Favourite Baddie
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Malice I think, although none of them were particularly well written. Mogdred was superbly performed by John Woodnutt, and that arguably disguised how hoky his dialogue was ("Quail, intruder!", "you cannot stand before my power!" Phhhwwwaaaaauugghhh!!). Morghanna we didn't see nearly enough of, so no personality really developed at all. Malice at least appeared frequently and did a few different things, so even though she just seemed to have Mogdred's powers and Hordriss' dialogue, at least that was something.
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Mogdred scared me as well! Even writing about him makes me a little nervous. Except that in retrospect, his name makes him sound like a spooky cat. (I think that the 'Series 3 Cat Puzzle' should have been called 'The Moggies Of Dread' as a tribute!)
The Series 3 scene with Morghanna sending the floating axe after the Dungeoneer is one of my favourites from all the Knightmare I have seen.
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yeah the floating axe was eraly good and veryunderused!!!!
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I also remember that I'd never heard the words 'quail' and 'pledge', before hearing Mogdred use them at the age of 7. (As in, I was 7, not Mogdred.)
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(Thanks Drass, I promise you we figured it out! )
I can't agree about Mogdred's dialect. He was like the arch-villain in a million US adventure cartoons. He was scarier than Lord Fear, I acknowledge, but that was because John Woodnutt was absolutely terrific in the part. It was really Woodnutt who was so terrifying, not Mogdred. In the cold light of day, Mog's dialogue was a pathetic, pooey pile o' pants, and he'd have been useless if he'd been played by practically any other actor.
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In the cold light of day, Mog's dialogue was a pathetic, pooey pile o' pants, and he'd have been useless if he'd been played by practically any other actor.
This raises an interesting point; a lot of us, when we first watched Knightmare, didn't do so in 'the cold light of day', but in the autumn twilight (with or without curtains drawn, lights off, etc.); and retrospect, often via this Forum, is a useful way of thinking about what it all meant. Back in the 80s, I had no developed concept of cliche or generic arch-villainy; but now, in whatever year this is, it's easier for me to appreciate that Mogdred was unoriginal and hackneyed in some ways.
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It was much the same for me back then. I had a regular diet of US cartoons and very little else at the time, so with Megatron, Cy-Kill, Mumm-Ra, Miles Mayhem and the rest to feed my imagination, it never crossed my mind that a bad guy could ever be anything more than an power-mad egomaniac with a neverending supply of diabolical laughs.
Nowadays I've encountered all sorts of much more complex villains in countless novels and more mature television shows (not to mention Mogdred's own successor), and it all puts Mogs into a very sad perspective.
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Exactly.
Mogred was just there to server as a evil force in the dungeon he had no real character.
Morgana main function in the dungeon was as Mogred's Henchwoman and that was about it, and with only two apperences she never made much Impact realy.
Malice was the only one of the three as I said earlyer who had her own character. She could be helpful or as in Dickren's case a ver threterning presencs to dungeoneers and there quests. She also unlike Morgana seemd to be a rival to Mogred instead of a lacky.
Its a shame they didn't carry the character forward and we got stuck with "Old Icy Knickers" Acandra. Urgggh she was worse then Mogred and Morgana Combined.
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Well, they didn't retain Malice simply because the actress (Sam Perkins I think her name was) left after one season.
What I found refreshing about her, or at least a bit different, was her dealings were so much more ambiguous than Mogdred's. Even when Mogs was trying to turn a dungeoneer, there was never any doubt that his purposes were evil, and that it was an unequal bargain.
With Malice, there were times when she would make a deal with a dungeoneer with no strings attached. Hardly any of those dreary "swear loyalty unto me" oaths of allegiance or other such nonsense, it was just "do me one favour and I will reward you once, and that'll be the end of it." Made her more adaptable, and a more challenging character to read.
It's just a pity that once again the dialogue was a bit cheesy. She even directly paraphrased Hordriss on numerous occasions, and it's distracting enough when characters recycle their own dialogue from quest-to-quest let alone someone else's.
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Hey, re-reading this thread, I've just noticed a preoccupation with arch-villains in 80's kids shows and the letter "M"!
Mogdred, Morghanna, Malice, Megatron, Mumm-Ra, Miles Mayhem... even Ming the Merciless was brought back to be the bad guy in Defenders of the Earth. Can anyone think of any others?
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Mary Whitehouse. ;D
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Too true, Skarky. MW's problem in my experience (that's an in-joke, folks. Y'know as in "Mary Whitehouse Experi-..." >sigh!< Never mind) was that she was reactionary as well as self-righteous. Still let's be fair to her, she did apologise once she'd actually tried WATCHING the programme. I just wish more of the so-called moral guardians of the media would realise that an informed opinion is worth a lot more than "sanitised" programme content.
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I'd pick Mogdred. To be honest, I think any of those early season villains could have got really tiresome if overused, and since Mogdred was most-used, he naturally comes off badly in the cliche respect. I do think John Woodnutt played Mogga so much better than he played Merlin, although on the occasions where he does get to spellcast, he still does it incredibly slowly. I always associate him with that "Mogdred's Little Playpens" scene, which I still find just a bit scary, and was definitely frightened by when I first watched it. Yes, the pledging stuff was tepid, although I always rather enjoyed at least the scenes on the collapsing bridge.
I think I would have tired of Morghanna very quickly. Her dialogue was pretty bad too, especially the bit about "My delight lies on the dark side". Very dire, in my opinion. And I always associate Malice with that strange scene when she's disguised and looking for that "leather bound book", which is all a bit silly. Her disguise was almost as bad as some of Hordriss' efforts.
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