Dungeons & Dragons Junior (Knightmare)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Knightmare
Date:	10/04/04 (284 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very scary and exciting for a children's show, Nostalgic in a great way, Improved towards the end

Disadvantages: Could get very repetitive, Often unconvincing CGI effects, Pretty bad actors

When I was young I watched a huge array of programmes aimed at the child audience; I had my favourite cartoons, ?Attack of the Killer Tomatoes,? ?Victor and Hugo,? ?Count Duckula? and the unimaginative ?Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles,? but when the live action shows came on I would usually change channel, or simply rewind and watch the tape that had recorded the cartoons from the other channel. Yes, I was that obsessed. By far the most inventive and exciting of the live action shows I watched was the team-play dungeon quest game, ?Knightmare.?

Thanks to the wonders of digital TV, I?ve recently been able to re-watch episodes of this show from bygone days on the otherwise appalling channel ?Challenge TV,? and while all the flaws in computer effects are clearer nowadays, and I fail to have the same respect for the nerdy adolescents playing that I used to revere so much, it?s still a good blast from the past.


PREMISE

Developed and created by Tim Child, a reviewer for 8-bit video game magazines and someone who saw the potential of computers as far back as 1985, the show was introduced and presented by struggling actor Hugo Myatt in the guise of the wise dungeon master Treguard from his cosy room above the dungeon. Teams of four children or teenagers, three of which would sit with notepads and attempt to solve quite simple riddles and offer advice to their helmeted comrade who got to explore the bluescreen world and meet all manner of terrible actors. The dungeon questers would search for a special item (chalice, crown or sword) and the shows would detail their attempts to complete the game. Several did, but most bit the bullet part-way through; I remember one episode where a dragon emerged from a wall in the very first room and ended one poor team?s game
straight away!


OBSTACLES

Many obstacles the adventurers would come across were traps that could be avoided using common sense or a riddle solved earlier, usually given to them by a Keith Chegwin look-a-like in an unconvincing jester outfit, but the more interesting dilemmas were the ones that were really scary. Staring too long through the spyglass, which provided insight into the plans of Lord Fear and his minions, would produce a flaming fireball that could fry the player, while the huge giant that had to be tip-toed around often was one of the most tense memories from my youth. And hearing the ominous sound of the goblin horn still sends shivers down my spine even today.


SERIES

Knightmare?s first five series were pretty basic and not too imaginative, as the obstacles were all pretty much the same. It was with the introduction of more exterior locations in series 6 to 8, as well as the evil Lord Fear (played by Mark Knight) that the series really got interesting, and besides, that?s when I started watching.

These outside locations were mostly photographs and recorded film that were digitalised slightly and added to the bluescreen, the most memorable of which was the flights of the tamed blue dragon Smirkenorff.


AFTERMATH

Eventually, Knightmare failed to be recommissioned for another series, and was replaced with another virtual reality gameshow that attempted to show the abilities of computer effects in the mid-90s. Called ?Virtually Impossible? (virtual, do you see?), this was crap. Plenty of people realised the enjoyment and appeal of Knightmare, but ITV?s main reasons for cancelling it after seven years was that their audience were being affected by the computer games industry of t
he 16-Bit consoles, and they wanted something a little less scary for the younger viewers.

For more information on the seasons, the show?s development and the rather hopeless ?Bring Back Knightmare? campaign, I?d recommend you visit the genuine and slightly worrying knightmare.com. Despite its originality, appeal and almost award-winning success, Knightmare is essentially still a kid?s show.

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