\"To this day I am still pondering the mystery of who suggested \"Spetsnaz vs. IRA\" and why the creators of the show decided to go through with that. I mean really, it boils down to \"Let\'s take terrorists and put them in a direct confrontation with one of the finest spec-ops/counterterrorist units in the world.\" My mind be baffled, good sir. \" - wondering if the point is that British security forces have to respect the law and operate within strict limits: put the IRA up against an SAS-equivalent formation that can do pretty much as it pleases, and, well, you can replace \"Brit bastard\" with \"Russian bastard\" in the song afterwards!
Male, early sixties, Cranky old fart, at least two decades behind. So you have been warned. Functionally illiterate in several languages.
It's a fun concept that's been pushed through a filter of dumb contrivance. Comparing weapons, fighting styles, tactics, it's a good building ground for the "who would win? X vs Y?" arguments that inevitably spring up. Unfortunately the already silly premise is made infuriating with it's 'testing' procedure of hitting a carcass and somehow trying to compare the 'damage' of a long sword vs a cutlass. More often than not it boiled down to bigger=better and the result of the weapon operator, not the weapons as a whole. They ignore range, ease of use, accuracy, weapon upkeep, reliability, and boil it down to "this gun hit 6 targets, that gun only hit 5. First gun is clearly better!" A waste of potential. Silly potential, but still enjoyable.
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Just Here For Godzilla
When the show first came out, I was always excited about new episodes, but then as I watched on, I resigned myself to only the last 5-10 minutes to see just the fights, because most of the rest of the show was very boring. A guy slicing a ballistics gel dummy in half with a sword might sound cool, but it gets boring around the 30th time.
The fights themselves are kind of cool, but waiting once a week for only a few minutes of excitement is definitely not cool. Had the rest of the episodes other than the fight been interesting, I might have watched. I was also a little uncomfortable with the huge focus on weapon lethality (as opposed to things like skill, tactics, etc.), as well as the fact that they were pitting together two kinds (as opposed to individuals) of warriors which all had variations of quality in their ranks. However, I accepted these flaws; you can't bring back a specific Spartan to test their skills, and things like skill aren't easily programmed into the algorithm they use.
In addition, for as cool as the matchups and fights were, some of them were just plain illogical. To this day I am still pondering the mystery of who suggested "Spetsnaz vs. IRA" and why the creators of the show decided to go through with that. I mean really, it boils down to "Let's take terrorists and put them in a direct confrontation with one of the finest spec-ops/counterterrorist units in the world." My mind be baffled, good sir.
I was also uncomfortable with the show constantly changing itself. Season 1 was mostly mano-a-mano brawls, season 2 was squad battles, and season 3 was about historical figures. The shows kind of struggled, always altering itself, before officially Jumping the Shark with Vampires vs. Zombies. The show had always been about real life warriors; pitting two fictional creatures (who might not even be considered warriors) against each other is just idiotic for a show that had sold itself as a science-based showdown of "who is deadliest?".
While I am a Death Battle fan, Deadliest Warrior was about real life combatants from the very beginning. Only then stepping on the foot of YouTube series, forums, and websites who A) beat them to it and B) do it better (at least some of the time) was just poor form.
Overall, the show is passable. Also, they didn't do "Pirate vs. Ninja".