Mail van Django
Geplaatst: di aug 16, 2005 11:44 am
Dear roboteers,
Since the last Robot Wars, all kinds of rumours have been circulating. With
this message we'd like to adress your most pressing questions.
1. Why did you abandon the roboteers?
We're sorry if some of you feel we abandoned you. But please appreciate
that, when the show ended, our jobs ended. We went on to other jobs,
because unfortunately we do have mortgages to pay and mouths to feed.
That's the facts of life, especially in showbizz. Please don't hold it
against us, Mentorn or the BBC. We all benefitted from this TV-business. We
had great fun and an intense experience, starting the show and keeping it
and the roboteers alive and kicking for seven wonderful years. We hope you
enjoyed it as much as we did. The job of the tech crew always has to be
carried out without fear or favour and that oftentimes tends to alienate us
from the general roboteer. That has never worried us, because we were
always there to help rather than hinder you and while we cannot always be
your best mate, we're never your enemy. We were just as sad as you when the
show ended, but we're big boys and we don't blame anyone. We can handle
it... and so can you.
2. Why don't you answer tech questions anymore at
derek@robotwarstech.co.uk?
We currently have a database of 13000 (that is THIRTEEN THOUSAND!)
roboteers world wide. And we still have tons of tech questions coming in.
Unfortunately we cannot possibly answer them individually. We just cannot
afford the manpower. Remember: there is no Robot Wars at the moment. We all
have day jobs, families and obligations, which we cannot neglect.
However... Robot Wars has always been and still is a labour of love for us.
And therefore we still invest in Robot Wars. But we prefer all the spare
time and money that we can still afford to put into Robot Wars, to be spent
on the number one priority, which is in trying to get the show back again.
We're sure you'll all agree, that should be our main focus. Yes, we are
trying to restart RW, but that's another question which we'll get to in a
minute.
3. Why don't we get any news about what's currently going on in Robot
Wars?
Because there currently is no Robot Wars and there's little news to tell.
We can only confirm that behind the scenes we're working as hard as we can,
to try and get it restarted. But we'd really like to wait with news and
details untill we're 100% sure, that we will have another Robot Wars, when
and if (!) it happens. We don't want to get your hopes up with a dead duck.
We haven't had any of our events being cancelled in the past and we'd like
to prevent that from happening in the future, as it would be bad for our
track record, as well as for the reputation of Robot Wars. We're sure
you'll understand, that keeping the roboteers in the loop would cost a lot
of time and manpower, which we just don't have at the moment. Make no
mistake: we're not actively trying to keep you out of the loop! It's not
possible for us to talk to every roboteer indivually at the moment, but we
often and gladly discuss what's going on with representatives of the
roboteers. So far, the DRG are the only roboteers organisation that have
ever consulted or invited us. Their seeking contact with us and conveying
the questions that are afoot in the Robot Wars community have lead to us
compiling this message.
4 Is Robot Wars coming back?
To the best of our knowledge, neither Mentorn, nor the BBC has any plans of
bringing RW back at the moment. The only one currently working on trying to
get Robot Wars back on track is Derek Foxwell, together with some key
people of the original crew. Derek has been working on this for 2,5 years
now. We're talking to people all over the world. Yes, these people include
representatives from TV-companies. But at the moment our main focus is not
to rely on TV. RW has grown very big, very fast because of television.
That's great, but when you compare the history of RW to the history of
other sports (motorsports for instance) TV has given us a false start.
Millions of people all round the world know RW. But only a small handfull
of competitors and spectators have ever experienced Robot Wars live. We'd
like to have more fans smell the carbon, hear the metal-tearing blows, feel
100 kg of robot coming down after being launched meters through the air. In
short: a deepening of the RW-fanbase and therefore a stronger foundation
for the sport is our first order of business. If we can succeed there,
we're confident that eventually our TV comeback will follow as a result.
5 What will the future hold for Robot Wars?
When we look into our chrystal balls we see world domination! Well, we're
not entirely kidding. We hope and believe RW has the potential of
eventually becoming one of the major world sports spectacles, like
motorracing and football. That's the longterm goal we're trying to keep in
the back of our heads. And that's the belief that's still driving us. But
we're talking atleast a fifty year timeframe here, maybe a hundred years.
Who knows? And we're not saying that it will happen, just that we believe
RW has the legs and the staying power to achieve it. It will require years
of hard work. Anyway: don't be mistaken into thinking that a two year
hiatus in Robot Wars means the animal is dead. It's just hibernating as far
as we're concerned. Ofcourse two years is a long time to wait for all of us
as indivuals. But in the longterm: it's nothing. Just ponder the time
frames of the Olympic Games or the Land Speed Record.
6 What's the current plan?
The plan we think has the most promise for the relatively near future is a
European tour, building on the succesfull British Robot Wars tour of a few
years ago. Some keypoints:
- A huge show in a circus-tent for an audience of 3000. And not just
a show, but a complete mind-blowing experience for the visitors.
- Four big trucks, hauling the show throughout Europe.
- We will come to venues near you: England, Holland, Germany,
Belgium, etcetera...
- A brandnew and improved arena.
- A new format for the show: a giant spectacle with music and a
technology-exhibition, surrounding the actual fights.
- Yes, we will keep the familiar extreme destruction and the "mad men
that break stuff" show to entertain the crowds but...
- We will also focus much more on the technology and clever
engineering that goes into Robot Wars and robot building. We want to show
the crowds that these mad men are clever engineers as well and thus deepen
their appreciation.
- Making learning fun and making technology cool! We want to sell
tickets, put on a succesful show, promote RW and show kids and adults a
good time, but at the same time we want to emphasize the great side-effect
that Robot Wars and TechnoGames has had: to get kids interested in
technology. Yeah: our hidden agenda is the same as it's always been:
technology education. But now we're taking it one step further. We feel
that technology education is an extremely important cause. And we aim to
pull out all the stops on the fun education factor.
Please remember: this is the plan we're focussing on. We don't have the
financial package yet to get the show on the road, so please don't ask us
when it will happen. Maybe next year, maybe never. When and if it will come
together, we don't know. And some aspects of the plan might change,
depending on the investor's wishes. Just be sure of this: as soon as we
know, you'll know! And who knows: maybe you can help us to find the key
investor. We're mainly targetting companies and organisations that share
our interest in technology education for kids. If you have any tips: please
let us know.
7 Why do you keep calling it a show? It's a sport!
Some of you are still offended, when we call Robot Wars a show. Please
understand that every succesfull sport out there IS a show. The Romans
already understood this 2000 years ago. And look at motorracing: it was
conceived in 1898, but didn't achieve world sport status untill Formula One
was turned into a circus and a well-oiled (well, most of the time, anyway)
TV-show in around the 1980s. That still doesn't take anything away from the
fact that it is a sport. I'm sure you'll appreciate, that the Robot Wars
arena, the team, the FX, the organisation needed to keep Robot Wars running
and safe costs an tremendous amount of time and money. Bringing the
RW-TV-show back would need an investment in the order of 2,5 million euros.
Every investor wants a good return on his money. So in order for us to to
be able to properly organise the sport we and you all love, we primarily
need to focus on literally putting on a million dollar show for the
audience. If we don't entertain the crowds, we don't get to enjoy our
sport. It's that simple.
Take care,
Django.
Ir. Django Mathijsen
Technical Consultant Robot Wars NL & D
DMathijsen@compuserve.com
Since the last Robot Wars, all kinds of rumours have been circulating. With
this message we'd like to adress your most pressing questions.
1. Why did you abandon the roboteers?
We're sorry if some of you feel we abandoned you. But please appreciate
that, when the show ended, our jobs ended. We went on to other jobs,
because unfortunately we do have mortgages to pay and mouths to feed.
That's the facts of life, especially in showbizz. Please don't hold it
against us, Mentorn or the BBC. We all benefitted from this TV-business. We
had great fun and an intense experience, starting the show and keeping it
and the roboteers alive and kicking for seven wonderful years. We hope you
enjoyed it as much as we did. The job of the tech crew always has to be
carried out without fear or favour and that oftentimes tends to alienate us
from the general roboteer. That has never worried us, because we were
always there to help rather than hinder you and while we cannot always be
your best mate, we're never your enemy. We were just as sad as you when the
show ended, but we're big boys and we don't blame anyone. We can handle
it... and so can you.
2. Why don't you answer tech questions anymore at
derek@robotwarstech.co.uk?
We currently have a database of 13000 (that is THIRTEEN THOUSAND!)
roboteers world wide. And we still have tons of tech questions coming in.
Unfortunately we cannot possibly answer them individually. We just cannot
afford the manpower. Remember: there is no Robot Wars at the moment. We all
have day jobs, families and obligations, which we cannot neglect.
However... Robot Wars has always been and still is a labour of love for us.
And therefore we still invest in Robot Wars. But we prefer all the spare
time and money that we can still afford to put into Robot Wars, to be spent
on the number one priority, which is in trying to get the show back again.
We're sure you'll all agree, that should be our main focus. Yes, we are
trying to restart RW, but that's another question which we'll get to in a
minute.
3. Why don't we get any news about what's currently going on in Robot
Wars?
Because there currently is no Robot Wars and there's little news to tell.
We can only confirm that behind the scenes we're working as hard as we can,
to try and get it restarted. But we'd really like to wait with news and
details untill we're 100% sure, that we will have another Robot Wars, when
and if (!) it happens. We don't want to get your hopes up with a dead duck.
We haven't had any of our events being cancelled in the past and we'd like
to prevent that from happening in the future, as it would be bad for our
track record, as well as for the reputation of Robot Wars. We're sure
you'll understand, that keeping the roboteers in the loop would cost a lot
of time and manpower, which we just don't have at the moment. Make no
mistake: we're not actively trying to keep you out of the loop! It's not
possible for us to talk to every roboteer indivually at the moment, but we
often and gladly discuss what's going on with representatives of the
roboteers. So far, the DRG are the only roboteers organisation that have
ever consulted or invited us. Their seeking contact with us and conveying
the questions that are afoot in the Robot Wars community have lead to us
compiling this message.
4 Is Robot Wars coming back?
To the best of our knowledge, neither Mentorn, nor the BBC has any plans of
bringing RW back at the moment. The only one currently working on trying to
get Robot Wars back on track is Derek Foxwell, together with some key
people of the original crew. Derek has been working on this for 2,5 years
now. We're talking to people all over the world. Yes, these people include
representatives from TV-companies. But at the moment our main focus is not
to rely on TV. RW has grown very big, very fast because of television.
That's great, but when you compare the history of RW to the history of
other sports (motorsports for instance) TV has given us a false start.
Millions of people all round the world know RW. But only a small handfull
of competitors and spectators have ever experienced Robot Wars live. We'd
like to have more fans smell the carbon, hear the metal-tearing blows, feel
100 kg of robot coming down after being launched meters through the air. In
short: a deepening of the RW-fanbase and therefore a stronger foundation
for the sport is our first order of business. If we can succeed there,
we're confident that eventually our TV comeback will follow as a result.
5 What will the future hold for Robot Wars?
When we look into our chrystal balls we see world domination! Well, we're
not entirely kidding. We hope and believe RW has the potential of
eventually becoming one of the major world sports spectacles, like
motorracing and football. That's the longterm goal we're trying to keep in
the back of our heads. And that's the belief that's still driving us. But
we're talking atleast a fifty year timeframe here, maybe a hundred years.
Who knows? And we're not saying that it will happen, just that we believe
RW has the legs and the staying power to achieve it. It will require years
of hard work. Anyway: don't be mistaken into thinking that a two year
hiatus in Robot Wars means the animal is dead. It's just hibernating as far
as we're concerned. Ofcourse two years is a long time to wait for all of us
as indivuals. But in the longterm: it's nothing. Just ponder the time
frames of the Olympic Games or the Land Speed Record.
6 What's the current plan?
The plan we think has the most promise for the relatively near future is a
European tour, building on the succesfull British Robot Wars tour of a few
years ago. Some keypoints:
- A huge show in a circus-tent for an audience of 3000. And not just
a show, but a complete mind-blowing experience for the visitors.
- Four big trucks, hauling the show throughout Europe.
- We will come to venues near you: England, Holland, Germany,
Belgium, etcetera...
- A brandnew and improved arena.
- A new format for the show: a giant spectacle with music and a
technology-exhibition, surrounding the actual fights.
- Yes, we will keep the familiar extreme destruction and the "mad men
that break stuff" show to entertain the crowds but...
- We will also focus much more on the technology and clever
engineering that goes into Robot Wars and robot building. We want to show
the crowds that these mad men are clever engineers as well and thus deepen
their appreciation.
- Making learning fun and making technology cool! We want to sell
tickets, put on a succesful show, promote RW and show kids and adults a
good time, but at the same time we want to emphasize the great side-effect
that Robot Wars and TechnoGames has had: to get kids interested in
technology. Yeah: our hidden agenda is the same as it's always been:
technology education. But now we're taking it one step further. We feel
that technology education is an extremely important cause. And we aim to
pull out all the stops on the fun education factor.
Please remember: this is the plan we're focussing on. We don't have the
financial package yet to get the show on the road, so please don't ask us
when it will happen. Maybe next year, maybe never. When and if it will come
together, we don't know. And some aspects of the plan might change,
depending on the investor's wishes. Just be sure of this: as soon as we
know, you'll know! And who knows: maybe you can help us to find the key
investor. We're mainly targetting companies and organisations that share
our interest in technology education for kids. If you have any tips: please
let us know.
7 Why do you keep calling it a show? It's a sport!
Some of you are still offended, when we call Robot Wars a show. Please
understand that every succesfull sport out there IS a show. The Romans
already understood this 2000 years ago. And look at motorracing: it was
conceived in 1898, but didn't achieve world sport status untill Formula One
was turned into a circus and a well-oiled (well, most of the time, anyway)
TV-show in around the 1980s. That still doesn't take anything away from the
fact that it is a sport. I'm sure you'll appreciate, that the Robot Wars
arena, the team, the FX, the organisation needed to keep Robot Wars running
and safe costs an tremendous amount of time and money. Bringing the
RW-TV-show back would need an investment in the order of 2,5 million euros.
Every investor wants a good return on his money. So in order for us to to
be able to properly organise the sport we and you all love, we primarily
need to focus on literally putting on a million dollar show for the
audience. If we don't entertain the crowds, we don't get to enjoy our
sport. It's that simple.
Take care,
Django.
Ir. Django Mathijsen
Technical Consultant Robot Wars NL & D
DMathijsen@compuserve.com
)
