Series 1 - Episode 8

[Illusion]

Do not post here until after 7.30pm on 16th June 2004

[Tom41]

Interesting points in this episode:

The dungeoneer took AGES to get into position before running through the spears at the beginning! He almost got spiked when he ran forward and stopped, before running backwards again
Unusually for this series, the first set of spears stopped halfway out after the dungeoneer passed them!

Another door with Fire Exit on it appeared in the next room, but they took the door with the key lock on it. I wonder what the Fire Exit would do? Perhaps it would send the dungeoneer back to the antechamber if they wanted to back out of their quest?

Did you notice when the dungeoneer went to the clue table, he seemed to go up a step? If you look carefully, you can see him step down from the step after collecting the clue objects.

In this episode, as well as Casper the talking key, there was a listening key in Merlin's chamber! They couldn't get the key to move where they wanted, saying 'move to the chair' and then Casper intervened by saying they should move the key up, down, left, right etc. (it didn't know where the chair was). Interesting music in this scene.

Gave the password and got into the wellway, which oddly had smoke coming out of it!

First team to get to Level 3! Entered a room full of skulls, and a giant skeleton appeared! Same music used here as for Team 1's death sequence...

In the L3 clue room, took the Chalice/Cup door, but what was that above the other door? NILREM? (Merlin backwards)

Used the SNIFF bottle to 'blind' the sense of smell of the Cavernwites. Also encountered the first ever Gargoyle "(Ugly) Mug", who appeared to have a pipe sticking out of his mouth! I liked the flattery, how they told the gargoyle he was pretty and he turned red, then opened the door!

Is it just me, or did the gargoyle begin to turn blue again as the dungeoneer exited? Then they got killed [and the season came to an end] at Jericho 6 (one adviser mentioned the horn). Still got DISMISSED though, rather than UNITE even though they came closest to victory.

Hmm, announcer didn't say anything about Series 2 coming to Challenge, or anything about tomorrow...

[MoanaLiza]

Hmmm I wonder what would have happened if they'd cast the Opposite spell? Would they have ended up on the other side of the wall. Did anyone hear Casper give them a clue to one of Merlin's riddles?

[DragonRider]

I imagine if they walked through the Nilrem door they would of got Merlin berating them for going the wrong way! Perhaps he would of even been talking backwards as well!
I also imagine that they would of HAD to have had the horn with them, with or without the opposite spell but it didn't matter anyway as this phase of the dungeon is now over... Roll on tomorrow!

[Billy]

In an amazing coincidence, the team die right at the end of the series. Since weapons aren't really encouraged I'm surprised they took the dagger instead of the horn. And yes, I was wondering about the word above the other door, and didn't realise it was MERLIN backwards- I wonder why? By the way, anyone know who did the voice of the Gargoyle?

So, that's the end of Series 1- tomorrow (hopefully) sees Series 2, which IMHO is a lot better- and that's all I'm saying!

[HStorm]

Yes, S2 is a quicker-paced and a LOT more varied than S1.

*CONSPIRACY THEORY ALERT*CONSPIRACY THEORY ALERT*CONSPIRACY THEORY ALERT*

I don't think it is a coincidence that the season ended there, by the way. The spell that Merlin gave the team on level 2 never got used... as far as we can tell. My suspicion is that several rooms in level 2 were left out of the final edit to fit the quest inside the season time limit.

[Porsmond]

Good Last Episode.

Spike Room - what was Richard doing, he nearly got spiked twice on both sets of spears and was very slow to react to his advisors, Personally if the spikes did catch him, I dont think it would have been Quest Over, more like a Damage to Life Force.

Clue Room - Odd moment in that when he picked up the items, and came away from the table, he dropped down a little step whoch suggest the table was too Big for Richard, and a step was brought in to lift him up a bit to see the items. Also he picked up the bell, but what on earth was that used for????Didnt use it in Level 2, and Level 2 items are useless when you reach the next level arnt they??? Prehaps the right item was actually the gold and would have been a backup item to give to the Level 3 guard if they didnt get the password??????

Merlin Room - He gave them a SHIELD spell but again what on earth was that meant to be used for I wonder???Maybe it was a protection spell from the Medusa room if it appeared in Series 1 to get past??? but could spells be used in later levels, I didnt think they could???

Level 3 First Room - The First view of Level 3 for the viewers, nice looking room and and the music was very cool indeed, Loved the Skeleton appearing too, however it looked like the team was never in danger, he stayed still.

cavernwights room - My Word, what on earth were the team doing, they seemed to take ages putting down the sniff potion, and at one point, the advisor told him to wait before doing it, and yet one of the cavernwights came racing towards him, certaintly a little let off.

Good Episode nicely bringing the end of Series 1. Also no mention that Series 2 is to start tomorrow, but I'm guessing it will be because Knightmare is still scheduled in the same slot.

My suspicion is that several rooms in level 2 were left out of the final edit to fit the quest inside the season time limit.

This is a plausible theory because when watching Team 4, they did encounted quite a few rooms in Level 2, and there was probably more to come if they had got past the room with Folley and his riddle. However for this last team after Cedric, there was only The Spear Room,The Clue Room,The Key room for Casper,The Merlin Room, and The Level 3 Well so only 5 rooms which seems oddly short for Level 2, So YES if there was rooms cut out of the quest, there was obviously one where the team used the Bell, and one where they used the Shield Spell too????
If these edits were made, then I have one word(WHY) Maybe the production team thought there was a risk the team might not quite reach level 3, and maybe they thought it would be good for the viewers to at least see what level 3 would have looked like in Series 1 even if the team didnt complete their quest????

[MoanaLiza]

So YES if there was rooms cut out of the quest, there was obviously one where the team used the Bell,

Mind you they had the bell when they went into the well, so that's why they didn't have the bell afterwards. Remember that a dungeoneer/team can't take objects from one level to the next, so the bell must have been discarded on the way down to l3. There was a quest in a think s3 (can't remember whos), where they had one or two objects when they were about to go down the well and they had to put the object(s) that they had on the side of the well.

[FrightKnight]

It was shaping up to be a really short level 3- potential for a winning quest perhaps?

Cleverly, I think the Nilrem door might have led to Mogdred -the alter ego and therefore the OPPOSITE of Merlin. This begs the question, if they'd met him, and they'd used the OPPOSITE spell on him, would he have turned into Merlin, who'd promptly give them their prizes and tell them to clear off?

Hey, it tenuously adds to my conspiracy theory that, like Bhalsheba in Series 8, Merlin and Mogdred are one and the same (and why not, it's the same actor). Of course, they hate each other, but never meet because, depending on which room they are in, they are different people.

Of course, if this were true, it would ruin one fan fiction story I know of...

[MoanaLiza]

Hmmm, reminds me of an episode of Hercules TLJ, where he went to I think it was called the Neverworlds (or something similar) which was where the characters opposites were. It sounds similar to what you're trying to say FK. Unless Merlin and Mogdred are brothers or twins.

[DazzaS]

i still enjoyed seris one. yes it was slow (and painful to watch with the squabbling advisors of last quest). but every classic needs to start somewhere. Roll on seris 2, one of the best i think

[combuta]

It seems possible that they put a step behind the clue table; on other occasions I seem to remember dungeoneers only just being tall enough for that table.

Also, is it me, or do the stairs not line up in some rooms? I can't remember which room, but on one occasions (today I think, but may have been yesterday) the dungeoneer's steps didn't seem to line up with the steps in the image of the room! :-)

[HStorm]

Yes, it's the level 2 clue room you're thinking of. It's a common problem with that one that you can often see a 'ghost' of the banister rail just above the one in the painting. I don't think they managed to sort that perspective error out until the start of season 3.

[TheBrollachan]

I don't know if it happened last night but during the break of the 5am repeat they used the series 6-8 break and music stuff.

I wonder if the "Fire Exit" is a bit like the series 7 "Short-Cut" (enterance to CoB). Prehaps using that would result in the team being killed by fire ie. Exit into Fire.

Also in level 2 they only used one clue object, yet when the team reached the level 3 clue room they didn't have the object in their hand. Prehaps they dropped it in the well as they went into level 3.

[Malefact]

In the first Km book, taking the Fire Exit whisked into a furnace. Perhaps something similar would have happened in series 1 (either that or a bomb room, I think).

It never occurred to me that NILREM was Merlin spelled backwards - well spotted! Yes, I reckon that it would have led to Mogdred. It's a shame we never saw him in this series.

I'm not quite sure how they managed to time the series such that the team death coincided with the end of the programme. I'm sure that someone knows the answer, though.