Series 8: 1994

 

Transmission

Friday 9th September to Friday 11th November 1994 - 10 episodes

Teams

7

Quests

Sword: 2    Cup:1     Shield: 2    Crown: 2

Winning Quest

Team 6: Dunston, Alex, Oliver and Alan from St Albans
Quest for the Crown

Longest Quest

Team 2: 49 mins

Shortest Quest

Team 7: 14 mins (cut short for end of season)

New Characters

Powers that Be: Stiletta, <Motley> (not seen since Series 6).
Opposition: Maldame, Snapper Jack, Bhal-Shebah, Honesty Bartram.

Old Characters

Powers that Be: Treguard, Majida, Hordriss, Sidriss, Brother Strange, Rothberry, Smirkenorff.
Opposition: Lord Fear, Lissard, Raptor, Sylvester Hands.

Other Additions

Treguard's ante-chamber changed (new magic pool and gate), team entrance / introduction procedure changed, new 'Reach' wand for dungeoneer, dungeoneer can now place objects in their Knapsack, new life force / energy status clock - an animated pie? (there has been much debate over whether it was a cake, pie or even a quiche!, but it was confirmed as a pie by Tim Child in 2004).

All scenes now back in the dark gloom of the dungeon, all scenes now computer-generated with animated eye shield paths, animated on-screen spell book when spell casting, trapdoors now the only way to transfer between levels. Smirkenorff now stationary in his own chamber.

'Linghorm Palace' is now the environment for level 3, a new techno-environment for Lord Fear and Lissard, winning quest objects now held 'Marblehead Fortress' in level 3. Snap Dragons, Red Dragons, Skeletrons, Miremen and Miretrogs!

After much consideration, the controller of children's programmes at ITV eventually decided to give Knightmare its eighth series, with the majority of viewers at the time totally unaware that it almost didn't happen, and that to was to be only 10 episodes instead of the usual 15 or 16. See The History of Knightmare Part 4 for more information. Nevertheless, there were a lot of changes this series as always, mostly taking advantage of improving technology.

The team entrance / introduction procedure was also changed, as described below. Most noticeable is the way the whole team enters the chamber quickly in one go, instead of the traditional calling.

Dungeoneers could also now place objects in their Knapsack rather than having to carry them - the maximum of two objects at a time rule remained. There was a new quest accessory - the 'Reach' wand, which could be used to touch or open things.

The life force / energy status was changed again to an animated pie. When food was picked up, a semi-pie would be shown on screen animating into a full pie (with a cherry on the top!). It was never really referred to by Treguard and never really affected the teams' quest or used for death sequences.

The majority of the scenes were now computer-generated, and in the darker, gloomier setting of the dungeon rather than outside - a sort of return to the style of the first three series of Knightmare. This change was because many fans requested a return to this style of adventure - if you read the numerous letters in The Quest (newsletter) from fans you will see.

Trapdoors were now the only method of transferring between levels. Smirkenorff was now given his own chamber where he remained to interact with dungeoneers on some later quests, and only made a flight at the end of the series to rescue the dungeoneer in level 3.

Six new characters were introduced. The Powers that Be had one new character - Stiletta, but also Motley was brought back (last seen in Series 6). The Opposition had four new characters - Maldame, Snapper Jack, Bhal-Shebah and Honesty Bartram.

Lord Fear was given a new environment. Level 3 was now made up of two parts - 'Linghorm Palace' (ruled by Maldame) and 'Marblehead Fortress' where the winning quest objects were stored. The old 'Black Tower of Goth' and 'Sewers of Goth' from Series 7 were now featured in level 2.

CITV trailers/idents from this period on the CITV 1994 page.

Treguard: "Hmm... you may be right but we've got to fight fire with fire and by the look of things, he's amassed an awesome amount of fire power."

"Enter, Stranger..." and the team run through the door. Treguard asks them to introduce themselves, and sometimes even asks how old the dungeoneer is, followed by the presenting of quest objects to the dungeoneer. You know... the Knapsack, the Eye-Shield, and, erm, the 'Reach' wand?

Thanks to Alan Boyd (Team 6 Winner) who told me that the wand was powered by 2 'AA' sized batteries and the switch would have to be pressed to keep the LED on. And on one occasion the batteries ran out so they had to replace them! I'm sure you always wondered :)

And on to the helmet "to prevent you from being destroyed from illusion, only from magic can you see your own path... and that magic must be earned."

Treguard lowers the gate...
"Now, concentrate on the pool you three... Game On!"

Below, a view from the Eye Shield, and a shot of the advisors peering into the magic pool. If you were wondering... the pool didn't actually look like that in real life. It contained a TV monitor which the advisors watched, and also in the pool were a few pencils which previous advisors had dropped in!

Alan Boyd also told me that the aerial shots (as in the picture) were created by covering the inside of the pool with blue sheeting, and asking the advisors to look into the pool for a few minutes while they filmed the shot. Then the adventure scenes were added afterwards! Simple, huh?

The 'Progress Report' at the start of episodes. This one from episode 9:

The end of the episodes, as always, finished with the usual banter between Treguard and Majida. Here's some more from episode 9:

Treguard was played by Hugo Myatt
Majida was played by Jackie Sawiris
Lissard was played by Cliff Barry
Stiletta was played by Joanne Heywood
Sidriss and Maldame was played by Iona Kennedy
Lord Fear and Rothberry was played by Mark Knight
Hordriss and Smirkenorff was played by Clifford Norgate
Motley and Sylvester Hands was played by Paul Valentine
Lissard, Brother Strange and Raptor was played by Cliff Barry
Snapper Jack, Bhal-Shebah (Firestorm of Marblehead)
and Honesty Bartram was played by Bill Cashmore

See the Pictures page to see scans of cast photographs