Battle cars

posted Apr 30th 2009 12:03pm by Caleb Kraft
filed under: news

car1

There’s a new show coming to the Discovery Chanel called Weaponizers. Brought to you by the same people who brought you Mythbusters, this show centers around weaponizing and remote controlling cars. They’ll be building them with several different types of competition in mind, including defense of an object and all out warfare. You’ll note in the press release that they keep mentioning their special effects backgrounds. Judging by the picture above, we should expect to see them shooting lots of fireworks, maybe some flame throwers thrown in. Generally, we think we’ll see lots of flashy stuff that really isn’t effective at destroying an unmanned car. They do mention live ammunition, so maybe they’ll actually try to make these things able to harm each other. Let’s hope they don’t let us down.

Comments [41]

tagged: battlebots, discovery, mythbusters, weaponizers

Reader Comments

I cant wait to see a car sized version of “hypnodisc” with a 1/2 ton disc!

Posted at 12:15 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by DeFex

who gives a shit if you’re first?

Posted at 12:43 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by barry99705

Will it have Adam and Jamie?

Posted at 12:50 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by epicelite

“this show centers around” centREs learn to spell

Posted at 12:59 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by .-.

actually center is american english and
centre is british english.
so just stfu

Posted at 1:25 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by ...

Not that “from the producers of” does not mean “with the hosts of”. I predict the series essentially aping that one Scrapheap Challange episode: cars will bang into each other at about 15-20mph max, with very little actual structural damage done to them.

Posted at 1:40 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by anon

^not *note

Posted at 1:44 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by anon

So, a COOL version of the failed show “Battle Bots” and everything like it? Those shows were so bad because they used melee weapons… but they were ROBOTS! BLOW CRAP UP!

Very nice, I will be looking forward to this.

Posted at 3:04 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by Anon

battlebots was awesome!

Posted at 3:27 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by djrussell

NOT A CHEVELLE !!!!!!!!!!! AGGGGGG otherwise very cool, they need to do it to a prius get rid of some more of those ugly pieces

Posted at 3:51 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by drew

i’m sorry but discovery has been a big fail as of lately IMHO. instead of making a show and actually putting interesting stuff into it they pull out the good and put in BS typical i want airtime idiots. A perfect example of this would be doing divinci, that program could be sweet, but they have total idiots on there and they hardly show any construction or thought process at all, it is all look at me on the camera woooohoooo. the best show on there right now is how its made and that is because they have no people on that show.

Posted at 3:58 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by h_2_o

Mayday is pretty good too. No annoying host, just the narrator. But yeah, Discovery has been pretty fail recently.

Posted at 4:10 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by bhartley

I’m surprised no one is excited about the prospect of a Twisted Metal showdown. I for one can’t wait to see if they have an ice cream truck that plays it’s music as it wrecks havoc on everyone.

Posted at 5:05 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by Ryan

i’m with h_2_o, discovery has been really going down hill. It’s kind of like MTV…and now they play anything but music…

Bring back the good stuff, also, hows its made is so flippin addictive to watch!

Posted at 5:27 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by kwa

About 1997 or so, when Robot Wars was self-destructing (due to in-fighting over profits, one of the promoters wanted 100% of the money for himself) there was a Thread on the RobotWars Forum about Radio Controlling cars with (almost) any weapon you wanted; they were going to control the cars from a mile away for safety.

I’m looking forward to this show, but I suspect I’d enjoy it more WITHOUT special effects.

PS: BattleBots is coming back, they just finished taping a show; see http://BattleBots.com

Posted at 6:12 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by AlmostThere

Will they have flower-pots full of burning thermite being hurled around? I’l like to see a car survive that…

Posted at 6:36 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by jesse

Hum.. I wonder if it would be cooler to do something more “productive” with those cars?

Posted at 6:55 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by DickHead

>I wonder if it would be cooler to do something more “productive” with those cars?

They are producing something, they are producing a TV show.

Posted at 7:28 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by AlmostThere

Could be worse, could be the train wreck once called SciFi channel. They were never forgiven for beating the even worse shows that USA network (parent co) carried.

All that said, I think the potential’s gonna be wasted from the opening credits. Shooting night pyrotechnics in daylight doesn’t look good for “quality production”.

Posted at 7:55 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by cbob

omgg i love mith busters :<} & stuff sarry i’m late i got hunted down by a asasen so i ‘ve bin a bit bissy not dieing so well yea um crrterhgtrgnn
fnfg hes in my hosefdghgss help oiooo 8,{}AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!jdyk

Posted at 11:33 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by (_:_) 8D big ass boobys

the sci-fi channel is awesome for a couple of reasons: x-files, twilight zone, and campy movies (what other channel plays pumpkinhead?!). if it weren’t for the sci-fi channel, we wouldn’t have quality entertainment like savage planet.

Posted at 11:58 pm on Apr 30th, 2009 by cptfalcon

I looks like this is going to be another horridly unwatchable show like smashlab which I already declared the absolute worst. Lets see if I was wrong and if this actually beats Smashlab in suckyness.

Posted at 2:05 am on May 1st, 2009 by retepvosnul

didn’t battlebots get three seasons? hardly a fail, much less a massive one. sure, the announcers were ultra bad.

Robot wars was just plain crap.

This show sounds like a refit of Junkyard wars with RC. and perhaps kersplosions. I agree with most everyone else here: if you are going to do it, do it right. lets see some rocket propelled grenades. thermite and machine guns.

but seriously, whats with all the remote control cars? Prototype this did it, adam and jamie do it all the time (granted, they have a good scientific or at least experiemental reason for it). Id like to see something ELSE.. like… smart cars smashing into each other. How about scaling up automated minibot sumo to snowplow proportions?

Discovery channel’s science department is failing as of late as well. last time I was back in the states (december-ish) I remember watching a show where a crack team of 4 or 5 scientists get together and solve some problem. In the two episodes I saw, the group made several obvious, glaring, retarded, first grade mistakes. Like, for example, doing something one way during your proof of concept, and getting acceptable results, only to completely change your method during the final project test application to a method that *failed* during the proof of concept tests.
then, they were dumbfounded as to why it didn’t work as expected.

Thats not only dumb, that’s downright retarded.
In all three of the episodes I saw, with my inferior eduction, I could have gotten phenomenally better results. I imagined most had readers screaming at the TV, as was I.

Posted at 4:26 am on May 1st, 2009 by MRE

ohh.. and the reason how its made rocks is because its originally a japanese show.
here they have a segment where they film the factory workers doing something, only the product isn’t on the line… they are just miming their motions, and you have to guess what it is they are ‘making / doing’
Like, laundering and folding towels… or sorting chickens…

Posted at 4:32 am on May 1st, 2009 by MRE

I’m ready.

Battle bots schmattle bots.

Posted at 7:09 am on May 1st, 2009 by strider_mt2k

Will they have lots of howtos so insurgents in Iraq can build their own?

Posted at 9:17 am on May 1st, 2009 by snide

less and less actual SCIENCE on discovery channel :( all they show latelly is RETARDED crap, junkyard wars US was total turd compared to UK version, why stupid unfunny presenters? Dinosaur wars with morons playing hydraulic jaws eating melons? please …

How about a SCIENSE show that teaches something?

Posted at 9:58 am on May 1st, 2009 by rasz

@rasz: teaches something like how to spell “science”?

Posted at 11:11 am on May 1st, 2009 by your spelling teacher

this could be good, or it could be ’smash lab’ awful.

Posted at 11:14 am on May 1st, 2009 by will d.

Gross spelling errors aside, I agree with rasz: Discovery needs to focus more on discovery and learning, less on blowing shit up. I can accept Mythbusters because it tries to do both.

For example, a show about the design process of a ubiquitous success, such as the iPhone, with lots of attention to the prototypes and early rejected design ideas, to show the progression of the design and familiarize the general public with the possibilities associated with modern, commercial technologies.

Posted at 1:04 pm on May 1st, 2009 by Mike

@ryan: I’m with you on the ice cream truck!

@everyone else especially rasz: Discovery channel is not the science channel. If you want science watch the science channel, or watch nasa tv.

Posted at 1:30 pm on May 1st, 2009 by mike

I wish they would bring back junkyard wars, i watched nearly every episode and i dont even watch tv at all. Hopefully this turns out to be some real carnage, I’ve thought of the prospect of a show like this a few times.

Posted at 1:34 pm on May 1st, 2009 by d00m3d

I get on my cable something called Discovery Science, turning in on right now gives me some shite called “great crashes” composed of old youtube car accidents.

Posted at 3:40 pm on May 1st, 2009 by rasz

>I wish they would bring back junkyard wars

You guys do know that Junkyard Wars was scripted, don’t you? One guy explained to me how they actually had a week to do the build; it was actually indoors with LOTS of indirect lighting and used lens filters to give the effect of morning, afternoon and evening lighting (you never saw the sun, and you never saw a single cloud in the sky – I know, I looked.)

This guy’s team was way ahead and the director wanted more action, so he ordered an assistant to stab the radiator with a screwdriver. Looked cool on TV; lots of smoke, and the guys had to collect water from the hole in the radiator pouring it back in the top (burning their hands in the process.)

Good TV, maybe; a contest, no!

Posted at 5:50 pm on May 1st, 2009 by AlmostThere

Hey all here’s the traile for it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbnkkgcfyo

Hazardfactory founder Rusty Oliver is 1/4 of the “talent” behind the thing ;)

Posted at 9:41 pm on May 1st, 2009 by spacematters

oops um.. I guess I mean:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgBNkKGcfYo

stupid youtube with case sensitive urls…

Posted at 9:45 pm on May 1st, 2009 by spacematters

The WEAPONIZERS fire thousands of rounds each episode. Each vehicle is outfitted with several different machine guns and real rocket launchers and the cars are completely oblitereated. The fireworks were for a victory celebration. Only one of the cast has a special effects backround and that is Cowboy who also worked for NASA. Andrew McLaren is a former mercenary who street races Lamborghini’s for big time cash, Jimmy Shine his partner is a Hot Rodding legend who holds a land speed record at Bonneville, he set the record in a car he built himself. Rusty is an Underground celebrity in Seattle who built a 40 foot robot that throws fireballs.

Posted at 10:10 pm on May 1st, 2009 by Scott K

now that sounds a little better

Posted at 2:21 pm on May 2nd, 2009 by fl1ntlock

Finally, Twisted Metal.

Posted at 3:35 pm on May 2nd, 2009 by Jose Torres

WATCH OUT, the linked site has multiple bot/virus warnings on AVG, possibly its been remote exploited…

-A

Posted at 6:50 am on May 3rd, 2009 by andre

this was very disappointing. machine guns do not cause cars to explode, and the damage are remarkably unspectacular. most of the carnage is executed by well placed pyro charges.

the most dramatic thing to occur in the episodes is that one of the cars ill-thought out armoury or weaponry gets stuck on a rock, whilst the other team sits and uses that week’s special weapon to blow them up. seriously – most of the damage is done by the pyro team, not the competitors.

there’s no interesting engineering content, just dull, scripted rubbish.

square root of minus one stars.

Posted at 4:46 pm on Jun 28th, 2009 by naxxtor

Battle cars

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