Series 7 - Episode 1
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Simon: Can you tell me where smirkenorff is?
Rhomanna: No!
Simon (offended) Why not?!
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Series 7 took a long time to kick-off. Both the opening with Lord Fear and the subsequent scene with Treguard & Majida seemed rather lengthy. Not sure about her yet, but then i preferred the program when Treguard didn't have an assistant anyway....
Opening scene had a new character Romahna, the guardian of Smirky. Absolute howler from Simon, who called her a liar, forgetting that she could hear him when he spoke to his advisors. That went down like a lead balloon.
In the clue area they took the grimlock & keys. They also took a lot of time....
Next up was another new character Rothberry, an friendly apothecary with some dismal puns. Traded the grimlock for a spyglass. This revealed LF with his new entity, the brollachan, which seemed like a kind of menacing hybrid of wall monster, door monster and blocker.
Then another new character, Fidjit, who was an amiable lock-picker. Traded their keys for a "SIGHT" spell.
In the next courtyard, they passed on their knowledge to Romahna, which got them out of her bad-books.
In the dwarf tunnels they received a heavy prompt from Majida (well, she basically told them) to use their spell. Not sure why, it looked like the advisors could see as well as teams usually could....
This opening episode seemed rather slow-paced. Not sure if it was due to the introduction of several new characters, the team's indecisiveness or a general slowing of the plot. There seemed more eye-shield sequences than were typical in S6.
Team 1 are certainly enthusiastic. Their approach reminds me of series 5 team 3, who also had a dungeoneer who was rather outspoken and who were also very indecisive. Wonder if it will cost this team dearly as well....
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At the beginning of Series 7, Majida explained Pickle's absence to Treguard:
"He leave you message ... he say cannot stand damp creepy castle any more: its rotten food, no pay. He go back to forest to be happier."
I like "to be happier" being used as opposed to "to be happy": it suggests that Pickle didn't have an entirely miserable time assisting Treguard and observing quests. Other than that, I don't like 'He resigned and moved back home' as the reason for a familiar character to leave.
I'm imagining an alternative explanation. After helping to bring down Red Death at the end of Series 6, Pickle visited the Cloudwalker to return the lightning rod to Captain Nemanor - and, finding himself on the Great Ocean, felt a calling to follow his elvish predecessors, complete the crossing and "never to return". Perhaps Elita did the same.
There would still need to be an explanation of how the bottle containing Majida, informed of Pickle's departure, came to be in the Knightmare Castle antechamber. Perhaps Pickle took advantage of whatever magic sends dungeoneering objects back to the castle after a quest fails. And did Majida choose to be Treguard's assistant or was it more complicated than that? I'll leave it to anyone who fancies flexing their fanfic muscles.
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Personally on a relisten I concur with happier however the notoriously reliable Youtube subtitles give yet a further variation of 'happy else!'
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I guess we have another Banburn/Vanburn on our hands. Either way, I also don't like the way Pickle's exit was written, departing so abruptly without even bothering to say goodbye, and apparently without a kind word to pass along, even though he'd developed a decent relationship with Treguard and seemed to be enjoying himself by Series 6. (Of course we only have Majida's word for it. She might have buried his body in the woods for all we know.)
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It's "He go back to forest to be happy elf."
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I've never been one of these people who have a problem with Majida. I've always quite liked her.
The only thing I dislike about her is that unlike Pickle she knows nothing. Pickle was useful being introduced in S4 as he knew things about the forests and elf paths outside of the dungeon walls just as Treguard knew about the things within the dungeon walls.
Majida doesn't really offer anything like that. She serves a purpose with being a "voice" for the audience, asking questions for Tregaurd to answer. Basically he's explaining things to the viewer without it seeming like he is.
And she does a really good job of playing the role in my opinion. I like her sassy-ness. She has a fun relationship with Treguard and is more feisty than Pickle despite being less knowledgeable. But the lack of knowledge does give her a lack of depth somewhat IMO.
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I've always heard it as "happy elf".
I am hearing "happy elf" on relistening to it.
I also don't like the way Pickle's exit was written, departing so abruptly without even bothering to say goodbye, and apparently without a kind word to pass along
Made worse by Treguard's own unkindness: deciding that Pickle's an alcoholic based on the sight of one mystery bottle, and making an aside to the watchers about Pickle being demented.
even though he'd developed a decent relationship with Treguard and seemed to be enjoying himself by Series 6.
The last time we saw Pickle, he and Treguard thwarted Lord Fear and saved Knightmare Castle hand in hand (almost literally). Arguably that's more than a decent relationship. It's hard to reconcile that with the mutual bitterness of Pickle's departure.
All in all, I wasn't expecting that post-credits scene, I didn't enjoy it and it cast a shadow over Series 7 for me. (Given that today is exactly three decades later, the phrase "30 years of hurt" comes to mind. This means it's also 30 years since Lissard's introduction and the origin of my username.)
A better farewell for Pickle, and a less antagonistic introduction for Majida, might have helped those of us who struggled to appreciate her character at first. What if Pickle had left a note for Treguard, directly explaining why he had to go and leaving the new Helmet of Justice as a parting gift?
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