Mechanoids (partially found BBC robot combat game show; 2003)

Status: Lost

Comment: 4/6 episodes lost.

Mechanoids was a robot combat gameshow created and released between series 6 and 7 of the popular Robot Wars TV series. Described by some as "Robot Wars with blood and swearing", it was a robot combat show, focused on more remote control anthropomorphic robots, standing upright on wheeled bases, with mechanical arms. It was set in a post-apocalyptic future, with the robots destroying alien targets.

The show had 6 episodes, and aired on BBC Three, late at night, and past 11pm. It was hosted by Nigel Buckland and Glenn Hugill, with Tuyet Li co-hosting. It was filmed in Glasgow. Each episode featured 2 robots completing a number of challenges.

The robots completed challenges, such as: - The Furnace (Robots must drive up a ramp, pick up rods, drive down, and dump them into an incinerator) - Alien Hunt (Robots must enter an arena with hanging alien bodies, and "carnoids" racing around the ground, and get points for how many they destroy) - The Nest - Death Race (No episodes found containing this challenge)

The robots involved were: - Estron (Made by Team Panic Attack, the creators of Panic Attack, the winner of the second season of Robot Wars) - Megabyte (Made by Team Make Robotics, the creators of Behemoth, a very successful, but never season winning, entrant into Robot Wars) - Sidewinder (Made by Team B, the creators of King Buxton, of Robot Wars. Sidewinder was built using King Buxton as a base.) - Marauder (Made at RAF Cosford, near Wolverhampton. Biggest and heaviest of the robots entered, at 200kg) - Brian Damage (Made by Frog Twizzle, from Derbyshire) - Ms Calvin Can (Made by Team EyeEye, who created the first walking robot in Robot Wars, "Jim Struts". And "Arnold, Arnold Terminegger") - Kyodai (Made by Team Big Brother, who entered Big Brother and Bigger Brother into Robot Wars) - Buzzcut - Mantis - Mechatron (Made by Team Centurion, who entered Centurion into Robot Wars Season 3 and 4, and created Skeletron for Techno Games) - Gomez (Made by Team Pendragon, who created Pendragon for Robot Wars Season 5, but did not qualify.)

Either Buzzcut or Mantis was made by Team Technobots, who entered M2 into Robot Wars Season 7

The show, like Robot Wars, also featured some house robots, owned and controlled by the show. These were: - Assassinoid (Huge robot equipped with a saw and faux minigun) - Scorch (Equipped with a flame thrower)

We know of these fights, but lack the full episodes: Mechatron vs Gomez: 100 vs 40 in The Furnace. This might be Episode 1. Dark Knight vs Ms Calvin Can (Episode 6?)

The episodes were: - Episode 1. Aired 2003-06-11 at 23:25. Status: Lost - Episode 2. Aired 2003-06-18 at 23:30. Status: Lost - Episode 3. Aired 2003-06-25 at 23:10. Status: Lost - Episode 4 (First Semi-final). Aired 2003-07-02 at 23:10. Status: Found Featuring: Sidewinder and Marauder. Winner: Marauder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT4mzqvNtiY

- Episode 5 (Second Semi-final). Aired 2003-07-09 at 23:15. Status: Found Featuring: Brian Damage and Megabyte. Winner: Megabyte https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nchiuhBdi-8&t=1090s

- Episode 6 (The Final). Aired 2003-07-16 at 23:25. Status: Lost

More information about the series: - UK Game shows entry: http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Mechanoids - TVDB entry for the show: https://www.thetvdb.com/series/mechanoids - TV Guide listings for Mechanoids: https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?adv=0&q=mechanoids&media=all&yf=1923&yt=2009&mf=1&mt=12&tf=00%3A00&tt=00%3A00#search - Team Big Brother's page on Kyodai: http://www.teambigbro.co.uk/Kyodai.html