Extreme 1 was the first of the "special" series and one that I remember the most when it was on TV, I swear Extreme 1 was repeated all the time, it's also the only Series which I still have VHS' of...aside from the Series 3 and 4 BRAVO copies I have but none from the actual time they were aired. Extreme 1 is somewhat polarised for being over the top and "fake" which it sort of is. It certainly jumped the shark but at the same time it has some of the most memorable battles in the history of the show and I personally rank the series extremely high, more higher than Extreme 2 and Series 8 in fact but not as high as Series 6,10,3 or 4. Even now, rewatching the series for my "Crowned Classics" I just love this Series so much. One of the biggest advantages it has is that it's constantly randomised so that you don't get bogged down with just one competition with each episode...something Extreme 2 suffered from and for me really affected the show, this is an advantage because it constantly shifts the show into gear.

With all that said, let's rank down what I love about Extreme 1...starting with the worst parts :P I will be doing this ranking sort of differently in a overview for each battle that takes place and what makes it great.

17th Armed Forces Special

So the last episode in the series is the weakest episode in the Extreme 1, in my opinion. So after 9/11 and the eventual wars that came about it, the Armed Forces were certainly a major focus at the time of filming and the time of the air date, in some ways it made sense to have a special dedicated to these brave individuals. Sadly, however this is just a dull and lifeless episode.

For starters the robots here are okayish, in the sense that they can at least last a minute before falling apart but my God are they just dull to look at. Rhino is the only one that I really like the look of and enjoyed seeing and that gets KO'd in the first round! The rest are basically grey boxes with ineffective weaponry.

The battles are pretty bad. When deciding Crowned Classics episodes, this was one of the episodes I struggled to find a "classic" out of because the battles are really, really boring. I understand that these are meant to be "amateurs" and in no ways allstar material but there could have been at least one battle that wasn't dull to watch. Possible the only ones that are semi decent is the Anvil vs Oblark and Final but even then they really aren't the best and like with most of the fights the House Robots are brought in to "decide" the fights.

The other real kicker is that we already had a Armed Forces special in Episode 5, which not only was way more entertaining but really highlights what makes this WHOLE EPISODE special way worse. The melee in Episode 5 was chaotic and never really one sided with lots of fun action and attacks from the competitors and House Robots whereas this isn't at all. Not only that the fact that we see how powerful Anvil is in the melee where it won and see it here, once again dominating, it feels more like it's a forgone conclusion who would win especially as the other robots who weren't present are easily the weaker links here...

Overall, it's a disappointing episode with not a lot of great action and too dull to rewatch. The fact that Episode 5's ONE BATTLE does a better job than a whole episode...it speaks a lot!

16th Episode 9

Episode 9 is an episode that's in a bad situation. It has the popular Episode 10 after it and the highly energetic and brilliant Episode 8 before it, so therefore Episode 9 was kinda screwed, what's worse is the line up...

Mega Morg vs Ming III - The concept of this Vengeance battle is a really good one. Two robots from Heat C of Series 4 go at it all because The Morgue was reinstated and made a mockery of Ming despite Ming being seen as the better robot. What worse is that Firestorm beat The Morgue quite easily while Ming could have fought better...The vengeance setup was great and the battle itself...what a bore! Mega Morg doesn't impress and Ming 3, although great to see it actually do something, for the most part doesn't attack in the same vein. The fact that Sir Killalot does more than Ming says a lot an the battle felt like it dragged on more than it should.

Tornado vs Comengetorix - Comengetorix is such a fun robot and is one of Extreme 1's poster children. You know who else was an Extreme 1 poster child? Tornado. So the two Extreme 1 poster children go against each other in the Challenge Belt, how good is it though? Both entertaining in their own rights with one being more technically impressive while the other is just plain fun. Unfortunately, this maybe the weakest fight for Comengetorix and one of Tornado's most forgettable. Sure, Tornado puts on a great display but it's kinda dull just watching Comengetorix getting bulldozed for five minutes and it's kinda boring if you ask me.

Cerberus & Thermidor 2 vs Suicidal Tendencies & The Steel Avenger - As mentioned before the Tag Team doesn't really have much to offer other than a few fights here and there that are good until the brilliant Extreme 2 version that improved the Tag team heavily. This is another sad case of nothing much happens and one team are dead from the get go. What's worse is we have some interesting set ups here with Thermidor, The Steel Avenger and Suicidal Tendencies...but nothing happens. They touch each other slightly and Thermidor, who could have gotten some great flips in, gets KO'd quickly and Cerberus just then gets bullied...

Diotoir vs Panic Attack vs Shear Khan - I do like seeing a F2Q robots compete but Shear Khan is probably my least favourite. That said this is an okay melee. It's no way as great as the previous batch (better than XT vs Panzer vs CV) but nonetheless it doesn't have much, Diotoir gets KO'd too quickly and nothing too "explosive" happens. Meanwhile, Shear Kahn is overhyped and easily taken care of. That said Panic Attack's control and the way it lifts Diotoir in the air and pits Diotoir is visually brilliant and the fact that it attacks Shunt does raise this battle slightly.

House Robot Rebellion - The Main Event and the ONLY battle in the whole episode that's actually decent. House Robot rebellions are all really good and always different. That said none are perfect, with Series 7 having too powerful of robots, Nickeodeon having stocks, Extreme Warriors Season 2 being too easy for the House Robots etc. Extreme Warrior 1 has the best obviously but this one is decent and does a lot of things right. For one we have a diverse set of robots with one really good one, one allstar and one there for the sake of it. Even the strengths and weaknesses are fairly balanced Stinger is slippery and speedy but control, Scorpion is tough (able to withstand Shunt) but lacks offensive power, Plunderbird has good pushing power but is relatively weak. The battle itself is a lot of fun with the hazards also taking the fight to Plunderbird in particular, we also see Matilda entering halfway to increase the mayhem but she doesn't do anything...which sucks. Okay so it's ain't perfect. Scorpion and Plunderbird get taken out way too quickly, I feel if one of them were just kept away from the pit to allow for Matilda to come in and maybe cause some significance but hey Stinger trying to run away and getting sliced by Dead Metal was fun.

Overall, this was a weak episode. Almost every battle sucked and the only decent or fun moment was the Main event itself. What can I say but it sucks.

15th Episode 6

Episode 6 is remembered for one thing and one thing only. The classic Plunderbird 5 vs Sir Chromalot fight which is by far one of the funniest battles as well as one of the most entertaining battles here. It also fills a gap with the two robots criminally missing from the allstar line up. But do we actually remember the episode as a whole? Because if one were to you'd find it is quite meh...

Cerberus & Thermidor 2 vs S.M.I.D.S.Y. & Sumpthing - The first fight is a Tag Team battle. The tag team battles in this series were never the best, they were a somewhat improvement to Series 4's but Extreme 2's Tag Team is certainly the best and improved what happens here. This battles is one of the weakest tag team battles overall with S.M.I.D.S.Y. sort of just dying, Thermidor 2 (arguably the strongest robot here) doing little to nothing and the battle can basically be summerized as "robots slighting touching eachother for five minutes". Not a great start.

Behemoth vs Tornado - (Horrific flashbacks to Series 6 Audited where Behemoth beat Tornado - I'll never forgive that) Well this battle is a certain improvement. Tornado was the posterchild of Extreme 1. It was everywhere and it certainly shown itself off in the best way possible, cementing itself as a force to be reckon with as well as worthy allstar. This battle is brilliant with both robots showing themselves off and fighting with all their might. You must remember, thus far, Behemoth had faced "easy" robots, Tornado was a truly worthy challenger and proved its worth through brilliant control, aggression and the slams to the side of Behemoth, toppling it over makes this a great fight!

Cataclysmic Variabot vs Panzer Wraith vs X-Terminator - Every mayhem thus far have been awesome and perhaps the best fights in their respected episodes. This however...was just bad. It's great that the Mayhem, Hell, Extreme had F2Q robots involved but in a case like this where it's against X-Terminator, a robot that withstood the current champion and even caused damage to them, it was pretty much obvious they'd win. At least with Episode 1,2 and 5's Mayhem, it was three allstars against each other meaning it could go any way, while Episode 3 and 4 had more close knit battles where it was once again fair and balanced. This wasn't. This had a weak robot and a slow robot face against something none of them would be able to take on! It's not helped the battle was kinda slow and didn't have too many big moments involved to keep it memorable. I guess seeing Panzer was great...

Chaos 2 vs Alien Destructor & Philipper - I defend Heat A's Champion Heats for being a great display of power as well as a way to build up excitement for the series. The difference between that and this (and even the previous battle for that matter) is size. This was just a "fun mayhem" while the main series is much bigger with way more machines. For this international friendly we have Chaos 2 having the time of its life against two much weaker internationals...Aside from the odd attack/flip, it was just mediocre at best. Not very memorable, no wonder they didn't include it on the Chaos 2 DVD.

Sir Chromalot vs Plunderbird 5 - Of course the main event is memorable and it's the best part of this episode! Two allstar robots having a vengeance to see who is the best showmen. This build up is done in a entertaining way to the eventual battle. Both robots are some of the most wonderful jokebots in the show's history and both give it their all with Sir Chromalot getting flips in and Plunderbird 5 getting some claw attacks in, it is brilliant to see two robots that aren't very tough putting on an great show. The ending is equally humourous with Plunderbird accidentally driving into the pit, just to cement the silliness. Then we have the song. "'Ave you got a Scrimech?" is just the icing on the cake for this over the top and funny battle.

Overall I feel this episode is overshadowed by the ending which is just so great. But alas this is another case of "one great thing" making it out as if the WHOLE episode is good. When in reality, it's nothing but disappointing. We have an awful Mayhem after five brilliant ones beforehand, an international fight that just sucks of mediocrity as well as one of if not the WORST Tag team fight in the series. Yeah..one brilliant and beloved ending does not save an entire episode.

14th: Episode 5

From Episode 6 to Episode 5 What makes this episode slightly better is simply the fact that there's some more memorable battles involved, but it isn't perfect and has some severe issues.

Bigger Brother & Major Tom vs Comengetorix & Spawn Again - Though I do believe the Tag Team got better in years, and considering Extreme 1's Tag Team was the second/middle one it's definitely a "middle of the road" competition. For this battle, it is both disappointing and a fun battle. It's disappointing that Plunderbird was unable to enter and was replaced by Major Tom, but that said things are pleasant here, not 100% brilliant but alright nonetheless. Comegetorix was truly impressive, pushing Bigger Brother across the arena and hammering Major Tom but then we hit disappointment levels again. You see Comengetorix is the only machine here that does anything! Spawn Again gets a flip in but then sort of just exists, Bigger Brother doesn't do anything and Major Tom...yeah. That said some of the attacks made are visually impressive and as I said, Comengetorix provides some amazing attacks.

Behemoth vs Stinger vs Thermidor 2 - Do I really need to explain? This is such an awesome, albeit short, battle. It may not be tense or gritty, the way I like my battles, but what it does do is bring on the spectacles. Thermidor is a robot I love, Stinger more so and Behemoth, although I find overrated (and the less said about what I think of fans of Behemoth the better) but I really do like (and thanks to rewatch Extreme 1 I've come to really appreciate Behemoth). So with a line up like that it really is anyone's game, however, what we get is something truly brilliant. For the first ever time, we see TWO OOTAS in one battle. The way Behemoth is chucked out is fantastic! I love how it rolly pollies out from the flip and Stinger's OOtA is a struggle but it eventually flops out in a typical Stinger-esc fashion. My only criticism is that it's not a tense or long battle but it is a fantastic classic nonetheless.

Diotoir vs Firestorm - So a magazine article by Zulu made fun of Firestorm and thus this happens. But also we had a infamous Series 3 battle that may be considered a classic but it wasn't much of a battle where Firestorm just rammed and flipped a immobile Diotoir. So we have out set up for this vengeance battle...but sadly we get one of the most annoying moments in Robot Wars history. So much of this fake rubbish with Firestorm team having their hair done and then Zulu "sabotaging" Firestorm...it's so awful! So what the battle itself? It's worst that Series 3's. At least Series 3's had Dead Metal attacking Diotoir and the floor flipper getting involved, this was Firestorm flipping Diotoir over and that's pretty much it. It sucks even more that Diotoir had two great battles before hand only for this to appear. It sucks, it sucks it sucks!

Draven vs King B Powerworks - I really like this battle. The whole Wild Card concept was great, and obviously is the setting stone for the New Blood. That said the Wild Card only had two genuinely good battles. This one and Axe Awe vs Panic Attack battles and even then this battle isn't perfect. It's definitely one sided but the control used by King B and effective ways Draven is dragged about and pitted makes this a wonderful battle. There's also the behind the scenes fact that Draven team looks up to King B which makes this battle ever so wonderful.

Anvil vs Mega-Hurts vs Rhino - Unlike the full episode special this ONE battle provides more entertainment...and even then it's okay at best. The battle is somewhat decent with all three having their chances to shine but it then ends incredibly quickly as soon as Rhino pits Mega Hurts then is pitted after that. It's a fine battle where there are some great moments like Rhino driving over its opponents or the track coming off but at the same time it suffers from a whole lot of "okayness" it doesn't go that extra step and mostly consists of the robots pushing each other which isn't that fun.

Overall, this is a okay episode. Battles here aren't too bad except for the vengeance but all have flaws that do effect the battles. The Mayhem is the only one to sort of escape this but still was quite short. Nonetheless, it doesn't do anything that is overly offensive (except Firestorm vs Diotoir!) and is a decent watch.

13th: Episode 2

Don't worry kids, Annihilator 2 will be next, I haven't forgotten about THAT one. However, up rewatching Extreme 1 I found this episode to be slightly weaker. After the amazing and brilliant start we received in the first episode this episode feels like a MAJOR downgrade in overall quality with two bad battles, one okay battle and two fantastic fights, so let's see how Episode 2 felt like a downgrade.

101 & King B Powerworks vs Diotoir & Mega Morg - 101 and King B return as reigning champions and they face Diotoir and Mega Morg...hmm, from an outside PoV it would seem the champions are in a easy lead. But this is one of those wonderful underdog battles. All four robots share their own bit of screen time and all have that one (likely brief) moment to shine. It has fire, it has tension it has challenge and it certainly makes up for it in a rather enjoyable clash where the unlikely underdogs, not only put on a good show, but also come out on top. An genuinely great clash.

Doom vs Genesis vs Hard Cheese vs Mammoth vs Typhoon vs Zap - You can kinda judge a battle by how lacking in images each article is... Middleweights are basically the bigger but less interesting version of the featherweight clashes. For me the only Middleweight battles that's event remotely memorable is the Series 3 one, and that was all because the House Robots decimated them and Extreme 2's being one that just pisses me off. This one is alright for most part...as long as you're called Typhoon or Matilda. You see, pretty much all of the robots here are pretty bad. Genesis doesn't do anything, DOOM was weak, Zap was disappointing and Mammoth is Mammoth. I'm glad Typhoon's debut was here because imagine if it wasn't? Typhoon steals the show and Matilda thankfully joins the mayhem to make a dull set up somewhat redeemable.

Ajjay vs Stinger - This right here is one of the single WORST battles in Extreme 1. So what happens, what makes it bad? Well, that's just it, NOTHING HAPPENS. Stinger is a robot I love but if it's given an opponent that doesn't work or isn't gonna give Stinger a decent fight then Stinger wins pretty easily but without much in entertainment. Stinger's best battles are the ones against tougher robots like Chaos 2 or Panic Attack, 13 Black, Pussycat, Tornado etc. It's strange like that. But Ajjay, on paper looked good, in execution was not. So what we get is three minutes of two robots slightly meeting each other before Sir Killalot decides to lighten up the fight. Not much to say about a fight where not much happens.

Panic Attack vs X-Terminator - Vengeance battles are either hit or miss. There's no inbetween and this one is certainly a miss. It's an interesting set up that relates to events that took place in Series 3 and 4 but what we get as a result is one very morning and incredibly disappointing match. X-Terminator is rather swiftly taken care of by Panic Attack and yeah it's pretty bad when compared to the enjoyable vengeance in the first episode and the future battles later on.

Hypno-Disc vs Ming 3 vs Wheely Big Cheese - The Main Event and by far the best part of this episode. We have two allstars and Ming fighting it out for a place in the Annihilator. One Semi Finalist and one Grand Finalist and Ming are set up in what can be described as pure utter disc-truction. Wheels are taken in ways that would haunt anyone who for whatever reason has a fetish for wheels, it is so glorious and honestly it was great display of violence and power of Hypno-Disc especially what it did to the titanium Wheely Big Cheese and less we forget Ming. Speaking of Ming, the commentary in this battle is probably one of my favourites. JP's lines are so hilarious and memorable in every way, Ming being the biggest victim of having the piss taken out of it.

Overall, this is a case where the first and last battles are the best but sadly despite how good those battles are we have a middle ground of crap with the middleweight battle being okay and the others...yeah. If the middle ground wasn't that bad it would be higher and what ruins it more is that it's coming off the back of Episode 1 which was so good, this was underwhelming.

12th Annihilator 2

When I initially thought of this ranking, I was sure that this would be much lower, after all I consider it one of the single WORST annihilators ever, not as bad as the train wreck Series 7 one but worst than the "so bad it's hilarious" Nickelodeon one. But here's the thing...the annihilator is bad but the episode is actually pretty fine.

Annihilator - One of the things I've seen passed around is the line up. Many seemed disappointed or outright hated the line up here, made worst by two of the robots pulling out, two very popular allstar robots. For me the line up is interesting, it's not the best but it does offer a sense of "it's anyone's game" with a set of robots who with the exception of two (Panic Attack and The Steel Avenger) had yet to find their place. But I won't lie, losing Bulldog Breed and Atomic was disappointing especially with Atomic's case where we got Hippobotamus instead...

The first round battle is as you expect complete mayhem and it's genuinely brilliant. All robots have their moment to shine, except maybe the dead robot standing in Napalm. There is a HUGE amount of destruction from Disc-O Inferno who tears Hippobotamus apart in such a savage way. The hits here and there from the likes of Spirit of Knightmare, Panic Attack and Steel Avenger are flashy and even Matilda gets her moment sending Disc-O into the air. This first round is absolute carnage! I can't wait for round 2...

Well shit! Napalm who didn't do anything in round 1 and seemed immobile from the very start...well it still didn't work and instead of having another robot (such as Hippo in round 1) fall out, they withdrew...

Round 3 isn't as exciting as Round 1 but is good in its own right. The fight is much more slower pace and is pretty much every robot ganging up on The Steel Avenger with mainly Panic Attack and Spirit of Knightmare doing the nasty but they do also get their lifters on Disc-O-Inferno which is admittingly impressive. This battle was more on the grounds of control rather than hardcore action and seeing Spirit of Knightmare do really well after its rather pitiful performance in the Mayhem is a joy to behold. The Steel Avenger even gets a good axe hit just before it dies which is great to see.

OH FOR GOD SAKE! ANOTHER robot withdraws! Panic Attack suffers too much damage to the chassis and now we are left with just three annihilator battles...what a joke! This right here is one of the biggest key reasons as to why this annihilator is hated and why I consider it one of the worst. Imagine having a roster that's then changed because of dropouts, then having that roster lower between rounds and potentially ruining what could be interesting battles. What's worse is that we've had one great battle and one rather okayish battle...the final must surely prove itself to excuse this...

No. No it wasn't. Annihilator finals up until this point were the best of the best and so enjoyable and memorable in every sense of the word. But THIS. This was downright disappointing. Spirit of Knightmare had done quite well in its journey through this but here it just sort of take a bunch of damage before just dying. Disc-O-Inferno had also impressed, going from a round 1 dropout that died if you just sneezed on it, now it was capable of tearing anything apart and it did so in such brutal fashion...except here it seemed to have drive problems and was sort of sluggish. So what we end up with is a slow battle, while destructive, just disappoints further.

Bigger Brother vs Comengetorix - You know an annihilator is going tits up when they have to bring another event into the episode just to keep viewer interest. And just like the Series 7 trash fire the side event here is the best part of the episode. Bigger Brother vs Comengetorix is just a perfectly silly but absolutely brilliant vengeance battle. Both robots fight each other with some brilliant attacks with a great flip here and axe blow there. But this battle has another brilliant factor to it. The House Robot attacks. The reason for this vengeance may seem legitimate but what I admire is that they don't sugarcoat the silliness of what's really happening, they just wanted an excuse to attack the House Robots. Sgt Bash gets toppled and they both gang up on Sir Killalot in an amazing display before they are both pitted. It's a fun and silly fight but absolutely brilliant!

As an annihilator, it is pretty awful but as an episode it's alright. I think the first round battle and the vengeance battles certainly hold this episode up as it is plagued by dropouts and a poor final, the lack of annihilator battles REALLY hurt this episode. But thank God for the absolutely amazing vengeance battle!

11th Episode 11

We're reaching the point where it's starting to get a bit difficult to place things. At least with the first few it was easy and I already know my top ones but here we're in a tricky situation. For no.11 I chose an episode I've talked about quite a bit. This is the infamous Flipper Frenzy episode, this is the one I dubbed the strangest episode ever. So get ready for a copy and paste job...don't worry there'll be a another entry to make up for it!

Tornado vs Wild Thing - What can I say other than it's a great, fast pace battle. Sure it's one sided but Tornado is one game while Wild Thing survives heavy blow after another but still tries its best to fight back, even if it's in vain. An overall great performance from both sides. A decent match and one of the many regular "Extreme" battles that are littered throughout the series. As mentioned above this opening battles does not prepare the audience for the shitshow they're about watch.

Diotoir & Pussycat (Mega Morg) vs Comegetorix & Spawn Again - After an impressive first battle our next has the Welsh and Irish lads battle two Englishmen. Except that Mega Morg has problems and Pussycat replaces it. So what would have been a supposedly "predictable" whitewash becomes more balanced...or so you'd think. Pussycat and Spawn Again start off and within 14 Seconds (yes I counted/timed it on YouTube) Spawn Again gets itself onto the flame pit after a failed flip becomes immobile spinning around only for editing to show us it moving again. What could have been an interesting fight turns into "When will Spawn Again conk out?" because straight away with that mishap (and the fact that it's Spawn Again and Spawn Again is crap) we now know where things will go. Pussycat, a robot I adore, and known for destructibility...doesn't have a weapon. Okay it does but it doesn't do anything. Spawn Again gets another flip, but once again doesn't move and only turns in a crippled fashion. Editing shows us Pussycat bashing the pit release three times even with the siren blaring to show Comegetorix...yeah it's there parked in the middle of the arena, just there. For those that don't know, Spawn Again tagged it while the cameras watched Pussycat beating its head against the pit release, Comegetorix quite literally drove out from the CPZ and...died. It did nothing, it's get decimated or flipped or drove into a side wall, it just drove a few metres and died just like that. This will be a common theme, just you wait. The lovely Diotoir comes out and pushes the corpses of Didntdonothingorix only to be attacked by Spawn Again who, once again, flips becomes immobile and then strings back to life. Pussycat smashes into Spawn Again as all four (three) robots are in the arena. One of the strangest things in this battles, for me, is that Pussycat's driving is pretty bad here. Firstly, is hits the pit release more than once despite the siren already going off, before that it kept hitting the wall but it also drove up against both the flippers of Spawn Again and Comegetorix without any pressure or Diotoir in the way, ultimately getting itself in danger. After a big push by Diotoir, Spawn Again touches its partner and dies at the same time Ressurectorix decides to come back to life and spring out into action as if Spawn Again gave its life force to Comegetorix. Pussycat pushes Spawn Again which somehow brings it back to life while Comegetorix stops in the background. Seriously, what the Hell is going on? One robot dies while the other comes back to life then that one dies and the former comes back. Not that it matters because SPAWN AGAIN LOSES MOBILITY WHILE COMINGBACKFORMOARIX RETURNS TO LIFE (But Diotoir, who's been rather pointless in this battle, pushes it gently) Finally, Refbot decides to count out my least liked robot of all time while Aloneorix attacks Pussycat who just spins around for no reason. Spawn Again is thrown over as its partner dies (again) from the "extremely aggressive and violent" nudges from the fearsome Diotoir whose on fire (literally). Comeandgetsomeorix comes back to life, runs away and then drives into the pit under no pressure. Once again, this is foreshadowing what's to come. The battles doesn't just end there though, on no! Even AFTER the battle ended, the Spawn Again skinheads decided to argue with Team Cold Fusion as Jack Charles looks in confusion. What were they arguing about? Well we don't know but this is in full view of the cameras as Craig is trying to talk and obviously his voice booms over their arguing. This battles is all over the place, and truth be told I don't hate it. The constant back and forth over whether Spawn Again or Comegetorix is alive or not can make it less of a tense or thrilling experience but nonetheless it is a strange battle...like really strange and the editing doesn't help ether.

Dominator 2 vs The Executioner - Okay what the Hell was that? Like how do you screw up so badly? No other robot or battle has had a competitor fail in this humiliating fashion. Truth be told many robots have had humiliating losses, take Killerhurtz in Series 3, Milly Ann Bug in Series 3, Eric in Series 3, Dee against Kadeena Machina, Cherub vs Eruption (mainly the first one), Apex - scratch that ALL Team Danby machines, Team Panda etc. etc. But this for me takes the biscuit for most embarrassing loss. Before the battle The Executioner Team live it up to the cameras that they can do this and that (blah,Blah, Blah "We're gonna win!") Here the battle starts with The Executioner smashes into the arena wall missing the pit release, they reverse back and miss another two times with it only slightly touching it allowing for the pit to descend. Then The Execustion reverses as Dominator misses with the axe and darts around and drives into the pit.And that's the battle. The Executioner showed perhaps some of the worst driving in Robot Wars I've ever seen. How it couldn't turn slightly without swaying completely left or right is beyond me, but the fact that it failed to press the pit release not once, not twice BUT THREE TIMES. It's a joke. In fact when the pit does descend, The Executioner STILL didn't actually hit the tire but rather nudges near it. it's as if the controllers felt pity and just wanted Dominator to put it out of it's misery. Oh I'm sorry I completely forgot Dominator was here, they didn't do anything other than help steer The Executioner drive itself into the pit. In fact throughout the battle, they only touched each other (because no one actually fought) twice in that battle.

Napalm vs Gemini vs The Spider - I like that The Spider was given a second appearance. This battle was clearly in Gemini's favour but if anyone know's Robot Wars you'll know that Gemini always under performed despite the hype. It's one of those robots, the ones that are popularised and hyped by the producers despite it actually being relatively bad I mean look at Witch doctor in Battlebots, hyped but never going the way the producers intend (i.e. always losing, with occasional wins). This battle however, should have no excuses surely...I mean it's against Napalm and The Spider both of whom are robots with exposed internals and weak armour and poor weapons. Battle begins, it starts really well. The Spider rips and tears into Napalm's backside while Gemini swarm the Gemini getting a few lifts here and there, Napalm does nothing but get bullied. But it quickly falters... The Spider after putting on an impressive performance, commits suicide for no reason leaving the others, who haven't done much, to fight. Gemini attacks Napalm trying to flip it, which should have been an easy job but here Gemini manages to immobilise itself bay stranding itself. The funny thing is, Napalm who did nothing in the fight wins despite being completely immobile! Napalm does spring to life briefly but then dies again. The irony is, the robot that did nothing and put no effort in wins... The battle's first five seconds makes it look promising but then it just ends as soon as it begins. All the robots die it very silly and unknown ways, with the winner of the melee being the one that did absolutely nothing and still went immobile!

Flipper Frenzy - I love the Flipper Frenzy but I can't deny that this episode's strange robot behaviour is given the best over the top and most entertaining of ends. The problems in the previous battles haunt this battle also but in a more glorious way...for the most part. For those living under a rock, the battle consists of the 2X Champs Chaos 2, the awesome looking Wheely Big Cheese, the cool Bigger Brother and my personal bae Thermidor 2 (I am never using that effing word again!) As someone who finds Flipperbots for the most part boring, this had four entertaining and beloved flippers that I can't help but love. Here, the battle starts with Bigger Brother, Chaos 2 and Thermidor 2 slowly crawly to the centre of the arena as in an almost scripted event takes place. SGT Bash decides to drive out of its CPZ (why I feel this is scripted) only to be attacked. Meanwhile, Wheely Big Cheese drives into Matilda's CPZ to take her out but ends up being immobilised pretty much immediately. We are then charmed in having Bigger Brother and Chaos throw SGT. Bash about and almost snap the Flamethrower off completely. Then Bigger Brother backs away and dies off screen. Matilda smashes her way through to throw Chaos 2 onto its side while Thermidor 2 attempts to get itself back in the action. The battle ends in a less entertaining way with Chaos 2 flipped by Matilda's flywheel and Thermidor 2 just nudging Matilda at the end. What a hyperactive battle, and at the same time it perfectly incorporates the bizarre repetition that this episode had from each battle. It had the entertainment value of first two battles and more, it had the quick immobilisation, robots dying left right and centre under no pressure, a suicidal robot in Wheely Big Cheese, a robot winning by doing nothing and an anti climatic end.

The episode is strange in many regards. The robot here feel like they're ether high or drunk, no robot (other than Tornado, Wild Thing, Chaos 2 and Thermidor 2) and as mentioned before the strange repetition of seemingly similar events taking place in every battle makes this all bizarre and curious at the same time. The episode is just a weird train wreck that still keeps going and then has an explosive and brilliant end. It's so bizarre that putting into words was hard enough, I think watching it visually you'll constantly be asking "WTF did I just watch" because is certainly up and down, left, right and all around.

10th Second World Championship

Okay so this maybe a very controversial choice but the 2WC is only at tenth. Why would such a famous, such a large scale and important special be so low? Well for many reasons. The World Championships are interesting...They're meant to be the biggest events in Robot Wars but they seem to lower in quality somewhat. We have the impressive and absolutely fantastic First World Championship, which is one of my personal favourite episodes of all time, it has a huge range of robots, various brilliant battles (even if there are a few duds in Round 1), great cast and a fantastically tense final. You'd think as the years went by and robots improved things would be better? Right? Well no. Strangely as things got more improved the worst the specials became with Series 10's World Series being extremely weak, Series 7's being brilliant once you past the dreadful round 1s and pitiful low roster (not including the qualifiers which are decent), the International League...it exists and this one...oh this one...

Firstly let's talk about the robots. We have a decent set of robots. What I admire and enjoy here is that it is very balanced. We have only four UK robots, four US and the rest being other nationalities. It may seem that the best UK bots are the ones with all the cards but as we see the US have packed a punch as have the rest who all have the power to take on each other and all are capable of winning given the chance. It's made even better when in battles we think certain robots will win in end up being knocked out by a unlikely source. It constantly keeps your attention as we don't know how it'll go.

So let's get down to the single WORST thing and the thing that decimates this episode heavily...the editing. DUN DUN DUUUUUNN!! The editing in this is atrocious! The round 1 battles are biggest sufferers as each battles is cut down heavily showing us around a minutes or two worth of battle. What's worst is that it tends to ONLY FOCUS ON TWO ROBOTS. This is made apparent in the VERY FIRST battle and third battle where we only see Chaos 2 and Mastiff and Razer and The Revolutionists, respectively, while we are just told through on cut halfway of what's happening with the other two. We aren't shown the complete picture and the shortened battles just ruin the thrill of the special. The other battle that was cut dramatically was the final. The final was described as tense and thrilling...it was DESCRIBED that way, instead again the battle was cut so much that we just see Razer struggling to crush Drillzilla and pushing it towards the CPZ. The battles were cut so badly most likely due to time...which is kinda inexcusable. Sorry, but you can't allow for a 90 minute World Championship before hand and have a 40 minute one afterwards, surely having it slightly longer, like around 60 minutes at the very least could have allowed for these battles to be shown in all its glory as well as pit interviews before and after! It feels like there wasn't much effort put into it other than JP's "live commentary" with the echo effect. It's tragic to say the least.

So what about dem battles then? Round 1 has a four way melee format which was interesting and allowed for a full on carnage experience. The first round is sort of a mix bag. The first battle presented is a shocking one but nit thrilling as nothing much happens. The second battle is far better with Firestorm kicking arse as well as Drillzilla putting on a brilliant performance. The attacks are flashy and stylish and making battle entertaining. The third battle is decent and memorable for Razer crushing Revolutionists and Diotoir and Razer being the last two left but it's ruined by the awful editing provide a minute's worth fight...the fourth battle returns to brilliance with a great show by Tornado and Panzer dominating. Then SHOCK as Philipper gets a flip in and topples Panzer! Tornado gets away with a victory but only just!

Unlike other World Championships where the first rounds are a mix bag and round 2 is where the fun begins, this one is unique in the sense that the first rounds are better than the later rounds... Round 2 is boring. I will say I do like that they separated the US and UK to make sure it's not a UK only final but anyway the battles... Drillzilla vs Manta is quite quick and offers little to no action other than a pitting and Razer vs Tornado is pretty much a less impressive or exciting version of the Allstars battle. Yeah round 2 is forgettable and easy to "blink and you miss it"

The final has the current reigning World Champions against the very impressive and powerful Drillzilla. It's an exciting set up and it does go quite well. Unfortunately the poor editing results in this great clash being significantly cropped to a point where we can't see the power of this fight. That said seeing Drillzilla holding up against its own in Razer and Razer using its pushing power and control to its advantage made this a interesting fight despite the underwhelming sense of "forgone conclusion" in how Razer does sort of dominates this fight but in a way that's not very destructive. Not a bad fight but compared to Series 3 and 7's finals, it's the weakest by miles. Not as weak as Series 10's World Series or the International League finals though.

So that's the 2WC. Of the three World Championships, this is the weakest by far, with the First World Championship way ahead in first, the Third in second and this last. That said it's far from being the worst World event, with Series 10's World Series (namely Ep 2) and International League scrawling at the depths of the unknown below. That said this World Championship special is flawed by one of the most damning thing a Robot Wars episode can do... be disappointing. It great when it's really good, but the flaws can seriously hinder this episode with some of the most obvious battle cropping seen and this hurts the special so much.

9th Episode 3

Episode 3 is a good episode but in comparison to many Extreme 1 episodes it seems to go under the radar with not much that makes it memorable, which is a shame as the episode is genuinely enjoyable and a great watch. But what makes it forgettable?

Panic Attack vs Firestorm - Panic Attack has an interesting history. You see when I think over the history Panic Attack there's this weird blip in between Series 4 and Series 5, two of its most memorable series. For some reason Extreme 1's history is kinda forgettable with only two battles where the robot appeared in being something of worth. This battle is no different. It's over before it began with one charge being enough for Firestorm to flip and KO Panic Attack. This really, really sucks, visually it's awesome and looks great but when compared to Series 3's battle it fails MASSIVELY in comparison. It's way too quick and lacks any tension or brilliance to a vengeance/allstar battle. Such a disappointment.

Hypno-Disc vs Behemoth - After one really disappointing and bad allstar battle here's the opposite. This was a brilliant and shocking fight and one that really started to highlight the issues of Hypno-Disc in a more modern age. Behemoth is a robot that came from Series 4, where it died in pretty much every fight and was quite unreliable and now returned with more or less the same machine, except here it's way more reliable. Behemoth also had a tough start here with it against Hypno-Disc...Now on paper, the big spinny thing should destroy the big box with a scoop but what we get is the opposite. We see brilliant control and aggression from Behemoth and Hypno-Disc is put on the defence, it managed to cause some damage but Behemoth was too tough. The House Robots also get involved in ways that are entertaining and explosive, making the match ever so more chaotic and thrilling at the same time. It does take a while before Hypno-Disc is burnt out but the battle intensity makes it very entertaining.

Arnold A. Terminegger vs Fluffy vs Wild Thing - This is an interesting battle. It's one that subverts expectations and I believe was meant to be on part with Hypno-Disc vs Wheely Big Cheese vs Ming 3, but didn't go that way. You see, Fluffy was hyped to have this deadly weapon and be on par with Hypno-Disc but what happens is it gets killed off almost straight away by a box and a wedge. Wild Thing, is the allstar here but I almost don't remember anything it actually does while the wonderful and lovely Arnold does pretty much everything and wins. There are some great highlights with Fluffy's floor flipper pitting and Arnold KOing Wild Thing like it was balancing stones but at the same time it lacked a lot of the entertainment value with very little or slow action. It's not bad but it does feel like a step down from the previous two Mayhems.

Stinger vs Behemoth - This is absolutely brilliant. Stinger is one of my all time favourite robots and Behemoth is..ok, but I do like and enjoy it. This battle is one of my favourite Stinger fights...and it loses. This fight on paper should be an easy with for Behemoth as Stinger is about 1/3 of its size but instead what we get is a struggle and brilliant one at that. Stinegr and Behemoth both perform brilliantly with both getting brilliant attacks in here and there, aggression and control is key throughout. Then we get one of the single greatest KOs ever, and I mean it! Behemoth scoops up and uses its axe to grab Stinger, holding it high before dumping it into the pit...well okay Stinger had some drive problems and span into the pit after being freed but that attack from Behemoth alone is worthy of recognition and was the catalyst for the pitting!

International Mayhem - Now when I was deciding battles for Crowned Classics, this battle was added "just cause" but since its debut I discovered that people really LOVE this battle! This seems to be a really popular battle and I kinda agree. This is a brilliant fight with all but one competitor having a part to play. The one that does nothing and can easily be forgotten about is Flensburger Power because it sort of just dies. Manta the US robot is a beast here, slamming into MaxiMill (the one that dies violently for our entertainment) all while the robot was weaponless! MaxiMill does a great job at being the Splinter/Frostbite of the match, despite its good looks, being decimated in an entertaining fashion. Finally, our UK representatives Panic Attack. Yes, as mentioned earlier this one of two battles in Extreme 1 where Panic Attack shines. Despite the tough competition of two spinners, one of which is a speedy and low to the ground rambot, Panic Attack being the sneaky snake it is, plays a small role at first but its careful tactics of letting them kill each other results in it returning to the fray to take out Manta through clear precision, the careful control and brilliant use of the forks lifting and taking care of Manta in brilliant style.

This is great episode but its weaker elements certainly bring this episode down a bit, sure it can be easily forgotten as it doesn't really contain a "majorly famous" battle other than Hypno-Disc vs Behemoth which is right at the beginning, but that does not make this bad it is a brilliant episode where three battles are great, one is okay and the other crap.

8th Episode 15

I won't lie I am a little surprised this has managed to sneak its way here and on reflection maybe it's a little too high. This is one of those episodes that's apart of my "ROBOT WARS ALLSTARS" VHS and I guess I have a somewhat nostalgia blind perception on this rather average end to Extreme 1 (discounting the two specials).

Napalm vs Thermidor 2 - Oh boy time to get political...except we won't here because screw politics. The set up for the vengeance here is a rather "novel" concept a challenge because if there were some competition for a "battle of the sexes" it would be novel...but at the same time looking at the female made machines...yeah. So essentially, the Thermidor team supposedly made some sexist comments about kitchens and Robot Wars, the female Napalm team took offence and a battle was declared. I will say, I am really curious over whether Thermidor team actually said these things? Because I don't think they did, I feel it's a stage event for the sake of conducting a battle and to teach all the boys and girls about how sexism is bad mckay?! (This is further highlighted by the completely children's show-esc moral during the interview where they say sorry) Now the battle itself is somewhat impressive at showing Thermidor's flipping capabilities and it flips managing to absolutely destroy Napalm and ending with a OOtA. That said it feel too brief of a battle and it sort of ends before it even begins.

Tornado vs Pussycat - On my VHS this battle was cut out in favour of a random Bob the Builder clip...I don't know why my younger self did this but he did. Battle wise it's nothing like the chaos we saw in the allstars battle but it's a great fight nonetheless. Here, it isn't much of a white wash from Tornado as Pussycat fights back in brilliant fashion and there's some great moments where its disc manages to clash with Tornado's drum. Tornado displays its usual control dominance and we see Matilda get involved with her flywheel. Overall, however Tornado does expectantly beat Pussycat but even when it's been challenged by Pussycat before, the battle is still somewhat unique in its own right.

Antweight Melee - I love this battle so much. This is by far one of my favourite Extreme 1 fights in the series. We have a bunch of antweights clashing in this rumble set up where only one survives, what's not to love. What makes this even better is that each robot is unique and interesting in their own way. The battle itself is a mess but a glorious mess at that with robots flying out of the arena, torn apart and getting trapped under the floor flipper. In the end it's Combat Ant (for once the puns are hilarious!) who survives and wins through brute force and ignorance. It's a shame the Extreme 2 one isn't as good and stupidly cut the two more interesting battles for a dull final but hey at least we had this mayhem!

Hypno-Disc vs Nasty Warrior - Sometimes you can tell what's going through the producer's minds when you see something like this. A deadly flywheel against wood, this was going to be the Splinter vs Hypno-Disc of Extreme 1....but it wasn't...it really wasn't. This battle certainly subverts expectations but it doesn't deliver much. It would have been better if Hypno-Disc lasted longer and tore Nasty Warrior to pieces more with it just a shell more or less only to then conk out or get pushed down the pit...oh wait we get that with Bigger Brother vs Hypno-Disc...Yeah this sucks, Hypno-Disc dies for no real reason, no huge disc-truction or much action over all.

Razer vs Tornado - The grand finale of Extreme 1, the final of the allstars (the best allstar competition I should note) and the beginning of the Tornado/Razer rivalry. I won't lie it isn't the strongest allstar fight, I think Chaos 2 vs Tornado is the best but its brilliant nonetheless. Razer shows pure aggression and the way is slices down, crushes the tires and lifts Tornado in the air is so, so satisfactory to watch. This is Razer at its best and I think the one major downside is that Tornado doesn't really get involved too much but as a finale it's a great one, although I do think Dantomkia vs Pussycat is a lot more tense and gritty as an allstar final this is by far one of the more visually brilliant of the three.

3/5 battles are great with one bad fight and one meh fight I'd say this is a decent episode but it is a little slow and maybe depending on your interpretation of certain robots or agendas it may seem worse for you or it may seem better. For me, better!

7th Episode 4

This one has managed to slip under the radar a bit. Episode 4 is a really good episode but in comparison to the rest of the remaining episodes, it definitely stands out as the short straw here.

Dominator 2 vs Wild Thing - You know all those comments I've made about Dominator missing 8/10 times in its fights? Well blame this battle. Whenever I tend to think of Dominator, this is the fight that sticks out, sure in Series 4 it proved it was powerful (until Pussycat) but this for me is what made me sceptical of Dominator, even as a kid. Don't get me wrong, I love Dominator but a tricky battle like this sort of proves my point of "it's not a true powerhouse", although I'd argue that could also be because for whatever reason Series 5/Extreme 1 wasn't Dominator's best year in general... On to the fight! Two really awkward shaped robots with weapons that can't do much to each other, seems like a recipe for disaster but instead we get a brilliant battle of control and aggression. Wild Thing, another robot I love, skirts around and attempts to aim for the wheels while Dominator struggles to get a good hit on the manic Wild Thing. The battle is tense and tough to call, and unlike other "shoving battles" this one feels energetic and exciting with it going either way. A truly fun match!

3 Stegs to Heaven vs Tornado - Some don't like this fight because of 3 Stegs being a disappointment while some, such as myself really enjoy it! When I was young, I never really cared that Tornado was involved in this competition, mainly because I didn't really pay much attention to what was going on! However, really thinking about it, it's kinda strange that Tornado was put in the Allstars considering it only appeared in Series 4 where it got to the Semi Finals, especially strange as Plunderbird, Killertron and/or Sir Chromalot weren't. That said, if any of those three were in then the fight here wouldn't have been the brilliant clash it is and in a way this was the fight that proved Tornado was an allstar. 3 Stegs is dominated throughout but the sheer violent rams from Tornado as it batters 3 Stegs is so great and satisfactory to see. I always remember the moment Tornado attacks from behind and the drum jolts 3 Stegs rapidly, such a great attack to a great display of dominance.

Behemoth vs The Spider - The Spider is an interesting looking robot but its battles are...not so interesting. This fight is really over before it begins, Behemoth, who is pretty much overpowered against Spider, chucks it then dumps it out of the arena. It's not a bad fight but it's forgettable and a serious downgrade from the previous two fights. Not much to say really.

Aggrobot 3 vs Killertron vs Splinter - Time for one of the most infamous Robot Wars battles ever, one that lives in memory and controversy. Okay so we see Killertron again, which for me is great, Killertron is in my top 20 favourites so I absolutely adore it! Splinter and Aggrobot are fun C/D-tier allstars so we have a clash between three well known robots. Now battle wise, it's not bad but it's not the best, both axe bots gang up on Aggrobot, but neither axes actually do anything but "tink" on top. Splinter dies at one point but comes back just as quickly while Aggrobot's lifter thing immobilises itself (somewhat ironic considering the Razer fight) and Killertron seems victorious. Then the House Robots come in to make thing interesting, they attack Killertron and dump it in the pit. Now, there have been many theories as to why, my theory is this: You see throughout the Mayhems, we've had a few F2Q or obscure robots put in against the "big bad" (see Panic attack vs Diotoir vs Shear Khan), now these robots almost seem like they were forced in as if to replace another (potentially the Mayhems may have just consisted of known faces and could have had Chaos 2 and Razer maybe)...I believe the producers essentially forced Killertron in, with the notion that it should be eliminated in the Mayhem, but as it was winning the House Robots were set loose to make sure it loses so Splinter could win automatically, basically forfeiting the fight by pretending to be attacked. This is especially suspicious when Stinger was KO'd by Sir Killalot but the Judges determined that didn't count...so why did this count? Who know?! I think the theories and controversy of this fight is remembered more than the actual fight...

Razer vs Pussycat - Ah yes! The vengeance that was awaited for some time, especially as the Series 4 final was so shocking and memorable. This fight was okay. It's okay I guess. So yeah, Razer is tougher this time and offers some great attacks to Pussycat but once again, one hit kills Razer and Pussycat batters the back side twice before the House Robots come in (my God reading this sounds wrong XD) and it's over. Yeah. This is a popular fight for many and even the Razer team called it a "fantastic vengeance" I guess what really defeats this for me is the Series 4 fight. What makes the Series 4 fight better, for me, is context. One is a fun vengeance and the other is a Championship Heat Final. You pick which is more vital. For me, the fact that the Heat Final was so shocking and so impactful makes this battle feel whole lot less, it's great to see a vengeance but that's all.

Overall, it's good episode and all the battles have something going for it. I do think it's one of those episodes that are conflicted with a mediocre to good category, but nonetheless I still find it enjoyable.

6th: Episode 10

When we did that silly little "Best episode" tournament this choice chosen by THAT inner circle was peculiar one I felt, especially as they omitted the Extreme 1 annihilator and this wasn't even the best Extreme 1 episode by miles! But then again THAT inner circle did think Heat D of Series 7 was good (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That will never stop being funny) and there were a lot of obvious bias choices so y'know it wasn't am accurate picture at all. This episode is more or less just about the Allstars with the exception of one battle, as such I'll discuss the allstars in one go and then the Mayhem and tell you why I personally do not care for this episode, but at the same time find it enjoyable.

Allstars Quarter Finals - First things first, did they run out of ideas? The reason I ask is because every episode was diverse and different with this one just having a batch of Allstar battles as if they forgot about this tournament and shunted it in one episode. This may benefit some who prefer a structure where it's one competition (as seen in Extreme 2) but some, such as myself, prefer the more diverse multi competition set up, why? Because if you don't like one competition then you have another right up that might give you something you'll like, it constantly changes and keeps thing interesting as opposed to giving it all to you in one go, I sometimes wonder if that's why Extreme 2 lost viewers because they didn't like some competitions and skipped episodes...Luckily, Extreme 1's allstars was a popular competition and probably the best.

Battle wise we have two grudge matches and two very enjoyable matches. I quite like the way they positioned each fight with a slightly weak warm up first in Wheely Big Cheese vs Chaos 2 which is flipping great fun (literally) and was a great way of showing how far each match has come since Series 3. The issue was it seemed to have been cut down significantly, being just below two minutes and it didn't seem much happened except Chaos 2 just flipping Wheely Big Cheese about. The second fight is an improvement with Wild Thing vs Firestorm. The two wedge robots clash in a brilliant battle where both robots do a tremendous amounts of damage and aggression to each other and once again its control that's key to beating such a troubling opponent. Brilliant attacks and stylish too makes this a fantastic fight!

The second vengeance allstar battle is certainly much better than the first in this episode, Razer vs Behemoth! Both perform brilliantly and although it's not as good or as tense as the First World Championship one it is just another great chapter in the Razer/Behemoth clashes. Razer performs brilliantly, crumpling the scoop in a beautiful fashion and Behemoth gets its own back chucking and pinning Razer it's a great clash! Then we have the final allstar battle which is the payoff for the slightly lackluster Pussycat vs Stinger (why that was the main event is beyond me) Once again, Tornado shows off great aggressive ramming skills and poor old Pussycat is the one whose left to suffer. Pussycat tries its best but soon a wheel is torn off and it is battered brutally! Then we have probably the reason why this battle is remembered, Pussycat severes something on Sir Killalot and causes Sir Killalot to catch fire for the second time in its lifetime. So cue hilarity, I guess Killalot gets hot around animals. A great ending to a rather enjoyable episode. Why did I put it 6th? It's so good, I mean sure the first battle could have been more exciting but what is the reason this is 6th?...

The Steel Avenger vs King B Powerworks vs Tornado - You know the intermission in Godfather 2 allowed for context and story to progress whilst also cutting in the main narrative? This isn't it. Okay, so Great Movies and a random TV show don't really correlate unless you're The Sopranos but this "intermission" with a Mayhem certainly is the black sheep here. Mayhems in Extreme 1 seem to be quite mixed with the first annihilator having only one bad battle in its Mayhem run while the second annihilator had multiple bad battles (says something about the annihilators doesn't it?) this isn't bad per say but it is dull and stick out like a sore thumb in a Allstar dominated episode. We have three famous robots so it should be close but instead we get just a bit of awkward shoving around before Tornado dies for no reason, King B loses a wheel and The Steel Avenger is smacked by Matilda, but this all happens at the end of the fight, the rest is boring. It's incredibly forgettable and I don't care for this fight and from what I remember about what others thought, this one was the one people didn't mention.

Overall it's a good episode but it just suffers from a slow start, a poor Mayhem in the middle and the fact that it is just one tournament that dominates this entire episode. If the Mayhem was better and it had either been more diverse with the battles or JUST about the allstars it'd be fine, but those little problems hinder its position.

5th Episode 12

Arguably very controversial and maybe one that I could place behind Episode 10 although I am still pretty confident for this placement, who knows. Okay, so Episode 10 certainly has more better fights than this one which does have two very weak fights but at the same time I'd argue this episode is a case of Quality over Quantity. Plus remember, because people seem too fickle to remember this is not your opinion but mine. That said this is one of the episodes I have seen countless times and is in fact the first one on my ROBOT WARS ALLSTARS VHS, so I have some history with this.

Bulldog Breed 3 vs Judge Shred 2½ vs Spirit of Knightmare - I really like this battle. It may not be too action packed but it contains three robots I really like and the attacks that do take place are visually impressive. However, I must admit despite my obsession in the past with this episode upon rewatching this episode again for this list the battle is a bit drab. Bulldog Breed if extremely impressive and the other two are beautifully designed but both seemed to have died after one attack. I guess the battle itself isn't too great but the aftermath with the House Robots getting involved and the hazards too also providing brilliant moments like Spirit of Knightmare being flipped with the artwork showing. It's a decent aftermath for a battle and its three robots are great...just a shame the actual fight only has 1/3 robots working. Plus from what I've seen, it seems people also enjoy this battle so it's all good.

German Melee - Okay...so, while picking out Crowned Classics, I picked this one because in my memories of this fight it was funny and quite action packed...oh boy rewatching it certainly changed my mind! This fight was bad. Really, Really bad! The only robot that actually does anything is Golem and it's the only robot to be KO'd. The other robots quite literally nudge each other for five minutes at the incredible speed of probably 0.2 MPH. My childhood must have remembered this fight as something it wasn't but unfortunately reality has spoken and this maybe one of the worst fights ever.

Mega Morg vs Plunderbird - Although the fight itself isn't brilliant, the context and lead up is absolutely hilarious! So the two teams want to find out whose the better singer, yeah it's incredibly campy and fake but the moment they had a...err... rap battle I guess? Was great fun. The fight isn't much, Plunderbird struggles to do anything to Mega Morg who in turn simply circles around to prevent Plunderbird from attacking. That said it does have some highlights...they mainly come in in the last third of the fight. We have Shunt destroying the sheep (how they got away with that Sheep on family friendly TV is beyond me) with a great axe hit and SGT Bash toasting said sheep, Mega Morg gets a flip in and holds Plunderbird off and Plunderbird's crusher actually causes damage! It slips in quite ingeniously behind an armour plating by the scoop. However, this does not save what is a slightly weak battle.

Razer vs Firestorm - You're probably wondering why I placed this above Episode 10 if there's one bad fight, one mediocre fight and one "okay" fight in comparison to four good fights. Well the last two battles in this episode are 10/10 fights, they're so good and probably some of Extreme 1's best battles overall. Although Episode 10 has four good fights, none of these fights really go beyond 7/10, this is what I mean by quality over quantity. This fight is brutal, stylish and overall fantastic. It's a push over for sure and does start the Razer/Firestorm Rivalry but it is just excellent! Razer charges in crushes and penetrates, creating, hole after hole after hole and then comes the absolutely awesome moment, the moment that made me love Razer, when it picks Firestorm up in the middle of the arena and lifts it high into air. Such a sight to see! JP's commentary sounds energetic and really hits home the impact of this fight. The fight is then taken to the House Robots before it ends with Firestorm pulling a "-o0" sort of face on its wedge (surely I'm not the only one that sees a face in that?) Such a memorable and brilliant fight!

Chaos 2 vs Tornado - After one 10/10 fight here's another. What's great about both fights are they're both different for why they work. One is destructive while the other is shocking. This fight is was the one that submitted Tornado as an allstar robot, that justified its reason here. It's taken out; Behemoth, 3 Stegs, Stinger and Pussycat, but taking out Chaos 2 seemed like an impossible task. This battle is truly shocking given context. Chaos 2 was two time champion and although it lost the Flipper Frenzy it hadn't lost any other fight, showing absolute aggression and control throughout but this fight sent shockwaves. Tornado's constant aggressive ramming attacks seemed like it has this battle easy, but then again, Chaos 2 gets a flip in here and there. Both robots demonstrate they are capable of taking on each other but soon Chaos 2's flipper jams and Tornado dominates, BUT THEN the House Robots get involved and Chaos 2 flips Dead Metal onto Tornado as Shunt hammers down on Chaos 2. The battle ends with both robots still trying to kill each other and end s with an awesome shot of Chaos 2's flipper getting shredded by Tornado. This fight is worthy of a Grand Final battle, it is so awesome! This fight is singlehandley the best Allstars battle in Extreme 1.

So there we have it, two fantastic battles at the end really save this episode. now sure, Episode 10 has more good fights but they don't really step in the quality of the final battles here. That said the episode starts of extremely slow and does hinder it significantly.

4th. Episode 8

I wanted this episode to be in the top 3 but alas there's just two battles which hindered its placement. Nonetheless, it is one fantastic episode and one I have fond memories of, particularly one battle featuring a certain robot which I'll discuss soon...

Razer vs Gemini - Razer vs Gemini is a battle a lot of people love with some comments made on my Crowned Classics video declaring it the best fight of the series and Robot Wars uploader Blooper Sphoof calling it "One of my favourites from the original series" so it is good. HELL YEAH IT IS! Gemini is a tricky opponent and Razer certainly struggles with it as it can attack one but get flipped by the other but soon the dreaded Razer claw comes down and crumples the top of the wheel guard in one of the most satisfactory moments in Robot Wars the sound of the popping, the armour cracking and the slow but increasingly deeper crush, makes for one very memorable attack. It is a shame the battle was cut somewhat as it seems it was even crazier than before! But for what it's worth, it's certainly one of Razer's best fights and the ending with the flames being caught on the back end of Razer as it drives off is such an awesome sight!

101 vs King B Powerworks - Another battle that seems popular. Once again, when I was younger I remembered this battle to be much better than it actually is, don't get me wrong it's still a great fight. As vengeances go this one is probably the best as both robots have a history and both are pretty equally matched. Sure the first quarter of the fight is both machines dancing about in a game of cat and mouse but soon they start fighting and in scenes similar to Series 3, 101 gets underneath and plucks King B up as it then struggles to get off. The House Robots get involved as time ticks by as the competition does become somewhat tense, who's gonna win especially now with the House Robots? Some major attacks later SGT Bash then finishes King B off by dumping it in the pit. Kinda a shame really as if it went to a judges it would have been more exciting. In many ways it's a battle with three acts, the first act is a bit slow but fun, the second act is best and really good while the final act was a bit weak and disappointing. But overall a great vengeance.

Napalm 2 & Sir Chromalot vs Suicidal Tendencies & The Steel Avenger - This is a Tag Team fight and as usual it's the weak link, but I will say it's a step up from some of the ones we've had before. I will say the aggression and damage from The Steel Avenger and Suicidal Tendencies is certainly great to see but unfortunately the opponents don't really put up a fight. Truth be told one sided fights aren't completely bad, see Razer vs Firestorm or Chaos 2 vs Tornado, but many, many one sided fights tend to be really dull, this is one of them. For starts, Sir Chromalot just exists in this fight and Napalm...is Napalm so what we get is two robots displaying how they work against two objects...yeah.

Atomic 2 vs Fighting Torque vs Mousetrap 2 - THIS, THIS is the fight that made me fall in love with Atomic and was the fight I was mentioning above. This fight is one sided, yes, but it amkes up for it in pure brilliant and humourous action! Three almost random robots fight it out for a place in the annihilator with Atomic, the robot that was this slow bulky thing in Series 4 just kicking ass! MouseTrap is immobilised within the first few seconds and the silly but lovable Fighting Torque managed to survive for the most part. MouseTrap is chucked by the floor flipper at one point and Atomic ALMOST gets itself stuck! Fight Torque is set on fire and the little skull on top falls off while it flipped by Atomic which exposes its backside. This is one of the most exciting and funny battles in the series and probably one of the best Mayhems here.

Pussycat vs Stinger - So after some great fights in the Mayhem and the other Allstars battle this is by far one of the strangest "Main Events" in the series. It doesn't make much sense at all other than "allstars". I'd argue the Razer vs Gemini fight was a better choice but you know what would have been a perfect Main Event? The 101 vs King B fight, it would make so much sense contextually and in terms of Robot Wars history. This is not a bad fight but it is mediocre. Two robots I love fighting should be great right? But it isn't rather, not much happens in the fight and honestly it's kinda forgettable.

Overall, this is fun episode with some really fun and great matchups. However, two of the fights are quite weak and do not offer much which does hinder an overwise entertaining episode.

3rd: Episode 1

When you start a series, it's ways best to give the audience a taster whilst also providing a Hell of a good show like with Series 6, 7 and 8. You could also take the Series 3,5 and 9 route of just shrugging your shoulders and basically say "well here you go", however, with a new type of show the best course of action is well provide a great start to entice people to watch. And this is for me what Extreme 1 does really well in its first episode, provide a taste of what's to come in an extremely entertaining and enjoyable way.

Tornado vs Stinger - Okay, so in comparison to the fight we're about to get, this for me is definitely a strange choice to start things off as it's probably the weakest battle of the episode! I don't understand why didn't have the Chaos 2 vs X-Terminator or even the Mayhem as the beginning battle as they do an excellent job at creating an explosive start. It's not a bad battle by any means but it sort of average and definitely feels like a "warm up" battle for the episode, one that isn't explosive or impactful but warms thing up for the more explosive an exciting battles. The battle is mostly Tornado dominating Stinger and the House Robots getting involved near the end was certainly fun. Plus the reason for this vengeance felt more like an excuse to justify why Tornado was in the allstars later on the line.

Pussycat vs S.M.I.D.S.Y. vs Sumpthing - Why this wasn't chosen to be the opening battle is beyond me. Firstly, it has three recognisable names of different calibre, secondly, JP manages to provide details about new features such as the pit release and lastly, it is extremely good. Pussycat is perhaps at it's most destructive, tearing apart the inners/outters of Sumpthing and crumpling the front of S.M.I.D.S.Y. But, it's not too easy for Pussycat as both machine get their own attacks in and do throw Pussycat off slightly. There's some humour to be had with Sumpthing getting impaled on SGT Bash. The quite literal mayhem of this fun fight is carried on further even after S.M.I.D.S.Y. is immobile where it is caught by the corners of the pit and trapped, Pussycat assists by performing one of my personal favourite pittings by the sheer impact of the disc sending S.M.I.D.S.Y. onto its side before another attacks carves the underbelly as it finally falls in. This battle is chaotic and all over the place but certainly sets the series up for a thrillride that just beginning!

Chaos 2 vs X-Terminator - To start the allstars off we have the reigning champions against the popular X-Terminator in what is a fantastic start to the competition. You'd think it be easy for Chaos 2 but instead the fight is a whole lot closer. Chaos 2 gets some brilliant flips in but X-Terminator also gets a few attacks in, impaling Chaos 2 with its axe which allows for a more balanced battle. Obviously, it's a fight to see who's weapon will manage to kill off the other which Chaos 2 manages to do (that rhythms!) X-Terminator is flipped and the axe can't function anymore. But the battle doesn't end there, Matilda and Shunt get involved and this fight demonstrates the new flywheel of Matilda and a brutal attack it is at that, tearing bits off of X-Terminator and bending the axe, it also manages to damage Shunt! It's a great start for the Allstars!

Diotoir vs Wheely Big Cheese - Whereas the previous fight was more evenly match, this isn't, but it is a classic! I've rarely seen a single person say anything negative about this battle because it really is just so hilarious. We know Diotoir isn't going to win this fight, it's up against Wheely Big Freaking Cheese! But what we want is what we get, pure fun. Diotoir gets a good start actually flipping Wheely Big Cheese but as it attacks the wheels things turn very quickly. I must stress how much I love the commentary for this fight and this moment where Wheely Big Cheese gets the flip in on Diotoir is a prime example of it, as JP is trying to discuss the broken eye he shouts "Oh!" and there's a pause and the timing of this, as Diotoir drives onto the lip of the flipper and stops, is nothing more than perfect. Diotoir is thrown and as usual set onto the flame pit by Dead Metal and Sir Killalot, strangely doesn't catch fire! It's righted and we end with a great cat and mouse game between Diotoir and Dead Metal. It's not tense and predictable but my God is it entertaining.

Behemoth vs The Steel Avenger - What a great way to end the episode. After three fantastic battles and one okayish fight, we have this to top it off. Behemoth scoops and flips The Steel Avenger about for the most part but The Steel Avenger does get an axe blow on Behemoth and does cause some damage, Behemoth retaliates and chucks out of the aren-...almost out of the arena in one of the most spectacular close OOtA similar to Spartacus' close OOtA in US Season 1, it manages to balance back down but the brutality of the fight continues as it is chucked into Sir Killalot who grabs The Steel Avenger, BUT BEHEMOTH THEN LIFTS SIR KILLALOT FROM BEHIND! The battle soon ends, but what a wild ride of a final this is, such an awesome fight no wonder there's a million paragraphs dedicated to this fight on The Steel Avenger article, so much happens and it's so brutal and all over the place, in a good way, pure chaos!

Overall, this is probably the best start you could get for the series. None of the fights are below par and all offer some form of quality from being mayhem, evenly matched, humourous and absolute carnage. A great fight after great fight after great fight...as long as you watching the episode from the Mayhem onwards.

2nd. Annihilator 1

For many years this use to be in my top ten and used to be one of my favourite annihilators. Although still great, I have rewatched this a few times by now and it has somewhat decreased in ranking of annihilators somewhat, coming in at fourth maybe fifth. So what makes this such a great annihilator and what makes it come in second?

Firstly, the robots. The robots here are mostly allstar robots, meaning we can prepare for all out carnage, in fact this is probably the most allstar heavy annihilator next to the Northern Annihilator of course (ironically they both have one robot that isn't really A/B-Class "allstar" material). Every robot here is somewhat balanced and different in their own ways, we have the durable one (Arnold), the BFW (Hypno-Disc), the powerful flipper (Thermidor), the controlling one (Splinter), the aggressive one (X-Terminator) and the slippy one (Pussycat). What makes this line up better is that each of these robots have met each other before, so it creates a series of vengeances that only increase the intensity and challenge of this annihilator.

The battles are of course really good...well most of them. Something that's quite telling is that the two favourites (Pussycat and Hypno-Disc) were the main targets for all the other competitors as they could easily domianted them all, instead they are put under heavy amounts of pressure, namely Hypno-Disc who somehow survives till the third round. The first two round are gritty and gruelling for the competitors and honestly it is a tough call to decide who will go first as every robot gives its their best and really go at it. Eventually, it comes down to freak breakdowns in Thermidor and X-Terminator to decide who goes first. This is brilliant stuff seeing such a tight and heavy clash. Round 3, like with almost EVERY annihilator is the black sheep. I dunno why the middle of annihilators are so weak but they always feel like the slow parts. Here is probably one of the more obvious examples. In this fight Hypno-Disc, after being beaten to a bloody pulp in the previous rounds, doesn't really move and get pitted. It's certainly a step down of the pure utter mayhem of the previous fights but in many ways it was inevitable that Hypno-Disc would be going soon. Round 4 isn't as chaotic as the first two rounds but rather more tactical. Here, Pussycat is the target of Splinter who sees it as the real threat, as does Arnold, while Pussycat sees Splinter as the main concern and goes after them. The three really gets stuck in and Pussycat does looked battered and beaten, especially after the disc falls off and it is tipped on the side temporary. But the damage to Splinter, which at first didn't seem much, really takes it toll as Splinter dies.

This annihilator final may just be the very best annihilator final of them all as well as oen of Extreme 1's best fights. I'm not just saying that because Pussycat wins or because it goes to a judges decision, but because of context. For starters, compared to every other annihilator final there's only four finals (Southern, Northern, this and Extreme 2) in total that's fantastic but only two because of the fight themselves (Northern and this), with Southern Annihilator for example the final is one the greatest things in Robot Wars history but not because of the fight...but because of what happens with Razer and Matilda, Extreme 2 Annihilator's final is great but only by how impressive Kan-Opener was in dominating Thermidor 2 despite being a double round 1 loser. This annihilator final has build up in the rounds before hand with Pussycat (and Hypno-Disc) being bullied and assaulted by all the other opponents in an attempt to get rid of the big guns but through and through survived it all and managed to get to the final and then win. Arnold on the other hand was the odd one out and the one which JP and I'm sure others thought would NEVER get to a final, but it did and did so very well. This fight also marks the first time it would go to a judges and in many ways the only time it wasn't one sided as both machines put so much effort in and both pretty evenly matched. Arnold grabs hold of Pussycat and its tough armour makes it hard for Pussycat to gain purchase, but at the same time, Pussycat is speedier and aggressive, it's damaging weapon is sure to chew into Arnold. The fight in general never feels it could only go one way, it constantly keeps you on your feet with anticipation over what could and will happen and who's gonna win. Regardless of the result, both were deserving and the tale of how they got here is just as impressive.

A fantastic annihilator certainly the highlight of Extreme 1, however, there is one episode I think is so much better and the single best in Extreme 1 as well as one of my all time favourites.

1st. Episode 13

If you have read any of my lists you know how much I love this episode! This is not only the best Extreme 1 episode but it's also one of my all time favourite episodes ever! There's reasons why, mostly to do with the great range of battles and certainly the top pedigree amounts of quality put into this episode that the other just barely make. This is the type of episode that gets better and better as it goes on and at the same time all vary in they types of battles they are.

Chaos 2 vs Tornado - Starting things off is the weakest battle of the episode but also a good one. In many ways it's great continuity as the previous episode ended with the absolutely stunning Allstars battle between the two, here Chaos 2 wants revenge whilst also taking them on for the Challenge Belt. The battle is as expected a walk over for Tornado who slams and pretty much immobilises Chaos 2 on one side almost straight away, but we do get some highlights with Chaos 2 chucking Shunt over with some great commentary from JP. However, it's a not the best battles and certainly a weak start, but it's good nonetheless.

Disc-O-Inferno vs Velocirippa vs Comengetorix - Ever since I spoke with Team Mouse about their history, this fight is the one that seems to stick out the most. The battle is a whitewash but a brilliantly destructive one. Disc-O Inferno slaughtering Comegetorix and Thanosing Velocirippa is just awesome to see and for me is quite comforting as Disc-O-Inferno hadn't really been a good or memorable robot until this point, you must remember if fought twice in the Fourth Wars and did nothing and died, so to see it work at its best potential, this really was a great fight. The battle's sheer devastation really allowed us to be hyped for the annihilator if THIS was gonna be in it. Also Velocirippa's destruction is hilarious and brutal to watch, I'm surprise people don't compare this to the likes of Hypno-Disc vs Splinter or Frostbite vs Supernova as it really is a brutal battle.

Axe-Awe vs Panic Attack - For a lot of people apparently, this is one of their favourite battles as well as being considered one of if not the best Panic Attack fight. I can see why. Ever since I was a kid I loved this fight and this was the fight that made me love Axe-Awe (even if it only fought in three battle max) and this is probably one of my favourite Panic Attack battles with it really demonstrating how brilliant Panic Attack was in battle. The careful driving, the skillfull control and brilliantly simple attack by getting underneath Axe-Awe as it's on top of the Series 2 champion, driving it towards the pit and dropping them in. It's quite siple but so effective and so well controlled. This a contrast to the more energetic destructathon before and gives us a more tactical and steady but beyond fantastic battle.

Beef Cake vs RC Warrior - I was so worried when I was adding this to Crowned Classics in fear would hate it, as battle wise it is just shoving and pushing, but to my joyful surprise it would seem this is in fact one of Extreme 1's favourite battles, it seems I'm not the only one who loves this fight. Okay, fight wise it is just push and shoving but what this lacks it makes up for in sheer hilarity! I love the commentary in this fight, JP's jokes and one liners are top notch here and when the House Robots get involved it gets even better. For less than 30 seconds we are treated to a glorious moment where Beef-Cake """fights""" Shunt before being toppled and Sir Killalot flattens it...JP's reaction and commentary here is probably one of my all time favourite lines in the way he says "YOU CRUSHED HIM!" it is so funny. I love the humour of this very silly battle but the best is yet to come.

Diotoir & Pussycat vs Suicidal Tendencies & The Steel Avenger - THE BEST BATTLE OF THE SERIES! The Tag Team Final. It's built up in the regular over the top way Extreme 1 does things and throughout there's this atmosphere that Diotoir and Pussycat are going to lose, after all their opponents look and are tougher on paper. The battle begins and Pussycat is being beaten by Suicidal Tendencies for the first half, then Diotoir and Steel Avenger both come out to help their partners with Diotoir winning that match. But something in the battle really highlights the pure brilliance of the battle over all and I mentioned this in my "Best Battles Per Series" video on YouTube, it's a shot of Suicidal Tendencies ramming Pussycat into the side wall, but then Pussycat pushes back, ripping off the end of Suicidal Tendencies' claw and fighting back HARD! The battle is a tense, brilliantly skilled one and to show the pure amazing skill these teams have to offer during this battle, the House Robots are NEVER involved. That shows how close of a match this is. The ending is a cheerful one (although if memory serves me right they actually had the tribute to David Gribble at the end) and is a perfect way of ending the episode. This battle had it all and is one of my favourite fights of all time as well as the best fight of Extreme 1. In fact, had the series ended with this episode it would have ended on a high note. What's ironic is that the best fight and final was the tag team one which just so happens to be the weakest competition in Extreme 1...huh!

This episode really had it all. It had the destructathon, the vengeance, the funny, the tactical and the all out awesome. That is why this is the best episode of Extreme 1, this is such a great episode and one that I use to rewatch over and over again on my 'ROBOT WARS ALLSTARS' VHS. A great way to end this ranking, I hope you enjoyed now I gotta watch Series 5...which already is proving hard to do although some episodes are good (I mean four episode are good the rest have been average or crap thus far) so yeah...