Series 6 Ep 8
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O.K., here we go...
We start out with Treguard a little lost for words before game on. First off, Motters is rebigulated and immediately acts all caddish towards poor Sidriss. Reveals password is 'storming'. Team continue into the next room to meet the friendly neighbourhood Dreadnaught. (I prefer 'naught' to 'nort') next is down in the ever-popular Descender. Took the left door to avoid the Frightknight. Meet Ridolfo locked in the stocks. It serves him right for only playing a lute. Any good musician knows an ocarina's the way to go, available in Wood's music shop priced £4.95. He was allegadly locked up for making ungentalmanly advances to the imaginary Count Brinkatore's wife. Team releases. Through Beardovision into a clue room. Ridolfo warns of 'Grey ladies' and gives causeway clue. January mistook a spyglass for an Eyeshield but used it anyway. Lord F gossipping with the non-existent Brinkatore before contacting 'Ands. Fear sends 'Ands to find his ring and hints that the ring imitates him, so maybe it would've turned Jan into His 'Poshness'. Fear sent a Stormgit into the pool and team took ring and bloody stone. Through Dwarf Tunnels into a courtyard featuring Shady Lionel. Notice someone has a snorty laugh, but I'm not sure who. During bartering Lionel makes references to his family, presenting one with a terrifying image of lots of little Lionels all arguing over the price of Spam. Team eventualy traded bloody stone for spell scroll. After an intermission we go to another courtyard. Enter 'Ands the Invincible. 'Ands blows his 'orn and Jan offers him the ring. 'Ands takes her away and we have a ovely cameo from the old skull. New team begin and I suspect Pickle may have some Prozac stashed away somewhere, given how quickly he cheered up. Advising a little slow in Place of Choice. Then through Dwarf Tunnels and time out in courtyard. Treguard floats and flies while Mount Fear features under the credits.
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When January's team dies, we see a shot of the advisers and the skull death scene appears to be visible on their monitor. But look closely and you'll see it isn't.
What they've actually got is a still frame (or a very slow running video) of the advisers looking at a black screen, then digitally added the skull so it appears like it's on the screen (with a mask so that it doesn't show through their heads). Notice how when part of the skull flies off, it goes 'off screen' before it reaches the edge of the monitor!
The life force was never shown on the adviser's monitor during filming in any series; it was added on later in post production. Changes to life force status were usually indicated by the Dungeon Master (Treguard).
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Yes, that's very true, but then I never said they could see the skull did I? And I don't recall anyone else saying that either. Not meaning to be rude or anything, but...
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From the look of the team in the start of the quest they seem to be totally different compared to how they are when the quest ends. But why always the crown? i suppose the actual object does not matter but it would have been nice to see what the chalice looked like which no one won
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Got to admit, that was probably one of the most violent (in reality) deaths on Knightmare EVER. I mean, he actually grabbed her and pulled her. When it's come to deaths involving the actors, usually we just miss the "fatal blow" e.g. the Goblins surround the dungeoneer, or Skarkill (check spelling) puts his irons on them without resistance, but here we actually had her back away from him and then get dragged back on screen.
I'm not sure Hands knew what to do, supposedly Goblins were supposed to come at the sound of the Goblin horn, but none appeared.... Looked like he had to think about it and decided they'd had enough chances to use the ring, and rather than wait for the Goblins he'll have a kill for himself.
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Got to admit, that was probably one of the most violent (in reality) deaths on Knightmare EVER. I mean, he actually grabbed her and pulled her.
I expect they wouldn't have got away with it on children's telly a few years later. I wonder if the (relatively) loud dramatic music and the screen-filling life force (or lack thereof) indicator were intended to forestall any objection from the censors. Or perhaps I'm just paranoid.
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Well, I think that the original Life Force clock was used a kind of censor, anyway. Rather than graphically illustrate something that happens, better to show the Life Force expire instead. In any case, it lets the viewer imagine what must be happening, which I think is more potent, particularly for this genre. Look at The Blair Witch Project for conclusive proof of the effectiveness of this... erm... effect.
(Plus, of course, there was the Dungeoneer who copped it courtesy of Cedric in series 2. Were there no Life Force, we'd have blatantly seen that it wasn't much of a bop!)
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I agree. And there are plenty of other examples, such as the Series 3 quests ended by the Ogre and by goblins respectively. And when a dungeoneer fell to his or her doom, we never saw them hit the ground!
On the other hand, Sumayya's death, 4 episodes before January's, is an occasion where the Life Force clock (albeit not the original one) served neither as an adequate censor, nor as an adequate substitute for direct depiction. In this instance and my opinion, a little too much was left to the imagination.
Fast-forward two years, and we have the other extreme: the copious depiction of dungeoneer blood in episode 4 of Series 8 ('prick us, do we not bleed?'). In this instance and my opinion, much too little was left to the imagination!
Look at The Blair Witch Project for conclusive proof of the effectiveness of this... erm... effect.
The dramatic effect is millennia old: in Ancient Greek tragedies, killings took place off-stage, unseen by the audience.
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A thought that occurred to me while watching this which is common to a couple of other quests this series is the awkwardness of manoeuvring the dungeoneer out of the way of the Dreadnort once they've given the correct password. It seems like one of those things they couldn't do anything about but it spoils the flow of the game a little.
What did this team do which meant they didn't get a ride on Smirky?
Instead they get the descender, maybe it was that they didn't have any money to pay a fare shrugsThe skull that LF sent down through the pool to get January was a little pointless, it was in the way so they ended up walking through it and it didn't seem to harm their life force or anything.
The scene with Scaramonger was quite a funny one with him wanting something for his mum for her birthday. So they took the spell scroll which they shouldn't have. I do wonder how much use a spell which turns your enemies swords to rust would be; I'm sure you could still be done quite a nasty injury with a rusty sword....
I didn't think it was too obvious what the ring would do; in fact I thought it was very subtle compared to some of the hints teams have had from the spy glass scenes. While it was suggested that the ring would allow the wearing to mimic LF he was also making it clear that the wearer would be discovered if it was used and bad things would happen, so I can see why the team didn't think to use it.
New team. "Hello, can you hear me?" is a novel way to start but as good as any! I found it interesting that there actually were symbols on the floor that the dungeoneer could see, although they clearly weren't in quite the same place as they appeared on the screen!
And finally, my favourite play out with the fright knights patrolling on Mount Fear
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It's a bit odd how Sidriss tells Motley there's no need to use nasty names, when all he called her was "Sidriss"! Great special effects in that scene, with Sidriss seeming to take Motley out of the box, and then growing him on the tabletop.
I think Clifford Norgate messed up in the Dreadnort scene, starting his lines too early so he and Pickle ended up talking over each other! I wonder if Treguard was supposed to give a longer reply as well - he just manages to get in a whispered "Don't panic, Pickle" and then has to shut up so they don't miss what the Dreadnort is saying.
Treguard gives a little chuckle when they recognise the Frightknight symbol in the Descender without any prompting. Maybe Pickle was going to point it out, but didn't get the chance?!
It makes me laugh how Ridolfo and January stroll about the dungeon holding hands! I can't recall any other character doing that whilst escorting a dungeoneer.
Quite funny how Ben's advisor asks if he can see the Crown in the Hall of Choice, and he says yes even though he obviously can't - I'm guessing he thought the question was "Can you see the ground?" and he must have been very confused when they told him to stand on it!
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Just having a series 6 marathon and i absolutely loved the fact that this team didn't have a clue and were rightly killed off by hands- even if they had used the ring they wouldn't have got much further like last time no witch amber no password= dreadnoguth death so they would have been doomed for anyway.
OOOOOOH naaasty- very nice to see the old death sequence one last time too
and a cracking ooh nasty from Treguard- he really is dishing them out well this season
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Sidriss returned Motley to full size. He gave them the password in gratitude. They used it to get past the dreadnort, then decended to level 2.
This week it was Ridolpho's turn in the stocks. They released him and received the causeway clue, with much venetian charm.
Reached the level2 clue-room. Notice how January said there was an eye-shield on the table. Think she meant to say spy-glass.
They had to rush their selection as they were given the hurry-up. Can't help thinking they should have taken the silver, not the red gem.
Amusing bit of patter (as usual) from Scaramonger. Wisely declined to sell him the ring. Without the silver to buy his witch amber, i thought they were doomed, but they did extremely well to persuade him to accept the red gem instead, then ruined their good effort by trading it for a spell (which didn't sound useful) instead of the witch amber they needed.
In the next courtyard she got cornered by Sly Hands. Offered him the ring instead of actually using it, so they were captured. Sad because they were another likeable team.
January certainly got a shock when Hands lobbed that rope round her and dragged her away, altho she certainly put up some resistance.
Appearance of the original life-force logo at her demise, not the newer one which we saw when Sumayya was defeated by the dreadnort.
Team 5 just about had time to start the quest for the crown before the time-out.
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This is my favourite episode of the series. I do think the return and final return of the skull and the life force beats an the pause when game ends is very dramatic and Treguard gets time to give an excellent Ooh nasty - one of his best i feel. Miss Morgaine did enjoy this one
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