Page 4 of 4

Re:Series 6 Episode 13

Posted: 08 May 2005, 17:50
by Fidjit
Then again, Elita might have given them the causeway code if Sophia hadn't insulted her for a second time!
I hardly think Elita would do that... She helped dispose of Skarkill, but the diploma was their key to success, it was through questional failure... The Life-Force death sequence was back-to-front for a change... Curiously...

Timed out right at the end for the second time (I think...) in succession...

Re:Series 6 Episode 13

Posted: 09 May 2005, 10:11
by Fidjit
And did anyone else notice at the start of the credits that Sophia walked though the wall...

Re:Series 6 Episode 13

Posted: 18 Mar 2008, 16:04
by Drassil
And so Sophia (or is it Sofia? We just don't know), Claire (or is it Clare? We just don't know) Emma & Kim from Bournemouth enter their third episode. If the number 1 piece of advice that any dungeoneer should be following is 'keep yourself alive', then this dungeoneer is certainly doing all right. And I'd be quite a liar if I said that her dear friends were little more than a hapless procession of fat bottomed girls with more brains in their pencils. But as they journey deeper into the Dungeon, towards the difficulties of Level 3, the team will be under pressure. So what will happen in terms of action this day? Can the team's staying power be maintained? Will Sophia be the loser in the end, or will her team be singing "we are the champions"? The answer is coming soon. Before we find out, let's recap some of what happened to Sophia in the previous 2 episodes:

- The L1 clue room. There was a scroll, & it's just as well Sophia didn't tear it up, as it gave instructions about the ring on the clue table.

- The team struggles a little in a dark dwarf tunnel, & Treguard notes that they should have taken the lantern from the clue room; but nonetheless, they survive. This is arguably the most explicit clue object let-off since Mildread accepted a potion from Neil (Team 7 of S2) when she really wanted an animal bone. Compare Knightmare's first ever team, who also didn't pick up a lamp on L1, but perished for it. Then again, Matt & Ben both got through their Level 1s in S6 with only one clue object.

- A scene with Sophia, Julius Scaramonger & not forgetting the compelling "Young Grimwold", one of this quest's various nuggets of continuity gold. Scaramonger has the dragon caller, but won't part with it, so Sophia uses the ring to make herself huge. "Give me the horn or else." Intimidated by this unfortunate innuendo, Scaramonger flees, allowing Sophia to pass the dragon caller onto Elita & postpone a dragon attack; & Young Grimwold exits with his boss, so an ogre battle is also averted.

- Sophia to Elita: "You're a faceache too!" This comeback will come back to haunt the team.

- Sophia meets Dreadnort. He is potentially death on two legs, (dedicated to) stopping any dungeoneer who lacks the word he seeks; but on this occasion, he is given the correct password. It occurs to me that if Lord Fear were to discover the cavernwights, he could get them to do his bidding by using technomagic to enslave them & turn them into machines (or back to humans). So maybe that's where his Dreadnorts & frightknights came from.

- Sophia, upon being asked about an item in the L2 dwarf tunnel: "It's a stick." With delivery like that, she should be talking about handbags in Oscar Wilde plays.

- In the clue room, the team finds "one of the Rings of Phobia". (Phobia is almost an anagram of the dungeoneer's name.) It looks identical to the ring found earlier this series on L2 by January, where it is referred as a "Ring of Power". The ring Sophia found on L1, which looks different, was called a "Ring of Power" by Treguard. How confusing.

- Sophia has a seaside rendezvous (that is to say, a lakeside meeting) with Ridolfo, & although he is magically stuck with a fisherman's persona, she gives him his favourite weekly listing publication: Lute. They begin a boat ride, but are not long away from the shore then Treguard gets his favourite weekly listing publication: Time Out.

So, it's onto Ep. 13.

Treguard: "At time out we were forced to abandon our dungeoneer in a boat halfway across the Dunswater." Not only does the lake bear no resemblance to the Dunswater as seen in S4, but it's appeared throughout S5 & 6 without being referred to by any name. In any case, this is the last time we see it: boating transfers to the Sewers of Goth in the next series.

Sophia encounters Hordriss, in another of his disguises. They know it's him, so in terms of concealing himself, Hordriss is not exactly giving the Invisible Man a run for his money. (Then again, we know from the ending of S5 that Hordriss isn't the best at a headlong run.) The Ring of Phobia contains a kind of magic that Hordriss is most interested in, so in exchange for it he reveals a causeway code & agrees to restore Ridolfo's identity. Then it's straight onto the causeway.

Next comes a second Dreadnort encounter (something experienced by no other S6 team), with Ridolfo arriving with the password in a non-literal flash. Ah, the miracle of good timing. He's been restored to his minstrel status, & is keen to return to some musical & good old-fashioned lover boy pursuits, no doubt including a romantic scandal or two (either sung of or participated in!). Sophia, meanwhile, proceeds to L3 via descendor (with a stormgeist along for the ride).

After the clue area (complete with menacing giant pooka - it's a hard life on L3) comes Hordriss' Level 3 Entrance Examination For Aspiring Sorcerers' Apprentices. The Hordriss classroom idea is used again in S7; & is that an early appearance of Raptor's costume on the man sitting closest to the camera? The team are well co-ordinated in this unusual challenge (three questions, competing answerers, raise hand to answer), considering they're given no time to prepare when they arrive; but like so many before them, the failure to meet just one general knowledge requirement in a L3 question spells disaster. (It's worth noting that there was an earlier team who got asked a question about alchemy. They answered it correctly - & went on to become KM's first winners.) During this scene, Merlin gets mentioned; though for KM continuity fans, even better is on the way.

The team spies on Lord Fear, with the spyglass Hordriss awarded them. We hear mention of the Mines of Malapith, which is yet more continuity gold (here's a Lexicon entry explaining why). It turns out that Lord Fear is talking to Greystagg: no killer queen, she seems increasingly subjugated by Lord Fear, & this is explored further in the next quest. The team learns that the Hand of Atrab mentioned earlier by Hordriss, & the glove Sophia's carrying, are one & the same. I was grateful to learn from another forum member that the word 'Atrab' means grasp in Creole. What could this "thing of power" be intended to do? An idea put forward recently by Gizensha sounds just right to me:
Gizensha wrote:an enchanted gauntlet which could catch and reflect one of Lord Fear's fireballs if worn for the Level 3 end of quest encounter
Next: that passageway with the circular saws. Pickle: "The Corridor of [something I can't make out]." Assuming he says "Blades", would that make it the first time that it's named on KM? It's a shame that the team isn't neatly (!) killed off here, since their ultimate fate has proved confusing & controversial to many fans.

The team encounters Elita for this 3rd time this quest (performing a floor ritual in L3 for the 2nd time on KM). While continuity between L1 & L3 is something we might tend associate with S4, there's a prime example here: the cavern elf is still smarting from the back chat Sophia gave her 2 levels ago. It's then compounded by another comeback from Sophia, prompting incredulous amusement from her teammates, & leading Elita to opt not to play the game of insults any further. Elita is neither a sweet lady nor good company, but when Skarkill turns up, the team needs her help, & Sophia must profusely apologise to her. Then Elita uses the Pipes of Pan to turn Skarkill from a man on the prowl to a dancer, & off he goes into an off-screen pit. (If he's lucky, a mosh pit.) Imagine if he'd offered to help the team, like the dancing McGrew in S3!

Then comes, for the 2nd time on KM, the Great Causeway. What happens here has already been well discussed on this forum; so to cut a long story short, another one bites the dust. It is a little odd how Sophia doesn't get the food into her knapsack in time, and it's almost as if she & her advisors stop and wait for the hammer to fall (or the frightknight's sword, to be precise, and alarmingly fast it is too). Still, I don't dispute that their failure in Hordriss' exam put them in losing status, so perhaps it doesn't matter. It's like the song Bohemian Rhapsody: some people want to have some idea what it's all about, while others are content to experience it as it is.

There goes a good team & a good quest, in my opinion. Ah well, the show must go on. Actually, no, in fact it ends there. No new quest until the next episode. This allows for quite a touching end-of-episode scene with Treguard & Pickle, for which the departing team's 'wave and walk' is uniquely withheld until the end credits. But as noted earlier in this thread, it's the Opposition that gets the last word this time.

As some might have noticed, I have had the audacity to clock up 1000 posts on this forum. In acknowledgement (maybe even in celebration) of that, & gratefully inspired by what Billy did here, this millennial post contains '39, no, sorry, 41 titles of songs by a popular band whose name has a connection to the team's quest object.

Re:Series 6 Episode 13

Posted: 29 Apr 2008, 12:48
by Drassil
I've edited my previous post in the topic so that the song titles are now revealed.

Edit 2012: I've amended the earlier post again so that the song titles are no longer underlined, to allow newcomers to make guesses if they wish. The answers are now below (and can be copied and pasted to be viewed normally):

1. Keep Yourself Alive
2. Doing All Right
3. Liar
4. Dear Friends
5. Procession
6. Fat Bottomed Girls
7. Under Pressure
8. Action This Day
9. Staying Power
10. The Loser In The End
11. We Are The Champions
12. Coming Soon
13. Tear It Up
14. The Ring
15. Innuendo
16. Dragon Attack
17. Ogre Battle
18. Death On Two Legs (Dedicated To...)
19. Machines (or Back To Humans)
20. Seaside Rendezvous
21. Long Away
22. The Invisible Man
23. Headlong
24. A Kind Of Magic
25. Flash (Ah)
26. The Miracle
27. Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy
28. Scandal
29. It's A Hard Life
30. Killer Queen
31. Back Chat
32. Play The Game
33. Sweet Lady
34. Good Company
35. Man On The Prowl
36. Dancer
37. Another One Bites The Dust
38. Hammer To Fall
39. Bohemian Rhapsody
40. The Show Must Go On
41. '39

And three additional song titles to be found in my Lexicon entry on this quest:

Spread Your Wings
Was It All Worth It?
Delilah

Re:Series 6 Episode 13

Posted: 29 Apr 2008, 17:38
by Velda
I know all of those songs...guess I'm a real fangirl when it comes to that band ;)

Re:Series 6 Episode 13

Posted: 04 May 2008, 21:08
by 123Pooka
That must have taken some time Drassil ;)! Yes what a quest too, poor Sophia. Treguard might have said in a compassionate tone: Oooh nasty, but, who wants to live forever anyway?

I watched this episode again, as I'm going through one of my km watching phases - although I don't like to watch km too much too often as I like it to seem fresh when I come back to it!! This might only be the 3rd or 4th time I've seen this lol. I'm sure others have seen it many more times.

This team were good weren't they? The dungeoneer spoke often for herself, the team were on the ball and the navigation was very good (made some previous teams look very ordinary in that respect). I think it was unfortunate for them that their quest followed a winning quest, and equally that they got the question style pass or fail trademark of earlier series. Great effort though, and they joined the list of unsung knightmare contestants who got so close but didn't quite make it. Hmmm perhaps I should list these contestants. Anyway, my favourite teams tend to be those ones - I am very sympathetic.

Re:Series 6 Episode 13

Posted: 17 Jun 2008, 20:16
by knightmaredave
This team got a hard level 3 and an unfair death. they knew the answers to all the questions but were not given the chance to answer the Hordriss question and tehy answered the hand of atrab one corectly so not to have givenn them the diploma was very unfair. Great death scene though and a nice oooh nasty to finish off :)

Re: Re:Series 6 Episode 13 - slightly O/T

Posted: 20 Dec 2010, 19:41
by Aldarion
Drassil wrote:As some might have noticed, I have had the audacity to clock up 1000 posts on this forum. In acknowledgement (maybe even in celebration) of that, & gratefully inspired by what Billy did here, this millennial post contains '39, no, sorry, 41 titles of songs by a popular band whose name has a connection to the team's quest object.
All I can say is "Mad! The Swine!"

One of these days...I'm going to write a similar KM synopsis full of Pink Floyd titles - no obvious quest link, I know, but they had a song called (K)Nightmare (they just changed the title for the LP) and think how many villains/chambers the aforementioned song's full title could refer to!
Trouble ls, which series is the most Floydian - Series 4 and 5 have "terminal frost" affecting a team, and then an entire level; in Series 2 there's a Wall, and worms (which probably would eat into your brain if you fell onto them); in Series 8 teams are "beset by creatures of the deep"...

Re: Series 6 Episode 13

Posted: 14 Mar 2011, 13:27
by Pooka
Just watched this episode for the first time in a good few years. A lot of what's said has already been discussed, but I'll just add a few thoughts here.

- It's clear from the start of Level 3 (and, insofar as Treguard says so, canon) that getting the diploma from Hordriss' class would have helped with the causeway combination. As it was a scroll, it most likely would have contained the causeway combination (or a clue to such). From a quick look at the Great Causeway, it seemed to contain a very simple sequence of even or odd numbers, mostly consisting of 2, with the FIND / PATH second sequence at the end. Not gaining the diploma needn't have put the team in losing status, although I'm not entirely sure that the production team would have let them win even if they had tried the causeway! I'm guessing that she would have had to keep stepping on 2's to get across. But I guess we'll never know.

- Hordriss' class was very unfair. As the extra who won the diploma (Stephanie Hesp?) answered question two instantly (although Sophia could have interjected, but she didn't), we went back to the old "Merlin's Room" system or two-out-of-two-or-it-just-won't-do. If only they'd remembered alchemy, it would have got them through. Maybe it's not as unfair as it seems, because they didn't know the answer to a question - but they should have been given three chances, as every other team in the Lord Fear era was!

- I wonder what Elita's role was. Sophia was rude to her again, and Elita still helped her fend off Skarkill (although an apology was needed). I seriously doubt Elita was meant to provide any other help, so this was probably just a funny scene to fill time. But it was acted well. Skarkill was geuinely menacing and Elita was unsure who to help, playing off her neutral stance quite honestly. It's difficult to actually think of what Sophis could have done to earn anything extra from Elita, apart from perhaps a warning about the Corridor of Blades...

- ...which they got through perfectly well anyway. Good guiding here from Claire.

- I think that the team had winning potential as they were still in possession of an unused Hand of Atrab, which both Lord Fear and Greystagg seemed to find powerful. My guess is that in the quest chamber room, Sophia could have put the Hand on, and a giant gloved hand would have descended from the ceiling and grabbed Lord Fear. They had the graphic for it, after all.

So close, and yet so far. One tiny riddle in it and it was all over. This sort of thing wasn't done since Series 3 - not very fair, really! If they had at least tried on the causeway, they very well may have guessed the right combination and won by sheer dumb luck! But they just didn't seem to want to try particularly well.

Never mind. The PTB had the crown already anyway. What were they going to do, get a second one? The lost diadem of Ravenclaw or something?

Re: Series 6 Episode 13

Posted: 28 Dec 2011, 17:46
by Canadanne
Drassil wrote:In the clue room, the team finds "one of the Rings of Phobia". (Phobia is almost an anagram of the dungeoneer's name.) It looks identical to the ring found earlier this series on L2 by January, where it is referred as a "Ring of Power". The ring Sophia found on L1, which looks different, was called a "Ring of Power" by Treguard. How confusing.
To add to the confusion, Sophia is carrying a skull-shaped ring in this episode, but the one shown in Pickle's book just has a plain red jewel like the one Lord Fear often wears. They used the wrong illustration in the previous episode too - it showed the signet ring from Ben's quest again, even though Sophia had picked up a different one!

Lord Fear says "Something is signalling a security penetration" and stares at the camera just as they drop the spyglass. I wonder if he was going to give them the scary red eyes like he used to do - wish they'd held it up just a bit longer!

Re: Series 6 Episode 13

Posted: 11 Dec 2015, 00:35
by ClaireFearsBlades32
Yes I did think Sophia's team had tougher ride compared to Ben although I won't begrudge them a win. They were obviously let off on L1 causeway but DID get better through the levels. I think in Sophias case we all feel for such a young team so close to winning but the riddles were "old school" and perhaps a surprise. Two very entertaining teams though and they both made S6 come to life for me as an 8 year old.

Re: Series 6 Episode 13

Posted: 25 Feb 2017, 12:02
by Drassil
Drassil wrote: 18 Mar 2008, 16:04If the number 1 piece of advice that any dungeoneer should be following is 'keep yourself alive', then this dungeoneer is certainly doing all right.

... This millennial post contains '39, no, sorry, 41 titles of songs by a popular band whose name has a connection to the team's quest object.
Doing All Right is the second track on Queen's first album. It was written by Brian May and his former bandmate Tim Staffell. The same Tim Staffell who helped design Bewilder Box, which of course stars Hugo Myatt.

Re: Re:Series 6 Episode 13

Posted: 06 Oct 2018, 13:39
by Drassil
I wrote: 18 Mar 2008, 16:04After the clue area (complete with menacing giant pooka - it's a hard life on L3) comes Hordriss' Level 3 Entrance Examination For Aspiring Sorcerers' Apprentices.
In Series 8, the life force clock changed: we were dealt a pie. Did Hordriss foresee this in Series 6?
Hordriss-S6T6L3.jpg
Hordriss-S6T6L3.jpg (98.37 KiB) Viewed 14879 times

Re: Series 6 Episode 13

Posted: 10 Sep 2020, 16:11
by Morghanna
What a great episode. Team 6 resumed by offering to help Ridolpho.
They dodged Peggatty, albeit with life-force damage, then encountered Hordriss. (in another bad disguise) Restored life-force, then traded the ring for his promise to help Ridolpho and also gained the causeway code.
Totally stormed across the causeway. :)
Reached the descender to level 3, but were cornered by the dreadnort. Ridolpho arrived just in time to provide the password. Phew! :)

Straight into the level 3 clue-area. I thought the scroll suggested taking the scarf and the gauntlet. Advisor Kim wanted to take the scarf, but they over-ruled her and took the gold instead. :-/
Notable that each time they have been hurried, they have reacted really impressively.

Bizarre scene where they had to sit in a class run by Hordriss. He asked a question about transmutation of metal, but sadly they didn't get the answer in time. :( Oh no, that could be costly. Missed out on his help, but still received a spyglass.
Given how sharp this team were, i assumed they would have known that.

Entered the corridor of blades. Had a near-miss early on, but then Sophia got the hang of it. The blades did seem a little slower than in previous years.
:exclaim: Really loved the way the advisors all ducked when that blade just passed over her head. ;D Great relief when they escaped. :D

Encountered Elita again. (This looked interesting after their backchat in level 1.) To the dismay of her advisors, Sophia unwisely traded insults again, then had to grovel massively to get Elita's help when skarkill arrived. Just barely persuaded her to save them.

Arrived at the great causeway, but didn't have the combo from Hordriss. They knew to step right first as there was food there. Collected the food, but didn't guess quickly enough and the causeway collapsed. :'( :'(
A real pity coz team 6 were a fantastic team, really likeable, who were extremely enthusiastic and very competent. In the end they were only undone by one wrong answer in level 3. (Like several teams in S3.)
I actually think that they were better than the winning team immediately before them (who were very good) and that Sophia's team were one of the best ever on Knightmare. Very unlucky.

Time-out before the next team even arrived. On the only previous occasion that happened, the next team were truly memorable. ;)

Re: Series 6 Episode 13

Posted: 14 Sep 2020, 14:23
by AriadnesLayer
Morghanna wrote: 10 Sep 2020, 16:11 Team 6 were a fantastic team who were extremely enthusiastic and very competent. In the end they were only undone by one wrong answer in level 3. (Like several teams in S3.)
I actually think that they were even better than the winning team immediately before them and that Sophia's team were one of the best ever on Knightmare. Very unlucky.
I completely agree. This was the calibre of team I wish we had seen more of (instead of kids who acted like they had no idea what they were doing there. I'll never understand why so many of that type got through when apparently there was a very competitive audition process).

This team deserved to win and were cheated. And they knew it, as you can tell by their demeanor at the start of the closing credits when we see them walk off. They were NOT happy. And rightly so.

They only got 1 question right in Hordriss' classroom, but they would have got 2 correct if the actor had given them time to interject with "Hordriss" when the other classmate answered "Merlin". I strongly suspect they were supposed interject there but simply weren't given the time to do so. Most unfair.
Given how sharp this team were, i assumed they would have known that.
The thing with general knowledge is, unlike problem solving or other measures of intelligence, it doesn't matter how clever or bright you are, if you don't happen to know a fact, you don't know it. You could be the dumbest person in the world but just so happen to know what alchemy is because you had seen it mentioned on a cartoon the day before. It's not really a fair way of deciding the team should die, given how excellently they had performed all the way through the Dungeon.

The only (questionable, in my opinion) way of using general knowledge to assess intelligence or cleverness is to ask a very, very large volume of questions, so at least then a law of averages can be used. But to determine someone's progress through the dungeon based on whether they happen to know just one very specific, random, fact when the rest of their gameplay is spot on, is really rather odd to me.

Again, if Clifford Norgate had given them time to speak up about "Hordriss" being the greatest magician in the dungeon, perhaps it wouldn't have been an issue. But by the time the advisors had passed this instruction onto Sophia, he was moving on to the next question. Not fair.