Series 1 - Episode 6
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Episode 6 was the 10th most watched programme on Challenge that week, with an audience of 118,000.
1 CLASSIC WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE S1 (MON 2100) 178,000
2 TNA IMPACT (SUN 2102) 171,000
3 CLASSIC WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE S1 (WED 2102) 164,000
4 CLASSIC WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE S1 (FRI 2101) 145,000
5 CLASSIC WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE S1 (TUE 2103) 142,000
6 FAMILY FORTUNES (TUE 2000) 130,000
7 BULLSEYE (SAT 2120) 129,000
8 BULLSEYE (WED 2201) 123,000
9 FAMILY FORTUNES (TUE 2031) 119,000
10 KNIGHTMARE (FRI 2230) 118,000
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To put the recent ratings into perspective, Knightmare only appeared in the top 10 four times during its entire original Challenge run:
18/06/2003 (#9, 80,000)
12/07/2003 (#8, 80,000)
22/10/2003 (#6, 100,000)
26/05/2004 (#10, 60,000)
From September 2004 it moved to an early morning slot so obviously not many watching after that, until the run ended in March 2007. So many of these recent ratings have been the highest in the channel's history.
Nothing to worry about, methinks
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I hadn't noticed before, but when Helen's in the bomb room trying to unlock the door, someone can twice be heard blowing out the bomb fuse after it's been lit. Quite cool and interesting - perhaps Mogdred is lighting it and Merlin is blowing it out, to give her the time she needs to escape?
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Current team dies almost straight away because they turned left, not right - even though Folly's riddle indicated they should go right!
In David Rowe's book, the quest diagram for Level 2 appears to be Danny's? (He visited the Monk Room, Combat Room, Clue Room, Key Puzzle Room, Merlin Room and Spear Room in that order.) It's a little hard to make sense of it, but the '8' and '9' squares could refer to the Bland Room (where Folly gave them the riddle about which door to choose) and the Exploding Bomb Room where they died. Presumably if they'd gone the right way, the next room would have been the wellway, which has the label 'guard'. Merlin had given them FLARE and FREEZER spells, so I'm guessing they would have faced a similar situation to Simon's team - having to illuminate the dark room and then neutralise a hostile Gibbet.
(I don't quite understand the note attached to the Combat Room, 'FIRE EXIT | OR B.F.'? I'd guess they were planning to have one deadly exit from that room - 'B.F.' might have stood for 'Big Foot' as seen on the Level 1 diagram.)
First team to encounter the Scorpion!
This wasn't included on the original plan for Helen's quest; instead it mentions something about a "small door, locked" in the second room (after finding a key in the first room). If it means one of those tiny doors, I'm not sure how they would have got through it without having acquired any shrinking magic!
Oh, and the items from Granitas were unusual. Note the key AND the gauntlet. Taking the gauntlet and the roses would have been interesting. Imagine Treguard:
"Well, team, you've stopped the bomb, but you're now stuck in a room with no exit. Flowers can't unlock doors."
Weirdly, the quest plan lists both the glove and the key as being useful in the bomb room! As you say, it's hard to imagine what use the glove would be if they couldn't leave the room afterwards!
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Great episode, at a good pace, with an unprecedented two dungeoneer demises.
I had a feeling of deja-vu near the start. Just like the previous lot, team 4 were doing ok and then suddenly they pressed self-destruct.
They had done so well at the riddles (7/9 in total) and solved Folly's earlier effort, but then they flumped this. The riddle was easy enough and he gave them prompting, finally telling them not to follow him, before his exit left. So they went left, not right into a rapid-fuse bomb room, eliciting the first ever: "Oooh naaasty!" from Treguard.
Withering commentary from Treguard when they tried to go thru a locked door without the key just before that.
Team 5 seemed quite good during their short quest, but only getting 2/3 answers to Granitas meant they had to guess which exit to take in the corridor of the catacombs. They went left and were trapped.
Some thoughts:
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Do you think they genuinely had a 50:50 chance, or were they doomed whether they went left or right?
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As there were no other indications, surely right would have been best?
Team 6 just got started and surprisingly they took the left exit without any reason. I always thought this was inadvisable....
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I had a feeling of deja-vu near the start. Just like the previous lot, team 4 were doing ok and then suddenly they pressed self-destruct.
Yes, I often notice this when watching season 1; the patterns of Quest 3 and Quest 4 are the same. The teams start well, get a good impetus going, really show signs of getting the hang of everything they're doing, and as they get late into Level 2, you really start feeling optimistic for them that they can go a very long way. And then, they both suffer a breathtaking brain-freeze just as they're on the brink of Level 3, and commit a blunder that makes your face go bright white.
Nice to get the first ever, "Ooooooooooh nasty!" though.
I also love Treguard's very real expression of incredulity in both cases. "I can't imagine why you did it!" Treguard was always nice to teams after these sorts of cock-ups in later years, and it always seemed a bit condescending and disingenuous to me. Back in the early years though, when teams goofed up, Treguard really let them know about it. Good, it's much more insulting to try and sound consoling instead.
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After going in completely the wrong direction, Helen and her team were unable to deliver their mandate... I mean, use their spell. She could go no further.
It ended up a day of three dungeoneers.
From 35 years and a week or so later, this seems rather prophetic.
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