Information AboutKnightmare |
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| 1987 television program debuts | |
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''Knightmare'' was an innovative and popular UK television programme for Children , produced by Anglia Television and aired on ITV from 7 September 1987 to 11 November 1994 . The show is most noted for its advanced use of ' Virtual Reality ' interactive gameplay on television by several years, and further popularised the medieval gaming craze of the 1980s popularised by '' Dungeons And Dragons ''. OVERVIEW The show featured teams of four children (around 11-16 years old). On the call of "Enter, Stranger", the first member of the team (the ''dungeoneer'') would enter Knightmare Castle via an antechamber belonging to ''Treguard of Dunshelm'' (played by Hugo Myatt ). After giving his or her name, the dungeoneer would be asked by Treguard to call their three advisors, who would magically appear next to the viewing apparatus beside them (though, in Series 8, all members of the team appeared at once). Before entering the dungeon, the dungeoneer would be given a Knapsack to wear, in which they were to place food found along the way, in order to replenish ''Life Force'' (see below). In addition, the ''Helmet of Justice'' was put on the dungeoneer's head, blocking their vision except for the area immediately around them. The story was that this was to protect the dungeoneer from seeing the real danger ahead. The dungeoneer would then enter Treguard's partly Computer-generated , partly hand-drawn Fantasy Dungeon which was accomplished through Bluescreen Chromakey - hence the need for the helmet, as the dungeoneer would otherwise just see a large blue room. The team would watch the dungeoneer from TV monitors in the antechamber, and guide the player using hurried descriptions and shouted instructions, overcoming a variety of puzzles and traps in the dungeon. The instructions might be "Sidestep left, walk forward, take a small step to your right, pick up the key", much like many text-based computer games that relied on description and commands rather than any visuals. Spells would also be cast every so often, done so by literally spelling out the name of the spell wished to cast - e.g. "Spellcasting: R-I-S-E". A few teams were confounded by bad spelling, wasting a spell or giving unpredictable results. There were three levels in the dungeon. The object of the game was to collect various items, meeting a selection of the many inhabitants of the dungeon along the way, and get out 'alive'. There were different ways of travelling between the levels, including Well ways, mine cart rides, Lift s ('descenders/descendors') and even airborne rides on ''Smirkenoff'', a Dragon . The dungeon's inhabitants included Jester s, Maid s, and Wizard s, who would help the dungeoneer along the way, and Guard s, Witch es, and Warlock s, who would either demand Password s, spells, useful objects they need or simply try and kill the dungeoneer. Mary Whitehouse was initially critical of this latter aspect of the programme (i.e. the simulated fatal demise of the dungeoneers) after having been given a macabre description of ''Knightmare'' by the press. However, she apologised after she saw ''Knightmare'' for herself, noting that Treguard always made it clear that the dungeoneers still survived in "their own time". If the team managed to complete all three levels and master the dungeon, they were awarded with a prize, which changed over the years from the ''Silver Spurs of Squiredom'', to medallions, to ''Frightknight'' Trophies (a design of a Knight holding a sword). Unlike most other children's shows, ''Knightmare'' had no qualms over having a very high difficulty level. In its eight-year history, only eight teams managed to successfully conquer the dungeon: two in Series 2, one each in Series 4-6, two in Series 7, and a final one in Series 8. While the essence of ''Knightmare'' remained the same, there was also much change and development throughout its series. In Series 2 ( of Freedom'' (originally ''The Sword of Justice'', retrieved once), ''The Shield of Justice'' (originally ''The Shield of Liberty'', retrieved twice), ''The Cup that Heals'' (never retrieved), and ''The Crown ing Glory'' (retrieved three times). There were occasionally others, such as ''Free the Maid'' (used twice, freed once) or ''Find the Talisman'' (used once, retrieved once). In its early series, ''Knightmare'' lacked a single major antagonist or 'baddie'. Indeed, originally Treguard was specifically a neutral character, neither on the side of good nor evil. The closest there was to a main villain was ''Mogdred'' (portrayed by . By this time, Treguard's stance had now fully evolved into that of a strictly good character. HISTORY ''Knightmare'' was conceived by Tim Child in 1985, inspired by the two ZX Spectrum games Atic Atac and Dragontorc . Figuring that if a Spectrum could do these types of adventure games, then a television programme could revolutionise the genre, he enlisted the help of artist David Rowe to design realistic looking backgrounds with an Airbrush . Borrowing the technique used in weather forecasts, Child devised a large blue room, which would be set up in Studio A of Anglia Studios. Eventually, in 1986, a 15 minute Pilot under the name of ''Dungeon Doom'' was recorded. Even at this stage it featured Hugo Myatt, the husband of Christine Webber who was a presenter of Anglia's regional news programme ''About Anglia''. After it had been edited together, he decided to change the name from ''Dungeon Doom'' to ''Knightmare'', and add 'life force', an idea borrowed from Atic Atac. For this he recruited Robert Harris , who used a Spaceward Computer to design an animated head protected by armour. The armour would break off into pieces, followed by parts of the skin peeling off to reveal a skull underneath (though no blood was seen), followed by the skull itself breaking up. Once the eyes had disappeared off the screen, the game was over. Child sent this finished pilot to the ITV Children's Committee, who commissioned a series of 8 half-hour-long episodes. The show was an instant hit with viewers, so much so that a second series twice as long as the last was commissioned the next year, closely followed by a third the year after that. By the time this third series finished, which many fans consider to be the best out of the eight, Child felt the dungeon format was getting too restrictive, and he needed something new. Because of this, the fourth series saw the introduction of many 'outdoor' scenes, filmed around places such as Medieval Castle s across the UK, and composited into the blue room using the usual chromakey technique. This series also saw the introduction of the "Eye Shield", which acted as an 'eye' for the dungeoneer. Using prerecorded footage filmed on location, it would follow the progress of the dungeoneer as they exited and entered rooms. A new onscreen status bar was also introduced, generated by a Commodore Amiga 2000 computer. At its peak, ''Knightmare'' attracted over 5 million viewers. By 1993, the year which saw the programme's seventh series, it was the most popular non-animated show on CITV . However, changes had recently occurred. Late the previous year, the ITV Children's Committee was replaced by a single Controller of CITV, Dawn Airey . Although she thought well of ''Knightmare'', the average audience age of CITV was now 6-10, down from 6-15 in 1985. It was believed the older audience were moving to Satellite Television and Video Games , and that programmes for a younger audience were needed. After two meetings, it was agreed that an 8th series of ''Knightmare'' would go ahead in 1994, but it would be a shorter run (10 episodes instead of 15/16 episodes), and the remainder of the season's timeslot would be taken over by '' Virtually Impossible '', a new Virtual Reality show from Broadsword, the same production company as ''Knightmare'', and aimed at this younger audience. Shortly after this decision was made, Airey left for Channel 4 , and was replaced as Controller by Vanessa Chapman . Despite the diminishing older audience, ''Knightmare'''s 8th series performed well, and gained a higher audience than ''Virtually Impossible'' did later that autumn. Changes introduced in this series saw a return to the dungeon format of Series 1-3, albeit now completely computer generated, and a new piece of dungeoneering equipment was added, the Wand called "Reach". This allowed dungeoneers to push, touch, and open things from a distance. At this point, there was still hope that ''Knightmare'' was to return for a ninth series in 1995, as a postal address for future contestants was displayed on screen after the end of the final episode. The chances of the 8th series being the last were also strong, however, and so the series ended on an ambiguous note. In the event, ''Knightmare'' was 'rested' for the foreseeable future, partly due to the declining older audience, and partly because Tim Child felt that, while ''Knightmare'' should employ high-quality virtual reality in order to remain a cutting-edge show, such technology was not affordable at that time. LIFE FORCE The life force was a combined clock and progress meter used to track the energy status of the dungeoneer (the main contestant). It had to be constantly refuelled, usually by placing food in a knapsack, to keep the dungeoneer healthy. The dungeoneer could lose life force by taking too long, being attacked by the dungeon's monsters, taking the wrong route or making bad decisions. In the first five series, the life force was a picture of a dungeoneer wearing a helmet (with a green background). As life force was lost, parts of the helmet fell off (amber background). When the helmet had completely been removed, the skin started to peel off revealing the skull (red background). Then the skull started crumbling to bits. Finally, the eyes rolled past the camera with a bell tolling, indicating the dungeoneer's "death". In series six and seven, the life force was a picture of a knight losing armour revealing the skeleton which crumbled to bits on the floor. In the final series, the life force was a picture of an animated pie, its slices slowly dissolving. TREGUARD Treguard, or Treguard of Dunshelm, was the dungeon master and was played by Hugo Myatt for the entire length of the show's eight series. Information about his supposed background can be found in the related literature (see merchandise section). During the show, it was Treguard's job to assist the dungeoneer and his/her team of helpers wherever possible. At first, Treguard directed the contestants on his own. However from series 4, Treguard had an assistant; Pickle the Elf , played by David Learner and, from series 7 after Pickle had "gone back to the woods", Majida, a princess/genie of Arabian descent played by Jackie Sawiris . (Majida originally claimed her name was ''Daughter Of The Setting Moon Whose Eyes Are Like Daggers In The Hearts Of Men Who Ride The Great Caravan Of The Sultan''). During the early series Treguard was portrayed as a neutral character, most notable between series 1 and 3. During the start of an episode of series 3 he went as far as to say "we are currently celebrating an unbeaten record", this illustrating that he was less concerned whether a team won or lost. From series 5 onwards there was a clear distinction made between 'The Powers that Be' and 'The Opposition'. With this clear distinction being made Treguard was less neutral, and more inclined to actively aid and assist the dungeoneer to complete their quest. "Ooooh, nasty!" was initally said as a passing remark over time it became a catchprase for Treguard. This phrase was regularly used just after a dungeoneer had 'died'. MERCHANDISE A number of items of ''Knightmare'' merchandise was produced over the shows run, including 7 Book s written by Dave Morris. The first of which, Can You Beat the Challenge? (ISBN 0-552-52540-5, published in 1988) told the story of how Treguard came to inhabit Knightmare Castle, originally Dunshelm Castle, which Treguard owned by birthright. The other six books were:
The first four books were intended for older readers, and took the format of half-fiction, half-interactive story (i.e., the first half of the book was a novellette about one of Treguard's adventures and the second half is composed of numbered sections where the reader took control, similar to the Choose Your Own Adventure books). The next two, though the story/interactive aspect continued, were aimed at a younger audience. Finally, Lord Fear's Domain (generally considered to be the rarest of the seven) was a puzzle book. There were also two ''Knightmare'' computer games released. The first was in 1988, released on the Spectrum, Amstrad CPC , Atari ST , and Commodore 64 , and the second in 1991, released on the Amiga and Atari ST. A PC version was proposed for 1995, but the programme finishing put an end to these plans. A ''Knightmare'' Board Game was also released in 1992, by MB Games. REPEATS After ''Knightmare'' ended on ITV, it was quickly picked up by The Sci-Fi Channel , who aired all 8 series starting from 1995. In the United States , Series 5 and 6 were shown for a short time on local New York channel WLNY-TV . Sci-Fi's contract ran out in October 1998, midway through Series 4. ''Knightmare'''s only appearances on television after that were as clips in "40 Years of Anglia" in 1999, and Channel 4 's 100 Greatest Kids' TV Shows in 2001, where it came 16th, the highest position on the list for a Game Show . In December 2002, the UK satellite channel Challenge held a group of programmes called the "Christmas Cult Selection", featuring a group of classic game shows from the 1960s ('' The Golden Shot '') right through to the 1980s. ''Knightmare'' was included in this, and the repeats started on 23 December 2002 , with Series 3, Episode 1 preceded by a short 2.5 minute documentary featuring Tim Child and Hugo Myatt. Just over a week later, ''Knightmare'' went on to reach first place in an Internet poll held by Challenge, asking viewers to decide the best show out of the Cult Selection. Reasonably good ratings, combined with the high fanbase, ensured that the other 7 series went on to be bought and shown over the next two years. It took until 8 July 2004 for all the episodes to be shown, when episode 16 of Series 2 was broadcast 563 days after the repeats started. ''Knightmare'' continues to run on Challenge as of November 2005, scheduled as a double bill on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 8-9AM, with one of Saturdays' episodes repeated at 5.00AM Sunday, and both of Sundays' episodes repeated from 4.35-5.30AM Monday. Challenge's rights to Series 3 (1989) expired and have not been renewed so far. ''KNIGHTMARE VR'' On 25 November 2002 , only 6 days after the Challenge repeats were confirmed, it was announced that a reformat of ''Knightmare'' was to be undertaken by Televirtual , founded by Tim Child. Known as ''Knightmare VR'', this would use Avatar technology to place the dungeoneer in a full 3D computer generated world. A £40,000 National Lottery grant for the programme was awarded in July 2003 . Test images and clips continued to appear on the Televirtual website, until, on 17 August 2004 , a full 13 minute pilot was posted on the Internet, featuring one dungeoneer and one advisor. Hugo Myatt reprised his role as Treguard, now relegated to an avatar head who would occasionally appear to give the dungeoneer advice, and Mark Knight reprised his role as Lord Fear. Reactions to the pilot were mixed, with many saying that the lack of a Helmet of Justice (and, therefore, the dungeoneer now able to clearly see his surroundings) meant a lot of the essence of the original show was lost. On 10 May 2005 it was announced that the project was to be shelved, with Child saying that he had decided that ''Knightmare'' would work best under a mixture of virtual reality and the original format. {Link without Title} . OTHER VERSIONS Two other versions of ''Knightmare'' were also made. One in France (''Le Chevalier du Labyrinthe''), which started in 1990, and the other in Spain (''El Rescate del Talisman''). Possible versions in Germany (in 1991) and the United States (in 1993, called ''Lords of the Game'') were also considered, with a pilot for the US version recorded. However, full series for these were not commissioned; for the US version, it was due to production companies not liking the idea of a complex chromakey-based show. EXTERNAL LINKS
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