UK Gladiators - 2024 reboot

Pawnless Endgame

Pawnless Endgame

Pawnless Endgame

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After a couple of runs in the 1990s and 2000s, the show is coming back. This time on the Beeb, so no adverts.

www.gladiatorstv.com

Gladiators on BBC One and BBC iPlayer (2024) | GladiatorsTV.com

Gladiators, one of the most exciting and energetic sports entertainment gameshows ever, will be returning to TV in its brand new home on the BBC - on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
www.gladiatorstv.com www.gladiatorstv.com

It's got a whole new roster of 16 Glads, so no Wolf or Jet I'm afraid! Some of the old events will return such as the Eliminator plus some new ones. The referee will be different too, so no John Anderson. I felt he was the voice of Gladiators (CONTENDORS... READY!) etc so a bit of a shame he isn't coming back but I think he's getting on a bit now.

Is anyone here going to watch it? Everywhere I've seen on the internet so far has been a bit cagey on a start date. It was always historically in September so we should know a start date by now, no?

There were injuries in the original Glads such as in the Powerball event and I'm sure the HSE has got their hands on the upcoming series but hope it doesn't get too watered down or become too politically correct in fear of the cancel culture cohort.
 
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BUDFORCE said:
It'll be all health and safety and woke, I expect a lot of people moving about slowly on wheelchairs filling every possible sexual orientation and race, with some subtle political rhetoric behind everything.
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That's a bit extreme LOL :D

Being the BBC though (this time round), there could be some politics. Maybe not this year, but I think further down the line the gender card will get played. This will either allow biological males to play in the female category like in some sports, or else the male and female categories will go completely.

Gerard said:
Surprised they're bothering another with another attempt at this, last time around in 08 it lasted a year before dying off again.
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I was only aware of an '08 series yesterday when I was trying to research the cagey start date of the '23 series. Not sure why it failed but Wolf was still in this version according to Wikipedia.
 
The internet is still being cagey on a start date on TV :mad: If it was 1995, it would have already started by now because I remember being in 6th form and I saw at least 1 episode by now if I wasn't going out.

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The start date is apparently 13th January. I'm disappointed on 3 fronts. Firstly, because there are still no official sources on this and yet somehow Wikipedia knows when it is. Secondly, we only knew the week before the start date when it's airing. Thirdly, because it didn't air in its autumn slot like when it originally aired in 1992-1999. Hell, even the Wikipedia article that I linked 2 posts up in post #25 still says "Gladiators (2023 British TV series)" but when you click on it now, it redirects your browser to a 2024 page.

I know, moan moan moan, but I liked the original show and I think the "BBCCP" is going to turn this franchise into damaged goods.

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Thanks @rp2000 :p

My sources for TV updates were IMDB and TheTVDB, and generally speaking Google (which kept bringing up that Wiki page). I will add Digital Spy to my rotation though. I knew the name but it never occurred to me from its name that it was a TV source.

As for TV as a medium itself though, I left home in 1998 for uni without a TV and got used to not having one. Then it was only 18 months ago, some 25 years later when I finally got myself a TV, so I'm still trying to catch up with the old/new series and reboots.

Which Glad was your PE teacher?
 
Stu999 said:
Take your pick: https://www.gladiatorstv.com/gladiators/bbc/

Maybe Comet?: https://www.gladiatorstv.com/gladiators/bbc/comet/
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I think Dynamite for me :-)

Feek said:
Why does it matter what time of year it’s on? Strictly starts in the autumn, they’re never going to shift their biggest prime time show for this.
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Strictly isn't important to me, so it never occurred that it airs in the autumn time. Gladiators was more significant to me so the fact that always aired in the autumn time takes precedent. Another example is Knightmare. It would be wrong to air that in the spring time if that ever came back.
 
As @VincentHanna said, Krypton Factor was nothing like the Glads, but I agree it was still awesome!

Now if someone drew a comparison between the Glads with, say, the Crystal Maze, then they would have a point as it was about competing against stages/areas, a lot requiring physical endurance and scoring points towards the end game. The Krypton Factor on the other hand tested various human qualities such as observation, intelligence (Mensa-type puzzles and mazes), quizzes, and yes there was an obstacle course as part of each episode but it only accounted for like one-sixth of each episode.
 
steve5424 said:
Part of me thought he was best looking out of them all but then I found out she is only 20.
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Dynamite is only 20? Dayamn! :( Back in 1992 though, the ages were kinda the other way round, like I was 14 in 1992 watching the 1st series and the Glads were in their 20s or 30s, and Wolf was like 48. Now in 2024, I'm 45 haha!

Illusion said:
The Gladiators probably won’t be allowed to be “enhanced” plus additional health and safety wokeness will probably weaken it somewhat

I’ll still give it a go though
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Are you referring to drugs/steroids? Shadow got done for this and thus was dropped from the show once he was found out. If drug testing is better now than it was in the 90s, then hopefully it's not as much as an issue. As for health and safety, I can imagine the Powerball event being altered in some way as that had the most number of injuries IIRC. Other than that, maybe tweaks in the crash helmets and leg/arm supports to help against muscle injuries.
 
Mint8 said:
I was expecting them to have one of the Gladiators in a wheelchair or something.
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I know where you're coming from as everything have to be overly politically correct nowadays, but suggesting paralympics is a tad silly :p

What I can see happening though in a future series is the male and female categories being abolished, so to have all of the contenders and Glads bunched up together. This will be simply to pander to the gender police that makes up only 0.1% of the population. If you're a biological male (so bigger muscles, taller frame etc), then compete as a male. No 2-second head start for you on the Wall if you're a male but wanting to compete as a female. Knowing the BBC though...
 
I checked the TV listings and it's on at 17:50. So not just the wrong time of the year but also the wrong time of the day. I think the BBC is showing the Glads under duress, so they're deliberately killing it to make sure they don't get a 2nd series in their schedule.
 
Okies, my bad fellas. I thought the old start time was 18:45, so to bring it closer to Noel's House Party and other prime-time but must had remembered it wrong. I've checked some historic records tonight and they were for the most part 18:15 when it was on ITV.

I still stand by my earlier posts that the Beeb was cagey on release info and how late they left it in the end.

2 days to go, so let's see what we make of it then.
 
steve5424 said:
I just so happy they've decided to use the original theme tune this time.

I met the Gladiators from the 2000s Sky reboot. They were all lovely and I got to play duel with one of them.
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Agreed - great to have the original theme back. They're using the familiar version of the triangular-G symbol as well. I was only aware that a 2008/9 reboot existed last year and the branding / format seemed pretty different.

Stu999 said:
Which Gladiator did you fancy and which one catches your eye from the new line-up? :p
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I fancied Phoenix but she was relatively unknown as she was only in the 1992 season. For the new Glads, I was going to say Dynamite but I later heard on this thread that she's only 20!
 
That's 1 episode down folks.

I liked the nods back to old music cues such as Queen and Snap. The events were a mix of old and new, with the Eliminator being more or less the same as remembered. The only difference I think is that the handbike / red monkey bars part is now just monkey bars so to make it the same course for both sexes now.

There were bits where the screen shook (probably a post-processing effect) as a reaction from impacts in fights and crash landings. I didn't think that was necessary but the overall production overall was good. I pay particular attention to the lights (now all LEDs) and the LCD screens, and I particularly loved the under-lit floor like what they have on the Eurovision stage. The corporate red/blue colours are still there to keep the show familiar. Also, seeing this compared to seeing it in 1992 made me appreciate that TV has a much better picture now with better definition, bigger screen, better sound etc.

Although I'll miss John Anderson, I quite like the new referee. On the casting, it looks like Viper will be the new 'bad guy' / Wolf character. Out of the female characters, it's probably Athena who I'll like the most now I've seen most of them on-screen.

What I feared the most in this day and age was politics creeping in, but thankfully it didn't seem political at all and kept it a gameshow. The only 'message' it may have is hopefully it being an inspiration for some of us to get fit again.

I'll definitely watch the rest of the season.

Blackvault said:
It's definitely giving nostalgia. I didn't watch the previous reboot, how is this one comparing?
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I too would be interested to hear from someone who saw the interim 2008/9 seasons on what they thought of it and how it compared to vanilla and now.
 
@rp2000 - that's a great review a few posts above ^^. In particular the point you made about Viper being booed by the crowd. It reminds me of the recent Deal or No Deal reboot where the crowd is made to react in a certain way depending on what are inside the red boxes. Like with wrestling though, Gladiators is bound to be scripted to some extent and each Glad have their own character style, poses, entrances / backdrops, dances, music, victory stances and so on.

steve5424 said:
I posted my thoughts on it earlier. It was pretty terrible. They changed too much of it and having water under the events instead of crash mats was just silly. Full episodes are on YouTube.

In fact here is one that actually has some of Gladiators in it. A legends return one.
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Sorry I missed your original thoughts on 2008/9, so I have just caught up. Thanks for the video. I watched it in full, and I quite enjoyed it actually! The new 2023/24 reboot is still better though because of its familiarity with the original run and that seems to be working with today's viewership. From the 2008/9 video, I think the main downside is that the set looked rather black and white and I wasn't too keen on the Glads' costumes (also black and white). Battleaxe would have probably been my favourite Glad though and I noticed that the name "Panther" got re-used as there was a Glad called Panther in the original run.

Seeing John Anderson was a surprise for me and that it had some of the original Glads as contenders. I remembered Flame as a red-head so she looked pretty different as a blonde. Again it might be scripted, but was good to see a bad guy in the 2008/9 version as well, which seemed to be Oblivion, as he and Wolf were picking on each other a few times. Also, I liked Hunter's line: "I've never been one for scantily clad gentlemen throw balls at me" :p The one main / only thing from 2008/9 that was probably better than 2023/24 now were the 2 presenters from back then. Quite liked the female one in particular. Swimming pool instead of a crash mat? Nice idea, but nah.
 
Very good @VincentHanna but I finally got myself a TV in March 2022! It's funny that you didn't find any of my posts about me getting the TV :p One of my posts (fairly recent actually) was about that I won a tribunal and I was able to get a few things with it, the TV being one of them. Plus, 90s programmes were starting to get reboots and that was what got me interested again. The TV license itself I pay £80 for because I get the blind git allowance :-)
 
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