Jungian archetypes.

Just realised that the early series of Km in particular are very Jungian in their nature.

Consider the archetypes. We have the Wise Old Man of Merlin, the Fool/Trickster of Folly/Motley, the Shadow of Mogdred, the Witch of Mildread, the Maiden of Gretel, the Queen of Lilith, the Hero as a role played by the Dungeoneer, and so on.

Interpreted this way, Knightmare can be seen as a portrayal of classic unconscious tropes, in a classic dream setting. Greatly hindered by the helmet, it’s difficult to run away from trouble. It fits very well alongside similar stress dreams, like when your legs are stuck in mud and something scary is closing in on you… quite often a personification of some worry in the waking world, or even an unresolved part of yourself. If it’s the latter, then the Shadow will be the scariest of those threats. Mogdred, anyone? He’s referred to as Merlin’s evil alter ego but in this setting he is actually the Dungeoneer’s Shadow.

It seems that most people preferred the dungeon setting of the early series. In my case I tended to assume it was because I was younger, more impressionable, more easily scared and didn’t like change. But now I’m wondering whether it’s also because those early series were a closer portrayal of a Jungian nightmare, set in a gloomy dungeon metaphor of the interior of one’s mind, populated by archetypes, with the self-as-hero trying to defeat one’s own fears using courage and intelligence. A literal Knightmare.

The literature of every culture, over thousands of years, is riddled with these archetypes and tropes. Jung presents his theory as to why. It seems to make sense to me. So, were a new series of Km ever to be made, it could well be handy to embrace the idea and make character and design choices that deliberately and consciously, rather than inadvertently, relate back to these concepts. That may well help form something quite terrifying.

Finally, to mix things up a bit...

Demonic Room.PNG

Stained Glass Window Monster.PNG

Bomb and Pit.PNG

Some more.

Crystal Cave.PNG

Cavern Ledge.PNG

Eye Eye.PNG

The kind of dungeon I want to see!

Continued again...

Corridor.PNG

Serpent's Mouth.PNG

Hall of Choice.PNG

Continued...

Wellway.PNG

Merlin's Library.PNG

Ariadne's Lair.PNG

Some old favourites 'reimagined', courtesy of ChatGPT 4.

The Vale of Banburn.PNG

Olgarth or Granitas.PNG

Bomb Room.jpg

I'm in, done, dusted, sorted.

Who's up for our triennial game of 'spot the turd' off Blackpool Pier?

Is he coming as well, then?

Count me in! I live in Manchester these days so can easily scoot over if the trains are running.

For those already asking, a full edit of and including all the material shot and played in Norwich on July 24/25 will be completed by september and will be made available via an Internet link in due course. This includes the Fountain of energy - described by Theodora Snitch (but deleted), allowing leaks from the Fountain in Level One to fall into Levels two and three, providing emergency energy renewal.

Its a feature you are all going to like, but as a gamestmaster, its partricularly useful for one can place it in perilous positions, forcing the players to take the risk, or not. Look on the end credit screen of the Youtube version and you will see it previewed.

Thank you.

OK: some notes on the reprised Knightmare.

Google didn't want us to show them what a new show would look like, and although they wanted the players to be adult geeks, they were hooked on nostalgia, They also wanted me to take full advantage of two new members of cast who were brought in by them at no small expense. Actually I thought both new girls were excellent.

When it became clear that we had neither the time nor cash to rebuild the live set, I opted for a virtual one as the only choice. We had no time in which to build anything more than basic, so to conceal its deficiencies I packed the opening with a few special effects (like Treguard's transformation) to 'busy' things up. Unfortunately this had the side-effect of slowing things down, and the front of the programme lacked pace. For those of you who remember the Knighmares of the 80s with the aid of 19 years worth of rose-tinted glasses, I would remind you that those programmes often had less pace than a tortoise.

Setting the game difficulty level for a team of highly intelligent adults (no matter what some of you thought of them - they were just that), was also problematic. And I thought we got that about right. Few of the best children's teams would have survived the 18 odd minutes of game-play we threw at them, let alone the scenes you did not see. They coped faultlessly with most of the logic puzzles, and were cruising towards a point when we were planning to freeze time and give them an honourable draw, when they suddenly did something quite silly and killed off their dungeoneer. The credit for this goes to 'Slice Me Dice Me' simply one of the best puzzles we've ever used in Knightmare, and one which also offers immense flexibility and genuine threat.

This team of adults were so intimidated by the giant blades that they neglected to 'shuffle' Stuart to the edge of his 'safe' pallet, from which point the jump to the next causeway was practical.

Given the unexpected bonus of a dramatic ending to the show, I then had to chop seven minutes from the adventure scenario in order to accommodate it, and I don't regret doing so, even if some of the edits did inevitable telegraph themselves even to an inexpert audience. Losing a couple of strategic cut-aways to a software glitz when encoding, didn't help either.

It was interesting and intriguing pitching game at adults, the more so because there is little chance in today's market for Knightmare re-emerging as a children’s show. Neither is it likely to re-appear in a half hour format, because today even game-show formats eschew this, and a dramatised adventure game of any ambition will need more time and space to breath.

The short form also renders them financially prohibitive.

I understand why some of you felt moved to criticise, but believe me when I claim pre-eminence in the matter of criticism. Although I’m saddened that some of you didn’t like the new show, it doesn’t particularly surprise me. It wasn’t made only for you, but to address the demands of a commercial client who had their own legitimate agenda, and no vested interest in the future or otherwise of the format.

TC

Firstly, my heartfelt thanks to you and everyone else involved for agreeing to do this. I'm well into my adult years now and inevitably have seen a few things I wish I hadn't. So, when a wonderful treat like this appears seemingly from nowhere and gives me a moment of sheer delight, it is all the more precious.

Headlines: I think everyone did a fine job especially given the constraints involved. This episode felt like Knightmare and I was absorbed. The returning regulars have lost nothing. I'm also reminded that you write some lovely dialogue that is every bit as essential to Knightmare's existence as Chromakey. Slice Me Dice Me is even more intimidating than Play Your Cards Right. Their reaction when the blades swung was my favourite bit. I think Knightmare still works and adult players are a fun new vein. I hope so much this is seen as a backdoor pilot that leads to more, with resources that allow you to craft what I feel sure will be an essential and much-loved addition to a wonderful creation.

With gratitude and affection,

Andrew

I think it's available from 8am and will be part of the Geek Week channel, though will be searchable in the normal way.

It's all happening at the moment. Two hurricanes of awesome at once.

These days I have a large TV with mood lighting and candles. The scene will be set tomorrow.

I'll say it again here because I want to and I can...

So awesome!!!!!!!!

Whoops, sorry.

YouTube have posted a 30 second trailer for the new episode.

A mixture of delight at its revelation, fear at its creepiness and excitement at it now seeming real.

Anyone seen this? So awesome!

Welcome back everyone! Nice to meet you all

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