Series 2 Appreciation Week
Posted: 28 Dec 2014, 12:11
I've taken a break from doing these over the Christmas period, but don't see why not try one of these again.
This week it's Series 2 Appreciation Week.
As with the first one, this is a Knightmare Chat endeavour, but since not everyone goes to chat, I'll start the discussion here too.
I'm aware that Series 2 is a fan favourite and I've even seen a lot of people say it's one of the best series (or their absolute favourite), but I don't really see it. To me, like all series in the "Mogdred era", it seems very slow and that can be incredibly painful to watch, as all the main action tends to happen in the later stages of Level 2 and Level 3 - and we rarely saw anything of that, considering. Some quests even seem to grind to a halt when making decisions, and that's painful, too.
On the positive side, there's a lot more variety in terms of characters - Gibbet and the Giant are gone, but we have Gretel, Olaf, Bumptious, Mildread, and the Troll. There are also more threats to the Dungeoneers such as Igneous and the (frankly terrifying the first time you saw it) Automatum. Of course, this is the first time we encounter Mogdred (even though I'm pretty sure we would've in Series 1, had any team gotten that far), leading to the first few scenes that I found genuinely scary and tense.
We also get a lot of teams, so there's some variety, and two of them win, being rewarded with very odd trophies and a rather atonal version of the theme tune on what sounds like a Casio keyboard: it's a nice touch, in an odd way.
And I quite like Combat Chess - it was never really a threat, but it's a nice touch, with good commentary from Treguard, and nice sounds too.
However, overall I just feel as if Series 2 is Series 1 with some of the kinks ironed out, and I'm not really a fan as such. I don't hate it, and it's not my least favourite series - but I just find some bits really grating about it, mostly its slow pace, which can render perhaps the most exciting TV of all time a little boring!
This week it's Series 2 Appreciation Week.
As with the first one, this is a Knightmare Chat endeavour, but since not everyone goes to chat, I'll start the discussion here too.
I'm aware that Series 2 is a fan favourite and I've even seen a lot of people say it's one of the best series (or their absolute favourite), but I don't really see it. To me, like all series in the "Mogdred era", it seems very slow and that can be incredibly painful to watch, as all the main action tends to happen in the later stages of Level 2 and Level 3 - and we rarely saw anything of that, considering. Some quests even seem to grind to a halt when making decisions, and that's painful, too.
On the positive side, there's a lot more variety in terms of characters - Gibbet and the Giant are gone, but we have Gretel, Olaf, Bumptious, Mildread, and the Troll. There are also more threats to the Dungeoneers such as Igneous and the (frankly terrifying the first time you saw it) Automatum. Of course, this is the first time we encounter Mogdred (even though I'm pretty sure we would've in Series 1, had any team gotten that far), leading to the first few scenes that I found genuinely scary and tense.
We also get a lot of teams, so there's some variety, and two of them win, being rewarded with very odd trophies and a rather atonal version of the theme tune on what sounds like a Casio keyboard: it's a nice touch, in an odd way.
And I quite like Combat Chess - it was never really a threat, but it's a nice touch, with good commentary from Treguard, and nice sounds too.
However, overall I just feel as if Series 2 is Series 1 with some of the kinks ironed out, and I'm not really a fan as such. I don't hate it, and it's not my least favourite series - but I just find some bits really grating about it, mostly its slow pace, which can render perhaps the most exciting TV of all time a little boring!