Press Release from Televirtual
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25 November 2002
After a nine year gap, Televirtual is to re-format the cult TV adventure game series KNIGHTMARE, which was produced by its parent company, Broadsword TV in the 80's and 90's, and re-create it as a LIVE TV event.
Televirtual founder Tim Child explained:' we have only just reclaimed full ownership of the format, which was jointly owned by ourselves and Anglia (now Granada Media), since 1986. The full rights recently reverted to us, and whereas it was financially impractical to carry the burden of reformatting under shared ownership, that is no longer the case.'
The original show involved blindfolding a young player or dungeoneer with a knight's helmet and sending them into a blue walled studio.
Cromakey techniques then transposed this into an enthralling hand-drawn dungeon, created by artist David Rowe.
A revived show would stay true to those early principles but with virtual reality and avatar (3d cloning) technology removing the need for any blindfolding or guiding of the studio based adventurer.
With a growing demand for shows which allow greater audience access and influence, playing Knightmare for live is a challenge in itself.
'We would aim to keep the game very simple and retro-looking," said Tim Child. 'Having said that, it won't be any simpler than the original eighties versions when we really didn't have the interactive technology to attempt half the things we tried."
Players in the revived dungeon will be transformed into 3d avatars, and will appear as themselves. They will be able to meet and converse with the similarly animated cast of characters and monsters in the dungeon.
The new Knightmare TV quest is being designed to sit within a longer, live, childrens' programming strand, with the game playing in two, separated 10-12 minute segments. This will allow polling decisions by the home audience to influence the dungeon-based obstacles and affect the narrative. Viewers of digital channels would also be able to access some of the multiple viewpoints available from Televirtual's RAP (Real time Animation Pipeline) system.
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OMG.
As you people know this doesn't ever happen, but for once I'm speechless.
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Bl
ody hell! -
Okay... its important to note that this is an announcement of a design 're-format' by the original makers of Knightmare, which has been made possible because of a changeover of rights.
There is no guarantee that it will eventually make it on TV, or when that will happen. It all depends I suppose on whether a channel would be interested in commissioning it. If it does, I would think it will take time to happen.
But yes, its good knews indeed that they are interested in reviving Knightmare.
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I just had a feeling that this would be on the cards!
Didn't I say that I had a sneaking suspicion that TimeGate was just a working title for 'something'?!!!
Well, now that Televirtual want to remake Km, that's half the battle won already! All we need now is for one of the tv channels to see sense! How about sending the BBK petition to all of them again?
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I think more than anything it's the news I personally wouldn't have expected.
But I suppose TimeGate remains an independent project. Perhaps this just increases the chances of Televirtual getting a show commissioned. Not putting all your eggs in one basket, as Brother Strange might say.
What concerns me slightly is how a reformatted KM and TG will/would be different. The press release seems to hint that a knew KM would use most of the technology that was going to make TG distinctive. I'm reminded also of what Debz said about the TG trailer- that it looked very KMish. So how is KM still KM and not TG? Is it the "retro" look that's mentioned? Will the unique selling point be the old set of characters? Floor puzzles? (Well, most would have to be reformatted now it's no longer a team game with one member blindfolded.) If TG is, as people often quote Tim Child as saying, what KM Series 9 would have been, then what would/will a reformatted KM Series 9 be?
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Sorry for being cynical (again!), but I see the fear of KM being similar to TG as Grimwold just said. I just don't think the one person not being blindfold would work.
I really think that if a programme is released, it will be only one programme - not a separate KM and TG; they'd be too similar.
I don't know, I just don't like this.
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Sorry for being cynical (again!), but I see the fear of KM being similar to TG as Grimwold just said. I just don't think the one person not being blindfold would work.
I really think that if a programme is released, it will be only one programme - not a separate KM and TG; they'd be too similar.
I don't know, I just don't like this.
Agreed on all counts.
One of the original premises of KM was the blindfolding and system of advisers. Okay, this came about because the technology wasn't originally good enough to have the person in the dungeon "seeing" what was around them. But to be honest I think the format we thus ended up with was pretty much the core of KM. Whatever the technology now available, I think it's a format worth defending, worth keeping. It's Knightmare. It's about teamwork.
Perhaps the single player idea might work for TimeGate. But I think if you do Knightmare in this way you're taking away something very special. I wonder in his original plan for a fully VR Series 9 of KM whether Tim Child envisaged it remaining a team game based on the good old system of advisers and dungeoneer.
It does seem like the two would be too similar. Perhaps they plan to see which idea the networks like more, and then run with it.
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I think it would be better with the dungeoneer beign able to see! However, I think that there should still be guiders who perhaps get a wider picture of what's going on than the dungeoneer himself.
You lot are all forgetting (or at least not saying) that we are the last links to Knightmare. We are the only people who remember it well and stay involved in it. THEREFORE we can have a HUGE influence in its return. They can sort out the technology but we can give them a few hints as to what we want! i.e. keep the helmet, if possible get Hugo Myatt and Mark Knight back, etc.
Finally, HOORAY!!!!!!! YES!!!! AT LAST!!!! WOOHOO!!!
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Another thing:
As I said, we can all have a major influence on how Knightmare returns, if it does. The main ways we can do this are by:
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Campaigning for channels to commission it (Challenge TV would be the obvious first choice, as they currently have the old series)
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Giving Televirtual ALL our ideas
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Contacting old actors to tell them. They won't find out any other way and then they mgiht contact Tim Child. Knightmare 9 would be much better if Hugo Myatt was in it.
The other thing is that it is planned to be a live TV event with home participation. If this is the case, where does www.knightmare.com stand? Could it strike a deal with Knightmare and remain Official and keep an active role in Knightmare? It certainly deserves to, I can guarantee that if it didn't exist Knightmare wouldn't be making a return.
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If this new Knightmare goes ahead, there is a small dilemma over what channel and timeslot it should get.
If the show is directed at the 11-16 audience (just like the old Knightmare we all know and love!), then that rules out CITV and CBBC straight away, since they haven't catered for that age group since the mid-90s, with both preferring to concentrate on the 5-11 group.
And simultaineously it will be unsuitable for prime-time TV since the companies will dismiss it as 'a kids show with no relevance to today's adult audience.'
Either way, it looks at the moment that this project is not going to be on terrestrial, it may have to be consigned to Digital.
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(Challenge TV would be the obvious first choice, as they currently have the old series)
Challenge just have the rights to show Series 3 at the moment, as far as I know. And I'd doubt very much they'd be able to afford a new piece of programming like this. Their only really "new" programmes are cheap things they make themselves, really.
Yes, Mark, the timeslot could be a potential problem. But other shows that lie somewhere between the children's and adults' markets have managed. The 6pm-7pm timeslots on terrestrial might be a possibility. The Simpsons draws audiences from both groups. Robot Wars might be considered similar in age-focus.
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Just a quick thought on the whole reformatting issue since I'm tired and the Brollachan is hungering:
Televirtual is a well run and successful company. The problems we've thought of for KM/TG are ones I'd hope they've envisaged too. I'd also hope they'd have given the reformatting some prior thought before announcing their intention to do it. So perhaps they've thought of some solutions. In any case, they're intelligent people. I doubt very much they'd fall into very basic traps. And Tim Child obviously cares a great deal for KM. I don't think he'd allow it to be completely warped beyond redemption or recognition.
Okay, there's my optimistic thought to balance the pessimistic ones earlier.
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I personally think this is a good idea, sure KM is not 100% certainly going to be on again, even with this news, but the news is the best we have heard for 8 years.
As for new concepts, I like the idea of making a few changes, and to change a show that has been off TV for 8/9 years is hardly surprising, as I am sure Tim Child doesnt simply want to make KM as it was before for the fun of it, he wnats to experiement....he did it with KM in 1986, give him the same chance now.
As for Mark Knight, there is little chance of him coming here from USA (as I have said before), he'd probably have to get Tim Child to buy him a house over here or something As for Hugo Myatt, lets hope so (but if not, I have played Treguard too, Tim )
Ahem!
Anyhow, I am looking forward to the news that will spill out over the next few months!
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