How Accurate is Deadliest Warrior?

Vlad Dracula

Note: Dont be a ignorant person and just say something derailing its immature......

So discuss about this series!

daelin4#9896

The single fact that it's a TV show, means it's not accurate at all.

Vlad Dracula

daelin4 said:

The single fact that it's a TV show, means it's not accurate at all.

That makes no sense......they obviously do research and testing.....

daelin4#9896

I didn't say they don't do research or testing, not like doing any of those automatically make something accurate.

BaronKlatz#7357

They're okay but that knight vs pirate episode was appalling.

Not only did knights not use crossbows but they gave him a halberd instead of a pole-ax which is a true knight weapon and pretty much would've spelt death for the pirate at any form of close-range. (Mind, the knight didn't even get to use that halberd anyway.)

Then there was the pirate surviving a morning star to the head...

1/10 episode clearly made for pirate of the Caribbean fans.

Vlad Dracula

daelin4 said:

I didn't say they don't do research or testing, not like doing any of those automatically make something accurate.

But they showed MANY evidence and accuracy you can test these weapons at a range and see for yourself.

daelin4#9896

Vlad Dracula said:

But they showed MANY evidence and accuracy you can test these weapons at a range and see for yourself.

Amount of evidence and testing doesn't make a good comparison of subjects of which weapons are an insignificant factor.

Deadliest Warrior is like a Michael Bay film: you don't watch it for the facts, you watch it for the fun.

If you want something remotely close to reasonable research and considerations of all factors, read the Opsrey Publishing's Duel series. It's mostly WW2 stuff like Chindit vs IJA Riflemen, but at least they do actual research and make plausible comparisons of weapons, training, and actual historical examples of engagement....which involve whole divisions, not individual duels.

I mean let's face it, unless your samurai is 800AD and has no access to firearms, any samurai vs knight scenario is simple: arquebus to the head. Also, both are social castes as much as warriors, so the very premise of these comparisons are flawed. It's even more accurate if you just say "Chinese man vs American man, who would win?! One guy eats rice, the other steaks!"
But accuracy is not the purpose of these sort of shows.

BaronKlatz#7357

That's one accurate arquebus! O.o

dge1

Saw one show. Could not believe how silly and improbable/forced the scenario looked. Never watched it again.

BaronKlatz#7357

I liked the later stuff that focused on warbands though. That felt slightly better than two guys carrying their entire arsenals on their backs.

Vlad Dracula

BaronKlatz said:

I liked the later stuff that focused on warbands though. That felt slightly better than two guys carrying their entire arsenals on their backs.

Truu

Half_Life_Expert#4276

The only ones that could work are the ones that really would or could happen, chiefly the two episodes:

Green Berets vs. Soviet Spetsnaz, and US Army Rangers vs. North Korean Spec Ops.

Pretty much all of the rest are fantasy, and not really worth much of anything.

Rath_Darkblade

To be honest, what I've seen of "Deadliest Warrior" reminds me a little of a sketch I saw on "Horrible Histories" once - a mock-advertisement for a game where you play a gladiator, and have to face wild beasts in the arena with... DUN DUN DUUUUNNNNNN!!! - your bare hands!!! (An obvious reference to damnatio ad bestias).

At this point, the game character understandably says "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on! You want me to take on a lion or whatever with no protection?!? Are you crazy?!"

At any rate, he's given a choice of gladiatorial weapons: a sword a shield, a trident and net, etc... but, still, no body armour or helmet... and sent in to fight a lion, while the hammy voice-over says in booming tones and lots of echo: "ROMAN WARRIOR!!! WHO! WILL! WIN?!?"

Understandably (again) the poor gladiator runs away, screaming.

Now that is probably more realistic than "Deadliest Warrior" - and it's funnier, too!

Vlad Dracula

Dang so much dislike lol.......

Half_Life_Expert#4276

It's because the bulk of the matchups are so unrealistic that it requires far to much speculation to be taken even remotely seriously.

Really the only episode premise that can be seriously and credibly examined is US Green Berets vs Soviet Spetsnaz.

Two contemporary special operations forces that quite likely would have gone up against each other in Germany if the Cold War had gone hot (assuming a non nuclear conflict), and enough Post Cold War info on the Spetsnaz to have reasonable data on their training, weapons and equipment.

Previously I have also included the US Army Rangers vs North Korean Spec Ops episode, but the problem there is threefold:

1. With North Korea being a persistent hermit totalitarian state that devotes much of what it has to the military, it is not possible to obtain enough solid information of North Korea's Special Forces to make any credible comparison.

2. From what is known, The North Korean armed forces, officially referred to as the Korean People's Army (KPA) may look daunting on paper, but the bulk of there equipment is quite outdated. The Spec Ops do receive priority on the best equipment, but even they are not fully up to date. It is also known that the North Korean state struggles to feed it's people as well as it's armed forces, so not all of their spec ops troops may be up to match US or ROK troops in fitness.

3. That episode repeatedly refers to the Army Rangers as "Likely the first on the ground if the Korean War starts up again". Um. What about the ROK Spec Ops? Or the US Army and ROK conventional troops already there? The thing is, if the Korean War were to resume right now, the NK Spec Ops would lead the way of the assault across the DMZ, especially with behind South Korean and US lines at the outset of the conflict. That much is certain. But in all likelihood, the NK Spec ops will likely suffer massive casualties long before the US Army Rangers arrive, if any are sent that is.

And I would be very surprised if anyone thought that they episode was going to be a fair showdown. There is no way that the executives were going to allow the NK Spec Ops to triumph over the US Army Rangers in that episode.

All of the other episode premises are just silly really.

IRA vs Taliban?

Waffen SS vs Viet Cong?

Saddam vs Pol Pot?

Teddy Roosevelt vs Lawrence of Arabia?

Pirate vs Knight?

Give me a break. These matchups are ridiculous.

and of course they had to end the series on the most obsurd of all:

Vampires vs Zombies.


The show basically boils down to locker room talk being combined with a lot of funding to put the argument on TV. Didn't surprise me one bit that the network that aired it was Spike TV.

Cogre

What m1 Abrams vs french knight?

I thought it had an unusual outcome

Vlad Dracula

I agree some of the outcomes are speculation but the stats for the weapons are another different subject.

Vlad Dracula

The Vampires Vs Zombies was just wtf...

Rath_Darkblade

I got an encounter for Deadliest Warrior. Drumroll please... *BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...*

Montezuma vs. Darth Vader.

Huh?! You talk about fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun ****! Plus, it couldn't really get any much worse than that... ;-P

(Don't try to bypass the word filter Rath. Thanks.)

Vlad Dracula

Rath_Darkblade said:

I got an encounter for Deadliest Warrior. Drumroll please... *BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...*

Montezuma vs. Darth Vader.

Huh?! You talk about fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun ****! Plus, it couldn't really get any much worse than that... ;-P

Rath_Darkblade

Look mate, do you have a problem or are you just here to post stupid animated graphics?

Cogre

Hmmmm, the only thing about this thread I care about is the fact that , for some reason, I left out the word "about " in my post, should of been the 2nd word

BaronKlatz#7357

"Pirate vs Knight?"

I think you mean 14th century warrior vs 17th century warrior.

Knights battling pirates isn't all that strange, especially if Vikings are included in that category.

Vlad Dracula

Rath_Darkblade said:

Look mate, do you have a problem or are you just here to post stupid animated graphics?

Irony do you have post stupid remarks on my post?

Vlad Dracula

dge1 said:

Saw one show. Could not believe how silly and improbable/forced the scenario looked. Never watched it again.

They got somewhat better because the whole alexander episode made me cringe beyond my limits.

Vlad Dracula

BaronKlatz said:

"Pirate vs Knight?"

I think you mean 14th century warrior vs 17th century warrior.

Knights battling pirates isn't all that strange, especially if Vikings are included in that category.

Ok that episode was just overall funny tbh lol.

BaronKlatz#7357

Haha, yeah it was. Especially from just how blatant Pirates of the Caribbean fanservice it was.

Cringiest episode for me was Roman vs Rajput and they gave the Roman an artillery piece. It made no sense to have that in a warrior vs warrior fight and you knew he was gonna lose because of it.

chezequerz

The problem with this show is it rarely standardises rule sets, it doesn't tend to do anything to balance internal validity, it tries to pass off misconceptions as facts and the testing they do is often fundamentally flawed from the off. I'm rewatching the Ninja vs Spartan episode just to refamiliarise myself before commenting and honestly the amount they get wrong where even basic research could have corrected them is brutal.

Rath_Darkblade

Sounds like a show not to watch. ;-P

Hmm... for a match-up on this show that would be (slightly) more believable, how about murmillo vs. retiarus? (Look them up if you're not sure what they are; broadly speaking, they are types of gladiators).

daelin4#9896

Yeah you'd think they'd start with more plausible and relatable topics like sword vs mace. I mean it's not like the vast majority of people in the world will find that uninteresting.

I mean ultimately any X v. Y debate will eventually revolve around weapons so why not just start there?

Cogre

I firmly believe that the targeted audience are those that put "Spartans " everywhere after 300 came out