[Construct]

While not truly cinema, it is almost like that.  I find myself watching discovery, science, history and now spike shows more than the networks.
I really like Mythbusters, how it's made, deadliest warrior, lock n load, time warp, dirty jobs and swords:  life on the line.  All more entertaining than many movies that I have seen lately.
  I can say that all of these show are standing on the shoulders of a giant.  The one man that invented the format of special effects and docu-drama.  The man that made science cool, Carl Sagan...and cosmos.

[Construct]

I meant to say also that I was lukewarm to the idea.  I mean "smashlab"  was a Mythbusters clone and this seemed like MB meets lock n load.  But really, it is an excellent source of cool history and very graphically illustrates damage.

[drcruz]

Deadliest Warrior is very cool. I cracks me up how the to experts talk sh!t to each other and how they sometimes get irritated during the weapon reviews. Even though the weapons testing is real and the damage analysis is ubber cool, you know the trash talk has got to be fake.

[Construct]

Deadliest Warrior is very cool. I cracks me up how the to experts talk sh!t to each other and how they sometimes get irritated during the weapon reviews. Even though the weapons testing is real and the damage analysis is ubber cool, you know the trash talk has got to be fake.

Oh you know it.  I have only seen now about 4 episodes (more on dvr yet to see).  The finale (Seal vs Israeli commando)  Was the proof.  We aren't just allies, we train each other and learn tactics and weapons tech as well.  The Israeli commando said it best at the end:  "We are fighting the same enemy."  100% true.  I like the testosterone rivalry between x vs y, so long as it never gets to the "WWF"  level of over the top.  The show ROCKS!

[Rob Babcock]

I watched on episode one Hulu and thought the show was absurd.  The one I watched was the Green Beret vs the Spetznaz.  The test "methodology", for lack of a truly appropriate term, was ludicrous.  First they tested shotguns; the GB Mossberg was fired at one static target while the Spetznaz Saiga was tested on multiple targets.  Then they used time as the criterion yet didn't mention it before the test!   Plus, they did only one test run- any statistics geeks wanna chime in with their opinion on that?   The auto was proclaimed the winner based on a single speed test, but of course one controlled 9 round test tells nothing about the reliability factor.  And real world experience shows the auto Saiga isn't remotely as reliable as the pump Mossberg.  I could go on but every "test" was pretty much the same, a kid who's spent his life flying an X-box making up tests based on his favorite video game.  It was even more idiotic than that Discovery show that pitted video game animals against each other.

And what's up with the narrarator?  It's like Iron Chef meets Vincent Price.  WTF is he supposed to be?

Overall I give it high marks for lameness and cheesiness, low marks for professionalism and knowledge.  Still, it was amusing enough that I made it almost to the very end.

[Rob Babcock]

BTW, I'm no flag waving jingoist...and I have no idea who would really win in a Green Beret/Spetznaz battle.  I just think the TV show was stupid!

[Construct]

I can appreciate the skill of the individuals on the shows.  A Modern "samurai"  put an arrow directly into both eyesockets of a ballistics gel dummy.  His archery was laser-accurate.  I have not seen the green beret episode.  I think I am more attracted to the damage people manually do with weapons (not guns)  than the theoretical simulations.  A gun is a gun, I know what they do from using them.  But ancient weapons, to see them in use is pretty darn cool.

[Rob Babcock]

I only saw that one episode.  I watched a little bit of the episode pitting Alexander of Macedon against Attila the Hun but it was just preposterous beyond words.  Why not pit Batman against Daredevil?  The first pair were real but we know a helluva lot more about the latter pair!  How realistically could you handicap a fight between a man dead for well over two thousand years and one that dies a thousand years ago?  Again, absurd!  We don't even have reliable physical descriptions of both, much less enough data to handicap a fight.

Still, from what I've seen they do get some impressive martial artists on the show.  So long as you view it as entertainment and recognize it as extravagent speculation I have no problem with the show.  It's just that they oversimplify things to the point that I don't think the results are meaningful.

[Construct]

I only saw that one episode.  I watched a little bit of the episode pitting Alexander of Macedon against Attila the Hun but it was just preposterous beyond words.  Why not pit Batman against Daredevil?  The first pair were real but we know a helluva lot more about the latter pair!  How realistically could you handicap a fight between a man dead for well over two thousand years and one that dies a thousand years ago?  Again, absurd!  We don't even have reliable physical descriptions of both, much less enough data to handicap a fight.

Still, from what I've seen they do get some impressive martial artists on the show.  So long as you view it as entertainment and recognize it as extravagent speculation I have no problem with the show.  It's just that they oversimplify things to the point that I don't think the results are meaningful.

It does have an MMA event feel to it.  And it does stretch interpolation past the breaking point.  Really, it's more about what weapons and tactics were used than perfecting the actual individual.  I have not seen the hun episode yet either.  It's interesting to imagine a mythic battle.  I like stuff like accelerometers and high speed cameras capturing gore.   

[Construct]

I finally saw "Greet Beret vs Spetznatz" episode  and have to agree with Rob Babcock on this.
This episode was very bad,  in fact the only truly bad one I have seen so far.  Not only was the testing flawed but the individual representing the GB's embarrassed himself, and me.  I am a qualified marksman (9 mm and M-16).  His 9 mm skills were  totally unacceptable.   

1)  The night vision 9 mm shoot: he totally embarrassed me (And GB's he is supposed to represent)  by grazing the targets...poor marksmanship and he rushed through it.  He'd be toast. Very pathetic like a new boot camp recruit.

2) Night vision combat:  There is NO WAY a GB would take a shot to shoot just the enemies weapon, and not plant one clearly in the enemy---that's a contrived and Hollywood concept.

3) The Russian combat knife:  Yeah it launches, but a)  It would not have much effect if it hit shot-filled or other body armor.  b) To "just"  hit a guy in the neck would be a 1-1 million shot.

4) Sniper: The GB sniper was clearly quicker and more accurate at long range, but the Russians do have better snipers/weapons than demonstrated. 

5) Indoor combat: The in-building combat tactic depicted were again, more Hollywood and less true to form.  That was haphazard and sloppy, depicting GB's getting ahead of themselves.

I would give the reality of this episode an "F"  and the testing a "D".  The results (even with the poor testing)  was almost a statistical tie. This episode is not indicative of other episodes and the folks that made it did get their nuts roasted by a lot of angry e-mail.

[Construct]

I also recently saw "Mafia vs Yakuza"  and I will say that none of the shows are as sloppy as GN vs Spetznatz.  You'd still have to accept the interpolations and speculative "x"  factor.  I just found the GB episode insultingly bad. 

[Rob Babcock]

Maybe I'll have to try another episode.  I thought the "end fight" in the "Greet Beret vs Spetznatz" was butt-puckeringly awful.  I wonder how many people the Spetzatz ever actually used the flying knife on?  Certainly hitting the GB in the throat after being knocked down was idiotic, and it's hard to comprehend an urban assault ever turning into a shovel on knife dual like that.  Just moronic.

And I too was pretty embarrassed for the 'Beret doing the night vision pistol run.     That was some piss poor shooting- you can't miss fast enough to win a battle.  That's one reason it made no sense to base the whole simulation on one run.  How would that work for bowlers?  Say you have each guy step up and throw one ball and the first guy gets a strike.  So you extrapolate that out to a perfect game?  And assume he'll bowl a 300 every time?  Idiotic.

I'd also be pretty shocked if the Spetznaz didn't have a real sniper rifle, unless those jobs are handled by another unit.  There are some autos accurate enough for long range work but few can approach a purpose-built bolt action.

Maybe another episode would be better, but I watched as much as I could bear of the "Alexander the Greav vs Ghengis Khan" episode and it was the same thing.