I felt really sorry for team 3. Nathan was one of the best dungeoneers ever. Rather like Sophia's team (S6 T6) they were an excellent team that were actually better than a couple of the winning teams down the years. It wouldn't have been undeserved if they had triumphed.

Fully agreed! They are one of my all-time favourite teams.

In the next room they deployed the globe for Maldame, but for no reward.

They arrived in the fireball room and were given the hurry-up by goblin horns. Unfortunately Nathan was told to step left one pace too soon and he fell thru a gap in the tiles.

Did leaving Maldame without obtaining a spell put them in losing status? Maybe, but if you wanna be cynical they went into losing status about five seconds before Nathan entered the dungeon, when they were assigned the quest for the (poisoned)chalice....

I don't like the idea that they failed because they had no magic from Maldame. Firstly, other teams managed that room without any magic.

Secondly, it was extremely harsh to penalise a very young team for not demanding a reward from a rather bad-tempered sorceress.

It became a notable feature of the later years of Knightmare that many teams adopted a demanding attitude of "what's in it for us?" when dealing with characters, rather than waiting for a reward to be offered, which seems totally contrary to the spirit of chivalry which the Knightmare quest was originally supposed to be a test of....

I felt really sorry for team 3. Nathan was one of the best dungeoneers ever. Rather like Sophia's team (S6 T6) they were an excellent team that were actually better than a couple of the winning teams down the years. It wouldn't have been undeserved if they had triumphed.

Team 4 encountered Brother Strange and provided a proverb, then with his spyglass learned the rune-lock combo. When he announced how many thousand pages of proverbs he would collect, advisor Haydn commented: "How sad!"

Entered the level 1 clue-room and eventually chose an egg-timer and gold. Moved a bit more quickly in fireball alley altho they were given a hurry-up by goblins

Ran into Stiletta. Great comment from her: "All helmet and no brains. Just like most of the men i meet."

One of the advisors grumbled: "Wouldn't stand for that!" She dealt with the goblins and gave them some info.

In the trap-door room Rothberry traded a "FLOAT" spell for the gold and helped them to open it.

Straight into level 2 clue-room. Chose a bat and some stinkwort. Should they have taken the brain pills instead of the stinkwort?

Arrived in the sewers just in time to help Sidriss escape Snapper-Jack.

Team 4 didn't exactly set the dungeon alight. The advisors were rather indecisive and Michael didn't really get the hang of "Move quickly!"

I reckon (someone could probably correct me:) ) that a lot of death scenes were re-filmed to make them more convincing. He probably originally took his step to the left and the crew then said 'Sorry, you're dead' They then re-filmed it with instructions to the dungeoneer to 'step left and act like you're falling'.

That is indeed what would have happened in some cases.

If a dungeoneer took a step that would mean that they were to "plummet" to their death as a result, the death scene of them falling would be re-filmed with the dungeoneer standing on a blue block and then taking the necessary step off the block so it looks like they're falling to their doom (when in fact the blue block against the blue Chromakey background is deceptive enough to mean that they're just stepping down a few centimetres in reality).

Another example of a "falling death scene" is where the dungeoneer takes the wrong step but instead of having them step off a blue block the dungeoneer would simply be instructed to raise both arms in the air whilst the camera would tilt upwards with them against the blue background so the editing/production team could then make it out to be as if they were falling.

I reckon (someone could probably correct me:) ) that a lot of death scenes were re-filmed to make them more convincing. He probably originally took his step to the left and the crew then said 'Sorry, you're dead' They then re-filmed it with instructions to the dungeoneer to 'step left and act like you're falling'.

It's pretty weird how the Skeletron's marching can be heard before and during its actual formation.

Is it just me, or did they have no use for that sand-timer thing that they picked up? They didn't use it during Level 1, and in Level 2 they were allowed 2 items again!

I recently watched this episode and thought exactly the same thing.... Given that it was the only clue on the scroll in the Level 1 Clue Room ("Keep your eye on the clock") you'd think it would have been of some use, but despite the team taking this item it proved to be of no value whatsoever. You'd think that maybe it could have well indeed slowed down the fireballs further on in the level, but instead it has provided one of the more curious plot holes to have happened in the show.

Shame we'll never know what actually happened, but yes it certainly looks like it's been altered.

In Quest 2 of Series 8 (see clip) ... it's possible that Treguard was linking the reason for the team being in 'losing status' to the dangerous obstacle at hand in order to tie up the quest, as I suspect he did on some other occasions (Quest 5 of Series 4, and maybe even Quest 10 of Series 3).

That's right. We all know that Vicky didn't need Merlin's spell (SPRINT) to get through the Block and Tackle, but rather to escape from Ariadne later on. However, Treguard said they needed it on the Block and Tackle so they could neatly be killed off there. Even at the age of 7, this rankled with me. I think Daniel and the CoB/SIGHT potion thing was exactly the same.

I would also include Team 3 of Series 8 in this category. A big business is made of the team not having asked Maldame for a reward, with a Treguard-Majida exchange on the matter that I'd speculate was filmed later and inserted retrospectively (http://youtube.com/watch?v=-y1CD_ANXlw, 3:37 onwards). When the team dies in the Raining Fireballs room, Treguard tells them that magic from Maldame might have helped them with the "very difficult puzzle." (http://youtube.com/watch?v=zdR-OEbOFOk, 4:00 onwards.) How insulting! As a viewer, who would have known that the team died through a simple sidestepping error on an obstacle so uncomplicated that it had been on Level 1 of the previous quest, I resent having to swallow Treguard's contrived, false post-mortem.

The more I think about it, the less I believe that the team needed to have secured something from Maldame to survive the Raining Fireballs room. She gave them no clear opening to do so, and compare that to the staggeringly unsubtle prompt she gave Dunstan after he'd been of service to her:

"I expect you're one of those dubious little people who expect something in return for this rather doubtful information ... What do you want then? Spit it out!"

And then he won his quest without needing her help anyway!

It's bad enough that Nathan's team guided their dungeoneer down a hole so close to victory, without Treguard deceiving them and patronising them. Still, that's just my opinion, and I don't claim to know what was actually going on.

...I was about to post all that, but then I looked down this thread and saw Tom's comment:

... the death sequence was clearly specially filmed. From the speed the dungeoneer was walking, he would have got past the hole by the time the adviser said "Sidestep to the left". Yet when it cuts back, you see he's right next to the hole (and the food item has gone)!

Watch closely and you'll see his foot hit the floor of the studio just before he falls into the hole. The brightness of the scene is also slightly different.

It is indeed very suspicious. I can only assume that the team were in losing status for some unknown reason, and it was arranged that their death would be staged in the Raining Fireballs room. Or maybe they finished the room, then perished in some other way, and it was decided that a death in the Raining Fireballs room would work better, so the fatal fall was staged and then added retrospectively, with a contrived post-mortem to go with it.

It's so frustrating not to know the truth.

but cheers for the episode descriptions.. great stuff.

As for the season as a whole.. it's alright.. better then 7.

It's the new look and atmosphere what i like..

"Really, Lissard? I thought it was Timothy"

Not sure about this team, them seem to be to busy talking amongst themselves to realise the dugeoneer has something to do.

As far as bloopers go, the second knife didn't fly until Stiletta's hand was back down by her side. Stiletta gave the team some information but I think they could have spoken to her more (well, I would have!)

Maybe the egg-timer could have been used in fire ball alley to slow it down- or it could have been meant for Stiletta. But the scroll meant them to take the egg timer surly.

The team also don't seem to know whether or not they want to make the fillet spell or not.

Snapper Jack sounded different this ep, I think the actor still thought he was playing Bartram. Also, as "two gets you through" Sidriss must have got at least one question right!

Onto the Series so far...I wasn't sure about it at all at first, but I've grown to love it like the others! The new CGI rooms are all excellent, especially the Level 3 surroundings. Honesty Bartram isn't as good as Rothberry, but it's nice to see he hasn't replaced him. SnapperJack is EXCELLENT, it's great to have a three-riddles character again. And Motley's back! The reach wand is...ok, but I don't really see the need for it. All in all, this is another smashing series, it's just a shame this series is so short...

Then, the globe started to glow as Maldame said it would. I don't think it had anything inside to make it glow though - the dungeoneer said it wasn't glowing, then Majida said it was changing colour. When the globe was put down on the floor, what looks like a glow superimposed over it appeared.

In the next room (where the fireballs were killing the floor tiles, as Gideon might say ), the death sequence was clearly specially filmed. From the speed the dungeoneer was walking, he would have got past the hole by the time the adviser said "Sidestep to the left". Yet when it cuts back, you see he's right next to the hole (and the food item has gone)!

Watch closely and you'll see his foot hit the floor of the studio just before he falls into the hole. The brightness of the scene is also slightly different.

This one reminds me of "Simon, sidestep to the left!"

What's with that arm movement that Treguard does whenever a team dies in this series? Unfair death though, as the option of getting magic from Maldame wasn't even hinted at until the team left the room with Maldame!

New team, in the first room of the tunnels, you could just see Brother Strange hiding behind a blue panel which wasn't aligned properly to the edge of the arch. I think one of the advisers picked up on it

Also, I think the fireball graphic on the spy-glass scenes is added on for the broadcast - the advisers don't see it. Instead, the screen begins to turn red/purple (like it did in a couple of Daniel's spy-glass scenes), and the adviser here said that it was turning red!

Also notice that the spell book animation appears just before they shout Spellcasting, indicating that it was added on afterwards. I wonder if the letters appeared on the adviser's monitor?

Is it just me, or did they have no use for that sand-timer thing that they picked up? They didn't use it during Level 1, and in Level 2 they were allowed 2 items again!

I think they should have taken the Brain Pills in Level 2, since Majida (and the scroll) hinted on it. Still, they managed to give the correct answer to Sidriss before Snapper Jack took her!

If I remember correctly they used the Stinkwort as part of the ingredients for the FILLET spell in a later episode.

Also notice how the curent team upon leaving the level 2 clueroom exited via the wall and not the door. By the way what happened to the combination door mentioned via the level 1 spying?

Nathan and co forgot the "I help you, you help me" law of KM.  Had they crossed the room they would have become champions in my opinion.