Deadliest Warrior (2009-11)
Fighters are chosen for characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses and then after weapons testing and strategy analysis a computer simulates 5000 battles then formulates an average to decide which contender is deadlier.
Some aspects of this series are actually quite interesting. There’s exploration into the types of weapons used throughout history as well as documented evidence on conflicts and figures in the past. The contests are made roughly fair by choosing fighters from the same time zones so that neither are outmatched by future war technology.
A lot of the testing is dubious in its accuracy. For one thing some of the personality profiles are based on highly biased records or even worse, myths. Also the weapons are tested a set amount of times by the same people so historical figures are judged by the strength of the cast members used to simulate their attacks.
It was fun that the season finale for the third series was just a fun supernatural episode to ensure that the project wasn’t taken too seriously overall but was an educational and entertainment exercise. It’s a little bizarre at some points where the higher brain functions kick back in for a second and you realise you’re in some way routing for Saddam Hussein and you have to check your perspective real quick.
There’s not always a great range of women involved, possibly because it’s a show aimed at a male demographic but we barely get any women involvement until the Joan of Arc episode. The special for the end of season one didn’t work so well since they brought a whole season worth of opponents back for one and that amount of statistics just blurred together.
4/10 -It’s below average, but only just!-
-The studio head and game developer who appears in multiple episodes and helped to create the game of the show admitted in 2011 that he lied about being a former green beret.