Well I have only just found out about this episode and only just watched it. I don't come here very often so I guess I'm not as much of a hardcore Knightmare fan as most of you. I haven't read through this thread yet but just want to post my thoughts about this episode.
OVERALL
Overall, while I was very excited about this, I find it a very odd mix of professional production values and distinctly amateur work. On a conscious level, I found that confusing; at the subconscious level I found it jarring. What am I watching here? A fan project or something professional? The episode itself didn't seem to know, and that was perhaps the biggest problem.
THINGS I LIKED
• First and foremost, SO wonderful to see Hugo back as Treguard once more!
• Solid performances from the guest cast.
• Excellent costumes.
• Great script which felt more or less just like classic Knightmare.
So all the elements were there for a great show. However, I'm afraid that most of what I have to say is criticisms. I am not writing this just to moan, I write it respectfully, as a fan, in a spirit of providing feedback so as to help improve any future productions.
CRITICISMS
• My biggest complaint of all was the backgrounds/graphics. Now I really don't like to be rude about other people's work, but I must be honest here and say I really did not like the graphics and that spoilt the whole thing for me. The rooms taken from original Knightmare artwork were covered with coarse digital noise and looked really ugly. As for the other rooms it all just looked really flat, blocky, aliased, plainly lit, covered with heavy noise, and basically everything just looked like cheap videogame graphics. Treguard's room was the worst. It just looks so unfinished and lacking in detail. There could at least have been an animated fire burning in the corner?
• There seemed to be no reverb at all on any of the mics. The classic series made good use of reverb to give that castle/dungeon feeling.
• There seemed to be very few sound effects (eg for the life force). That, to me, is an absolutely essential detail. Without sound effects, it just feels dead and lifeless. In the classic series, it always seemed to me that if there were a bit of an episode where not much was going on, they would show the life force for a few seconds just to give the scene a bit of "life" (excuse the pun).
• I found a lot of the camera framing highly questionable. One shot that comes to mind is near the beginning where Daisy is talking to the team and she is looking out of frame in profile. One of her eyes is hidden. Other shots place the team at the bottom of the screen with the ugliest of dead space above their heads.
• Many of the cameras are interlaced. Obviously a budget constraint but still a shame.
• Some very dodgy editing in places which I am sure most people picked up on. But also some subtle details such as Treguard giving important dialogue without cutting to a shot of him. Conversely, someone thought it was a good idea to show Daisy awkwardly squeezing between the chair and the wall?
• Also some timing issues with regards to people talking over each other, though that is less of a post-production issue and just needs lots of pre-planning.
• I really feel Treguard's room should be a real set. Even just a black, featureless room would have been better than this cheap-looking videogame room. IMHO, Treguard's room needs to have a strong sense of reality in order to provide the "anchor" to the real world, whilst the dungeoneer is out there walking around a fantasy world.
• While Hugo always was, and always will be, an outstanding performer, for some reason in this episode his voice and delivery seemed to lack the strong, harsh, deep and piercing quality he always used to have. He seemed a little placid during this shoot, though as for his voice seeming softer, I suspect that may be down to the micking.
• I did not like the choice of contestants. Now I don't mean that in a personal way, they were lovely people, I just don't think they were Knightmare material. First of all, they are probably the strangest most sinister-looking group of contestants I've probably ever seen on ANY gameshow. And that kind of defeats the object, because the show is supposed to be about taking a group of "normal, average people" (who are portraying the good guys) and putting them in amongst strange fantastical characters. But these contestants were so "un-average", they almost looked like part of the cast. I also thought these contestants were a little too cocky, jokey and familiar with Tregard. There was no sense of this being real with anything at stake. They feel like "relaxed videogame players" rather than "serious contestants".
SUGGESTION FOR THE CONTESTANTS
For future productions I think contestants should be chosen who:
1) Are "normal" looking. Plainly dressed, inconspicuous.
2) Of a serious and sensible disposition, who will show proper reverence and subordination towards Treguard the dungeonmaster
3) Really want to win, perhaps with a prize on offer of some significance.
4) Have been adequately prepared by the producers (and all staff) before shooting to make sure there is a serious and sober frame of mind, having had no contact with Hugo prior to shooting, and Hugo only speaking to them in character.
5) Perhaps a few common sense rules given out with serious emphasis. Don't talk to Treguard unless he speaks to you. Always follow his instructions. Don't make jokes.
6) It would be wonderful to get younger people on the show, perhaps children again. It's so much more engaging to watch contestants who almost believe it is real and get emotionally involved. And then there's the golden rule of gameshows which says the viewer always likes to think he's smarter than the contestants, which is easier when it's a bunch of kids playing
All this might seem unnecessary but for me one of the greatest strengths of the show was always its sense of "reality" and dramatic weight. Hugo's performance has always sent a chill down my spine (and I am surely not the only one) when he looks at the camera menacingly and tells you "It's only a game… isn't it?". For me, this is the heart of what makes Knightmare great, and this is totally undermined when you have contestants casually waltzing onto the show, smirking and making impromptu Monkey Island quips. All of Hugo's performing is just rendered trivial by this.
None of this is meant as an insult to these four contestants, whom I liked as people. I count myself among those who would not be suitable as a contestant because I am very jokey too. I don't think people like me should be on the show! The show needs to feel real. It needs contestants who are young, naive, nervous, and very, very middle-class
SUGGESTION FOR THE GRAPHICS
Finally, I don't know who did the graphics and I really don't wish to be rude, but if another episode is made, I think it would be very wise to ask the fan community for contributions, because there are people here who would have happily provided artwork that is arguably far more in line with classic Knightmare artwork. Alex Fruen is one such candidate (
http://www.knightmare.com/fan-stuff/mis ... eon-design). And I am another, being a professional graphic designer with plenty of illustration in my portfolio.
Well, all of my criticism is given with love, as a fan. I hope I didn't cause any offense. Clearly, this wasn't a 100% professional collaboration and I assume a lot of fan effort went into making this episode. So even if the final result wasn't perfect, the effort is still appreciated nonetheless, especially the effort in actually bringing Knightmare back!