I'm just wondering if anyone has any surving tapes from that show? I once contacted a guy who had some, but I believe he was too busy to sort anything out
I'm really surprised there isn't more info on the show around the net - I thought it was great!
If you liked Knightmare, GamesMaster and The Crystal Maze, than you'd proberbly have liked Cyberzone. The techology wasn't properly realised, but they had balls to do it. I'm not sure if it would have been as good if Craig Charles wasn't part of it - he gave the presenting a lot of enthusiasm
I did watch I believe possibly one of the last episodes. I did think it was a good game and then I couldn't find it anymore nor deafII (or what ever that section on BBC2 was called) :-\. I also (one of about two or three) who liked Virtually Impossible. I wonder how VI and Cyberzone would fear today amoungst kids about 5-11 then!
The Forum Moana and chief honey pot carrier!
"Come and take a gander at this bit of ugliness"
I might have the remains of a couple episodes on an old Betamax video recorder in the attic (ancient even at the time! ) might look it out and see if things still work.
There are but 2 rules in this realm:-
1) He who sees first is the winner...
2) He who is seen first is toast...
MPK wrote:
I remember CyberZone, with the people wearing those VR helmets!
Woah thats going back ages ago!
i think i remember that as well wasnt on in like 91-92 presented by craig charles
or is it a completely different program ?
No, your thinking of the right program. At least five years ahead of its time, probably ten. And way before VR was at a transmittable quality. Still, quite a good show, as I recall.
I'm even tempted to suspect that the over enthusiasm some early 90s shows had for VR technology might have wound up holding it back due to it being rubbish at the time so no one was interested in it over their SNES (and remember it now as 'sub par for its time, why would I want to try it again now?'), but that has no basis other than my head.
It's too bad the interest in such shows peaked before the tech came along to make them beautiful to look at. Cyberzone isn't pleasant to look at, but the premise is interesting enough, and Craig Charles is pretty good at selling it.
In this thread in 2005, I wrote:I hadn't heard of Cyberzone
Or so I thought. It turns that I have had a computer magazine article about Cyberzone (with coverage of Knightmare too) in my possession for over 20 years. I've added some information to the Lexicon under 'CCEG'.
I just found a four page article about Cyberzone in the Red Dwarf Smegazine from January 1993: http://archive.org/details/red_dwarf_smegazine-1993-01
Apparently "Freya Russell" (do they mean Freyja Westdal?) from The Satellite Game was originally going to be Craig Charles' co-presenter, but she was replaced by the Thesp character. Didn't know that before!
There's also a brief mention of Timebusters at the end.
I was on two of the episodes of Cyberzone, in the audience. You can see me bashing my friend over the head with a cyber cushion during a celebratory moment!
I've been alerted to a full length episode of Cyberzone that is available online, should anyone wish to investigate.
The episode contains a somewhat different version of Play Your Cards Right as well as some floor puzzles, though sadly the latter does not involve causeways.
It's quite slow and clunky in places, and I'm struggling to see exactly how to retain control of your 'borg; the vehicles seem completely superfluous, as they also look difficult to control and easy for a 'borg to get around! Nevertheless, the VR is good for its time, and it's no doubt innovative. Not Knightmare, of course, but what is? Craig Charles is excellent, though, and no doubt the highlight of the programme.
Interesting - although not unexpected - to see Ed Welch pop up during the credits as composer, and I did a bit of a double-take at the name "Hamish Hamilton" - a quick Google and IMDb search confirms that this is not the music video director or a sentient manifestation of the publishing house: he worked on the art for the title sequence(s).
I watched until the end of the credits to see the Broadsword logo - it doesn't feel right without being preceded by the Knightmare ending theme!
Pooka - teacher, writer, comedian, musician, geek, and full-time Knightmarian.
