User blog comment:DeltaSquad5/Robot Wars 2016 - First Episode Reaction?/@comment-35435623-20160725131626

So, general thoughts from that fast paced first episode back:

At first I had mixed feelings; the general presentation and pits work was great, but the two melees had very jarring camera work and editing. Including three shots of the crowd after the pit went down, the flat camera angle being at a strange frame rate and the general tight cropping of angles made melees very awkward watches. They needed to use the wide, high camera angle much more and stop changing to camera angles so often.

After that, it was excellent. I had doubts about the group stage, but it was executed brilliantly. The battles and filler were very well balanced, and the battles themselves were awesome watches.

Jonathan Pearce was great as ever. Obviously, him being him, he HAD to misuse the word 'armament', but overall, his laughing fits and general enthusiasm worked well as ever, and even though I thought the lack of battle music would hurt the show, it didn't hinder my watch tonight at all.

The House Robots, strangely enough worked well. Even though they didn't get involved much - because the competitors robots are that much more capable of destruction and sparks - the House Robots no longer need to be key figures in matches. I also feel that two House Robots per melee would be ideal.

Dara and Angela were brilliant. Craig definitely, 1000% would not suit this difference slant of approach that this new series is going for. They both were very well balanced and the 'Co-Presenter' role worked very well.

The arena was great. It was the perfect mix of old Robot Wars conventions, but ingrained, as such, into a BattleBots style arena. There is plenty of space and the arena hazards are well positioned. I was disappointing with the floor flipper not being activated as much as it should have, but surprisingly, I was very impressed with the arena spikes. They really feel like a tactic that could be exploited and used properly, as apposed to being a silly, cheap thing that can hurt a robot's chance at winning from nowhere.

Overall, an overly very, very positive first watch. The only real complaints I have is the camera work and editing - in melees at least. If they sort that and make things more smoother and balanced from a viewers perspective, then it'll be a perfect watch.