Block & Tackle starting points

[Drassil]

Thanks, Evelyn!

The team who failed to complete the Block and Tackle in this episode (we met them before and afterwards) did seem to have their dungeoneer continuing to walk forwards towards the wrong exit when the floor fell away. Had the dungeoneer sidestepped to the right they might have made it through. But I agree with what you put about the unfairness and duress caused when encountering the room for the first time!

The problem they had was the dungeoneer entered at a 45 degree angle pretty much facing the left exit, so that likely motivated them to send him forward quickly to that exit, unfortunately he had no chance of getting there before the floor fell away. It was a rotten starting position for the dungeoneer. Is this part of the artificial difficulty element, to make the same rooms vary significantly in difficulty for different teams?

I've often thought about how strikingly inconsistent the Block & Tackle starts were for the 6/8 dungeoneers who experienced it in Series 4. It's not just about the angle and point of entry into the room; it's also about how far into the room the dungeoneer walked (or in Giles's case ran) before stopping.

Here's a rough image I've put together showing every dungeoneer's starting point in the Block & Tackle:

Helen (Team 1, light pink top) has the clearest advantage, starting well to the right of the first hole and well in front of the sliding blocks. Giles (Team 8, yellow top), Jeremy (Team 7, green top) and Vicki (Team 5, purple top; obscured) are at a disadvantage. Helen was the first dungeoneer to face the Block & Tackle; Vicki, Jeremy and Giles were the last three.

I've included one dungeoneer twice in the image. The dungeoneer in the red top is Simon (Team 4) before being told to sidestep to his left. The dungeoneer in the bright top is Simon after being told to sidestep to his left. Here's the clip. It seems likely that the sidestep was done (or recreated) in a separate take. The physical differences are such that I'm wondering whether they used a different person, not Simon, to film the sidestep. In any case, had Simon's starting point been the same as Helen's, his sidestep left would not have taken him down the hole.

[Mystara]

Ha! I think you're on to something there, Drassil.

Not only does the colour look different, but the entire physical build looks different (his legs in particular). It could be that they weren't comfortable having a minor do a fall onto a safety mat. Or maybe they only realised afterwards that they needed the shot. Either way, there's something odd going on there.

Going back to the main topic, dungeoneers were sometimes told to begin a room by taking 3 steps forward. Obviously the size of those steps would influence how far into the room they got before it 'begins'. As for the left/right positioning, I can't really explain that. But aside from the hole on the left, I wonder if it really makes any difference. Don't the lower down blocks only move once? (I can't quickly find a video to check, but it's how I remember the room).

[Drassil]

This would be an ideal moment to refer people to Knightmare Series 4 on BritBox, if only the episodes hadn't recently been removed.

The official Knightmare clips on the ITV Children's Classics YouTube channel include 5/6 Block & Tackle attempts. Here's my playlist of all the Knightmare Series 4 clips; here are the individual Block & Tackle videos. Some are out of sync.

Team 1 (Helen)
Team 3 (Nicky)
Team 4 (Simon)
Team 5 (Vicki)
Team 7 (Jeremy)

[Mystara]

Yeah, so basically:

- Avoid the left side (which you would do anyway).
- The back-most bottom block slides once. But that's only going to be a problem if you're in front of it.
- The front-most bottom block also slides once. But again, it would be instant death and since that's where you start, it would only ever kill you if they were actively trying to kill you at that point.

So I'm not sure that depth into the room gives an advantage. But left/right probably does.