Science Channel

Science Channel
Science Channel logo since 2016
Channel Information
Years Active	1996-present
Robot Wars Information
Market	United States
UK Series	8 (US dub)

"More metal munching madness is headed to Science Channel as the network has picked up rights to air the robot fighting series ROBOT WARS. Filmed in an enormous bulletproof fighting arena that contains dangerous hazards such as fire, spikes, the flipper and the iconic pit, 40 of the top robot combat teams from all over the world compete for Robot Wars supremacy. ROBOT WARS is set for its U.S. premiere on Wednesday, August 8 at 10pm ET/PT."

— Science Channel's press release in July 2018

Science Channel, often shortened to Science and stylised as SCI, is a American television channel owned by Discovery, Inc.. It was responsible for airing Series 8 of Robot Wars.

History

Originally called Discovery Science Network, plans were announced in 1994 for four digital channels to be launched. These included Discovery Kids, Discovery Home & Leisure, Discovery Civilization and Discovery Science. In 2002, the channel would undergo its first major rebranding, changing to The Science Channel in the US, but would retaining its original title internationally.

Discovery a brand new logo for the channel in 2007, inspired by the periodic table. Just a year later, the decision had been made to focus their attention towards an older demographic, thus removing shows targeted at younger children. A high-definition channel was launched in September 2009 and by 2011, the channel was rebranded once more, simply called Science.

The channel remained largely untouched until Discovery announced a new logo in 2016, which has remained to this day.

The UK, Italy, Sweden, Turkey, Canada, India, Latin America, Australia and several other European countries all have their own international versions of Science Channel, under the name Discovery Science.

Robot Wars

In July 2018, Discovery announced the decision to begin broadcasting reruns of Robot Wars, two months after reviving fellow robot combat show BattleBots, and four months after the BBC's decision to not commission future series following Series 10. Episodes of the rebooted Robot Wars would be aired directly after the BattleBots 2018 season on a Wednesday 10pm slot.

The first episode of Series 8 aired a month later, with the show edited heavily to suit a US audience. The iconic commentary of Jonathan Pearce was replaced by US sports commentator Bill Seward, who also largely replaced the roles of presenters Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon in announcing commercial breaks, revealing the outcomes of Judges' decisions, as well as introducing and closing out each episode. The voice edited to introduce teams before each episode was even replaced by one from an American voice actor, with statistics boards favouring imperial measurements over the metric units in the original broadcasts.

In keeping with the larger emphasis placed on Seward's role, new closing credits similar in style to Discovery's BattleBots seasons were also implemented. Credits were placed over clips of the audience, interviews and sign-offs from Ó Briain and Scanlon, and battle highlights, in a manner not too dissimilar to the end credits sequence of most classic UK series.

Each episode had its own title, unlike the original versions broadcast by the BBC and Mech+, which were simply identified by episode numbers or adopted the naming scheme carried over from the Classic run.

BBC Air Date	Science Channel Air Date	UK Episode Title	US Episode Title
24 July 2016	August 8 2018	Series 8: Heat A	First Blood
31 July 2016	August 15 2018	Series 8: Heat B	Thor's Fury
7 August 2016	August 22 2018	Series 8: Heat C	Flip Happens
14 August 2016	August 29 2018	Series 8: Heat D	Going Airborne
21 August 2016	September 5 2018	Series 8: Heat E	Hell On Wheels
28 August 2016	September 12 2018	Series 8: Grand Final	Championship Clash

Despite the existence of the US dub, Science Channel social media feeds also shared full clips of individual Series 8 battles taken from the original UK version. These included the Heat B final between Thor and Shockwave, the Heat C Group Battle involving Dantomkia, GlitterBomb, King B Remix and Overdozer, the Heat D Head to Head between Eruption and Storm 2, and the Grand Final Head to Head between Carbide and TR2.

Following the Grand Final broadcast, Series 9 and 10 were not aired on Science Channel. Nevertheless, footage from the latter (including clips of Ó Briain and Scanlon's reactions, plus Shunt attacking Thor in the second World Series special) would be used prominently in a promotional trailer for the Series 8 airings. Interestingly, Series 8 was never referred to by its series number throughout, with it being treated as a standalone show.

Dara and Angela's misspelt surnames in the end credits of Series 8: Heat A on Science Channel

Trivia

• The channel's working name in 1996 was Quark.
• Original presenters Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon's surnames were both spelt incorrectly during the end credits of each episode, named O'Brian and Sanlon respectively.
• Discovery would also air BattleBots from 2018 onwards, taking over from ABC after 2016.