Yes I was expecting a new thread on this topic.
I think that Merlin only said that 'teams have survived without my help' so that Julie's team didn't give up instantly. In actual fact, their's (and every other) quest really ended when they got one of Merlin's question wrong and they might as well have jumped down the huge pit in Merlin's room rather than continue. 
Incidently, was that question that they got wrong 'fair'? I've certainly never heard of a bat being called a 'flying fox'.
Ariadne was cool. I prefered her lair in series 4 when it had the two parts to it. Still she had a nice meal of dungeoneer in that series as well as being told to 'Look in the mirror, and murder yourself' from Motley.
Ariadne rules!
Lol. That one was Motley at his all time best; 'bye bye Spidey, WOO WOO!'.
The 2-part lair was definitely an improvement on the singular dungeon room from series 2. The second part was also quite similar to that used in series 5 where the web was placed above the dungeoneer's head and the 'Queen of all Arachnids' looked frighteningly lifelike from what I remember!
Well just in case you are wondering what she looks like, there is a picture of Gretel on the series 2 team 4 'winners' section.
As for Melly, Challenge? have given enough exposure of her; you lucky, lucky thing 9inchsword 
Well, there were basically 3 main ways for a team to be killed off in the earlier series.
A simple error. Walking off the path into a pit of quicksand for example (series 3 team 1). This is not unfair at all because the failure is of the team's own making.
Being caught out by the perils of the dungeon like many teams were when the corridor of blades was introduced from series 4. This was totally fair because it was up to the wit and skill of the team to make it through these rooms.
Not having an essential clue object (such as series 3 team 7) or a spell (such as series 2 team 12). This is not necessarily unfair either because such a 50-50 decision would not have to be made should the team have answered all of the questions correctly (which was the main way to gain knowledge of the usefulness of objects or a spell). The only time that it would be unfair would be if the question asked was too difficult ... Avebury springs to mind here for some reason. ::)
I'm sure that it would have been the guilotine room and the place of magic as well. I remember during Martin's quest where Merlin appears in level 3 and tells the team that they only have 'a short way to go'.
This is one piece of evidence making it unlikely for there to be any other rooms between that and the guilotine room.
[quote]and 2nd u wont beat the castle of u try to take short cuts or hide from its damgers.
No; that approach only worked a couple of times in series 8.
Seriously though, I actually found it hard to judge whether he was off the edge or not because the path turns so that we are looking at it from almost sideways on.
Also, both of the other teams that made it to level 3 ignored the bones and went through the right hand door to an easier chamber; it's not as though they formed a physical barrier.
I found it even more annoying in the later series to be honest. In those later series, most teams tended to reach level 3 anyway so a death (notably in the Play Your Cards Right room where a lot of deaths occurred) meant that we had to watch the next team meander to level 3 where the real challenge would begin.
At least a Level 3 death in series 3 meant that you didn't know how long the next dungeoneer would last and therefore keep it more interesting.
Hmm, I seem to recall talking about this in a post when Series 3 was first repeated. I think that then we all seemed to draw the conclusion that he sidestepped the wrong way and simply fell off.
It's interesting that a sinister element has been introduced here. Yes, it is true that the room used on level 3 was extremely difficult and to my memory I think that it was the only time it was ever used. However, as unfortunate as it is, there was no excuse for a team (especially in the first 3 series) choosing left over right and expecting an easy ride. I also disagreed with this policy when I was younger but the producers of Knightmare seriously believed in employing the 'sinister' and 'dextor' approach to left and right in most cases and by series 3 everyone should have twigged that going left was not the thing to do. Why else did EVERY team in series 3 choose the right-hand path when presented with no other information?
She may have been cuter than her 'gorgeous' predecessor Gretel but again this can be attributed to her baby-face and ultra-silly attitude. I'm still trying to decide which of the maids from the early series I like better to be honest ;D.
I always laugh when Leo is about to go down the well to level 2. 'Oh, and hurry up because there's an axe coming down on you'. It's more the calm way the advisors say it than anything else.
I had a dream about knightmare last night. It was based on a computer game which I'm sure doesn't exist. It started off with me guiding this computer character through a world with a slightly distorted version of the original lifeforce clock playing out every now and again in the corner of the screen. One of the objects of the game I remember was to get as many food items as possible to replenish the lifeforce which started to emit a very loud heartbeat when it started to run out (the apprehension was realistically scary too).
I also remember walking my character through this massive red room with clear black skies above and rivulets of lava cascading down the walls with Lord Fear sitting on a throne on a slightly raised up plinth. He was about to cast something at me to finish my character off then... My alarm clock goes off!!!
Must be one of the coolest and most vivid dreams I've ever had though, I usually don't remember as much about them as this one. 
And I would prefer dungeon crawls rather than outside scenes.
Yeah, I would definitely agree with that. The concept of the dungeons underneath Knightmare castle were abandoned a bit too prematurely in my opinion.
I hope that they keep in line with computer graphics though. I say this because during series 6 and 7 the dwarf tunnel scenes were made using real 'hand crafted' tunnels rather than the computer generated ones of the earlier series. It didn't add anything to the game; you just knew that there was a cameraman behind the dungeoneer and there weren't any bats with disproportionally large teeth anymore :D.
'... if you know where to look'. To quote Treguard from the last episode of Series 4. Sorry, couldn't resist.
Ok, I just haven't said anything on this forum for a while (got me a busy life now); I know it wasn't too sensible but at least it's not as bad as a squirrel's nutty comments ;D.
anyone actually tried making their own version of the life force
In my early days when I had waaaaaaaaay too much time on my hands I made a flip-book type thingy with the skull lifeforce but that's about it.
Must ... destroy ... quiches!!!
I guess you'll be staying away from the end credits of Series 3 Episode (12-14, can't remember which) - full life force sequence over the ending theme!
I think that the end credits that showed the full sequence (many thanks to the production team ) was at the end of episode 13.
Not to mention the button in the Futuristic zone which no-one was to press under any circumstances. Ed says, 'Team, you must NOT ... Press ... this ... button,' while repeatedly pressing it as hard as he can.
Another annoying trait was the way he insisted on standing with his legs open as wide as possible all the time.
I take the point that the lifeforce only seemed to be timed realistically during series 3-5. The skull had 21 pieces coming off it and when it was slowed down, progress could be monitored easily in dwarf tunnels for example. I think the man only had 15 pieces falling off it before it crumpled into green mush at the end (although I have never seen the whole sequence from start to finish so I can't say for definite). The transformation from a full lifeforce to an empty lifeforce seemed too hurried as well. The walking man seemed to be full of energy until the armour on the legs disappeared then it could arguably be depicted as being low on energy.
Well, it's not too surprising that no-one really knew about KM being shown on Challenge? I recall that the adverts for the Xmas schedule consisted of a reel of old and popular game programmes. Although it lasted about a minute, KM's advertising exposure consisted of flashing the famous logo on the screen for about half a second tops.
In spite of this, at the end of Saturday's 5pm episode, the presenter said that KM was receiving about as many e-mails as Takeshi's Castle which has been a really popular programme in the recent past. Is it therefore arguable that had Challenge? released a fair amount of advertising exposure to KM, viewing figures would be higher, or did they do it on purpose to prove their point and justify buying the rights to cheaper programmes rather than those which are highly sought after by fans?
Glad so many people think series 3 is the best and I agree on these counts:
No time wastage with spy-glasses and banter between Treguard and his assistants.
Less forgiving gameplay (failure to get something right was fatal rather than the 'well, lets let the kidsies off until they reach level 3' of the later series).
It had some of the best and most imaginitive characters in it such as Motley, Melly, Merlin, Mrs Grimwold, Hordriss, Mogdred, and many characters all played by Natasha Pope. Better still, these characters had at least 2 braincells to rub together.
The game was actually played in the dungeon where it should be where the dungeon was at its most advanced.
The lifeforce sequence was at its most realistic and interactive during series 3. It played a bit in virtually every dwarf tunnel and room.
Treguard was espcially well spoken in this series, no doubt benefiting from a relaxing holiday somewhere exotic and giving a chance to show off his new tan.
If Challenge got the rights to one series, I am glad it was this one.
Can't actually say I've heard too many medieval air-raid sirens though.