La7

La7
La7 logo at the time of airing Robot Wars
Robot Wars Information
Market	Italy
UK Series	2, 4-5, Extreme 1 (Italian dub)
Predecessor	Italia 1

La7, sometimes stylised as LA7, is an Italian free-to-air television channel which aired the Italian dubs of Series 2, 4 and 5 of Robot Wars, and the first series of Robot Wars Extreme, taking over from fellow free-to-air channel Italia 1.

History

The channel was founded in 1974, originally called Tele Monte Carlo, or TMC for short, becoming one of the first channels to broadcast shows in colour. Despite struggles in later years, TMC was able to air several major sporting events, such as UEFA Euro 1992 and the Summer Olympics in the same year.

In 2001, Telecom Italia announced they had acquired the channel to create a stronger competitor to rival Italian channels, and it was subsequently renamed La7. The channel's ownership changed again in 2011, though its name did not change this time, and Cairo Communication still own La7 to this day.

Nowadays, La7 airs a variety of television shows, ranging from comedies and entertainment to news and broadcasts of Japanese animated series including Pokémon and Dragon Ball Z.

Robot Wars

The Robot Wars History logo used for La7's retrospective airings of The Second Wars

La7 began airing dubbed versions of Robot Wars towards the end of 2001 on weekdays at 5:30pm and Sundays at 1:30pm. It was hosted by former professional volleyball player Andrea Lucchetta, who took over from Marco Bellavia following the show's move from Mediaset-owned Italia 1. Commentary was provided by Ugo Francica Nava, who replaced Guido Bagatta for the same reason. Though fully dubbed, the original English audio for arena/team introductions and interviews can occasionally be heard clearly in localised episodes; Stuart McDonald's "Roboteers, Stand By", "3-2-1 Activate" and "Cease" announcements all remained intact.

Stats for Cassius edited onto a more modern statistics board graphic

Although Series 4, Extreme 1 and Series 5 aired in chronological order, the same cannot be said of The Second Wars. Dubbed Robot Wars History, La7 aired Series 2 immediately after its airing of The Fifth Wars, treating it as a look into the early history of the televised UK Series. These episodes included the Gauntlet and Trial events, though introductions to each event including original presenters Craig Charles and Philippa Forrester were omitted.

Heat K's battleboard graphic showcasing the Heat Final

Interestingly, the unique robot introductions at the start of each original episode were also cut, with stat card graphics from Extreme 1 onwards replicated for Series 2 competitors over the top of a static image of the robot. The original robot introduction theme was also replaced for these with the Extreme 1-Series 7 entrance theme. La7's Series 2 airings are known to have included dubbed History versions of the Grudge Matches and Best of Robot Wars specials, the latter with the original untranslated English title.

Battleboard and transition animation graphics for Robot Wars History were also based on the Extreme 1-Series 7 styles. Many of the other graphics used on general La7 airings were either translated to suit an Italian-speaking audience, or remained similar to the original UK broadcast with minor changes. Other changes in presentation occur in airings of Series 4, which utilise Series 3-style event cards/animations, and air robot statsboards from the Eliminator rounds a second time prior to the Heat Semi-Final battles.

Along with a slightly different logo style for individual events, La7's Extreme 1 airings also included custom logos for those which did not receive an equivalent in the UK version. Examples include the Tag Team Terror (Tag Team), Featherweight Championship (Pesi Piuma) and Flipper Frenzy (La Catapulta).

Extreme 1 Tag Team (Tag Team Terror) logo

Extreme 1 Pesi Piuma (Featherweight Championship) logo

Extreme 1 La Catapulta (Flipper Frenzy) logo

In contrast to most other versions, the song "Android Love" is frequently used during the end credits in place of the regular Robot Wars theme music.

Trivia

• In Robot Wars History episodes, phrases on the Trials graphics such as "Survived" and "Victorious" remained untranslated.
• The Gauntlet was known in Robot Wars History broadcasts as La Punizione, directly translating to "The Punishment".
• Tip Top's Robin Hoad reported having given interviews intended to be broadcast on the Italian version of Series 5.

External Links

• La7 on Wikipedia