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

{{InfoboxLost 
|title=<center>Dutch Robot Wars: Series 2</center> 
|image=Robot wars title.jpg
|imagecaption=Title card for the show.
|status=<span style="color:orange;">'''Partially Lost'''</span> 
}}
'''''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.<ref name="heats">[http://web.archive.org/web/20030422153441/http://dutchrobotwars.com:80/ Archived ''Dutch Robot Wars'' post announcing the original heat line-ups (forum in Dutch).] Retrieved 18th May '23</ref> 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.<ref>[http://runamok.tech/whowon/war5tree.html ''Run Amok'' detailing ''Robot Wars: Series 5'''s tournament bracket, which has similarities to ''Dutch Robot Wars: Series 2''.] Retrieved 18th May '23</ref><ref name="heats"/> 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.<ref name="heats"/> 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.<ref name="beast">[http://web.archive.org/web/20031031033028/http://members.home.nl/blackbeast/nieuws.html 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</ref> Because of the delay in airing new episodes, BNN opted to re-broadcast Heat A on 16th and 23rd June.<ref name="beast"/> 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.<ref name="beast"/> The remaining episodes would air consecutively from 7th July to 4th August.<ref name="beast"/> However, the pre-empts may well have implied BNN's declining interest in carrying the show.<ref name="beast"/> On 30th September, more than a month following the Grand Final broadcast, BNN decided to drop the show after two series.<ref name="beast"/> 

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,<ref name="krab">[https://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/content/147-crushtacean ''Fighting Robots Association'' page on Crushtacean/Krab-Bot.] Retrieved 18th May '23</ref> Scrap-2-Saur beat Gravity, while PulverizeR outmatched √3².<ref name="scraptosaur">[https://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/content/203-scraptosaur ''Fighting Robots Association'' page on Scraptosaur.] Retrieved 18th May '23</ref> Alongside these machines, Twister, Bamm Bamm, and Meshuggah were granted wildcards.<ref>[https://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/content/272-twister ''Fighting Robots Association'' page on Twister.] Retrieved 18th May '23</ref><ref name="bammbamm">[https://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/content/244-bamm-bamm ''Fighting Robots Association'' page on Bamm Bamm.] Retrieved 18th May '23</ref> Philipper 2 defeated Krab-Bot, while PulverizeR fully ended Twister's run.<ref name="krab"/> 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.<ref name="bammbamm"/><ref name="scraptosaur"/> After flipping Philipper 2 and damaging its flipper, PulverizeR was declared ''Dutch Robot Wars: Series 2'' champions via a Jury's Decision.<ref name="pulverizer">[https://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/content/186-pulverizer ''Fighting Robots Association'' page on PulverizeR.] Retrieved 18th May '23</ref><ref name="philipper">[https://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/content/182-philipper ''Fighting Robots Association'' page on Philipper.] Retrieved 18th May '23</ref> It would later compete in ''Robot Wars Extreme: Series 2'''s European Championships, losing in Round 1 to Razer.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20021114155421/http://www.robotmayhem.com/forum/messages/49/10069.html?1031884009 Archived ''Robot Wars'' announcing ''Robot Wars Extreme: Series 2'''s European Championships.] Retrieved 18th May '23</ref><ref name="pulverizer"/> 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.<ref name="philipper"/>

==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.<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/officialmechplus/posts/pfbid02kYXWPjpm88QFBQxp7qq8u5ohAJoGZhkfjBe8rJSssVxdsw6UnzMSdogYddthduyfl ''Mech+'' announcing it would upload all ''Dutch Robot Wars: Series 1'' episodes to its streaming service.] Retrieved 18th May '23</ref> It brings optimism that Series 2 may be available in its complete form in the future.   

==Gallery==
===Videos===
{{Video|perrow  =3    
  |service1     =youtube
  |id1          =IYgSubXVbTE
  |description1 =Heat A.
  |service2     =youtube
  |id2          =EX2kUdSzde0
  |description2 =Heat B.
  |service3     =youtube
  |id3          =fx1YWG9tL0Q
  |description3 =An incomplete Heat C.
}}
{{Video|perrow  =3    
  |service1     =youtube
  |id1          =yk7J48kpMtk
  |description1 =Heat D.
  |service2     =youtube
  |id2          =b_O_g7BiSWg
  |description2 =An incomplete Heat E.
  |service3     =youtube
  |id3          =5L6P-CcnGT8
  |description3 =An incomplete Grand Final.
}}

==See Also==
*[[1995 Robot Wars UK Open (partially found rejected robot combat TV show pilot; 1995)]]
*[[American Robot Wars 2000 (lost MTV pilot of British robot combat game show; 2000)]]
*[[BattleBots (found Comedy Central robot combat game show; 2000-2002)]]
*[[BattleBots (partially found footage of robot combat show dress rehearsal battles; 2015-2021)]]
*[[BattleBots (partially lost build of unreleased GameCube/PlayStation 2 game based on robot combat TV series; 2003)]]
*[[BattleBots Collegiate Championship (partially lost unaired spinoff of robot combat TV show; 2009)]]
*[[BattleBots High School Championship (partially found footage of robot combat tournament; 2009)]]
*[[BattleBots Pro Championship (partially found footage of robot combat tournament; 2009)]]
*[[The Big Breakfast (lost appearance of Robot Wars team on Channel 4 breakfast show; 1998)]]
*[[Blue Peter (partially found segments of Robot Wars teams on children's television series; 1998)]]
*[[Mechanoids (partially found BBC robot combat game show; 2003)]]
*[[Plunderbirds: Talk Robots (found robot combat mockumentary film; 2019)]]
*[[Robot Wars (found cameos of robot combat-themed BBC 2 ident; 1999-2000)]]
*[[Robot Wars (lost footage and HSE documentation of behind-the-scenes accidents of BBC robot combat game show; 1998-1999)]]
*[[Robot Wars (lost near-death footage of Jeremy Clarkson from robot combat game show; 1998)]]
*[[Robot Wars (lost work on unfinished cartoon series based on robot combat game show; existence unconfirmed; 2002-2004)]]
*[[Robot Wars (partially found footage of robot combat show qualifying auditions and battles; 1998-2003)]]
*[[Robot Wars (partially found unaired or partially aired battles of BBC robot combat game show; 1998-2017)]]
*[[Robot Wars (partially found uncut battles from BBC robot combat game show; 1998-2017)]]
*[[Robot Wars Extreme: Series 1 (lost original BBC Choice version of robot combat battle; 2001)]]
*[[Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors: Season 1 (found TNN robot combat game show; 2001)]]
*[[Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors: Season 2 (partially found behind-the-scenes footage of TNN robot combat game show; 2002)]]
*[[Robot Wars Revealed (found BBC Choice spin-off of robot combat game show; 1998-2000)]]
*[[Robot Wars: Series 8 (lost unaired pilot of BBC robot combat game show; 2016)]]
*[[Robot Wars: Series 8 (partially found Science Channel reruns of robot combat game show; 2018)]]
*[[Robot Wars: The Kick-Off (lost BNN robot combat special; 2001)]]
*[[Robotica (found TLC robot combat game show; 2001-2003)]]
*[[Robots Revenge (partially found Discovery robot combat documentary series; 2001)]]
*[[See Hear (lost appearance of Robot Wars team on BBC magazine show; 1999)]]
*[[Why Hypno-Disc can't work in an office (found testing video of Robot Wars competitor; 2000, 2007)]]

==External Links==
*[https://robotwars.fandom.com/wiki/Dutch_Robot_Wars:_Series_2 ''Robot Wars Wiki'' page regarding the ''Dutch Robot Wars: Series 2''].
*[https://watch.mech-plus.com/details/25546 ''Mech+'' providing the entirety of ''Dutch Robot Wars: Series 1''].

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Lost TV]]
[[Category:Partially lost media]]