Broken Robots is a skate video from the ubahn team brought to you by WHUT! Films and sponsored by Conspiracy skate store. The DVD is two years of skating by a group of skaters at various locations in the UK, Barcelona and Paris.

It was filmed and edited with no budget at all, with borrowed cameras that didn’t work in the cold to handy cams. The idea wasn’t to put out a pro style video, but to make a good representation of the kind of skating they had been doing over the past two years and to show how much fun they had in the process.

Luckily, Conspiracy Skatestore in St Albans took an interest in the dvd and coughed up the dough to help get the dvd mass produced and brought to your television screens!

The opening credits are very nice with a robot production line animation and televisions that show various clips which is a nice touch if a little like the filmbot files opening.

First up is Sam Gibbs, who skates to a very interesting soundtrack to say the least, however it works well with his section and style of skating. Sam displays a good all round ability at skating hammers, handrails and doesn’t do too bad when it comes to tech, included in his section are a few slams to make your eyes water.

Dan Harts section is next, who bares an uncanny resemblance to sk8uk forum member Trix. This section is one of the more technical ones on the dvd with a good variety of tech hammers and ledge skating, not sure if the choice of soundtrack suits this section very well but its still enjoyable to watch all the same.

Hooke and Noddy’s section is quite possibly one of my favourites from the dvd, both have a good level of all round technical ability on ledges, down hammers, manny pads the lot. Honourable mentions definitely for the sweet backside 180 down the macba four and the kickflip down the ten set in Paris as an ender to the section.

There’s a brief interlude containing various photos taken by Kim Joon-ki, which would probably have been more suited for extras on the dvd and then onto the next skater’s part…Rich.

This opens with someone spitting blood after smashing his front teeth in, which then cuts to a bionic man style part where he is in the dentists chair getting his face rebuilt! Following this there’s a little snowboarding footage and a little montage, then onto the main part of his section. The skating is a nice mix of street skating and park that has some nice technical touches and has a really chilled feel to it; the music in this part suits it well.

The friends section follows this and features a variety of skaters including Rodney Clarke, Ian Harris, Jamie Carnegie, Ped, Bob, Stimpy, Marc, Ash, miniramp tech whizz Alex Decunya (whose board is probably bigger than him from the looks of it). Quite enjoyed this section due to the very wide variation of skating, street, park and miniramp, something for everyone here!

Some random guy called Daewon Song (who?) has the next but very brief part….

Shaun Payton has a very nice part, long technical lines involving a good mix of flip and ledge tricks, a nice selection of manual tech as well as a few good ledge combinations at MK, the flip nose manny ender to the section is textbook!

Joe London explains why his ankle looks like a balloon which then leads to a surprisingly enjoyable part from him, some solid all round skating here, quick feet and flip tricks galore down stair sets and a sweet ender that he holds on to…just!

There’s also a slams section at the end of the dvd as well as extras/bonus footage called ‘broken bits’

Overall the dvd isn’t bad at all, certainly a welcome addition to my collection of dvds, there’s some very enjoyable to watch skating to be seen. The filming could be better at times and the music may not be to everyone’s taste but I think the ubahn team succeeded in what they set out to do…make a dvd that not only documents the life of people who love to skate but also captures the fun and friendship that comes with travelling with a bunch of friends who all share the common interest…skateboarding.

Broken Robots is out now and can be bought via paypal from www.skateworld3d.co.uk (£4) or direct from Conspiracy Skatestore, London Road, St Albans (£5).