Retetetetereteteteteretete - avanta avanta avanta - retetetetereteteteteretete - para para para etc etc.

What a complete mess!  Even allowing for the lack of subtitles, the whole thing was confusing and incomprehensible.  It was also excruciatingly dull, with several long scenes involving the dungeoneer being talked at by characters, punctuated by the odd floor puzzle.

Why give the dungeoneer the Eye Shield when it was only used on one very brief sequence?

Why did the dungeoneer keep walking back the way they came - what happened to there being no turning back?!

Why give the password blocker the voice of a porn actress?!!!

Another helmet removal ending - although at least in Le Chevalier, they had to use their brains and solve one last puzzle.  In this one, it appeared that the dungeoneer had just had to touch the hooded figure and... that was it.

And why, oh why, oh WHY the dungeon master?!!?!?!

Still, at least they got a nice computer out of it    

Chris

Whilst the interview with Tim Child was very enjoyable, there is one remark of his that needs picking up on:

"[Knightmare] adopted and fed on elements of political and social parody, as most fantasies (with the exception of Dr Who) are inclined to do"

In fact, there were numerous instances of satire in Dr Who throughout its original 26-year run, and will doubtless do so when it returns next year.  

An example contemporary with Knightmare: Lilith, with her tendency to dispose of those who failed to please her, may have been fairly reminiscent of a certain PM; but she was nowhere near as blatant as the chief villainess in "The Happiness Patrol", a Dr Who story, also from 1988.

Chris

What I think's rather a good sound effect is that the frantic screams of the advisors are heard echoing away as Alistair falls down the wellway.

They were an extremely excitable lot and, even allowing for the fact that they would never have seen it before (being the guinea pigs, as it were) they never stood a chance in the corridor of blades.  Bit like the second team in another series

Chris

I've always thought this quest is dreadfully anti-climactic - so far in Level 3, they've had to face the the Transporter Pads, the Corridor of Blades, Malice crumbling the bridge and then trying to destroy them, then they have to destroy her before only just managing to restore their life force, then they have to get all three riddles right with the drawbridge.

Now, the final challenge, to retrieve the crown.  And what do they do?  Stand around for a few moments waiting for the skull ghost to disappear, then walk over, pick up the crown and, er, that's it.

You'd think that, after two years of failed quests, the production team could have thought up a more exciting climax than that...

Chris

Is it not amazing how one's fame precedes one (as Hordriss might say .  Sorry to disappoint any fans, but Countdown stories will be limited to my website.  

As for later series being easier, it's certainly true that some teams were allowed to get away with murder, while in earlier series, the line between success and failure was a very fine one - viz S3, where three teams perish not due to lack of information or the right spell or object, but through a moment of poor guidance.  

As has been said earlier, it may be the case that the production team wanted teams to be able to establish themselves, rather than having to throw the reset switch nearly every episode.  

An interesting experiment would have been if Leo and Martin's teams had been invited back to take part in S6 or S7 and to see if they would have won and then perhaps gone retro with a couple of winning teams from later series made to cope with the rigours of S3.  The results would doubtless have been fascinating...

Chris

If Barry's team had been on S3 and got 1 question wrong in the clue room and they died in Level 1 as a result you wouldnt of properly seen how they developed over the length of time they had in S7.  

Moreover, if Barry had been in S3 and attempted to go back and get the piece of staff he very nearly forgot, then he would have been royally clobbered by the goblins, probably without getting the chance to ask them if they wanted a present

Chris