The trio will present challenges that require three technical teams to build and show off their flying machine creations, before battling it out...

Who is the actor-musician overshadowing Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron as the Doof Warrior?

The Doof Warrior, Mad Max’s flame-throwing, jumpsuit-wearing, truck-riding guitarist, has become an overnight cult hero.

It takes a lot to steal a scene in a film like Mad Max: Fury Road. For a start, you have got Tom Hardy snacking on two-headed lizards and being used as a human blood bag, Charlize Theron as a one-armed bandit queen and what basically amounts to a two-hour-long car chase in a fleet of super-sized Monster Trucks that look like they have been hacked by drunk Robot Wars mechanics (note to whoever takes over on Top Gear: this is how to get non-car fans interested in watching cars).

Big Hero 6 is more Walt Disney Animation Studios' film than a Marvel flick - at least for most of its running time. And that's no bad thing.

Loneliness has been a growing thread in the last few films from Walt Disney Animation Studios. And whilst, at first glance, Big Hero 6 is a very different turn that's been taken, it bears some familiar themes, explored from a different perspective.

If Wreck-It Ralph, then, gave us the extraordinary Vanellope von Schweetz (still probably my favourite new Disney character of recent times) and Frozen homed in on two sisters torn apart, Big Hero 6 turns to a boy genius by the name of Hiro. Courtesy of an impressive opening sequence, it's clear that Hiro is a young man schooled in BBC 2's Robot Wars, as he takes his latest invention into a robot battle, with his 'bots' emerging victorious.

Those bots,...