Meet the House Robots

Meet the House Robots is a short preview episode of the 2016 series of Robot Wars, 4:43 in length, released exclusively on BBC iPlayer on July 11, 2016.


 * It was never aired on television, and remained on BBC iPlayer for 29 days after its release, before being removed from legal public viewing.
 * The 2016 Robot Wars logo was seen in animated motion for the first time at the end of Meet the House Robots.
 * It was also the first piece of Robot Wars media to feature commentary from Jonathan Pearce since The Third World Championship, over 12 years prior.

Show Retrospective
The preview opens with Jonathan Pearce drawing reference to the late nineties-early 2000's, when Robot Wars first aired, stating "Before Smartphones, Before Drones, Before Instagram, We had Robot Wars." Clips of battles from Series 2-5 were screened on a retro television over his commentary.

Clips of the following battles from previous series were shown, in this order, excluding the re-appearance of the same battles further into the preview:
 * Chaos 2 vs. The Big Cheese (Heat E, Series 3)
 * Razer vs. Widow's Revenge (Heat K, Series 5)
 * Chaos 2 vs. Pussycat (Grand Final, Series 4)
 * Hypno-Disc vs. Splinter (Semi-Final 2, Series 4)
 * Chaos 2 vs. Hypno-Disc (Prior to the battle, Grand Final, Series 3)
 * Razer vs. Firestorm 3
 * Chaos 2 vs. Wild Thing (Semi-Final 1, Series 5)

House Robots Retrospective
After introducing the show itself, Jonathan Pearce talked about the House Robots that appeared across Series 2-5, showing clips of them attacking competitors.

Clips of the following House Robot attacks were shown, in this order:
 * Sergeant Bash on The Big Cheese
 * Sir Killalot on Mortis
 * Shunt on Chaos 2 and Wild Thing
 * Shunt on X-Terminator
 * Dead Metal on Axios

"But when the arena fell silent, the House Robots went into retirement, and lay dormant."

- Jonathan Pearce

This was followed by shots of these House Robots, as they appear today, using their older models.

2016 Series Introduction
A shot of the 2016 arena started a montage of clips from the new series. Seconds of a selection of battles were shown, before showing teaser shots of Terrorhurtz, Behemoth and Nuts, while Jonathan Pearce discussed the weapon types available.

2016 House Robots Introduction
After this, the new House Robots were introduced.

Shunt
"Shunt is the arena's bruiser, a real junkyard dog."

- Jonathan Pearce

Shunt's new statistics were revealed, then Shunt destroyed a washing machine, Pearce remarking that it is Shunt's favourite pastime.

Dead Metal
"Ah, Dead Metal, a cross between a hedgehog and a stealth bomber."

- Jonathan Pearce

Dead Meal's new statistics were revealed, then Dead Metal cut through and pushed a metal engine.

Matilda
"Oh, Matilda, I have missed you!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Matilda's new statistics were revealed, then Matilda flipped and destroyed wooden pallettes. Interestingly, Jonathan Pearce gives the information that Matilda's flywheel is made of HARDOX, an advertisement that the Robot Wars website avoided stating when competitors were armed in HARDOX.

Sir Killalot
"The heaviest, deadliest, most regal robot ever made, the king of carnage himself, an absolute liability... in a china shop!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Sir Killalot's new statistics were revealed, before he crushed and held a car door aloft.

Closing section
To end the preview, a few more clips of the series were played, including a shot of the new presenters Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon, and the new title graphics were played over the new "3, 2, 1, Activate!"

The preview closed with a "Coming Soon" message.

Programme description
Taken from the BBC iPlayer page:

''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. They were there to keep the peace or if they felt like it, smash, bash and crash the competitors on a whim.''

But when the show finished, the House Robots went into retirement.

Shunned by their public, they never lost sight of the dream.

''Over the years they have evolved, growing bigger, badder and much much more dangerous. Now they’re back and this time they’re really cross.''

The presenters have also been rebooted, the competitors are ready to fight, and the new series of Robot Wars is back.

3, 2, 1, Activate.