Series 4 - Episode 15
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You know what I think? We should give each episode an individual title, rather than Series x Episode x. I'm calling this one "Go, Giles, Go!" from what Bret said today.
Yet another variation on the calling today - "True or False, False or True, open the door and let us through". That's the trouble with something long like that, it's just too hard to remember it exactly. Dooris appears anyway, though, as usual when the calling's mixed up.
Oh god, he's not in a Thing That Constrains People AGAIN, is he? Except this time there's a twist to the tale - it's actually locked this time, and they can't get Merlin out until the key in level 3, I see. The Eye Shield covered with a yellow cloth for some bizarre reason.
After a trip to the Crazed Heffer (what do they call it if someone wants sugar in their tea, Heffer Lumps?) and an escape from the goblins, it's Oakley time. "How do you turn Oak into Ash?" By giving it a Pokéball, of course. And then onto Mellisandre's swansong, who for some reason thinks Giles is an assassin. Erm, why? Assassins don't wear yellow shirts and a pointy helmet.
Yay, Mistress Goody's moment of fame! Too late for any big speeches, though, so she just sends them into the Corridor of No-Blades. They get out by throwing a spanner into the works. Then Fatilla, who you have to feel sorry for, since we never see him again after choking uncontrollably.
Level 2, and Gundrada's stuck in something I'm not even going to bother mentioning. She also thinks he's an assassin - hello? Has the dungeon gone mad? They let her out, and she fends off a frightknight as they make their escape. And there we time out.
They're a great team, don't you think? Only something really ridiculous could stop them now, like, I dunno, Christmas. But that'd never happen!
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More ridiculous than that; Christmas filmed in July.
Yes, but you know - don't you - that all Christmas programs/music are recorded in the summer.
Except Presley's first Christmas LP which was recorded in April or May (come to think of it, I'm sure Slade's grate-est hit was also recorded in late spring)!
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Team captain Brett writes:
During the Level one Merlin sequence when Giles picked up the Eye Shield our view was so detailed we could see the time on Giles' watch - 11.15 or so in the morning! I don't think it can be seen on the film, perhaps it was blurred out in post-production.
During the conveyor belt sequence we were looking out for some machinery - some works to 'throw the spanner in'. At length I just said 'Throw the spanner down the corridor'. The conveyor belt stopped. Then it reversed. Too late! There were no more side doors and so the conveyor belt continued to the end.
The producer - I don't know why in certain posts people make out he's been overly secretive about any details (be reasonable!) - come on and said 'we always allow one Level one boo-boo - and this was yours'. At this point we still had a London-based backup team (and would have until well into Level 3). In my opinion this challenge was too abstruse (where were the works?) - perhaps whoever came up with it was in the mindset of those early text-based adventure games with two-word entry (e.g. THROW SPANNER). It is possible that the TV crew shared this view of the challenge when it came down to the reality of it.
The producer also pointed out that I'd said the correct course of action ('throw the spanner down the corridor') and with re-filming of Giles we have what you've seen.
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Brett writes:
It was the latter, Canadanne. As I recall, just before we filmed the Level 3 scene where Merlin reappeared, the floor manager said something like "So you're looking for a key ... do you know who it was for? ... [Merlin] ... Yes, it's no secret that it was Merlin. When you find the key, make sure Giles calls out his name (clearly?) (three times?)."
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I always wondered what the point of the Mistress Goody scene was, with all her cryptic blathering about "the price of your ticket" and "a straight through or a cut-price special". I have a theory about it now, though. I think maybe if they had ignored Oakley's advice ("The bloodstone leads to bloodshed") and taken the red gem, she would have accepted this as his "fare", and upgraded him to the Corridor of Blades - an impossible one like Duncan got, with a blade that goes "straight through" the dungeoneer as soon as they step inside. But since he couldn't afford the luxury of a quick death, she gave him the cheaper bladeless version and slow starvation as it would never have stopped without him using the spanner.
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I thought the wailing door (Dooris ?) questions were maybe difficult from what I can remember as was the questions asked by Oakley the Guardian of the Greenwood. Team got more right answers than even I managed on this occasion, but won't one truth alone be enough to pass you ? (Even when the team got three right with the tree monster, Oakley still appeared unsure if they were genuine tree friends.
Merlin appeared in some stocks and asked Giles for assistance. (If he's a powerful magician couldn't he magic himself out of trouble ?) and the team picked up the eye shield.
Another visit to the Crazed Heifer Inn and a brief appearance of a Pooka with it, nowhere near as suspenseful as before. Can't remember an awful lot which occurred inside which may be a fair indication that it wasn't an episode to really remember.
Mistress Goody the crone at the entrance to the corridor (with no blades) doesn't find anything to take and only gets some information from Giles including name and quest. Finds the spanner in the corridor which (with assistance from the team) helps brings things to a stop so he can safely proceed.
Fatilla was included towards the end but not a character you can really get excited about. Accepted a bottle of sniff that enabled Giles to climb the wellway into Level Two.
Gundrada (?) the female warrior was the second to be shown in stocks in this episode and aided Giles for his assistance by fighting off a Fright Knight and then that was pretty much it as the episode then closed.
Believe the episode after this is featured again later tonight (*why not both while they're at it ? >:D * and while having seen it earlier today, take any opportunity there is to watch the series so will leave comment for that one until after tonight's viewing. (From what I recall the second episode was considerably more entertaining than this one)
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I think that was me (episode 15). As I recall the Adventurer's Code didn't specifically state that we were not able to say 'I challenge you' from series 4, in the event that we got all three questions correct.
Were you an actual contestant on the program ? That's really good, you never stop to think you could be interacting with real past people who featured on the show.
There's a million questions you could ask those who were fortunate enough to be involved. That must have been an experience to take away that will live forever.
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Did you watch any episodes of Series 1-3 with a team using the term 'I command you' before you took part? The last team to use it was Team 4 of Series 3 (Leo's) with the Brangwen She. If so then that is the problem with old phrases, etc, for example calling Hordriss using his calling name three times without earning it in a quest i.e earning it from a previous quest on the television. 'The dungeon is obscure so any knowledge of previous quests will be of little use,' said Treguard.
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Yes of course we did. We had Series 3 playing in the Green Room. If there was a problem, it was that the Adventurer's Code document didn't indicate a change to the established format of three series. Basically, I was determined to leave no stone unturned in our quest.
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For series four, the Adventurer’s Code described Level 1 as very much a ‘learning level’ (Level 2 was described as something like ‘more challenging’ and Level 3 the ‘final proving ground’).
With hindsight, it is interesting to reflect how Motley and then Mellisandre prepared us for our encounter with Gundrada (at the outset of Level 2), by introducing and then offering a description of an assassin (Brother Mace then rewarded us for helping Gundrada by giving us the Joker playing card, of course).
Also, we learn from Jeremy’s quest that a total wipe-out by Oakley’s riddles might have let to ‘being crushed’ by a Pooka (ditto, presumably, for the Weeping Doors, with alternatives perhaps being a floating skull or the ceiling collapsing).
Mistress Goody’s interest in Giles’ objects seems pointless at first. However, she might have relieved us of the ‘bloodstone’ (had we been carrying it), which would have left us with either the spanner – in which case we couldn’t have disabled Fatilla, or the sniff potion – in which case we would not have been equipped to stop the conveyor belt, which would have taken us ‘somewhere [we] don’t want to go’.
Mistress Goody’s checking of our clue objects together with the way in which the goblins were shown after Giles had made his escape are good demonstrations of counterfactuals showing how things could have gone wrong for us, had we opted differently.
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Team 8 were a really enthusiastic team.
2/3 against Dooris, then encountered Merlin and this time it appeared to be his turn in the stocks. They agreed to find the key to release him and they received the eye-shield to help them onward.
Reached the Crazed Heifer and Motley gifted them a "DASH" spell.
Used this spell to outrun the goblin pack in the forest and arrived in Oakley's glen. Stormed his questions with 3/3 and were told which item not to take. Selected the "sniff" bottle & the spanner.
Wonderful startled reaction from advisor Brett when the assassin appeared near the fortress.
Amusing encounter with Mistress Goody "the hostess with the leastess".
Quickly worked out how to stop the conveyor belt with the spanner, then used the "sniff" bottle to incapacitate Fatilla by the well. *This was Fatilla's last appearance. Presumably "old skull-face" down below found out that he was accepting bribes to allow dungeoneers past. *
In level 2 they released Gundrada from the stocks (oh no! not another one in the stocks!) and she fought off a fright knight while they escaped just before time-out arrived.
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Having just watched this episode for the first time in a while, it's also the first time I haven't mis-heard Dooris' question about Alexander the Great.
The question refers to a "knotty problem" and is a clear reference to Alexander cutting the Gordian Knot - but for the first 31 years of my life I've been hearing it as a "nutty problem" and was wondering what he had to do with nuts!
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Hi Pooka,
That's really funny! A nut-cracker might be a more suitable clue-object for that, maybe?!
I always heard it as a 'knotted' problem, but then the sound and visuals were clearer in the studio anyway (those that weren't added in post-production).
Thanks for the comment,
Brett
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