Andy DehnartBattleBots has been picked up by the Discovery Channel and Science Channel. The new season will debut sometime this spring.
ABC aired a revived version for two seasons, in 2015 and 2106, before cancelling it. Science Channel started airing repeats of the ABC version last summer, a year after ABC’s second season was broadcast.
In its press release, Discovery calls this “a reimagined take on the killer robot combat sport from Whalerock Industries and the creators of the original BattleBots franchise, Ed Roski and Greg Munson.”
That production company and the creators were involved with the ABC version, so it’s not clear if this will be materially different. And the description makes it sound like essentially the same ridiculously fun show:
“The metal munching mayhem is back, from the bots to the builders, the flames, the spark and all the robot guts and glory. Each match consists of two robots competing in a single, three-minute bout in which the goal is to destroy or disable their opponent. If there is no knockout during the battle, a panel of judges will declare a victor.
[…] BattleBots highlights the design and build of each robot, bot builder backstories, and their pursuit of the BattleBots championship. Homemade robots built on a myriad of platforms and featuring a huge variety of deadly weapons go head-to-head, all captured by state-of-the-art onboard technology and cameras to enhance viewing and provide combat analytics.”
In his press release quote, Roski said, “This is a sport for smart people where it’s all about ideas and building something cool. BattleBots is a fight to the death, but no one gets hurt. It’s the place to show-off your imagination, your engineering prowess and art, and your ability to make it survive—and we couldn’t be happier bringing BattleBots to Discovery.”