quests u did not understand??
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Uther Pendragon's father was supposedly King Constantine II, but would anyone who hasn't even finished their GCSEs/Standard Grades know that? Not likely, so the riddle likely doesn't apply to him.
...I didn't do Arthurian legend for GCSE English Lit. If you ask me to compare Examination Day to A Modest Proposal I might stand a chance, however. (We only spotted the 'killing kids' pattern when she decided to make Lord of the Flies the exam book we did. At which point we started to get slightly nervous.)
Anyway - On with the exercise.
Man - Woman/God/Beast/Mineral/Vegetable
Fire - Earth/Water/Ice/Vacuum/De-oxidisation
Light - Dark/Night/Cold [...The last one would be the Christian upbringing, probably]
Trousers - Skirt/Shorts/Kilt/Naked
DVD - Video/Live Production/Movie Screening
Child - Adult
Anger - shudders in memory of his dissertation... Err... Anyway Calm/Gentle/Love/Pleasant/Fun
Rule - Anarchy/Chaos/Cheat/Tape Measure [...As in meter rule]/Arbitrary/Subject
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These are the ones I thought of...
Man - Animal, Beast, Boy, Demon, Girl, God, Woman
Fire - Ice, Water
Light - Darkness, Shade
Trousers - Dress, Hat, Kilt, Shirt, Shorts, Skirt
DVD - Cassette, CD, VHS, Videotape
Child - Adult, Pensioner
Anger - Bliss, Calm, Pleasure
Rule - Anarchy, Capitulation, Obedience, Subjection, Submission
Doubtless there are plenty of other possible answers too, and despite the, at times enormous, variation in meanings, none of the answers should be seen as definitely right or wrong. Which is kind of the point really.
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Man - Woman (the only alternative that stands up to any scrutiny IMO)
Fire - Douse (admittedly this is stretching it, treating fire as a verb)
Light - Heavy
Trousers - Hat (rather feeble there)
DVD - Live performance (VHS etc. are alternatives, not opposites)
Child - Adult
Anger - Calm
Rule - Disorder
I agree with the opinion that it's a flawed concept, because few things have real opposites.
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Man - Woman (the only alternative that stands up to any scrutiny IMO)
Only if you assume that it is referring to a representative of the male half of the human race, and not the alternative name of the race as a whole.
Fire - Douse (admittedly this is stretching it, treating fire as a verb)
Has to be a noun only.
Light - Heavy
Again, has to be a noun.
DVD - Knightmare
LOL, very good!
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Man - Woman (the only alternative that stands up to any scrutiny IMO)
Only if you assume that it is referring to a representative of the male half of the human race, and not the alternative name of the race as a whole.
Then there isn't one. All other suggestions simply come under "something else", not opposites, and make no more sense than saying "turkey" is the opposite of "wombat" (although I admit that this runs the risk of becoming dangerously philiosphical and off-topic).
Fire - Douse (admittedly this is stretching it, treating fire as a verb)
Has to be a noun only.
OK, I'll try Fire - Extinguisher
And for light, how about shroud (or should it be shrud
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In my point of view, daughter should have been son, brother and sister if that is quite clearly put?
In all honesty I couldn't stand this bunch, they screamed and were so badly organised. As for pleading their innocence to Gundrada was rather pathetic. Nope, this team gets a thumbs down from me...
Quite a few quests were not understandable, methinks that was a filler that Tim Child plucked off the street! LOL
The final series was ultimately the most confusing of all. Why was it there? I think that this was Knightmares' funeral, ten episodes, a shortcut! This was (IMO) the worst series coupled with Series Five (Because the fifth dragged so slowly)
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I have to say that I hated that quest from the moment I saw it.
As you point out, there are several opposites for each noun. But the problem is so much harder than that....
I can't remember the exact instructions, but wasn't it something like "If you don't answer 2 or more of my questions correctly, I won't give you any assistance at all".
So we start with a double negative. They then have to determine whether that entire statement is an opposite (triple negative) (ie. do they have to do the opposite of those instructions?) then they might have to negate/change the nounds (4 negatives) and so on. It's not clear exactly what has to be done.
Even after that, Merlin's response is useless. "Falsehood!". Is that because the answer was wrong (as you were meant to do) or that it was correct (which was the wrong thing to do) or that it was genuinely false, or.....
Too many negatives, not clear enough.
I did find Treguard hilarious though.
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that snobby team of girls in s4 team 5 i think they had to answer merlins questions but ina reverse way i never really got that??
Hi, Dave. Like many points of confusion from Knightmare quests, the Opposites scene has been discussed before: here, here, and in the relevant episode thread here. There's also a Lexicon entry on it, under 'Chamber of Opposite Extraction'.
The Chamber of Opposite Extraction can be watched on YouTube here, from 2:22 onwards. In my opinion, this is where the team went wrong with each of the 3 questions:
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Apparent lack of general knowledge. They work out that daughter should be changed to son, but don't seem to know who Uther Pendragon's son was anyway. If Merlin had said, "Arthur wasn't the truth I sought", then the advisors' reactions would have confirmed whether or not they had known.
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Lack of detail. One advisor suggests an answer that includes mention of the pumpkin, but the answer offered in the end is simply, "It appeared." They don't know whether or not to give their answers as opposites, but in my view, had they said either "It turned into a pumpkin" or given a reverse answer, "It didn't turn into a pumpkin", they'd have been given a point, as they'd have included the required information and demonstrated some understanding of the concept.
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Lack of general knowledge. They simply don't know about the Ides of March. Again, my opinion is that they'd have got a point for saying "Julius Ceasar" or equally for saying "Not Julius Caesar"/"Anyone except Julius Caesar".
Opposites aside, there were other teams that got an easier trio of questions from Merlin on matters of history and legend (such as Team 7 of Series 2, in my opinion). Yet there were also teams who had to get 1 out of 1 from Merlin to earn an essential spell (Team 3 of Series 4, Team 12 of Series 2). I wonder what score out of 3 Vicky needed to earn SPRINT.
Merlin confused matters by 'breaking character' to give the team results for each question ("Falsehood" meant that they really had got it wrong, as it turned out), then switching back into opposite mode. I feel that this breaking of character could have been done more effectively: for a genuine wrong answer, "Truth accepted" followed by a sad shake of the head; for a genuine right answer, "Falsehood" and then a quick wink, smile and nod.
Theres always been several quests on knightmare you didnt understand
Quests I don't understand include:
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Quest 7 of Series 5. I explain why here.
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Quest 4 of Series 8. Should the team have tried the trapdoor, even with nothing to guarantee a safe drop? If the team had picked up the Brain Pills instead of the stinkwort, when could they have done something with them, and how would it have helped?
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Early quests where teams complete Level 1 with a clue object left over, e.g. Quests 5 and 10 of Series 2, Quest 11 of Series 3. How could quests have been written in that way, when other quests in the same series were written so that dungeoneers would and did perish on Level 1 without two correct clue objects (e.g. Quest 7 of Series 3)?
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Wow - fascinating thread! Fleeting visit, I'll try to add a little something.
True enough: regarding the 'Opposites Scene', I think we've rounded up the answers likely to have been met with approval. I'm also agreed that the method of response worked against everything else in the rest of the scene - it creates even more confusion. In my view, the best part about it is just that it adds to the variety, even in a series when variety was at a premium. I think plenty of teams suffered for the sake of variety catching everyone a little unaware, but where would all the talking points be without the odd fun little twist here and there?
I'll leave thoughts on Series 5, Quest 7 at the link kindly supplied. I'm certainly agreed that Series 8, Quest 4 kicks up a problem. Treguard's afterword doesn't imply that they took an incorrect clue item, so there's no immediate sense here that, as was often the case, he could offer some sort of explanation for the end of the quest. Dunstan's quest saw them falling through the trapdoor on the Golden Galleon without protection. They try and open the palladin bottle, but given its real purpose, I don't see how that helps them get through the trapdoor. However, Mike's quest has the added complication that their passage from level 1 to level 2 was via Rothberry, who not only sells them a Float spell, but also informs them that 'it needs two people'. This said, he advises them initially, if the memory serves, to 'just jump up and down'. I can definitely understand the panic in pressing for the door, but such a shame really. These, like Ben's quest in S7, seemed to start off a bit light-heartedly with chips on shoulders, but took the game increasingly more seriously as it got more difficult. I loved the synopsis for their level 2: creating the 'Fillet' spell with ingredients and a binding spell. I was glad that this portion of their quest was completed.
Interesting too to note about left-over clue objects. I last watched Series 6, and it's a common feature of the last few quests. Winning dungeoneer Ben doesn't need the cross he is carrying, and leaves it behind once he has collected the crown. One might assume that he is told to do so (after all - a final encounter with a spell in hand - it's just a matter of good timing), and it wouldn't look too majestic arriving back handing over the crown and the unused cross. This is followed up as well by Sophia's quest. They take gold in level 3, and is it not needed by the time they reach the Great Causeway, one might assume that was surplus to requirements as well. Then, the final quest of the series, Chris ends up giving Ah-Wok the mallet just to free up his hands.
An few queries of my own. Sophia's quest has the scroll in the dwarf tunnel: 'No Right Turn'. Even Pickle expresses his bemusement at that. Any ideas to that one?
Something I don't understand in the later series is how teams are meant to use spells 'in motion', so to speak.
Series 7, Quest 5 (Ben): not only can I not conjure what on Earth the spell they were collecting might be, other than perhaps the name of the troll, but would they then have had to cast it during the Trial by Spikes when the troll appears? How could it possibly help other than making the thing disappear or invisible?
Series 8, Quest7 (Oliver): They get the spell from Smirkenorff to slow down the blades, but (as far as I'm aware), they don't need to cast it: it just takes place.
A bit of spell fun on the run? A few left over puzzles from this observer. Happy Days
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Can't say I'm immediately familiar with most quests sufficiently to get proper memories of them, but "No Right Turn" seems clear that it reverses the general principle of, "If no information available, the right path is right."
Was there anything in Sophia's quest that goes against that assumption of what that scroll meant?
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An few queries of my own. Sophia's quest has the scroll in the dwarf tunnel: 'No Right Turn'. Even Pickle expresses his bemusement at that. Any ideas to that one?
Unless it was intended for a later "plot" that was dropped, I always assumed it was simply to add a sense of impending doom/danger.
"No right turn" suggests that turning right leads to bad things, but there's nowhere else to go!!! Hence, excited 12 year old viewers on the edge of their seat. I guess just a one off alternative to storm gueists or goblins in spicing up the dwarf tunnels.
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Another quest i was never sure about was in series 3 and the team that it was number 2 they didn't show mercy to Mcgrew but if sum1 was so agressive like he was wouldn't you run a mile asap??
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