Death Race Review

The official series logo.

Being a massive Death Battle! fangirl, I tend to get a buzz of excitement whenever something new gets announced for the franchise. This was certainly one of them. The Death Battle! creators had always talked about the concept of a death race between vehicles for some time, but now this was going to be a real thing. Plus they said it was going to be a completely different thing too, which got me interested as to how the whole premise would be handled.

So I thought - why not show my interest for the franchise by not only watching this new series, but also writing a review on it? Obviously I would be going in blind without knowing what to expect, so not only would I be super hyped-up but I would be able to react properly to the biggest moments in the series.

This review will be divided into three stages - a section on the hosts and key crew members involved, mini-reviews of each episode and finally my concluding thoughts on the series. Hopefully that will make it easier to sum up some of the key points I took interest in.

Well, that's the end of the introduction! It's time for the Death Race! review!

So Who's Starring?

I will mention the racers themselves in the episode reviews, but I would like to start by discussing both the hosts for this series and some of the crew members involved behind the scenes.

Technically the main host is Ringmaster, who is most known for being the second host of the DBX spin-off series. He introduces the theme of each episode and gives a quick rundown of each vehicle and their background. He also gives information on the series sponsor and after each race is over, he closes out the episode. He's a delight - he always has plenty of energy and charisma to spare and his character design stands out too. I also like his sinister tendencies at times, especially in the second episode.

That said, I was kind of nervous about the idea of Wiz and Boomstick not hosting this series at first. I mean, they hosted the original Death Battle! for crying out loud! But don't worry! Wiz and Boomstick serve as the commentators for each race, and in fact they tend to have more screen-time as a result. As the action takes place, they discuss what the racers are doing and even replay highlights such as the deaths. Boomstick brings the jokes as always (as well as the traps for the racers to avoid), Wiz has to deal with said jokes and they work perfectly well as a comedy duo as always.

I am absolutely delighted by this team-up between the Death Battle! hosts and the DBX host. Given that Boomstick was the original DBX host before Ringmaster's conception, it's interesting to see them finally have some interaction with each other (not counting Boomstick's brief appearance in "Batman vs. Iron-Man") and compare and contrast the two of them as a result. I'd had a theory for a while that Ringmaster could potentially be Wiz and Boomstick's boss one way or another, and this seems to support that wild guess.

With regard to the voice cast, Kamran Nikhad and Nicholas Andrew Louie (voice actors for Mario and Sonic respectively in the "Mario vs. Sonic" rematch) voice the contestants that have speaking lines. They even reprise their roles as Mario and Sonic in the final episode. Not only do they do a good job with this, but these are voice actors who I always feel could do with more attention. That's the great thing about the Death Battle! franchise as a whole - it can introduce you to voice actors that you never knew about beforehand whilst also bringing in ones that you know well and love.

Finally, the majority of the main Death Battle! crew are working on this, but there are two people working on this series I'd like to mention. The first is DevilArtemis, the animator of the Cell vs. series who animates the races for this show - and he does an amazing job with it. The second is Nervous Nick, a former longtime crew member who is serving as one of the editors here. So glad that he's back for this show. X)

My Thoughts On Each Episode

Now for the actual episodes themselves. I will make sure to not give away spoilers on the victor during these reviews for those who have yet to watch the series, though there are some plot points I need to discuss. I will also give a quick summary beforehand of the competing vehicles.

The Batmobile episode.

Competing Vehicles:

1. The Batmobile from the Tim Burton films.
2. The Tumbler from the Dark Knight trilogy.
3. The Batmobile from the Arkham games.
4. The Batmobile from the Adam West TV series.

A brilliant way to start off the series - the batmobile is an iconic part of pop culture so it would make sense if there was an episode focused on it. I can also get an idea as to how the first two vehicles to get eliminated would have done so - one of them had already been destroyed in "Joker vs. Sweet Tooth" in the main Death Battle! series, for instance. I also liked the scene with the civilians and Boomstick's naivete over whether the Batmans would kill them or not (he thought they wouldn't). The ending is a little confusing as to how the winner was chosen, but hey, Ringmaster had the same opinion as I did too so that was quite amusing.

Plus, I liked the part with Boomstick and his Batman-themed cap. Just saying. XD

The living vehicles episode.

Competing Vehicles:

1. Optimus Prime from Transformers.
2. The flying car from Harry Potter.
3. Thomas the Tank Engine?!
4. Lightning McQueen from Cars.

Originally I was pretty wary before this episode came out due to the lineup, but I ultimately ended up enjoying this even more than the previous episode - in fact, I would say it's the best one of the series. Ultimately the winner was the one that you'd expect to win in the first place, though one of the vehicles made it further in the race than I thought it would. Sure, the episode ends on quite the downer, but I did see it coming considering the values the winning vehicle lives by. Still, poor Boomstick. :(

The battle cars episode.

Competing Vehicles:

1. The Knight Rider from Knight Rider.
2. The 007 Aston Martin from James Bond.
3. The Spy Hunter from Spyhunter.
4. Master Chief's Warthog from Halo.

I didn't have much knowledge of these vehicles and what they were capable of going in, which was good because I got a fresh view of them as a result and didn't have any real ideas on who was going to win. I was confused by the choice of victor at first considering that they vanished from the course for some time, but re-watching it ultimately helped me to make sense of how it could have happened.

I love the running gag throughout the episode of KITT (the A.I. from Knight Rider) communicating with the hosts. An equally fun gag throughout the episode was the amount of traps that Boomstick set for the contestants, culminating in him destroying the race track itself when the last one fails. There is a somewhat disturbing plot twist at the end with regard to the first gag, but there is still some humour to be found in it.

The pizza episode.

This episode is somewhat different, as the focus is mostly on the racers themselves rather than their vehicles. I also refer to this as the pizza episode due to the premise involved - this time, the racers aren't just trying to make it to the finish, but they are also trying to deliver a pizza in mint-condition.

Competing Racers And Their Vehicles:

1. Captain Falcon and his Blue Falcon from F-Zero.
2. Mario and his go-kart from Mario Kart.
3. Sonic and his Speed Star from Sonic The Hedgehog.
4. Doc Brown and his DeLorean from Back To The Future.
5. Takumi Fujiwara and his father's 1983 Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT Apex AE86 from Initial D.
6. A scout trooper (apparently, his name is Bob) and his 74-Z speeder bike from Star Wars.

I personally liked this set up for the episode - it definitely added something new. There is a pinball-themed trap in the episode which I found entertaining, plus an amusing moment where Mario flips off Captain Falcon. The winner of the race is the one you'd least expect to win of course, but considering that all the other combatants were out for each other's blood and this vehicle was simply focused on the delivery, it makes sense in a way - it's similar to a theory I had about the second episode before watching it and realising it had a different outcome entirely.

My Overall Thoughts

In general, I really enjoyed this series. All of the races have the same high-octane action the franchise is well-known for and DevilArtemis does a brilliant job with the animation. The interaction between the hosts is also hilarious and the gags and jokes are spot-on. One of the biggest highlights overall, is the fact that Wiz and Boomstick make comments as the races occur, which is something I've wanted beforehand.

My only real criticism would be that I was hoping for something similar to Death Battle! with the vehicles themselves being researched, since the format of this series is so different from the others - it probably explains why the second episode is my favourite. That said, DBX always does its own thing too (especially before the results in that series were decided by audience votes), and I guess this is going in the same direction.

If there is a second series of this next year (I use the term "series" here in the same way an American would use the term "season"), I'll definitely be happy to watch it. In particular, I'd like more episodes with a particular theme such as the pizza episode just to spice things up a bit, as well as episodes focusing on a particular franchise such as Batman. Overall, definitely give this one a try, especially if you like death-themed car races and the DBX format. ;)