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According to the rules sent to Nic by a devotee of Labyrinthe in France (see the main site to look for them) every time a dungeoneer got squished, one of the advisors would take over. This would carry on until the team ran out of advisors.

On reflection, that would probably work better in OUR version than theirs, with the quests lasting so much longer over here. Oh well...

I've forgotten all my French, and I really wanted to make some unwitty jokes in French too. Since the only foreign language dictionary I can find is a German one, I guess I'm going to have to spare you the poor jokes this time.

Great to see this episode. As I've said before, it'd be nice if sample episodes of the foreign versions could be included on any DVD release, along with the American pilot. It was fun to see the differences to the format, although generally, like others, I prefer the British version by a pretty long way.

As an episode on its own, I liked it. But I think that same format every week would bore me somewhat. There's just not much room for variation within Quests or development. Clearly they stripped things down to the bare minimum- some floorish puzzles, ledges and a few questions. It's stating the obvious, but I prefer the more textured British KM, with development of difficulty via the 3 levels, clue items, spells, decisions to make, life force and such. Once you choose to do a whole adventure in one episode, you naturally have to lose a lot of that. I also thought it would lead to a lot more teams winning, unless they were really crap. I liked KM because unlike so many kiddies' shows, it was hard, and winning was a real achievement (well, most of the time). The fact that winning was an exception to the norm appealed to me a lot, and I think it made it more tense, and made you follow Quests with a lot more sympathy and eagerness for the brats to do well.

I did like the Dungeon Master, although again I think I'd tire of him after a 16 episode series. Too much "Very good" and not enough "Ooh, Nasty" for my cynical taste. Well done to the French developers though, for having the courage to do it differently. The fact he was so active in the game again made me appreciate how darn fabulous Hugo Myatt was, in hanging back, keeping the atmosphere and not forcing himself to centre stage constantly. Stuck in an antechamber with just a few unresponsive brats, it would be easy to think "To make this good I've got to keep talking and keep the momentum going", and I can think of at least one of the British cast (who I won't name, but from my previous comments you'll guess who anyway) who probably would have done that had they been in the antechamber and given the chance. Kudos to Hugo for resisting that temptation.

Talking of Merlin, the French version's nose looked a bit like Mrs. G's! If John Woodnutt had worn that, I'd laugh even more than I currently do at his awesomely slow spellcasting, waving of his silly little wand, and pushing dungeoneers out of the way so the real star of the show is completely in shot. Teehee, oops.

The scenes were generally pretty good, although the floor puzzles would get a bit samey after a while, I guess, just like some of the British ones did around that time if they were overused. I liked the skeleton guy, but I thought the bones question was really hard for youngsters! Um, I don't like jesters, so that whole scene at the beginning wasn't my cup of tea. I still preferred him to Pickle, though.

Very good to see. Thanks for putting it up for us to enjoy.  

In fact, GG, a season of Labyrinthe lasted something like a HUNDRED episodes ifI remember rightly, which is why there were only two seasons of it. In that light, yes, the Dungeon Master would be pretty annoying after a few eps.

I actually preferred that jester to the ones we had in KM, as he seemed quite relaxed and not as much of an attention seeker. Yes, that opening sequence was very weak, but I think that was more because the scripted "banter" between him and the DM was pretty naff. Nothing unusual in that... does the term, "New Forest? What was wrong with the old one?" ring any bells? (Oh be calm, my splitting sides.)

Does anyone know what the Win-Lose ratio was?

In fact, GG, a season of Labyrinthe lasted something like a HUNDRED episodes ifI remember rightly, which is why there were only two seasons of it. In that light, yes, the Dungeon Master would be pretty annoying after a few eps.

Yep, pretty sure it was several more eps than the British series, but now annoyed because I can't remember where I learnt that. I was just making the parallel with watching a series of the British version, really.

So about this win-lose ratio? Over 2 series of abou 100 eps each does anyone know how many winners there were?

Well, that was definitely interesting.

Yeah, I liked it, it's not Knightmare but then again, what is?

The questions the skeleton asked the team were, uh, questionable. I was screaming "206!" at them over and over again, but they still didn't get it. However, the skeleton then told them the answer, and proceeded to ask them another question, which was decidedly easier!

Call me cynical, but I can't help thinking he wouldn't've asked them another question if they got the first one right.  ;D

In fact I think the whole thing looked easier than ours - last one episode to survive, a few easy puzzles, and ACTUALLY TAKING OFF THE HELMET at the end - what are they playing at?! You take off the helmet, you're destroyed by illusion, silly!

Anyway, yeah, bit weird but I like it. Kinda. It just lacked the wonderful urgency that ours had, really.

We should be careful not to draw far-reaching conclusions on Labyrinthe, as we've only got the evidence of one randomly-selected episode to base them on.

But yeah, I still agree that quests appear to be too brief and lack a lot of the tension of Knightmare.

Would still like to watch more of them though.  

Yup there were a total of 104 episodes made over 2 series. Each quest could be completed in one episode. When a dungeoneer dies, he/she is always replaced by one of the advisors until there is one advisor left. See http://knightmare.v21hosting.co.uk/reviews/labyrinthe for all the details we have about the show.

I've found a small website with a review of Labyrinthe on it. The site appears to be for the French eqivalent of Challenge?tv, oddly enough, as it's advertising all manner of game shows, including the French version of Fort Boyard, and a new successor called Desert Forges. Perhaps it's a TV magazine or alternatively, it might even be the company that produces the shows. I'll sit down and translate it as best I can and get back to you.

Inevitably the site's in French (dammit...), but it's still worth a look.

http://www.toutelatele.com/article.php3?id_article=2738

Not a problem... here's the article translated into English using the Google automatic language translator! http://makeashorterlink.com/?U2A3525F6

Thanks, but those things normally need a translation in their own right. Here goes though...

As I feared!    I tried the Alta-Vista translator on it about twenty minutes ago. To be fair, this one's marginally better.

Hurray now I don't have to try and attempt to translate it myself now. My French knowlege is not that great anymore apart from French Toast, French Fries, Dijon Mustard which surprise surprise are all food!

104 eps in 2 season.....52 episodes per season....Goodness me, and CITV reckoned 16 was too much for us!

Under different circumstances of course, French run their television stations far differently than the way we did/do.

But still, would not have minded 52 episodes of our Knightmare per season!

Still can't help but feel the French version was a little bit too generic for my liking, in KM terms.