Series 8

I enjoyed the moment where Daniel disguised himself as Lord Fear In taking on Lord Fear's Series 8 appearance, Daniel went from a skullcap to a skull helmet. As watchers, this scene gave us a sense of what would have happened if Series 6 Team 4 had used Lord Fear's ring to turn January into Lord Fear in Hands's presence.

I was amused to see that in the clue room, when Oliver says "You're in a room", Alan appears to mouth along I probably said it and my microphone was off. We had to nominate a describer (Oliver) and a main guider (me). I assume that our microphones were adjusted in anticipation of these roles and therefore mine was off at the room description stage. As you'll appreciate, this didn't even last one room and within two or three rooms it became a free for all. Alan, I like to imagine you were thinking: Don't say it, don't say it... sigh he's saying it. Or have I got it all wrong? It's a funny thing the phrase "you're in a room". At the time I don't remember it being as iconic as "Where am I?", which I vaguely seem to recall (although I may be misremembering) Dunstan was supposed to say. I think "You're in a room" is just the natural response. Perhaps that's why it's become so well known. It's meaningless, non-forced, and yet a perfectly likely thing for someone to say in that situation. So no, I'm pretty sure I wasn't thinking that at the time

You're right! According to google, Pluto was the roman god of the underworld. So it fits the quesion of "Name the god 'down there' beginning with P." Well done! I had never been able to get that before.

S8 was an interesting series for me. It certainly had a distinct feel from any other series. I like the way that it generally returned to the dungeon concept of the early series. The rooms looked good, altho there wasn't a vast amount of variation from one quest to another. Despite the fact that these rooms looked good, they still didn't generally have the atmosphere of the rooms in S1-3, which says so much about the excellence of David Rowe's original artwork. The new characters were generally ok. Stiletta was a great addition, such a shame that she only appeared in this final series. I wasn't sure about Snapper-Jack at first, but gradually took to him. It was a real shame he didn't get to nap anybody. (Altho i thought a couple of teams were gonna fail his challenge.) Bartram was ok, presumably a distant relative of Scaramonger. Maldame didn't really impress me tho. Like Aesandre in S5, she didn't really have any impact. I preferred Iona Kennedy's performance as Greystagg in S6&7. There was a welcome return for Motley, as well as a finale for Hordriss. The eye-shield sequences were only occasional and kept thankfully short. Level 1 (and to some extent level 2) had been shortened. At least level 1 was now a little more competitive again, after effectively being a danger-free practice session in S4-7. The pace of the quests was lively. The teams were a mixed bunch. In S6&7 the standard had been very high, but this time several teams were rather mediocre. It was good to see the chaos of cards return, altho the selection of cards looked identical to S7, which made it too easy for any teams who had watched S7. Sadly the trial by spikes didn't return tho. A pity that S8 was comparatively short, with only 10 episodes rather than 15 or 16. The new ante-room was rather disappointing. Just as well nobody wanted to sit down during a quest. The reach wand didn't appeal to me and as for those pointless "seeing" potions/spells....grrrr Finally: that life force logo. The second one wasn't great, this one was just plain awful. Overall, S8 was enjoyable enough and looking back it is hard to believe that the program didn't survive beyond it. There still seemed to be plenty of life left in the theme.... Even so, it was great to have the eight series that we did and the measure of Knightmare's overall brilliance is that we still visit this fan forum to discuss it over 25 years later.

So the final episode of what was (sadly) to be the last series. Team 6 resumed after their short-cut and unlocked the door, then dodged the fireballs quite neatly. They encountered Hordriss who was held in a trap by LF. The Crown was also in sight on a ledge. At the third time of asking they used their potion, releasing a paladin which LF was unable to defeat. LF fled.... Dunstan collected the Crown and Hordriss led him back to Treguard's ante-room. Personally, i didn't agree with the idea of a short-cut, but i think it's wrong that some people have criticised the team over this. The producers invented the idea of a short-cut, not the team. Team 7 began the quest for the shield and went straight into the level 1 clue-room. They nearly made a critical mistake in their clue object choice, prevented only by very heavy prompting from Treguard. Returned the magic book to Sidriss and received a "CREEP" spell, which could be used to charm Smirky. It worked and they received a "BURST" spell, which they used to negate the super-fast blades in the CoB. They only had a short series of blades, but advisor Anthony gave a superb example of how to guide a dungeoneer thru it. In the clue-room they chose the pills and the "sight" potion, but then in the next chamber their quest was cut-off due to end of season. Team 7 didn't have very much game time. At least the "undefeated" teams in series 2-6 had reasonable length quests.

Team 6 encountered Stiletta, warned her of danger and returned her green dagger. She told them the secret short-cut to level 3. *Loved the inadvertent: "She's behind you!" * In fireball alley they nearly walked Dunstan straight into a fireball before they located the entrance to the short-cut and entered the corridor of blades. They were rather unconvincing with their directions (one advisor kept getting left/right mixed-up) and i thought Dunstan was gonna get sliced. As this was a short-cut, i assumed that it would be even tougher than usual with faster blades and more of them, but it didn't seem any trickier than usual. (In fact, the one faced by Giles et al in S4 was more challenging.) Reached the level 3 clue-room. Chose the "paladin" potion and a lantern. Reached Maldame and (eventually) warned her about LF's plots. She gave her calling name in return. (Notable that she directly offered to help them in return for their info. No such assistance for team 3.) They had a lucky moment when Dunstan was ordered to use the "paladin" potion, but the trap-door opened to release him before he wasted it. Re-encountered Motley & Stiletta. Love the way Motley referred to her as "Miss Cutlery". Traded their lantern for a key, then got into a massive panic directing him out when they heard goblin horns. Made a much more steady job of opening the rune-lock door, with troll footsteps approaching. Confronted by Snapper-Jack. Again they nearly wasted their "paladin" potion, but Treguard instructed them not to use it. Answered all three questions with no problems. Entered the fireball room as time-out arrived.

I felt really sorry for team 3. Nathan was one of the best dungeoneers ever. Rather like Sophia's team (S6 T6) they were an excellent team that were actually better than a couple of the winning teams down the years. It wouldn't have been undeserved if they had triumphed. Fully agreed! They are one of my all-time favourite teams.

Team 3 survived Snapper-Jack and entered the level 2 clue-room. Made a sensible choice again. Good thinking by Nathan to choose the objects before using the spyglass, in case they needed to exit quickly. They arrived at the chaos of cards and made a really good job of it, discussing their choices logically. Amusing moment when it looked like Nathan had lost the "sight" potion. Reached Hordriss in one of his awful disguises (a cat this time) and told him about the fake Sidriss bimboid. They encountered the fake Sidriss, which Hordriss destroyed and in gratitude he showed them the route to level 3. Used their enchanted feather to descend. Yay! They arrived at Linghorm and encountered Maldame. They agreed to find an object for her (which would harm LF) and deploy it, but didn't ask for anything in return. Possibly a mistake? Maybe they assumed she would reward them after they had completed her task? It was disappointing that Treguard only commented on this after they had moved on and it was too late. Considering the massive prompting some teams receive and the fact that this were a very young team, this seemed very harsh. Retrieved Maldame's globe, and also some gold, then reached the entrance to Marblehead, where they encountered Bartram again. Nathan began to haggle really firmly again, but time-out interrupted their deal.

Team 2 met Maldame again and traded the word-key for an enchanted gem, which opens gates, and a "SAVANT" spell. Used the gem to enter Marblehead and reached the corridor of blades. They were told they needed the "sight" potion, which they had traded away, so they had to just go for broke and eventually got sliced. It didn't look any more difficult than usual (altho of course it's never easy) but the pressure caused them to err. Gideon wrongly told Daniel to move left, but Daniel momentarily started to move his weight to the right, then checked himself and moved left, just before Gideon corrected himself and told him to move to the right! This double change of stance delayed him for a moment and he failed to dodge the blade. Team 2 were an entertaining team and it woz a pity to see them fail so near to the end. Team 3 were assigned the quest for the (poisoned)chalice and immediately encountered Stiletta. She warned the about Bartram. Entered the level 1 clue-room and learned that they needed to buy a charm called "risky". Easy choice to take the gold and "invisibility" potion. Moved easily thru fireball alley, then ran into Bartram. Nathan was very confident and drove a good bargain to obtain the "risky" potion. Managed the rune-locked door easily, then used their potions to dodge the skeletron and open the trapdoor to level 2. Confronted by Snapper-Jack and were part-way thru his test when time ran out. A nice cliff-hanger. (Advisor Karen gave the correct answer to the first riddle and they ignored her. ) Team 3 looked like an enthusiastic and very intelligent team. Nathan seemed very confident and proactive. It's always good to see dungeoneers who can think for themselves.

Team 2 certainly couldn't be accused of any lack of enthusiasm. Their excitement over-ran somewhat at times and they didn't listen to Treguard's suggestions. Can't believe that the editors removed some, but not all, of the shouts of: "Oh my G_d!" from advisor Gideon during the fireball room. That woz rather naughty.... They tried to bargain with Stiletta before even introducing Daniel. Encountered Brother Strange, who evidently needs to keep collecting proverbs coz he keeps forgetting the ones he already had. Used their "FLOAT" spell in the trapdoor to level 2. First appearance of Snapper-Jack and they did well. Not sure about this character yet. Level 2 clue-room and we had the first sighting of Maldame, another would-be ally of LF.

Wow! We hadn't seen an opening episode like this since the awesome series 3. Series 8 was out of the trap like a prize greyhound. Team 1 barely had time to get going before they met a fiery end. After an encounter with Brother Strange they entered the level 1 clue-room. Sadly this was where it went wrong for them. The scroll indicated that they should take the pigeon droppings (presumably left by Rothberry) and the green dagger. Richard stated that these were the items which corresponded to the instructions on the scroll, but they talked themselves out of it and chose the key instead of the dagger. Heavy hinting from Treguard about the scroll didn't influence them. Pursued by a red dragon on the way out. One of the advisors was against taking the dagger, thinking that you should never choose weapons, but i thought the adventurer's code actually stated that teams should not take weapons unless there were indications otherwise. They made heavy going of the fireball room. In the next room they encountered a new character, Stiletta the warrior-thief, who had lost her green dagger. They tried to explain to her where they had seen it, but as they didn't have it for her she refused to help them and departed.... Use the pigeon droppings to de-petrify Motley. (how much he was missed in S7) He took them to the next room, which contained a puzzle-locked trap door to level 2. When the red dragon approached, he fled leaving them to solve the puzzle. Without Stiletta they couldn't solve it. Enter the dragon and Richard woz toast. Level 1 is looking like being less forgiving in S8, which is a good thing. (To put this in perspective, they were only the 2nd team in the final five series to die in level 1. Whereas 10 of 31 teams failed to survive level 1 in series 1-3.) Enter team 2, who look like a very enthusiastic group. Ok, i admit i'm biased but i immediately wanted this team to win. They were quick to react when the snap-dragon appeared in the tunnel. Entered the level 1 clue-room. Liked the way Treguard re-read the scroll for clarification. Time-out before they could complete their choice.

When I first started rewatching knightmare, I was sucked in by all the old fans saying season 1-3 are the best. I enjoyed those three seasons, but from season 4 and certainly 5 onwards, the show improved so much. Season 8 is amazing, and although it uses just a very little too much of CGI, it's still excellent. So much more going on and so better edited and paced. Classic Season 1 Treyguard with his old rough look and ambiguous side taking is always great though. However I do prefer the assistants he got in. Mejidna was particularly yummy

I think I am coming to the end of reaching a conclusion on what would have happened if the boys survived the Corridor of Blades. I have been meeting with someone on Google+ regarding Series 8 Episode 4. I have been thinking about the team's would-be endgame very hard for a very long time and I have now realised that the would-be argument between Bhal-Shebah would have been about a mage called Hordriss, his own magic and techno magic. Why? LORD FEAR Look, he's not only Bhal-Shebah, but he's Bhal AND Shebah in one skin, and they don't even like each other. Some smart witty dungeoneer spots that he's only going to be about as much use as guard duty as a gerbil! So what would you do if a gerbil was in the quest chamber and not anything or anyone else? Ignore it? I would have! That would have meant that it would have been enough to just take the sword and leave as if the dragon weren't even there! But the production team didn't want the team to just do that without having a word with the dragon first, otherwise the quest chamber scene would have lasted for just 30 seconds! They had to do something to make the duration of the quest chamber longer. MALDAME I shall give you this gem, and I will give to you the calling spell SAVANT. It will call any mage or sorcerer to you, up to and including the fourth level of magic. But you must use the name of any wizard you call. This meant two things. One, after casting the SAVANT spell, the dungeoneer would have had to call out aloud the name of any mage or sorcerer like 'Maldame' for example. The word 'mage' was a very big word to me. If a mage were to be summoned, who would it have been? Hordriss, of course! He was the only mage in the dungeon! He also referred to his reputation as a 'savant' in Series 7, just after Barry foiled a trap set by Lord Fear and prevented him from falling in love with Lissard, disguised as Marta. And two, the spell would not have automatically summoned her or anyone else; they had to 'know' the name first - hence the spell being called SAVANT - from the French verb 'savoir' - 'to know'. With only Maldame that they knew, they would have had to call her. MALDAME Beware! Call me, and I shall shliver you for your temerity! Now, leave me! A big problem for the team. The team were on 'Maldame' status i.e they were potentially forced to call her. With no appearances or mentionings of any other sorcerers, they would have been forced to do so UNLESS they earned the name of another sorcerer at short notice whilst inside the fortress. With the spyglass session already gone, if they were to receive a different name they would have got it from Bhal-Shebah; they would have had to talk to the dragon about a mage or sorcerer. I think it would have argued with itself about Hordriss and his capibilities of his own magic and his hatred of techno magic. They then would have no longer been on 'Maldame' status as they would not have been forced to call Maldame with the SAVANT spell after all, although they would have taken into account of Hordriss' own magic being powerless close to Lord Fear's domain and his general hatred of techno magic, which would have been mentioned during the dragon's own argument. I can see now why the production team didn't want the team to call her! If she allowed the team to call her, one, the dragon scene would have lasted too short, two, they wouldn't have thought carefully about Hordriss' limitations regarding magic, three, I think Maldame wanted to make sure she stayed away from Lord Fear, as he froze her during the Level 2 spyglass session and four, she wanted to move house from Marblehead to Linghorm; she demanded Lord Fear to give her the wordkey. He refused. Would you like to have a go writing a scene on what it would have been like if the boys made it to the quest room? First things first, I would have greeted Bhal and Shebah separately so I would know which voice would have been Bhal's and which voice would have been Shebah's. I would use evidence from Series 6 when Treguard revealed that Hordriss' own magic does not work close to Lord Fear and from Series 8 when Hordriss led Dunstan to the sewer pipe through Marblehead's side chamber. He said that he normally hated techno-magic. It would have made the team think I think. Also note that Gideon would have laughed hysterically to Bhal-Shebah's arguing. Also regarding Lord Fear's own cunning plan, which do you think would have happened? Lissard confronting the dungeoneer before the SAVANT spell is casted, Lissard hiding in a sewer to guide Daniel through an open door into an ambush with Lord Fear on the other side, using the voice of one of the advisors or nobody confronting the dungeoneer; the SAVANT spell would be casted then 'Hordriss' would be called out aloud and then he would take them out through a wall into a hidden tunnel with Lissard arrivng too little too late? Note that the production team did not write endgames until the last minute; Dunstan's Lord Fear showdown was not written until he got to the quest room! They didn't have a lot of time to make endgames too complicated as a result. Also note that Lord Fear gave Lissard the wordkey into Marblehead although he might possibly have got involved in confronting Daniel along with Lissard, as he was able to teleport. Note that I have been looking at several scenes of Knightmare evidence and some outside of Knightmare like Doctor Who for example when the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) caused the Rani's huge brain to have an argument; the Rani was forced to disconnect the Doctor as a result). I originally thought that the team wouldn't have stood a chance with the dragon because it killed the first team directly.

Well I'm all up for any suggestions in getting the show recognised and seen by others, but there could very well be another way this can be done. Or maybe with a few open suggestions where a fan based film can be produced.

Dunston basically got a free pass. I can definately see the teams getting worse as the series prgoressed, (so much screaming and not paying attention to obvious cues) but giving them the quest on a plate was unfair to previous teams.

I wish to declare my love for this thread and all its participants.

Thanks for taking the time to help, I really apprciate it.

Season 8 has many good ppoints.It brings in some good characters like snapper jack and the return of Motley! Also stiletta as well. The skelletrons and mire men were an ideal replacement for the then getting on a bit gobloins and the mire trogs were a good aded effect for level 3.The problem with s8 is that the u know whats a ITs trashy vision went and cut the series so all those great ideas that Tim had were rushed and spoilt to get a winnig quest. Level 3 was good the challengign c o blades and the fire bom room really amde it feeel level 3 like again! The negative side was the rooms were samey (BUT looked realloly good!) in genereal if it hdad had its 15 week run it would have had much more positive reviews!!!!

Another thing I liked is the way that something scary would sometimes enter the room just as a dungeoneer walked out. I'm not talking about scare tactics like goblins coming in and approaching slowly to try and get the dungeoneer out faster. I mean sometimes the dungeoneer would actually walk out the door and then there would be a large growl, or a dragon or some other horrible thing would appear at the opposite end of the room. You'd only see it for a SPLIT second before we moved into the next room. It makes it really scary IMO, even though deep down you know they are not really threats to the dungeoneer's game, subconsiously it makes it feel like nowhere is safe, danger is always right behind them. It helped recreate the dangerous feel of the dungeon from series 1-3 but in a different way.

Are we Dunstan's advisors, or is he our dungeoneer...? If a dungeoneer falls in to a pit and nobody is guiding him, does he still make a sound? Mystara (Feeling slightly philosophical today, for some reason)