Interesting thread.

I started watching in Series 3 and that remains my favourite, but maybe that’s just nostalgia.

For me Knightmare jumped the shark when the lifeforce became a pie with a slice or two taken out of it. The pulsating sequence of, was it serious 1-6?, which ended with a scary skull image at the end of a quest, was then watered down to the skeleton with bits falling off, and then just a photo of a pie.

Pooka and Drassil,

I've no doubt you are correct about the teams who died in level one after series three (I still have a long way to go on my quest to re-watch every episode on Challenge and youtube).

I guess my point is that post series 3, level one just seems a bit too breezy.

Lots of eyeshield scenes, so no need to actually guide the dungeoneer.

Information given out for free.

Questions answered incorrectly.

Wrong clue items picked up.

Never mind, we'll take you into level two anyway.

For the avoidance of doubt, here's the transcript of the words/noises that emerge from McGrew's mouth following the casting of the DANCE spell, the so called "pleas of McGrew":

"Err err ahh ahh ahh ahh ahh ahh ah. Dancing dancing I'm a pror queen falanfer. Oh will you ne'er release me from this awful music. Maraclit, maraclit arrabu oh will you no pear peas me. I'll do anything for thee."

The crucial, and the only clearly intelligible words spoken "I'll do anything for thee" are uttered as Cliff is already walking through the door to the next room.

It is also unrealistic to suggest that the advisors were at fault for talking over McGrew's nonsense. Their Dungeoneer had been threatened in a very aggressive fashion by a man with a sword who could not now even speak coherently. The logical thing to do was to exit the room as quickly as possible.

Neil's advisors in series two:

"Great work team. We certainly cast a shroud over our opponents with our triumph in the Annual County Spelling Championship. This will put us in fine fettle to take on the Knightmare dungeon."

Series 3 is my favourite by a mile so I feel obliged to add my tuppeny worth.

It was the first series as I saw as a child and I was entranced from the off so it holds a lot of sentimental value, however I can see this doesn't represent a coherent arguement so here are some more reasons:

It contains the original (and best) life force sequence.

That pointless eyeshield thingamyjig hasn't yet been introduced.

There are no wooden glades, market squares or dragon rides which start appearing after Series 3. Er, I'm sorry fans of later series but Knightmare is set in a dungeon. Dungeons tend to be very much an indoor affair.

Treguard doesn't have an irritating sidekick.

Goblins. And that terrifying horn. DER NEEEER, DER NEEEER.

I liked Motley.

The team of wallies he failed to tell Motley about the snake behind him and who had a very short quest.

The spindizzy at the start of level two, the three steps to Merlin and the minecart ride.

Scary floating swords and axes.

Morghanna. She makes Lord Fear look like a Butlins holiday rep.

And in particular I like it because it was so very difficult. I feel that Hobgoblin's post sums this up very well. After Series 3 teams never failed to get through level one. If everyone is going to get through level one then why not just have two levels instead of three?

My one sore point - the killing of Cliff. I've written a long and rambling post about this on the episode thread but basically I believe they were a very strong team who didn't actually do anything wrong, and were the team who should have gone down in the history books as the only Series 3 winners.

You know how the thought process goes:

FIDDLESTICKS! There's an episode of Knightmare on telly and it's already 20 minutes in.

Oh thats a relief, Challenge has a plus 1 channel doesn't it. I'll go and make a cup of tea and a sandwich and get myself settled.

When asked by an arch villainy Mogdred / Malice type character whether to pledge allegiance, various teams gave different answers:

Mark's team in Series 2 said NO to Mogdred and went on to win.

Stuart's team in Series 2 said YES to Mogdred, were given a power spell, but died through unrelated circumstances.

Julian's team in Series 2 said NO to Mogdred and went on to win.

Dicken's team in Series 4 said YES to Malice and went on to win.

Does anybody know if there was actually a wrong answer to this question? Did it come up in any other episodes I haven't revisited yet? I don't recall the question being posed during Lord Fear's reign of terror but I stand to be corrected.

"By the way, what is rugby?"

I hereby request to the Court Of Knightmare that the untimely death of Cliff should be posthumously pardoned.

The spell of Dance was given to Cliff and his advisors by Merlin as "a sort of a diversionary magic".

A diversionary magic was indeed necessary when a Scotsman of the name "McGrew" drew a weapon upon Cliff and began to shout unintelligible nonsense.

As he was Scottish there is a strong possibilty that "McGrew" was under the influence of alcohol, possibly Tennents Special Brew.

The Dance spell was cast upon "WcGrew" and he subsequently pranced around in a quite ludicrous fashion, shouting words which were once again, completely unintelligible.

As their Dungeoneer was under threat from this ludicrous character, Cliff's advisors hastily gave him directions to the next chamber.

The unfortunate Cliff was then in a room where he was brutally attacked by a haunted sword, which proceeded to devour his lifeforce.

The Dungen Master, a Mr. Treguard, suggeested "If only you had listened to the pleas of McGrew".

This case does not stand up on the basis that the pleas of McGrew were totally unclear to Cliff and his advisors.

Thanks Canadanne, however no personal glory necessary. I just wish to see justice finally prevail for innocent Dungeoneers after all these years. After all, they were wearing the Helmet Of Justica at the time.

I hereby request to the Court Of Knightmare that the death of Helen be reviewed upon appeal and that she should be posthumously excused.

The Defence has just rewatched the evidence of the episode on youtube and presents the following case:

The team were given two spells by a Mr. Hordriss The Confuser, namely Transformation and But, and the crucial point in the Defendant's case is this:

The Transformation spell was descibed as "most powerful" and the But spell as "quite humble".

When Helen was then faced with the arch villain of the piece, a Mr. Mogdred, a spectral sword was hurled towards them. Helen's advisors naturally called upon the "most powerful" spell of Transormation. Nevertheless, they were killed by the sword, the aforementioned Mr. Mogdred stating the words "too slow, too slow". Following the killing, the Dungeon Master, a Mister Treguard, told Helen's advisors "Too long team, your magic was too long. What you needed here was the shorter spell".

However, at no point in their quest were this team given any kind of clue that the But spell was the spell they should have used. The Prosection's case of the death being justified on account of slow spellcasting does not stand up, on the basis that they were poorly advised by Mr. Hordiss The Confuser.

I rest my case.

I watched this episode last Saturday as part of my redisovered Knightmare fondness.

Belated congratulations to Mark and the chaps for becoming the first winners, I missed it first time around as it pre-dated my original Knightmare viewing.

However, I couldn't help but think they had a pretty breezy time of it down in Level 3. Everything was put on a plate. Mogdread hung around for what felt like about 20 minutes before he was given an answer, and left them untroubled after that. Treguard gave a nice prompt for everything else that was required.

I suspect there was a conspiracy to ensure that a team finally emerged succesful.

hello knightmare followers. I've recently taken a stroll down memory lane and seen a few episodes on Challenge. Oh how I used to love this show. Viewing again is just as scary as I remember. I'm not sure how I watched as a child without having terrible (ahem) nightmares.

A few random views to share with you all. Back in the day I started watching in Series 3 which I believe remains the pinnacle of them all which subsequent series never quite matched.

Mogdred and Morghana were absolutely terrifying, Lord Fear always had an element of panto villain for me.

Two real standout episodes for me, the murderous unjustified killings of Cliff (series 3) and Helen (series 4). I remember these more vividly than the teams that actually won. I see that they are discussed on other pages so may join the debate.