Before it started I wouldn't have expected any of the new generation of Gladiators to be able to compete (in terms of iconic status, I mean, because obviously they'd be able to compete physically) with the classic Gladiators such as Wolf and Panther, but I am happy to have been completely wrong about this - already there are multiple new Gladiators who are smash hits.
Did they get Little Alex Horne in from Taskmaster to write their Gladiator facts?
Whoever it was that decided to put Giant as the first face you see in the title sequence made one of the most genius decisions that has ever been made in TV history, letting viewers know what they're in for from the first seconds.
Along with Giant, the other giant Gladiator is Bionic, who is well-named because he's a machine (metaphorically speaking, I don't think he's a robot really) at games such as Duel and Collision. Fury and Apollo are both also forces to be reckoned with in the games, though of the two Apollo is the harder for viewers to take seriously because his haircut makes him look like he's Peter Serafinowicz playing a Gladiator in a sketch.
They are just some the 'Face' Gladiators who always show good sportsmannyship with the contenders afterwards.
In contrast there are also 'Heel' Gladiators; the baddys who are there to be bad sports, bend or break the rules, and get booed by the crowd. Wolf was the obvious template that all other such Gladiators are merely following. Sabre is one of the more subtle examples of a Heel, being overly competitive with the contenders and sulking when defeated by them, and Diamond looked to be mining a similar vein.
Then there are the outright panto baddys. From the very beginning it was obvious that the chief amongst these was Viper. He's actually a bit rubbish when on his own (e.g. Duel, where he is 'easy mode' for the contenders) but then he fits in well in games where there are multiple Gladiators, like Collision and Gauntlet, since there he can be the one who cheats while the other Gladiators play the game properly.
Last, but definitely not least, is the star of the show, and easily the best of the new Gladiators (in terms of how much fun he is to watch), Legend. His gimmick is that he has an enormous ego (almost as large as a cat's!) and whenever he's on screen he tries to make the show all about him, leading to some hilarious post-game interviews with the hosts. He's also genuinely skilled at Hang Tough, so is by no means a joke Gladiator there to be easy for the contestants to beat.
Aside from all new Gladiators, there's a new commentator, new hosts and a new refereeing team as well. The new head referee, Mark Clattenburg, is no John Anderson, even though he has adopted his catchphrases as if they were his own. Big John Anderson would never have stood for his ajudications getting booed by the crowd, the way most of Clattenburg's seemed to.
The decision to make a clean break from the 1990s series in terms of on-screen personnel might have been a wise one, since the last time Gladiators returned (on Sky in 2008) it was much too beholden to the past, so their new Gladiators never escaped the Shadow (and the Wolf and the Saracen and the Hunter) of the originals.
But the format itself is about as faithful to the original ITV series as it could be, only updated to modern standards of TV production and attitudes to health and safety. Each programme begins and ends with the iconic theme song, and the best-remembered of the games returned in mostly unchanged form - Hang Tough, The Wall, Powerball, Gauntlet and, of course, Duel.
Gauntlet has perhaps changed the most, and not necessarily for the better, with contenders facing only four Gladiators instead of five. This might very well be to make it safer for the contenders, but as a side-effect it makes the game much too easy and almost every single contender made it through with loads of time to spare.
This wasn't the only flaw in the show, since we also saw too many contenders beat The Wall by way of sacrificing a shoe to the purrsuing Gladiator, and in The Edge (the riskiest looking game by miles - and the one that seemed to result in the most injuries to contenders and Gladiators alike) too many points were available, which meant that one game could swing the results of a whole show by itself. Some rules were changed in the semi-finals, and it would be interesting to see if this was planned or if the producers realised their mistaiks and this was them doing what they could to course-correct mid-season? I suppose we will see what, if any, changes are made for the next season.
Whether they do or they don't, these are minor quibbles only. I can't wait for the series to return.
Did they get Little Alex Horne in from Taskmaster to write their Gladiator facts?
Gladiators is Serious Business to some mannys:
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