What To Watch: Robot Combat League

Written by Stuart Cooper

What To Watch: Robot Combat League

Real Steel just became a work of non-fiction!

Last week was the debut of a show I never thought I'd see, a robot fighting show called "Robot Combat League"! You heard me right, the premise of that Hugh Jackman movie "Real Steel" has come to life...sort of. The show is a nice middle line between those old crappy Battlebots shows from the mid-90's and "Real Steel". Technology has not quite advanced to the level of "Real Steel" so the Robots are not totally wireless. They are more or less Robo-puppets. The robots are attached to a mechanism that reads the movements of the human. So like in "Real Steel" you control the robot by moving around in a suit of sorts. The movement is limited to punches and dodges. To say the movements of the robots are limited would be a huge understatement. They are not capable of super quick movements, but it's still a lot of fun. It's a live action Rock-em Sock-em Robots. The robots each have a unique look, which gives them character. I pick who I want to win strictly based on appearance of the robot.

The reality portion of the show is hosted by WWE Legend Chris Jericho! I'm a huge pro wrestling fan so I couldn't help but enjoy his hosting, tho it is pretty by the numbers. The stars of the show are various people from around the United States who have some type of talent they could contribute to robot fighting. Some are NASA employees, teachers, engineers...then you have people who are former boxers or MMA fighters, which explores the more barbaric side of the show. The show does unfortunately have that reality trash feel to it at times. You see a lot of that fake conflict stuff thrown in, an unfortunate trait in reality television. The show also tries to give each participant some kind of personality. In the first episode a Father-Daughter team really pushes the sympathy vote when they reveal they both have terminal illnesses, and that this is something they've always wanted to do. So how are you going to root against two people who just told you they are already dying? I thought that was a bit distasteful and exploitative. Other than those small complaints, this show is a blast! The actual fights at the end of the show are pretty enjoyable and while cheesy, live up to the "Robot Combat" name. I would recommend checking this one out, at least for one episode. If it's not your thing then I recommend the Robot Pro Wrestling episode of "Futurama"! Gender Bender is unfortunately not involved in "Robot Combat League".

Episode 1 of the Show:

Checkout "Robot Combat League" Tuesday Nights on Syfy!