Past, present and future...(A bit long)

[tiggy]

Hi everyone - knewbie here, please be gentle!
I just wanted to share a few thoughts about Knightmare, the series' being shown on Challenge and a nineth series.
So, to start from the beginning, I've been watching Knightmare since the middle of series one when it was first shown on CITV and have watched it right until the end of series eight.  What I noticed during my many years of viewing was that it started off as a game of skill, knowledge and maybe a bit of luck thrown in - think series one to three.  Compare and contrast to series four to seven and you'll see that you now have a very linear and almost simplified game.  The Eyeshield was out of the players' control and the "any answer" general knowledge questions had been replaced by true/false questions.  It was only when series eight was shown that the game started to return to it's "roots" (didn't like that Reach-Wand-thing much though) and then the programme was cancelled - AAAAAAARRRRGGGGHH!
As you can probably tell from the above, I fall into the "old-school" Knightmare camp - I much preferred the game of skill in the earlier series to the story driven later series, with the former being a greater deal tougher and unforgiving than the latter.  
I was wondering how the contributors to this forum feel and also if there is a particular series that stands out amongst all others.  For myself, it has to be series two - maybe it was my age (I was only nine at the time!) but nothing surpassed the first ever team to beat the dungeon and I still remember that episode vividly today despite that it has been fifteen years since I last saw it.  Does anybody else have a similar memory they wish to share?
It's great that Challenge have been showing series three and four and hopefully we'll be seeing some more in the near future (series two please!) and I've already put my name down on the DVD petition but...and this brings me on to my next point - do we really want a ninth series of Knightmare?  Despite my preferences detailed above, I loved every series of Knightmare, and is certainly the best children's TV programme ever made if not one of the best programmes ever made.  It is for this reason I would prefer to remember Knightmare on CITV, Challenge or DVD and not to risk seeing a dumbed-down for the kiddies nineth series that would spoil this.  Again, any thoughts on this?
Regards
Tiggy

[Arcengal]

Cue the "I hate the Eye Shield" vs "The Eye Shield r0x0rd" argument again lol  :-X  :-X

[Kieran]

Welcome to the forums Tiggy, as always I welcome you to have a look in Knightmare chat at the weekends, Saturday and Sunday from 8pm, you can access that through the link on the main menu, or if you have mIRC I can help you out to get in there.

Now on to your post....Reach wand...euch yes, it was rather useless.

Series 9....I want series 9, I believe in the ability Tim Child has, and he reads these forums, so may listen to our ideas.

Also, my favourite series is 3, it had some extra super scenes and some fantastic gaming ideas, I loved those red cats in the fire chamber  8)

Enjoy your stay here in the community, I hope it shall be a long one  :)

(PS. If you are now 25, I believe you may be the oldest around here!)

[GrimaldineGrimwold]

Hello there and many times welcome, Tiggy!

I'm an old-schooler too. I preferred "The Game" aspect to the soap opera aspect that crept in. That's not to say there's no place for storylines, but they have to be made to fit with the game, not subvert it.  

[WhiteFloatingSkull]

WhhhOOoooOOOoo...

I am the

                                   :P White, Floating Skull of the forums...

and I am here to....REDUCE YOUR LIFE-FORCE.

{Floats over you, and reduces life force to CRITICAL RED!!!}

Pie is on the stove...but will you be able to reach it before your time runs out. That first eyeball is rollin' as I speak...

[MoanaLiza]

Yuk, it's not even cooked, it's still partually frozen in the middle!

I did have small pizza a short while ago though so my energy was restored

[WhiteFloatingSkull]

That pizza was ALSO my LIZARD trap...

You will shortly turn into a lizard...or turn purple at the very least. {Holds up a bottle of Lizard-potion with 'floaty magic'}

GOD, I'm so wickedly evil...

[Arcengal]

Spell casting:

V-I-M

(fancy noise)

Life Force Restored...

[MoanaLiza]

Ah cheers Arc! That's much better!

[Werewolf]

Having watched the repeats of series 3 (I started watching KM regularly with series 4) I have to say that  it is fast becoming my favourite series. The lack of a coherent storyline is a bit detrimental, but the difficulty of the questions and the greater interactivity of the dungeon more than made up for it (The second team of S3 had to climb into a pool, crawl out, and sing 'Happy Birthday'...that just cracked me up  ;D)

And yes, series 9 would be interesting, but it would have to remain true to the original Knightmare in almost every way (i.e. a helmet, advisors, dungeoneer actually moving around as opposed to lazily using VR technology). Oh, and it shouldn't be bogged down in political correctness, as in "We can't have a WHITE FLOATING SKULL OF DOOM, that would scare the little kiddies. Lets have an enlarged, slightly threatening bunny rabbit instead".

Damn, I'm thirsty after typing that.

Spellcasting:

V-I-M-T-O

Ahhh....sorry about that  ::)

[Malefact]

Hello there! I also like the earlier series for their ruthlessness (although I also wonder whether it was because I was younger and more impressionable at the time). Plus, they were gorgeous to look at.

A fond memory of mine is tuning in to series 1, episode 6 (which I think might be the first time I saw it - it's certainly the first occassion I remember seeing it) and watching a dungeoneer get blown up thirty seconds in! I'd never seen Dungeons And Dragons and the whole fantasy scene was totally new to me, so it was quite a baptism of fire in that respect - and more than enough to ensure that I became hooked!

As for series 9, well Tim Child has 8 series to look back on. He knows what works and what doesn't - and after 8 years I'm sure he has a wealth of new and exciting ideas. I'm also sure he won't spoil the surprise and tell us, either!

In my opinion, series 9 has the potential to be the best series ever, and the potential to be a turkey. I'm leaning very much towards the former!

[Illusion]

I don't know if it really can be seen as a 'Series 9' considering it will be quite different to the original and also around ten years since the last series. It will be more like 'Series 1' of a new format.

[MoanaLiza]

It should have a name like Knightmare the Knew show or Knightmare the Knext Generation. I'll try and think of something better in the mean time though!

[GrimaldineGrimwold]

Pie is on the stove...but will you be able to reach it before your time runs out.

If you're going to keep doing this, dearie, couldn't you just leave my pies alone? That was supposed to be my entry into the Level 1 Pie-Making contest. Now that old tart Mildread's sure to win.

Can't you just go and raid the Level 1 Asda for some pies? If you turn right at the quicksand it's only a ten minute walk... well, float in your case I suppose, dearie.

[MoanaLiza]

Personally I'd rather go and get a cake or fruit scone filled with fresh cream from the bakers and anyway here's two large bones for Festus to restore his lifeforce