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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 wellways, mine cart rides, lifts ('descenders/descendors') and even airborne rides on Smirkenoff, a dragon. The dungeon's inhabitants included jesters, maids, and wizards, who would help the dungeoneer along the way, and guards, witches, and warlocks, who would either demand passwords, 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 (1988), a quest object system was introduced, so that dungeoneers now had a specific item to reclaim at the end. There were four main quest items: The Sword 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 Crowning 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 John Woodnutt), but his main duty was, according to Merlin (a wizard, and Mogdred's 'alter ego' in the first series) to "scare you into making a mistake", though he did kill a dungeoneer early in Series 4. In Series 5 (1991), however, changes were made. The majority of the characters were split into two sides: the righteous "Powers that Be", and the villainous "Opposition", the leader of which was Lord Fear played by Mark Knight. By this time, Treguard's stance had now fully evolved into that of a strictly good character.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Knightmare ]

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Games - Knightmare

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