Series 4 - Episode 9
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(I'm not going to edit my earlier post else some will think I change the post completely)
From the sidestep-to-your-death incident we have a new team. This team seem to be making progress, and didn't do to bad on the place of choice (compared to some). Those weeping doors are now beginning to annoy me, I must admit that I wouldn't have got the first question correct. Next after collecting the eyeshield from Hordriss we saw an interesting shot of the dungeoneer in the woods path. The assassins warning did give away what was likely to happen next. I'm sure the team went to the right of the tree, yet still managed to make it to the portal. Finally the encounter with Oakly, and although he scared off the Goblins he didn't give any clues as to which objects the teams should take.
EDIT: I think this episode is not being repeated as for some reason Challenge prefer to repeat Oblivious on Monday morning's instead of KM. Last time I didn't know this and missed the episode.
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I'm almost there. Just one more episode, episode 10, and I'll have every episode of Series 4 on tape, and done a review in some form or another of every KM episode ever.
'Welsh wizardry and Celtic cunning' says Treguard at the start, bafflingly. I may make that my unofficial episode title, though something far more famous happened in this episode. It's hard to watch Simon's last few rooms in this episode without sniggering in anticipation at what's coming. After Gundrada scares off a few goblins we meet Mace - "Surely you will not refuse a game of chance?". Everyone's in a very wordy mood in this episode. He's actually talking about Poker, though this variant appears to be 15 Second Speed Poker. Mace gets a king, Simon gets an Ace. Mace gets a 2, Simon gets another ace, and is teh winna, but Mace asks them why his deck has 53 cards. "Because you can't count, you dozy old fool" is their reply...nah, it's "There are 52 cards in a deck". But Mace asks them why, and they correctly reply there's an extra card. It's a Joker, and Mace gives them it. Look out for more joker-related Mace fun later this series.
So Simon skips foolhardily into...the Block and Tackle. And the most famous death in Knightmare history occurs, as he's told, stupidly, to sidestep into a gaping pit. Very weird music plays over the life force death sequence, and Treguard lets out a laugh before launching into his usual patter. Pickle has his hand firmly on his face (his own, not Treguard's, Simon's, or Andrew's), either thinking "No, no, no!! Morons!" or desperately trying not to snigger. Treg boots spellcasts them out - "So much for Welsh wizardry, master" sighs Pickle.
The next team are clearly all wearing summer clothes, showing it was filmed in that season rather than the drab November it's going out on. They're from...Windham? No, Pickle continues the wordy theme of this episode by informing us it's "spelt Wymondham", probably the silliest location name for a KM team ever. They choose the Shield path after Pickle hints yet again.
Now here's a refreshing change, Treguard actually refuses to stick to the script for once and explains to us the history of the Bore Monsters. The usual T&F stuff follows before the Eye Shield room with Hordriss, where Pickle gets into a strop after Vicki gives her full name to the wizard. He calls Hordriss a 'creature', amusingly.
Pickle, clearly enjoying this episode, snarls his way through his patter about forests and assassins. A great reverse-Eye Shield shot here of the dungeoneer standing still in the middle of the ES forest, andOMG AN ASSASSIN! The antechamberers (Treg, Pick, and the advisors) seem keen on getting Vicki to shout at one, even getting her to wave her arms around, but all she really does is say 'Go away' sternly. Probably for the best, shrieking and/or screaming it would have sounded very silly when the episode aired.
Oakley's dwelling had a great few seconds of sheer insanity. It's all very calm, with Vicki looking at the objects, when TWO GOBLINS SUDDENLY APPEAR! The team are thrown, and get Vicki to turn about 90 degrees before Oakley appears and snarls them away. Impressive work on the riddles, telling Vicki to say the answer to the third halfway through the riddle, meaning Oakley has to talk even louder to shut them up. All three are answered correctly, and we time out while in an Eye Shield sequence outside the Fortress of (gargoyle)Doooooooom(/gargoyle). And a great end credits sequence to top it off, with the full transparent life force sequence over a moving wellway graphic.
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I’m sorry Brollachan, but it has to be said that that was a poorly disguised bump
This remark conjures up the surreal image of The Brollachan being told off for trying to conceal a pregnancy.
That moment is literally one that every avid Knightmare fan recalls time after time: ;D
It's hard not to! And yet there's one aspect of the death that I've never seen discussed on (or off) the forum, and which I only noticed fairly recently myself. The clip can be viewed via knightmare.com, or via YouTube in various videos. We see Simon in the Block & Tackle when the floor falls away, then his advisors and the infamous command, then it cuts back to Simon for the sidestep: Click here to watch the clip on the ITV Children's Classics YouTube channel play Spot The Difference...
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I find Vicky's team quite painful to watch at times. They get themselves into a terrible mess just trying to guide her around a tree stump - both Treguard and Pickle become impatient with them mixing up their left and right! And then in the next episode, their screaming panic when they meet Gundrada, all yelling instructions at the same time while Treguard is saying "Just talk!" in an attempt to calm them down. They're almost as bad as Becca's hysterical advisors in Series 8!
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All these years later and still a news story:
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/knightmare-childrens-tv-classic-clip-8122634
Or at least it's a news story when you have to find something to fill the lifestyle/nostalgia section of your website...
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"By the way, what is rugby?"
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Team 4 evaded the goblins, then encountered Brother Mace. He gave them a "Joker" card, but only after he finally dragged the answer to his question out of them....
Into the block&tackle room and the floor to the left collapsed, so advisor Andrew hurriedly gave the directions: "Simon, sidestep to your left!" And a slice of Knightmare history was created....
It was amazing just how neatly he did it. It was all over in a moment. The last team i remember going quite so suddenly with, no premonition of real danger, was team 1 series 3 in the quicksand. Several other dungeoneers fell to their death, but in most cases you had a suspicion of what was about to happen.
Brilliant acting from Hugo Myatt & David Learner to remain in character and not burst out laughing at this crazy moment, altho the latter kept his hand across his face for a suspiciously long time.
It was an odd quest because team 4 were virtually carried thru level 1 and level 2. They effectively had a pass straight into level 3, provided they could answer one extremely easy question from Brother Mace and avoid walking into any chasms. One of these two tasks proved beyond them....
Team 5 didn't guide their dungeoneer at all convincingly and seemed apt to panic.
Did ok against Dooris, then agreed to a pact with Hordriss and received the eye-shield.
Did very well against Oakley with 3/3 answers. Massive inconsistency: Team 4 faced no riddles and got full clues. Team 5 got 3/3 and got no clues.
Yet another team who had to ask how many clue objects they could take. Surely by series 4, teams should know basic details of the adventurer's code.
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We all know what Everyone's Favourite Thing is in this episode. For me, a close second - and I only picked up on it on my most recent watch - is Brother Mace's response to the team deducing that a pack with 53 cards has an extra card: "Simplissimus but excellent", presumably an ad lib, delivered as an aside. Asides are very rare from a dungeon character (Motley's the only other one I can think of) and very funny here.
I do wonder whether Michael Cule was engaging with a reaction from the crew (cf. his card mishap in Quest 8 of this series). BritBox must have appreciated it too as it's one of the few bits of Brother Mace's Latin that they've subtitled.
In Brother Mace's room, I like Andrew's need to explain why he told Simon to sidestep left instead of right ("I was gonna get him round the chair"). He'll have a lot more explaining to do after the next time.
Vicki's response to "There's a talking face in front of you" is "I can't see it." Perhaps the most bizarre thing any dungeoneer ever says.
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Perceptive as ever, Drassil (about Brother Mace, I mean)!
Possibly one of the last significant maneuvering errors in this episode? Similar to the quicksand in Series 3, Team 1.
We were quite determined not to get caught out by series 1-3 maneuvering errors in our adventure (in series 4), and series 5-8 seemed to have had far less of them altogether, if I recall correctly.
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