I remember being bitterly disappointed at this episode way back when I was 7... the Knightmare I knew and loved had changed; it had gone outside of the dungeon and that, as far as I was concerned, was blasphemy! I wasn't exactly riveted by it; the snail's pace of the quest resulted in a distinct reduction in excitement levels. However, given time I became used to it... hell, I started to love it again! Actually, by time I mean the next episode as things seem to really pick up there. Helen's quest has since come to be one of my favourites. They are a brilliant team, expert guidance and judgement. And from Tyne and Wear too... local territory!

Anyhow, individual things I liked... the Spindizzy is a great way to start a quest... with a semblance of a possibility (yeah right!) of it all coming to a tragic end rather too soon. Oakley is a marvellous creation, Motley and Melly's banter is always nice to see and David Learner was, of course, great as Pickle. Apart from that, it was all rather slow but it's early days yet.

The best part of the whole thing, however, was the room over the end credits. I can remember eagerly awaiting its first appearance (probably in level three) but all to no avail. Perhaps it was unworkable... but still a nice tough ADDITIONAL task for an already marvellous third level (but let's not get ahead of ourselves...)

In my capacity as general saddo, here's an intricate comparative analysis...

Corridor of Blades

No. of teams to encounter it: 10 (Alistair, Dickon, Giles, Sarah, Duncan, Sofia, Barry, Daniel, Dunstan, Oliver - I refuse to include Simon from series 4 in this as he was aided by Gundrada)

No. of teams survived: 6 (Dickon, Giles, Sofia, Barry, Dunstan, Oliver)

No. of teams killed: 4 (Alistair, Sarah, Duncan, Daniel)

Okay, so, 40% of its appearances have resulted in the end to a quest, while 60% have seen it traversed successfully.

Now onto the hexagonal causeways.

No. of total appearances: 31 (okay, I'm including the two appearances of the Great Causeway and, on a more debatable note, the only appearance of the Shapes and Numerals puzzle, which is effectively season five's level three causeway).

Times survived: 25

Times teams have died: 6 (Kathryn - Level 2, Jenna - Level 1, Alex - Level 2, Matt - Level 2, Alan - Level 3, Sofia - Great Causeway (Level 3))

As a percentage then, 81% of attempts have proved successful, while 19% have produced kills.

So, um, yeah, the corridor of blades has a higher kill ratio overall. But 40% is lower than I might've expected...

Mind, interestingly, the corridor of blades made only three appearances in total in both seasons five and six. In season five, it has a 100% kill ratio. The causeways, however, manage only 21%.

Anyway, resume the interesting part of the discussion now! Boring interlude over... (Think I need to get out more...)

The Fireball Room - Is it me or when Barry reaches the middle part of the room to pick something up, fireballs move across the room catching him???Should he not die from this, he was there for a good little while and a few fireballs definatly came across his path which I thought should kill him so were the fireballs harmless???

He drank a fireproof potion just before he started to tackle the challenge so he became impervious (which is just as well really since the witch amber was particularly difficult to get to without being fried).

Anyhow, brilliant episode, brilliant team, brilliant quest. Nicely strung out, incredibly tense at times and, as if it hasn't been said enough already, pretty hilarious thanks to Barry. Really, the guy is a first class dungeoneer and his team aren't too far behind. I love the moment in one of the previous episodes where (insert name of the one to the farthest left here) starts laughing a chorus of disbelief during Barry's banter with Smirkenorff. Priceless.

Actually, the single moment that made it for me was Barry's reaction to Play Your Cards Right. Upon casting the VISOR spell, and now with the ability to see, he just says, genuinely, 'Blimey'. You got that right, mate!

And yeah, they were let off, but what the hey, it's worth it for such a quality team. Unfair to Giles and co. perhaps but that's another matter.

Roll on season 8....