Series 1 - Episode 5
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Haha, it does look a bit like Cedric reads the first riddle off his hand (as spotted by Jake in his episode commentary). I think he's just gesturing to his outfit, though, when he says "this holy cloth"... his eyes remain fixed on the dungeoneer as far as I can tell, so I'd give him the benefit of the doubt.
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I've never understood the significance of the egg timer in this episode. Would Merlin really have sent them on their way with no riddles or rewards if they hadn't returned it to him? It seems to me that line of dialogue was added in just to justify the item. The whole thing seems a bit odd unless I've missed something?
My weekly dose of wild speculation is that the egg timer should have been used in the corridor of spears to slow down particularly fast moving spikes, but the production team had difficulty with the technical aspects of adjusting the animation speed so this was abandoned. No evidence for this at all of course!
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I've never understood the significance of the egg timer in this episode. Would Merlin really have sent them on their way with no riddles or rewards if they hadn't returned it to him? It seems to me that line of dialogue was added in just to justify the item. The whole thing seems a bit odd unless I've missed something?
My weekly dose of wild speculation is that the egg timer should have been used in the corridor of spears to slow down particularly fast moving spikes, but the production team had difficulty with the technical aspects of adjusting the animation speed so this was abandoned. No evidence for this at all of course!
I agree with all you said. For me I thought there was no purpose of the egg timer unless it was to be used to stop the spikes or to pause something.
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I've never understood the significance of the egg timer in this episode. Would Merlin really have sent them on their way with no riddles or rewards if they hadn't returned it to him? It seems to me that line of dialogue was added in just to justify the item. The whole thing seems a bit odd unless I've missed something?
The same is true of the headache pills in the previous quest...
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It's possible that Merlin/Bert might have asked fewer riddles if the extra object hadn't been returned to him, making it harder for the team to earn a reward (if we assume that a score of 2 would have been sufficient), but that too is untamed conjecture.
I noticed that all the advisors wanted to take the grapes, but the third one seemed to mishear that:
"Take the grapes"
"No, don't! How is he going to eat a raw fish?"
"Exactly, take the grapes"
"Oh"
I think he was confused as to whether "take" meant take as food or take as a clue object.
Although the team may have come across as indecisive, particularly in the clue room, I'd say that that had as much to do with loose editing as anything else.
Frustratingly, this episode feels like a bit of a walkthrough, in a way that became common in Series 4. This would seem to be partly the result of the production crew tackling the problem of 'wastage' i.e. unused material (which Tim Child has mentioned once or twice). If Treguard hadn't given a whopping great clue to Cedric's third riddle, the team mightn't have done well enough to earn the ANVIL spell, and the crew wouldn't have had a second chance to show off its effect. The Gumboil/ANVIL scene went very smoothly, as if the advisors had been well briefed - and their awareness of dispelling hadn't been imparted on-screen. Added to that, Casper gave the team a lot of guidance and Merlin's riddles were far from obscure, not least when he gave a visual clue during his third.
I wonder if FREEZER might have worked in the Hall of Spears. Although it could only affect sentient objects, and the spears weren't, Bert had implied that there were guards operating the spears.
Folly's Level 2 riddle was the seventh of the episode and the eleventh of the quest - surely records.
Folly's riddle was something like this:
"Said the right hand to the left hand, 'I don't know the way'.
Said the left hand to the right hand, 'I'm in disarray'.
'Very well' quoth the right hand, 'Then I'll have the say'."
If that wasn't meant as political satire then (with a General Election a few months behind), does it apply now?
An unsatisfying episode in many ways, but redeemed by very enjoyable moments with Cedric and Bert.
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They certainly made a meal of that moving lock room.
And the team were quick to decide NOT to use the freeze spell and using the anvil Are we getting to the end of the series then?
Overall I though the team has been doing quite well, they have gotten most questions correct, I to thought the egg timer was to slow something up, I thought that moving lock was quite fast and maybe they should have used it there? compare it with the other time the room appeared, it was much slower then.
And Folly still rocks.
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Lifeforce is supposed to decrease by one unit per room.
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It was in our adventurer's code.
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Funny how Merlin claims that the Hall of Spears is the Level 2 guards "holding a tournament" and that Danny must "brave their gauntlet" - but you can still hear the usual sounds of machinery operating the spears!
Merlin's description makes a whole lot more sense when you read Tim's original brief for the Hall of Spears! Instead of the mechanical spears moving in and out of the doorways, he intended for them to be thrown across the corridor by hidden warriors.
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Team 4 did ok against Cedric (2/3) and got an ear-full of abuse for their efforts.
Amusing use of the "ANVIL" spell to thwart Gumboil again.
Their choice in the level 2 clue-room was rather easy, altho that meant Casper the key again. grrrr
Stormed Merlin's questions (3/3) and were given an unprecedented three spells. What a pity they never actually got to cast any of them....
Made a bizarre performance of the corridor of spears.
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