Like the way teams now have to choose their quest in advance and the eye-shield is given out during the intro, to save time

Team 1 looked very smart in their matching outfits. (the bee team) I reckon that this is what S2 team 3 were trying for, but one lad must have forgotten his yellow shirt.

The actual quest had a slow start. Took forever to get on the dragon, then the flight seemed to be very long.

Finally encountered Brother Mace playing cards with a new character, the shifty Sylvester Hands. (Great to see Mace again. )

Accepted some gold from Mace to take to a bloke called Julius Scaramonger, whom they soon found. He turned out to be a very slippery, smarmy character. They received a spyglass, which they used to see the new villain: Lord Fear. The first sign of a massive change in plotlines.

Into the forest and they met Gwendoline, a stroppy greenwood guard, who is a menace with her bow&arrows. Earned a password from her.

First sighting of the blocker walls, which looked a bit like like 3-d wall monsters. Used the password to get by it.

Into a descender to level 2, where they took the left-hand door to avoid a fright-knight symbol.

Encountered Hordriss as time-out arrived. (Nice to see another familiar face return. )

Wolfenden Series 5 Quest 1.jpg

Official clip

This means that the first Mark Knight character to appear in Knightmare was not Lord Fear, even if the rider wasn't Mark Knight himself.

The middle advisor Fay Keenan is now a successful author. Here's her website. In an old tweet about Knightmare, Fay refers to 'outtakes galore'.

I have never been able to make out what Pickle exclaims when they first see Lord Fear through the spyglass. Does anyone know?

My best guess is that he's using "blood oath" as a mild expletive.

I've also never seen such a bored looking team

In judging contestants on how they appear on screen, we should never underestimate the rigours of drawn-out, stop-start filming and being away from home. While the 'roll out' of so many new elements may have been enthralling for us watchers, for the team it meant questing at its most passive: an entire level with no clue object choices, no portal choices, no puzzles and just one riddle. I doubt the team would have been expecting that, so I can forgive them if (in other people's opinions) they don't look as engaged as other teams.

I would buy a DVD release in a heartbeat! I hate watching you tube but the boy wanted more Knightmare!!!

Series 5 ? Has there been an episode this week ?

No, Challenge doesn't have the rights to Series 5 at the moment.

Well that is a relief, I genuinely thought I'd missed out on episode since last viewing.

If Challenge doesn't possess the rights to show as mentioned, then looks like we'll have a wait until the next episodes are broadcast. I do hope it isn't too long before they put them on again (preferably a channel that shows them every day of the week would be ideal but of course that simply isn't going to happen)

This just emphasises the importance of bringing the series to DVD home viewing. (Youtube is always available but not advised on a pay as you go basis) Add to that, the picture / audio quality is sometimes sub-standard (when watching Youtube clips of the series)

Series 5 ? Has there been an episode this week ?

No, Challenge doesn't have the rights to Series 5 at the moment.

I'm referring of course to the Challenge re-runs, but seems unlikely such as one episode follows the other.

It would be disappointing to learn I've missed out on an episode I didn't realise had been shown but there will be other opportunities to catch up.

My son was getting very bored - that's a first! - the Smirkenoff scene was far too long, there were far too many eyeshield scenes and the Julius scene went on forever!!

Looking at a previous post they mention how one of the advisors has never seen Knightmare before..... I could almost believe NONE of this team have, their ignorance was staggering - I've also never seen such a bored looking team, did they just grab them off the street?

Sylvester Hands didn't sound or look very much like himself.

Level 1 was far too easy, the only challenge was getting one question right - which they did....

I liked Treguards intro outside the castle.

Hope episode 2 is a bit more exciting

Similarly, what on earth was the point of Brother Mace saying that Scaramonger might even give them "directions into the mines of Malapith"? There was absolutely no further mention of it, so I'm not sure why he brought that up. I wonder if it was something they meant to follow up later and forgot.

There seemed to be a lot of explaining things (new series=new viewers I guess) but the team didn't appear to understand the game. OK there was new rooms and characters but they seemed to be in over their heads!

At least one of Kathryn's advisors had obviously never seen Knightmare before!

[The Descender begins to move.]

Advisor: "Oh! You're going... down??"

Pickle: "You must be on your way to Level 2!"

Advisor: (frowns) "Do we want to go up??"

As for this episode, it is my favourite start of the season.

Immediately you can tell that the dungeon has expanded, and is far more colourful.

Smirkey is far less animated than in future seasons, and that is mainly due to him not having a voice. Pickle, too, seems a lot less animated than in S4. Is this because he no longer HAS any decent advice to give th dungeoneers? It sure feels that way.

Lots of new characters, and of course, the famous Wolfenden which we now have on-location pictures of. Very interesting episode, and sets up the season very well.

Some of the most memorable cast memebers are introduced here. Sly Hands, Scaramonger (or however u spell his name), Smirkenorff and of course LF.

Was it this seris or the next that Hordriss shifts over to the Powers that Be. I think its more the next but im not so sure. But next this seris is there there are long running stories within the dungeon i think.

Enough moaning! Let's get on with the quest! We see a mute Smirkenoff in his first ever appearance (Treguard makes the first ever reference to the Powers that Be here), followed by an old face versus a knew face- Brother Mace and Sylvester Hands. I noticed Paul Valentine hasn't got Hands' voice right yet, it's more gravelly and serious than later on. Then came Wolfglade and Julius Scaramonger, another first appearance, who gives them a spyglass. Note that the glass was completely black, otherwise it would have reflected the blue room. And then came Lord Fear's first appearance! The sequence didn't give that much away compared to later series, and Mark Knight hadn't quite nailed LF's voice yet, but was still a neat debut. I loved the blood red eyes! The episode then continued with debuts for Gwendoline, an ultra cool looking Blocker, the Decender, and ended with a knew Broadsword logo. Oddly the sound effect was at a very low pitch...and RIGHT at the end we saw an unusual Anglia endcap!

Two thinks of note - first of all I never realised Smirky used to be blue and I noticed that Paul Valentine hasn't quite got his Sly Hands voice.

Gwendoline gave a good quote about "destroying spoilers" - can anyone remember the full line?

Few changes in the beginning of the series and teams. As the episode opens, we see that the cartoon intro sequence has been playing on the advisers wall monitor. Also, the dungeoneers no longer appear 'at the door' - Treguard just says Enter Stranger to summon them in.

Pickle now takes the team's names and details on a parchment scroll

First appearance of Smirkenoff at the beginning, and we see a dragon-ride into Level 1! Smirkenoff didn't speak in this series.

Through a castle door and into the woods (?!) then into a clearing. Brother Mace and Sylvester Hands were playing some card game. Mace gave them some information - near the forest is the village of Wolfenden. They were told to find Julius Scaramonger, and give him a bag of gold which Mace owes him.

Through the portal and straight into Wolfenden. Julius Scaramonger was there, and tried to buy the eye-shield, helmet and knapsack off Katherine! She refused of course, and then made Scaramonger promise to give them some information or items before handing over the gold from Mace. They got a spy-glass from him, then went into the building.

Inside the building, got some food and Treguard explained how to use the spy-glass, by holding it up in front of the eye-shield. Lord Fear appears for the first time ever. Didn't gain much information, apart from that the goblin master is hunting the dungeoneer. Just managed to throw the spy-glass down before LF was able to destroy her!

The next eye-shield sequence was the only one not to have been 'solarized' by digital effect!

Arrived in a forest clearing, and Gwendolin the Greenwarden appeared! Answered a riddle, and gained a password "Saracen" from her - and even asked her how to spell it!

There was a blocker in the next area, which came forward and asked for the PASS-WORD! Gave it the password they just got "Saracen" which caused the blocker to go away. Through the door and into the Decender - a mechanical, spellbound lift! They said 'could you move please' and it started moving down, towards Level 2!

Stopped by two doors (the right one had a frightknight over it). They decided to take the door without the FrightKnight over it.

Through an eye-shield sequence, up some steps made of brick or wood (but making a metal noise, somehow). Only a slight digital effect applied to this sequence.

Hordriss was in the next room at a desk. Timed out just as the dungeoneer sat down. Smirkenoff flight sequence under the credits - looks like he's flying back to Wolfenden! Which version of the Broadsword logo was that? I don't remember it from CITV or Sci-Fi!

http://www.legs-world.co.uk/nostalgia/knightmare/series5.html

I think Series 4 is still available, just change the 5 at the end of series to a 4