How the French and Spanish producers took different routes in their adaptations of Knightmare.
It's not particularly well-known that French and Spanish versions of Knightmare were made in the early 1990s.
They came in a short, sharp burst. Over 100 episodes of Le Chevalier du Labyrinthe were made in two years - almost as many as Knightmare's entire run in just a quarter of the time.
The Spanish version, El Rescate del Talismán, had 78 episodes in a little over three years.
French producers got in on the action after Knightmare was awarded the Prix Jean D'Arcy in 1988, named in recognition of the French television pioneer.
The input of television effects artist Jean Peyre may have also spread awareness of what was being attempted in the UK.
By 1990, the independent Marina Productions had come up with a single-episode format for Le Chevalier du Labyrinthe, which the Spanish version would also adopt at first.
It was one team per episode - win or lose. Dungeoneers or 'knights' who failed a challenge would be eliminated and replaced by one of the advisors.
That meant three 'lives' for the French version and four for the Spanish version - with the last player being advised by the host.
Quests typically lasted for 8-10 rooms before a final challenge or showdown, which the team would almost invariably win.
Treguard's gambit, 'this is no game of numerous lives', had been well and truly put to the sword.
The quest for rolling gameplay
The European format changed the show from an adventure game to a computer game, with midi-sequenced music adding to a Dizzy-style platform where players would wander in and out of scenes.
Even Knightmare's early years with a high turnover of teams had avoided the feel of a show that simply reset every episode.
After creating a single-episode pilot for the US market in 1992, Knightmare creator Tim Child admitted that he found no satisfaction in the format without rolling gameplay. By the sixth season of Knightmare, the average quest lasted over two episodes.
But the single-episode approach was the model that overseas broadcasters wanted. And the way to make that work was to have second and third chances.
The one major advantage of that formula is that it allows for greater difficulty - you can be ruthless from the start. There are some seriously tough rooms to negotiate from the beginning.
There's also some originality in the overseas adaptations. The authentic hand painted backdrops from Knightmare's early years are adapted in creative ways - bridges, chasms, all sorts.
While the format feels reductive, fans of Knightmare will enjoy seeing new variants of familiar rooms.
A fast-track through Knightmare
Where this gets more interesting, however, is how the approach differed between the two foreign adaptations.
Marina Productions stuck to a strict formula for the French version, which made Le Chevalier du Labyrinthe an efficient beast.
Its charismatic host, Georges Beller, did much of the heavy lifting, with the rest of the small cast playing multiple roles.
The French version stuck to David Rowe's hand painted scenes throughout, with small pockets of innovation but little more ambition than it absolutely needed.
By contrast, El Rescate del Talismán aspired to emulate the UK version as it progressed, which made it the more ambitious enterprise. Its cast had risen to 20 contributors by the third year - double the typical cast of the UK show.
The Spanish version was also prepared to experiment more. By its second year, it was using a fascinating hybrid dungeon of David Rowe's hand painted scenes with location shots of castles and courtyards from Knightmare's later years.
By its third year, it had added dragon sequences, further variances, and - significantly - it had abandoned the single-episode format. Quests could now run over multiple episodes, which removed the need for each game to fit to a specific length.
We now had something unique on our hands. Spanish producers aspired to have something as close to Knightmare as possible, despite starting with a different premise.
Same differences
The foreign versions of Knightmare were an interesting variation of stick and twist when it came to emulating the much-loved game.
Knightmare lovers will probably find the final series of the Spanish show the most satisfying.
It's not only the most faithful to the original series; it also manages to feel like the entirety of Knightmare history on display at once.
Of course, Knightmare always set the pace in terms of evolution. It moved from high team turnover and single-scene puzzles in its early years to deeper plots and story arcs in its later years.
But El Rescate del Talismán's radical shift in a short time saw it become a hybrid of the computer game format favoured by the European networks and the adventure game format adored by UK audiences.
There's something quite unique there that not even Knightmare can be said to have achieved.
