Team 1 seemed a competent outfit and Matt was a very enthusiastic dungeoneer. His great interaction with the characters reminded me of Martin in S3.

They made easy work of level 1 and generally directed Matt well, altho they made a mess of the causeway. Surely they walked him onto on a wrong block (4)? A massive reprieve?

Early appearance by skarkill. (alas) Had really hoped he would have been ditched at the end of S5.

Great line by new arrival Ridolpho, the minstrel: "I am called Ridolpho by my friends. And by my enemies, I err, am also called Ridolpho."

Suave voice provided by Clifford Norgate for Smirky.

Matt: Thanks Mr Dragon

Smirkenoff: (Bluntly) Your most welcome

"Its a piece of bread. Its a croissant!"

Matt had some of the best quotes in Knightmare.

Here's one I only came across when rewatching the quest the other day:

Advisor: Can you see, Matt?

Matt: I can't see an awful lot; I've got an urn on my head, don't forget.

This might help you with Episodes 1 and 2 of Series 1: http://www.freewebs.com/knightmareepisodeguide/series1.htm

"Its a piece of bread. Its a croissant!"

Matt had some of the best quotes in Knightmare. We have to make a list of them!

I agree, I found Matt's quest to be one of the best ever throughout all 8 series - and in my opinion is criminally overlooked by many people.

It's a shame that Velda never finished her transcript of Matt's quest in 2003.

That's given me the idea to start the transcript again (not just for this episode, but for other ones too) - it'll be easier this time since the episodes are now on Youtube, so I don't need to worry about rewinding my video tapes too much I can just type it into Word then post them here - unsure of what section to post them in though - would General be ok?

Probably because its the only door in the hut old son Furthermore, I'm guessing he cannot turn back from the quest. Technically speaking he's still on the path but not nessecarily straying from it.

He just visited a hut, took his items and simply carried on from where he stopped. I don't know but thats a theory

... Instead of going straight ahead out of the hut, he did nearly a U-Turn out. To continue from where he left off, so to speak...

Thanks for the explanation, but that is what I had in mind anyway. Even though Treguard was obviously talking about manoeuvring, and not about turning back from the quest, I just didn't feel it sounded right for Treguard to tell a dungeoneer to backtrack. I agree with Selphie: why couldn't Treguard have said "There's an exit on the other side, across from where you came in" instead? After all, the hut was just a backdrop on a bluescreen set, not a genuine hut with only one real door.

A completely unrelated point about that scene: It's interesting that the spyglass scene involves Matt spying on Lord Fear spying on Matt. When Lord Fear is watching Matt in his pool, it reminds me of T-Bag spying with her magic saucer!

Barry Thorne and a load of others have been told to move backwards

Barry certainly stretched the 'no turning back' principle to breaking point: when he drank the Fast Backwards potion, he went back through his entire quest, yet continued to face forward!

The croissant line makes me laugh too. I enjoy watching this team more now then I did at the time it first aired I think. It also amused me that Matt is even taller then Treguard so putting the helmet on him must have been a bit odd.

He just visited a hut, took his items and simply carried on from where he stopped. I don't know but thats a theory

I'm sure there are loopholes in certain rules. For example: "You may may turn back provided you don't go back the way you came..." Barry Thorne and a load of others have been told to move backwards so should they not be punished too? Instead of going straight ahead out of the hut, he did nearly a U-Turn out. To continue from where he left off, so to speak...

There's one line in this episode that always bothers me. When Matt's finished in the supply chamber, Treguard tells him to go back the way he came. One of Knightmare's cardinal rules is that 'the only way is onward, there is no turning back'. Fair enough, Matt isn't turning back as such; but I still don't like hearing that line, from the Dungeon Master of all people.

Also, Matt was lucky that he was able to get through Level 1 with the use of just one clue object. Though he wasn't the only dungeoneer to have that luck.

Matt had some of the best quotes in Knightmare. We have to make a list of them!

First of all, I think it really stands out just how good the production values of this series are even watching it now. Sure technology could do better things today but I think it's still totally watchable. I much prefer this version of the dungeon where the backgrounds aren't so blurred even if the colours of most of the rooms are reds, pinks and oranges and so not too scary.

This series also has my favourite background for Lord Fear (even if his collar is a bit naff). Love the fright knights patrolling the sides. The intro story with the dreadnought for this series is good; I was so scared when that first appeared all those years ago. It is an example of what I consider to be Knightmare at it's best; when it's trailing new technologies (ie. the CGI dreadnought) but mainly relying on the technology that they've got working well (ie. the slightly altered location shots). Just my tuppence there anyway

This team are pretty good; they talk to each other and Matt can speak for himself. The banter he has with some of the characters is entertaining. I like how the whole team seem to be really enjoying themselves and laughing along with some of the dialogue.

Ah Wok on the other hand is an example of part of Knightmare which hasn't aged so gracefully; it's actually cringeworthy now and I feel quite bad that as a kid I thought he was quite funny.

The causeway timer is a nice addition, it makes it seem fairer that teams know how long they actually have. It still makes me hold my breath when the time gets a bit tight even now! I think the blocker taking a while to disappear was a bit of a fault, the team certainly looked a bit confused that it didn't immediately disappear.

Sorry for the long post, I have a lot to say it seems!

Could it have been a technical fault?

I've only just seen the two episodes here (had to tape the 1:30am repeat) so I won't go into a detailed explanation like I usually do

I liked the first appeareance of Ah Wok, and how the teams have to cope with his stereotypical Chinese accent. He gave the team a password "Skereton" which the advisers correctly interpreted as SKELETON.

The Level 2 blocker is in Level 1 now, oddly enough. Seems to have the animation speeded up though. It forms up a lot faster, and look at its lips when it says 'PASSWORD' - it's out of sync!

I wonder if Challenge cut out the Enter Stranger bit for some reason? I don't remember it like this before, when I saw it on CITV! The dungeoneer still had to summon his advisers in the usual manner though...

I thought the episode sounded strange, and wondered if this series was also made in mono. However, it sounded more like it was stereo at one point and converted to mono. The ad break and the Challenge animation thing beforehand was stereo though - it's as if someone at Challenge had the playback VT set to mono! The music really doesn't have the proper atmosphere unless listened to in stereo

After LF does his little speech, we look through his knew knifty communications pool and see the beginning of the knew opening titles (Didn't know it recieved Challenge!) I must say, for 1992, they look VERY knifty! (Hmm, I've said 'knew' and 'knifty' a bit too much in this post already, better cut down) Not sure about the throwing of the gold dust at the end, but well done all round at that.

"Well, I must say, you took your time" Sorry Tre, missed the 8am showing and the mid-April one After a quick tete-a-tete with Pickle (notice that the video of him in the forest froze after he said his line, indicating it was prerecorded) we get on with Team 1's quest. No godawful portal effect this time, which is a good start, and YAY, eye shield sequences are much improved! The sky isn't blackened out anymore, the picture is clearer, no annoying solarise effect, they're shorter...happy sigh much better. The first spyglass sequence gets off to a cracking end:

Advisor: "Put the spyglass down"

Matt: (silence)

Treguard: "He said he couldn't"

Either Treguard has supersonic hearing we don't know about, or he's hearing voices in his head again. Still, he was frozen, and a quick ESCAPE spell sorted that out.

Julius S the trader has got a knew rival, Mr Ah Wok from the East. AW sells Matt a dragon mint, JS tries to sell him an invisible sword...AW wins, so JS puts it with his other invisible miscellenny. Probably.

I'm rambling again, so I'll cut to the chase- he then takes a trip on Smirky (complete with voice!) to Level Deux, and times out in a clue room. The ending to this episode was downright bizarre compared to the normal 'Treguard and Pickle banter for a bit' ones from S4 and S5. It looked like the work of a special effects designer gone mad...still, all in all a great start to the series. Lots of knew (there I go again) characters and unusually S5 self-referential. Credits rolling over an eye shield sequence.

...and I bet after all that, I've STILL forgotten something!

Opened with Lord Fear before the knice knew titles.

Seemed to have Treguard's lodger as the first dugeoneer as he was there without having to be summoned. Pickle, on the other hand, was busy in the forest.

New additions in the real dwarf tunnels and the "Choice of Paths."

Soon in the first clue roomwhere they spy glass let us see Lord Fear's new home.Heard about Skarkill, Tiny and the Dreadnort. Lord Fear froze the dungeoneer and team used they ESCAPE spell they just gainede (lucky they read the scroll first)

Ah Wok and Julius Scaramonger seen trying to sell the dungeoneer a dragon mnint and invisable sword respectively.

Causeway reappears but with a Frightknight timer and a few dead ends unless the team choose their route carefully.

New lifeforce clock in the knight and the Level 2 blocker has found a new home in level 1.

Also, a debut from Ridolfo and saw Smirky again (but heard him for the first time.

I love the new title sequence, I think it's a lot better than the old one, particularly because this time viewers get an idea of what to expect!

Like the little touch of Pickle being in the greenwood before the quest started.

Now, this team are one of my favourite teams because Matt the Dungeoneer is witty and can speak for himself. The team are v. good - no faffing around.

It's a very good set of rooms too and Lord Fear is on top form - and that new Dreadnort of his still gives me the shivers, even at 23! I have to admit that I like both Ah Wok and Ridolfo (I know a lot of you here are divided in your opinion of them), and good ol' Sly Hands was as disgusting as ever.

It's a great move giving Smirky a voice - especially Clifford Norgate's! When he didn't have a voice he wasn't as entertaining, thank goodness that changed! Oh, and the views are a lot better - no blurry edges when he's flying.

LF's HQ is the same as Series 5 but with a new look.

Doesnt that make it different? Thats like saying all houses are the same just because they're called houses!