Thanks
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Just wanted to pop in to say thanks and congratulations to Alan, James and the rest of the crew for putting on a really nice little event today. The talks were fun/illuminating, there were some nice bits of merch around, the dungeon room thing went really well and the guests were utterly generous and obliging - particularly impressed by Mr Myatt, who was going out of his way to chat to fans and proved himself a gentleman. I hope everyone staying for/going to tomorrow's event has as pleasant a time as I did
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I'd like to second that thanks.
Unfortunately I had to travel to South Wales this weekend for a funeral and I was in two minds about whether it was worth the trip to Norwich for just a few hours at the convention. I eventually decided I couldn't miss this opportunity and even though I had to leave at 1500 I still managed to have an absolute blast.
The US pilot was much better than I'd dared hope - just the right level of Americanisation whilst keeping the feel of the British version. I do, however, feel that the format loses something fundamental when quests are resolved one way or the other within a half hour programme...
The extended geek week ep was fun - a couple of new rooms including a causeway and wall monster made it feel even more like the show we loved back in the day. I even liked the team better this time around, possibly because I'm now taking this episode in the spirit it was intended and being a bit less precious about how the show should feel.
Donning the helmet and having a go in the dungeon was a highlight, not just of the day, but possibly of my life! A real dream come true. It was an immensely enjoyable and remarkably tense experience - and this when it wasn't even for real! I'm ashamed to say my fitness was also put to the test!
Sadly, timings meant I didn't meet Hugo but Mark and Cliff were great fun (though my wife good-naturedly concluded that Mark was "a bit of a perv" ) and Dave Rowe is a thoroughly nice chap as well (and I'm pleased he's now getting the recognition he deserves because his work on KM was brilliant).
I only got to see the first Q&A - lots of interesting things discussed but I won't go into them now as it's way past my bedtime.
Looking around the convention it was plain to see how much KM means to people and how special this event was to them. I know exactly how they felt and am pleased I could be even just a small part of it. Jolly well done Alan and the team.
I look forward to the DVD to see all the things I missed.
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Hi guys.
Think I might have missed something but how can I access the photo shoots? I hope I haven't messed something up. I didn't think of it until I got home
Big thumbs up to the crew for putting on an awesome weekend, really sad it's over and have to get back to 'normal' (booooo) Being sliced by a blade was knightmare come true lol the whole thing was just fantastic.
The live show was great too, bit difficult to see if you weren't in the first three rows but it was still a good giggle.
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It's just one of those bizarre events where you get back home and can't quite believe what's just happened. Maybe because it's past 4am and the total amount of sleep I've had in the past 60+ hours amounts to about five, but I feel like I've just dreamt the entire weekend.
Meeting half the forum - some of which I've known and chatted with online on and off for the last fourteen years yet never actually meeting them before - was worth the trip to Norwich on its own. To see Lords of the Game, something once the subject of comedy fan documentaries and that I'd convinced myself probably didn't even exist anymore. The extended Geek Week pilot that takes what we saw in August and makes it a ton better, adding whole wall monsters and rooms and crucially technically tighter, without the occasional jarring edits of the cut-down version. To be in the actual original studios where they filmed it all in the first place, standing there any imagining every single cast member, contestant etc, every antechamber set, moment, it all happened in this room and all stood on this floor.
Oh hang on, because there's also a massive blue screen there, both original Helmet of Justices and the Eye Shield. How about being in a few rooms of the show and playing the Corridor of Blades as advisor and dungeoneer in a team made up completely of Knightmare Forum veterans and having your photograph taken for EDP? Striding confidently into the blue only to feel your heart-rate jump up rapidly as the blades increase, only to inevitably meet your death and realise that the teams who actually got through it were bloody good and I'm not just saying that because of who organised it.
And then yeah maybe MEET TREGUARD AND LORD FEAR AND LISSARD AND RAPTOR AND BROTHER STRANGE AND ROTHBERRY AND AH WOK AND SIR HUGH AND SIDRISS AND MALDAME AND GREYSTAGG AND TIM CHILD AND DAVID ROWE. And get pictures of them, autographs, find to your relief that every one - Hugo, Mark, Iona, Cliff, Tim and David - are, thankfully, awesome people and polite to all. Eating, drinking or just generally chilling with them, no barrier between them and you, no nerves or feelings of inferiority from you or superiority from them - just the giddy feeling that you're actually "in a room" - a very special room - with a group of people who made the show happen and exist. Never, ever, did I ever thought I'd ever get to meet any of them. One would be a life highlight. All? Just...wow.
Not only did I get all of the above to sign my program - something with joins the pilot script as my most treasured KM possession - but at the back I have a special Knightmare Community page featuring as many forum members as I could track down adding their lovely messages to the book. Having been embarrassingly inefficient in promoting the damn thing, not even successfully getting the weekend off work until a few days ago, the least I could do was help out as a Crew member which turned out to be a fantastic choice, the feeling of genuinely being part of it both front and backstage was immensely rewarding and I now own (two!) t-shirts and my mug with pride.
And then there's Lord Fear's Midnight Hunt, which, well, was an experience. I can say, at least, that I've now 'acted' in a scene with the genuine Lord Fear, even if it consisted of running round Norwich late at night in a goblin mask pretending to kill people to the bemusement of the general intoxicated locals coming out of pubs. Will always remember some of the reactions.
Just...WHAT? That seriously all just happened? In a community that, as much as I love it, I really thought by the year 2012 had given almost all it had to offer. In all the years I've been posting on this and previous generations of forum, more goodness in the community has happened in the last year and a half than, for me, the twelve prior to that. Last year seemed virtually impossible to match with its Geek Week pilot, repeats and Knightmare Live success. I cannot believe this convention just happened and I'm flabbergasted to think I was there and part of it.
To all the forumers I properly met (including those who had no idea who I was, or perhaps ones who've only just joined now) it was fantastic to meet you. For those not - and there were a fairly surprising number of you I didn't actually see there - am hoping you'll be at a future event. And still I can't believe all that just happened.
The only way is...yeah.
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Thanks everyone. Fun stuff. I actually fell asleep in the corridor (after being kept awake in my hotel by screaming patrons) and was accidentally woken up by Tregard! How weird is that!
Just found out that David Rowe did a cover for Madden, so now doubly glad to have met him, and the rest!
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The satchel battering action was part of the fun wasn't it?
Oh yes indeedy, I was chuffed the Eyeshield and the original Helmet of Justice made an appearance
Me too, slightly jealous of the guy/girl who owns them... even if I did gain an enormous spider...
...with a broken leg...
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I loved the convention!
Some people here will know me as Sophie from the IRC chat. I don't really talk much in the forums and tend to miss out on the Sunday chats, sadly, but I'm very glad I went because I've been a fan of Knightmare since it was first shown in the 80's and 90's and have known about the site since the Bring Back Knightmare campaign. I really need to hang around the forum more!
It was lovely meeting everybody and seeing just how vibrant and active the community still is, even after all this time. The one low point of the whole thing was learning that there had still been spaces left for Knightmare Live after I had already planned my weekend and booked train travel and hotel stay. I arrived at 11pm or so on the Friday, meaning I wasn't able to book any tickets for KM Live.
But still, meeting Hugo Myatt, Iona Kennedy, Mark Knight and David Rowe was a great experience! (I exclude Clifford Barry and Tim Child from that list only because I didn't have the chance to talk to them myself except to ask questions in the Q&A sessions.) And of course meeting Alan Boyd too, though I think I may have unintentionally annoyed him during the Midnight Hunt. Mystara, if you're reading this, I apologise if I was annoying!
All in all, though, a great day, and I'd love it if this was able to be a regular thing.
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Well, that was a bit of all-right and no mistake. Cannot wait for the official pics, Dungeon Room footage and DVD to come out. Plus I haven't been this creatively galvanised in FOREVER. Some serious projects are getting brainstormed right now, yes indeedy...
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Billy has summed up the whole experience perfectly. To meet as many people as I did was just amazing, considering I've been speaking to some of you on and off for 15 years. It's made me realise just how much fun I had in the early days of the forum, discovering I wasn't the only one that loved Knightmare as much as I did. Being at the convention made me feel like that again, and I couldn't have asked for a better day. I am going to try to be to be around a lot more now and I hope to meet you all again some day.
To everyone involved in putting this together, and running it, just - thank you.
Thank you so much.
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Hi
I wanted to be honest and say a big thanks to Alan Boyd and his colleagues including James A. Never have I known anyone more driven and passionate about something, than what Alan is about Knightmare. Sure Knightmare is Tim childs baby, there wasn't anything like it back in the 80's, certainly nothing like it today and I don't think there ever will be.
But this whole event, the first ever knightmare convention is truly Alan's baby, this makes him and it unique and puts him and everyone else, including the fans who helped, in a class of their own. I was very proud to attend and to have the experience of a lifetime, because ever since I was 6 yrs old, one of my dreams to go on knightmare and meet treguard and all the characters associated with it. and because of alan and co, my dream became a reality.
It just goes to show that hard work does pay off, dreams do come true. I hope Alan deep down is very proud of himself and giving himself all the credit he rightly deserves. What hes achieved, I'm sure will live with every knightmare fan for a long time, if not forever. I certainly will take this experience to my end game with me.
Also was so happy to meet as many very nice and like minded people. and I apologise for not remembering everyones name, as I met that many. But many thanks to snowcat, billy, gretl & skarkil, emma, Natalie the gunner, dessimator, the 2 geordies from my neck of the woods, mashibinbin who handled my dungeon game for me, all cast and crew on the hunt, Philip. also I'm trying to remember the guy whos in the legal proffesion from Southampton, whats he called? he wore a suit. max and Helen were also lovely people.
apologies for anyone else I met, you are all great people and i'll never forget any of youz.
overall I have no regrets, it was exactly what I expected and more.
and remember...
WHEN THE FIRE BURNS, THE KNIGHTMARE RETURNS!
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Ditto to all the comments here, Alan and team did an amazing job in such a short period of time!
It was so lovely to meet everyone, couldn't ask for a friendlier bunch of people, both guests and visitors, and to prove to Max that I'm not the only one with a bit of a KM obsession
It's all been said above, so I'll stick to a big THANK YOU!!
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Ditto to all the comments here, Alan and team did an amazing job in such a short period of time!
It was so lovely to meet everyone, couldn't ask for a friendlier bunch of people, both guests and visitors, and to prove to Max that I'm not the only one with a bit of a KM obsession
It's all been said above, so I'll stick to a big THANK YOU!!
... With that shirt of his it's almost like he's joining our crazy fun bundle of people anyway!
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Hello. For those who didn't make the connection, I'm David, the man with the travelling microphone in most of the Q&A sessions.
First, in defiance of the title of this thread, some apologies. Sorry to anyone who had a question that they didn't get to ask. We do have a Cast & Crew Questions section on this forum, and if you post your question there then with any luck it will get answered in the future. And I'm sorry that I didn't get to chat to more of you and put faces to names for all the forum users in attendance, which I had been hoping to do.
There were times when looked like the Knightmare Convention wasn't going to happen. Or at least, wasn't going to happen in the way that the organisers wanted it to. At one point, I remember watching the intro with the knight riding up the mountain and thinking, We're not going to reach the top of our mountain. We're going to let Knightmare down.
Now the convention has happened. And I don't think that anyone let Knightmare down. Quite the opposite. The organisers and crew, the guests, the venue and the attendees all did the Greater Game proud.
One of the aspects of the convention I found most satisfying was seeing various Knightmare fans I've known for years meeting each other for the first time and closing the circle. I got to meet plenty of other fans for the first time myself, and to reunite with friends I hadn't seen for some time. It reminded me of Doctor Who two-parter The Stolen Earth/Journey's End, where all those characters from DW, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures are brought together.
It was my privilege to be as involved with the convention as I was, to have that opportunity to give something back to the programme and the fan community that have made such a difference to me. In some ways, wearing the Convention Crew T-shirt felt like having a superhero costume on; in other ways, it was just another layer of my own skin. Sort of like SuperTed - who, incidentally, was drawn by the same animators who drew the Knightmare intro. I hope that other loyal devotees felt rewarded too by their convention experience. The sense of karma was quite strong at times.
I wasn't sure how approachable the guests would be, and was delighted by how friendly, open and good-humoured every one of them was throughout the weekend and in the face of growing tiredness (particularly in Mark Knight's case, what with jetlag followed by a long Friday followed by the Midnight Hunt). I was also impressed at how, when they were unable to answer a question directly or fully, they still said something insightful that was as close to the theme as possible.
Knightmare is of course a team game, and my deepest gratitude goes to Alan and the rest of the crew. Of all the Knightmare-related group activities I've participated in over the past decade, this felt like the most harmonious. I hope that this camaraderie came across to others. I'm also especially grateful to the most generous Indiegogo contributors, who snatched us from the jaws of defeat and opened doors in a way that Casper the Key could only dream of. (Did you know that Lawrence Werber, who played Casper and Cedric, has since become a dentist? From dogsbottoms to canines.)
As I headed home, Treguard's parting words to the Series 6 winning team came back to me. "You're going home now. I hope you won't find it a trifle dull."
That is my thank you.
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I've managed to find most of the chaps I met on here. Who is the chap from Stirling who lead one of the Hunt teams?
I should've stayed up for that, I love a good hunt. Just not used to being able to go out at night and not be legitimately killed (I live near Hull).
I can imagine how hard it was to set up the convention. Even organising the blue screen set and booking the studios must've been pretty tough.
So thanks for putting in the hours. Glad other guys came through with the cash too. Studios cost big time!
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