Knightmare Audio Series: Series 1

[GranitasIsCute]

Episode 15 is now available at http://knightmareaudioseries.webs.com.

The final episode of the series will be released in early October.

[Eyeshield]

I really like this episode. The team dynamics work well, the scenes are very well interpreted (I'm thinking particularly here of the Giant scene, the Lillith scene and the Velda scene) and it's just generally a very good thing to listen to!

[Canadanne]

Some funny lines in this episode:
"It's a half-digested potato, actually."
"Do you understand all that I have said?" "Do I, Steph?" Haha! Such a dungeoneer-like response.

I'm enjoying Rosey's bossy advisor that keeps talking over everyone else. The one with the dreary monotonous voice reminds me of Father Fitzgerald from the Father Ted Christmas Special.

[Redthir]

Some funny lines in this episode:
"It's a half-digested potato, actually."
"Do you understand all that I have said?" "Do I, Steph?" Haha! Such a dungeoneer-like response.

I'm enjoying Rosey's bossy advisor that keeps talking over everyone else. The one with the dreary monotonous voice reminds me of Father Fitzgerald from the Father Ted Christmas Special.

That guy with the monotone voice is me.

[GranitasIsCute]

Just to let you know that the final episode of the series will be released in a week - on the 8th of October.

[shadow6162]

Can't wait

[shadow6162]

umm i've been waiting all day are you uploading it or what?

[GranitasIsCute]

I'm glad you've been eagerly waiting for its release - Mediafire has been playing up. It's now up though - Episode 16 - the last in the series - at http://knightmareaudioseries.webs.com

[shadow6162]

yay! i'll enjoy this one

[Eyeshield]

The Audio Series has definitely finished on a high. It's great to have a few surprises in this episode to keep the audience on its toes and the dialogue knits together really well, so thank-you and congratulations to everyone involved!

[shadow6162]

"It's a Womble!"
"It's not a Womble."
You won't believe how much I laughed upon hearing that

[Canadanne]

Nice one guys - a great end to the series!

I'm very much looking forward to the Christmas special... any plans for more after that?

[Eyeshield]

No immediate plans, but I don't think it would be right to say that we've definitely ruled out the possibility of doing more specials...

[Eyeshield]

This is my breakdown of scriptwriters for the Audio Series. Here are a few notes to bear in mind when digesting the data I have collated:

- The entire Audio Series was produced/edited (whichever you prefer) by Ross Thompson, with a few bits of "help" from Jake Collins (which Ross could undoubtedly have done without!) for Episodes 11-14.
- Scott's advisors (Episodes 12-14) were created by Gemma Dwarwood.
- Finn's quest (Episodes 15-16) was adapted by Jake Collins from a quest outline by Ross Thompson, incorporating some ideas (including the names and personalities of the whole team) from Gemma Dwarwood.
- Opening and closing music is not included in any Runtime.

EPISODE 1:
Total Runtime - 26:37
Jake Collins - 19:12 - 72%
Ross Thompson - 7:25 - 28%

EPISODE 2:
Total Runtime - 26:30
Jake Collins - 17:04 - 65%
Ross Thompson - 9:26 - 35%

EPISODE 3:
Total Runtime - 25:17
Jake Collins - 16:33 - 65%
Ross Thompson - 8:44 - 35%

EPISODE 4:
Total Runtime - 26:28
Jake Collins - 26:28 - 100%

EPISODE 5:
Total Runtime - 26:30
Rosey Collins - 19:43 - 75%
Jake Collins - 4:03 - 15%
Ross Thompson - 2:44 - 10%

EPISODE 6:
Total Runtime - 26:29
Jake Collins - 16:17 - 61%
Ross Thompson - 5:15 - 20%
Rosey Collins - 4:57 - 19%

EPISODE 7:
Total Runtime - 26:27
Jake Collins - 24:50 - 94%
Ross Thompson - 1:37 - 6%

EPISODE 8:
Total Runtime - 26:02
Ross Thompson - 22:55 - 88%
Jake Collins - 3:07 - 12%

EPISODE 9:
Total Runtime - 26:20
Jake Collins - 26:20 - 100%

EPISODE 10:
Total Runtime - 26:29
Ross Thompson - 15:20 - 58%
Jake Collins - 11:09 - 42%

EPISODE 11:
Total Runtime - 26:30
Jake Collins - 15:39 - 59%
Ross Thompson - 10:51 - 41%

EPISODE 12:
Total Runtime - 26:30
Jake Collins - 12:49 - 48%
Ross Thompson - 8:24 - 32%
Rosey Collins - 5:17 - 20%

EPISODE 13:
Total Runtime - 26:32
Jake Collins - 25:04 - 94%
Ross Thompson - 1:28 - 6%

EPISODE 14:
Total Runtime - 28:29
Jake Collins - 25:53 - 91%
Ross Thompson - 2:36 - 9%

EPISODE 15:
Total Runtime - 26:48
Jake Collins - 25:47 - 96%
Gemma Dwarwood - 1:01 - 4%

EPISODE 16:
Total Runtime - 27:51
Jake Collins - 27:51 - 100%

WHOLE SERIES:
Total Runtime - 425:29
Jake Collins - 298:06 - 70%
Ross Thompson - 105:45 - 23.8%
Rosey Collins - 29:57 - 6%
Gemma Dwarwood - 1:01 - 0.2%

[Eyeshield]

We've had a lot of fun making the series over the past 6 years, but what do I really think of it? Find out now in Jake's Throwback Reviews!

Episode: Series 1, Episode 1
Original Release Date: 12th July 2010
Throwback Review Date: 10th March 2016
Score: 1 out of 5 (not bad)

The Good: The main thing this episode has going for it is that it convinced me (and others, I'm sure) that the whole idea of a Knightmare Audio Series could be made to work, which I had never really believed before I heard the finished product. Aspects of Knightmare such as Treguard interacting with the Dungeon-bound characters, and having the teams answer riddles with characters such as Merlin and the wall monsters, were obviously going to translate well into audio.

This episode even has a few quotable lines that were able to reach something like their full potential, mainly from Rosey as Gretel. Additionally, I always thought that calling Merlin's steps with noises rather than actions for this series was a very good idea, and I still do. A particular treat in this episode is Gemma Dwarwood's frighteningly accurate horse impression!

The Bad: Like all pilot episodes (even in the world of professional radio and TV) it is a very long way from being perfect. The script is largely terrible. Some of the Treguard spiel near the beginning was made up off the top of my head, which taught me always to have everything written down first in future for this particular project.

Many of the voices are not quite there yet (my impression of Merlin keeps going too low, for example) and some of the pitching that Ross did on many of the lines is absolutely crazy and sounds pretty bad. The main example in this particular episode is that Gretel is slightly pitched down from the impression Rosey did of her – yes, Gretel! Treguard, of course, sounds quite awful, partly because I haven't at all got to grips with playing him yet and partly because he, too, has been pitched down. (As one comment on Youtube for a slightly later episode rather astutely puts it, Treguard sounds much too “mournful” in these early episodes.)

There are lots of other small niggles too, such as the fact that Granitas does not have his echo yet, and that having the advisors “rhubarb” to represent discussion sounds like utter rubbish. However, it was important to be able to identify all these issues and deal with them at various points in the future, which is a big part of the purpose of a pilot episode.

Conclusion: This episode is a clear demonstration that the format can work successfully, which is all anyone should really ask of it at this stage! Thankfully it's not quite as bad as I'm always expecting when I re-listen to it.