Series 4 - Episode 13
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Resumed from time-out after having called Hordriss (Malefact), and gained two spells - FIRE and OPPOSITE. Unusually, Hordriss didn't do anything about the skull that was floating around!
Encountered Malice at the entrance to the Corridor of Blades. Agreed to become one of her subjects 'for now' so they could get past her. Then into the CoB itself, which they manouvred through very well, no discrepancy of any blade touching him! They didn't panic here as much as other teams, so perhaps that's why they survived.
Malice appeared on the bridge (where Mogdred often appeared in the previous series) and asked if Dickon wanted to pledge allegience forever to her. They said no, so Malice decided to crumble the bridge. They walked quickly across, just managing to make it before the bridge fell.
In another room, Malice appeared YET again, and wanted to finish them off. Used the FIRE spell to defeat her, then used the OPPOSITE spell to turn their bottle of poison into a life-restorer! I think they should have died here, they took their time deciding what to do about eating or drinking something.
At this point, my digibox decided to 'red button' itself, so I only got sound for the next couple of minutes (and Challenge play-along on the screen) until I managed to get out of it. Did I miss anything?
Next, encountered Dooreen, the Level 3 door/drawbridge monster. The only team in this series to actually get far enough to encounter her! Had to answer all 3 riddles correctly to get through, and they did so!
In the next room there was a statue wearing a crown, and an ENORMOUS floating skull. The skull went out of the room and Dickon picked up the crown, thus completing the quest! The first winning team since Series 2!
Merlin was summoned to the antechamber and gave the team some trophy things as a memento of their winning quest. "Nothing like this has happened since... 1988... I've forgotten!". Then Merlin spellcast HOME to get them back.
Next is Jeremy's team, from London. Chose the Shield quest in the Place of Choice. Then onto Dooris. Pickle told them the calling as usual (notice him asking the adviser to budge up so he could sit on the stool!), and they scored 3/3 on the True and False riddles, so gained passage.
Malice was in the Eye-Shield room, with a witch in the background manipulating a magic broom. The witch is called 'Goody', apparently! Agreed to retrieve an object (silver chalice) for Malice, and got the eye-shield. Timed out just as Malice left the room.
Treguard and Pickle 'drifted off' from the viewers, and under the credits were photos of the team and the crown in Dickon's hand.
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A winning team at last- the first one since 1988, eh?Evidentally Treguard's world and our world are closer than we think! Still they did do well, and top marks to them. Loved it when they cracked up after Treguard mentioned Dooreen's name- but hey, a pun is a pun. A nice, clear picture of the floating skull in the crown room, too- the first time it had been won!
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Hello. Good evening and welcome. It's...
Caption: Dark Descender's Drunken Memoirs
Well, to be honest, not really much happening in this ep. "What?!" I hear you cry. "We had a winning team, you knothead!" Yes, I know, but aside from that...let's see, shall we? We had a few run-ins with Malice, Corridor of Blades, and one of those blanking doors. Nothing overly exiting. Merlin took the usual few millenia to spellcast. Then the next lot began. Notice Pickle's impersonation of Killroy, I.E. shoving the advisor over to steal their seat. Not long till series 5 when we'll finaly get to meet that angular chap...
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I think Pickle was helping the next team with the weeping doors. I couldn't help noticing him nod his head when the team decided the correct answer for the first riddle.
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I've had a moan about it elsewhere so forgive me for saying it here aswell, but was there not a complete lack of danger in the final chamber of Dicken's quest? You don't go all that way just to encounter a flashing skull which just disappears! Should have given them the block and tackle like most of the others-their encyclopedia style knowledge couldn't have saved them there
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I've had a moan about it elsewhere so forgive me for saying it here aswell, but was there not a complete lack of danger in the final chamber of Dicken's quest? You don't go all that way just to encounter a flashing skull which just disappears! Should have given them the block and tackle like most of the others-their encyclopedia style knowledge couldn't have saved them there
I see your point, and no block and tackle did seem a little strange. However, some teams were just simply more lucky than others, throughout knightmare. Dicken's team were an excellent team though, and I've a feeling they would have kept calm enough to bypass the block and tackle, but we'll not know for sure.
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A great team, good at guiding, wonderful at ad-libbing and figuring dungeon stuff out, fantastic knowledge. That lead advisor could get a little over-analytical, but they were definitely a deserving win. Funny how much their quest resembled the last winning quest from S2 - guided by the jester throughout level 2, very few clue objects taken, a somewhat easy ride in level 3.
It's almost as if the production team decided to build a winning quest on the old template!
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We finally find out what happens if you pledge yourself to a baddy today. They leave, and then come back a room later asking you to confirm it. Hmm. Still, they traverse the CoB well enough.
They change their minds when Malice asks again, so she follows in the footsteps of Mogdred and crumbles the Blue Bridge of Beastliness. And then she's back again, in the form of a giant head! Makes it look like she's poking it through a hole in a miniature studio set. They destroy her with FIRE, and then that poison comes in handy after all, when they spellcast OPPOSITE, drink it, and the life force restores.
And from all that, we go to...another Bore Monster. Dooreen's the name, and out of interest, where did the stuff about needing three riddles to get past originate? Treguard didn't mention it (at least I didn't hear them), and I've only ever heard it on Knightmare.com. They get three anyway, though...
...and venture into a room with a floating skull and a certain crown propped up on an old statue. You'd think it'd be more elaborate, like having dancing showgirls and a big banner at the top saying "LOOK! IT'S THE CROWN!" with several arrows pointing to it, and flashing lights and sirens everywhere. Dickon picks it up, and...oh my god, he's exploded! Nope, just a special effect to confirm the victory!
"I've almost forgotten what to do next...I have forgotten what to do next!" Erm, you haven't done it before, Merlin (who has just entered the antechamber). He quickly 'remembers' (i.e. makes stuff up) and gives the team medallions, which probably say something like TREG FIXED IT FOR ME. Or I CRACKED THE CASTLE OF CONFUSION 1990. And off they go back to Torquay, probably as local heroes. Merlin goes back to the dungeon, probably searching for the nearest Thing That Constrains People.
"There's someone at the threshold!" There's also someone at the door - Jeremy, dungeoneer of the next team. Although they're 11 at the least, they look about 7, and they're from London. "Capital!" says Treguard, boom boom. Good job on the riddles, though. They seem to think a frog is a lizard, but since the question's "A frog is a reptile, True or False?" they get it right anyway.
Despite being brutally destroyed by Dickon 10 minutes ago, Malice suddenly appears in the Eye Shield room, which they think is the Shield. If so, it'd have been the easiest quest in Knightmare History...they might have just renamed the programme "Beat the Door Monster". Goody, Mistress Goody's there too.. I think that her, Milly, Molly, and Brother Silence should form a pop group, The Underrated of Series 4. Or just U4 for short.
And that's it for another episode. We zoom away from T&P, who probably then put their feet up, tuned the Magic Mirror into ITV, and watched Blockbusters.
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Woo winning team! Have to agree that after their tense beginning and middle of level 3, having a door monster and then a final room with just a little haunting did feel like an anti-climax. Saving the final encounter for the final chamber would have been better imo, certainly the final encounters of S6 are a lot more exciting. I was dead impressed with the guiding through the corridor of blades, they were so calm. I remember watching this as a kid and squeaking really loudly covering my mouth because I was so nervous/excited that my mum had to come check some horrible accident hadn't befallen me!
I don't feel the team had it too easy, it seemed to me like an average difficultly quest but the team were brilliant and made it look easy. The older teams normally do better because they have better general knowledge and tend to be less overexcited (note my choice of words, they're still excited and still enjoying it; they have to to be a good team).
I liked their role-playing with the brandy and Brother Mace, that scene makes me giggle when I watch it even now . I'm not sure I liked that they had to carry that bottle all the way through level 1 and most of the way through 2 before they could use it, so it limited the scenarios they could have because they had to hold onto it for so long. Maybe having the bottle described to them and then picking it up in level 2 would have been better. Moving to the self contained level arcs in the later series was a good move I think.
The thought crossed my mind that if the production team had been less forgiving they could have killed them off when they agreed to pledge themselves to Malice. That she just disappeared for a room seemed pretty lucky to me. I remember watching this in 1990 and having such a sinking feeling that they'd made the wrong choice and something bad was going to happen as a result. Fortunately it didn't .
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Unusually, Hordriss didn't do anything about the skull that was floating around!
It sounded like he was planning, once Dickon had left, to plunge the room into darkness to deal with the haunting - or for some other mysterious purpose. Maybe he just didn't want to mangle any more Latin with listeners around.
Malice appeared on the bridge ... and asked if Dickon wanted to pledge allegience forever to her. They said no, so Malice decided to crumble the bridge.
"Let's see if you can survive a fatal fall."
Which would make it a non-fatal fall. Silly Malice.
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Why is there a random goblin horn after Dickon picks up the Crown? It's odd how nobody even mentions it, and he doesn't appear to be in any danger at all! (Perhaps it might have added more tension to the scene, if Merlin had to rescue him before the goblins turned up.) It's almost like someone pressed the wrong button by accident. Is it supposed to be a fanfare, and that was the only sound effect they had available?? Or is it some kind of security alarm that doesn't matter because they already defeated Malice?
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Jeremy deserves credit for co-ordinating his outfit and hairstyle with the antechamber.
Jeremy.JPG
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An exciting episode, with the first winning team for two series. Yay!
It started with the arrival of Hordriss to redeem their pact. He gifted them two spells: "FIRE" & "OPPOSITE".
Next was the arrival of Malice. They half-heartedly agreed to be her subjects.
Then into the dreaded corridor of blades and a textbook example of how to deal with it. Their instructions were calm and clear and Dickon reacted quickly. Great shot of lead-advisor Tim when the last blade had passed. Even tho they didn't panic, you can see the tension in his expression. I bet his pulse was 100+ right then.
Onto the chasm-bridge and the return of Malice. This time they rejected her outright and Dickon had to rush for the far side before the bridge collapsed. In the next room she appeared once more, but they got their retaliation in first with the "FIRE" spell. Malice disappeared screaming.
Yet more danger. They needed food immediately. Advisor Prav suggested using the "OPPOSITE" spell on their bottle of poison, which worked nicely. Great thinking!
Their final challenge was the door-monster Dooreen (her only appearance) and again they did excellently with 3/3. (A total of 9/9 in their quest.) Thru the drawbridge and into the final room where they evaded a haunted skull and collected the CROWN.
Team 6 seemed a likeable team and they really deserved to triumph. The way they handled their quest reminded me a bit of Mark's winning team from S2. They were very calm and competent throughout and even early on they looked like potential winners.
Team 7 had a hard act to follow.
Jeremy produced an agile jump off the spindizzy to land safely after he was told to jump too late!
They scored 3/3 against Dooris.
In the next room they found a witch with her enchanted broom and a (rapidly recovered) sorceress. Great line from Treguard: "A sorceress called Malice and a witch called Goody. One is well named, the other is not." Noticeable that Malice claims to be tolerably well aquainted with Merlin. Presumably on her lighter-grey days. They accepted her offer of a pact to redeem a silver chalice in exchange for her help and received the eye-shield just as the bell sounded.
Nice touch having the pictures of the winning team and the crown on the closing credits.
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These knightmare baddies remind me of Bond villains. Instead of taking an immediate opportunity for a face-to-face guarenteed killing of the hero, they come up with an over-complex method which has a significant chance of failing, purely because of their need to gloat.
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