Robot Wars was released in 1993 and was one of the last films directed by veteran exploitation director Albert Band.   The films set on earth in the year the 2041- when seemingly much of the planet has been turned into a vast desert. The plot focus in on one of the head citadels(well their control room, and one or two other rooms)- where a team are controlling the last megarobot- this basically  looks like a robo cross between a spider & scorpion. The Megarbot is used for transporting people back & forth across the wastelands, but secretly is also trying to fend off rebel Centro troops. Stepping into this plot we have a cocky & renegade Megarobot pilot, and a suspicious female archaeologist who uncover that there’s another Robot hidden under an abounded city that held be as it was in the 1990’s.

In typical exploitation standards, the film's title is very much misleading- as there is totally around ten/ fifteen-minute robot action over the films seventy one minute runtime, and as for ‘war’ type action this is only say five minutes. What we do get is lots of pulpy & campy sci-fi character clichés- the cocky pilot & his bumbling yet likable mechanic, a spunky female who at first hates the pilot then falls for him. And obnoxious & pompous chief, trying to cover-up secrets.

The film has a light & almost family tone- with amusing quips & dialogues along the at times fairly flippant & thin plot. When we do get robot action it’s impressive enough, we get a good selection of shots of the lumbering spider/ scorpion robot, as well as the battle between the two robots. These effects were done by one of the last great Stop motion effects makers David Allen.  So I’d say if you go into this not expecting much, above some light & campy sci-fi fare, you’ll enjoy this well enough.

Extras wise we get a good enough Blu ray transfer- though it’s not spectacular. Beyond this, we get an eleven-minute tribute to David Allen- with Charles Band talking about how they first met, and his work on Band related films over the years. We get a thirty-minute episode of Videozone from the 1993- this features onset interviews with the cast & crew of Robot Wars, as well as discussing other Full Moon Productions of the time. Lastly, we get a retro Full Moon promo from 1997- which is great to see.

So in conclusion if you’re either a big fan of Full Moon’s more sci-fi focused fare, or enjoy pulpy sci-fi with some fairly fleeting old-school stop-motion robot action- this is worth a punt.