Prime Primes Robot Wars Reboot

Prime has picked up the Robot Wars reboot that was a hit for BBC Two over the UK summer.

The series revives a show that was big in the 1990s and has updated it with an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it strategy” more than a decade later.

“Sometimes TV producers feel the need to completely revamp, here it wasn’t necessary,” Digital Spy observed. “We know what we want: robots fighting.

“Having said that, the amateurish feel of the ’90s version has been replaced with shiny new HD cameras, a larger arena, updated House Robots, and much simpler knockout stages that anyone can follow.”

Embarrassingly for the BBC, the premiere drew more viewers than the season finale of another of its much more ballyhooed reboots, Top Gear.

The Telegraphic thought it “silly and pointless” but  acknowledged “its time has finally come …

“Twelve years on, technology has caught up, and facilitated a generation of battling bots that are a lifetime away in terms of speed, dexterity and sheer destructive power.

“Not quite Terminator standards yet, but so much more sophisticated than the armour-plated dustbins of yore.”

The Guardian dubbed it “good, clean, innocent fun with giant circular saws” while Trusted Reviews hailed it as “the antidote to the Storage Wars generation.

“There’s no emphasis on feuds between individuals, instead focusing on these slightly odd people who spend a huge amount of time and money on creating machines that get absolutely trashed within about five seconds of entering the arena.”

? Prime will air Robot Wars 7.30 Thursdays from October 13.