Knightmare

infobox television
show_name = Knightmare


caption = Knightmare's logo from Series 1 to 5
format = Game show
picture_format = 720x576 (4:3)
runtime = 22-24 mins
creator = Tim Child
starring = Hugo Myatt (Treguard)
Various others depending on series
channel = ITV
country= UK
first_aired = 7 September 1987
last_aired = 11 November 1994
num_series = 8
num_episodes = 112
imdb_id = 0193677|

"Knightmare" was an innovative and popular UK television programme for children, produced by Broadsword Productions for 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, and further popularised the medieval-style fantasy games craze of the 1980s popularised by the likes of "Dungeons & 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 a screen 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: W-E-L-L". One team (Team 7 of Series 2) was confounded by bad spelling, continually missing out one of the letters of a spell while the antagonist laughed evilly, while Treguard, apparently constrained by magic, tried to tell them ("Let...ter...O!").

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') and even airborne rides on "Smirkenorff", a dragon. The dungeon's inhabitants included jesters, maids, and wizards, who would help the dungeoneer along the way, and guards, witches, and sorcerers, 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 there was no gore and 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 two dungeoneers, one in Series 2 and another 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.

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". A second 20 minute pilot was filmed on 27 and 28 January 1987, with the name changed from "Dungeon Doom" to "Knightmare", and 'life force' added, an idea borrowed from the computer game Atic Atac, which also influenced the show in other ways. For this he recruited Robert Harris, who used a Spaceward Computer to design an animation of a knight's head that could indicate varying degrees of damage. Child sent this second pilot to the ITV Children's Committee in February, 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 castles 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 an episode. 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 eighth 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 eighth 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 could be reduced by the dungeoneer taking too long, being attacked by monsters, taking the wrong route or making bad decisions. However, it could be refuelled by placing food in the knapsack.

In the first five series, the life force was an computer animated image of an adventurer wearing a helmet. When healthy the image was complete, shown against a green background. As life force was lost the background would turn orange and parts of the helmet would break off into pieces. Once the helmet was gone completely, pieces of skin would break off to reveal a skull underneath (though no blood was seen), now with a red background. If life force diminshed further the skull would start to crumble away, ending with the eyes rolling away past the camera as a bell tolled, indicating the dungeoneer's "death".

In series six and seven, the life force was a picture of a knight losing armour to gradually reveal the skeleton which eventually crumbled to bits.

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 forest", 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 notably between Series 1 and 3. During the start of Episode 14 of Series 3 (when no team had yet completed that series' dungeon) he went as far as to say "we're celebrating an unbeaten record", apparently siding against the dungeoneers. However, from Series 5 onwards there was a clear distinction made between 'The Powers that Be' and 'The Opposition', against which Treguard became less neutral and more inclined to actively aid and assist the dungeoneer to complete their quest.

Over the course of the series Treguard became well known for his catchphrase "Ooh, nasty!", regularly used just after a dungeoneer had died. Intended only as a passing remark, this was originally an ad lib by Myatt.

Merchandise

A number of items of "Knightmare" merchandise were produced over the show's run, including seven books written by Dave Morris:

* Knightmare: Can you beat the challenge? (ISBN 0-552-52540-5, 1988)
* The Labyrinths of Fear (ISBN 0-552-52608-8, 1989)
* Fortress of Assassins (ISBN 0-552-52638-X, 1990)
* The Sorcerer's Isle (ISBN 0-552-52714-9, 1991)
* The Forbidden Gate (ISBN 0-440-86317-1, 1992)
* The Dragon's Lair (ISBN 0-440-86328-7, 1993)
* Lord Fear's Domain (ISBN 0-440-86336-8, 1994)

The first of these, "Knightmare", told the story of how Treguard came to inhabit Knightmare Castle, revealed once to have been Dunshelm Castle, which Treguard owned by birthright. The next four books were intended for older readers, and took the format of half-fiction, half-interactive story. In these, the first half of the book was a novellette about one of Treguard's adventures, serving as a lead-in to the second half, composed of numbered sections where the reader directed the narrative, similar to the Choose Your Own Adventure books. The next two books retained the story/interactive format, but were aimed at a younger audience. Throughout the interactive portions of the books the reader had to keep track of their Life Force and objects collected, and some books had additional statistics or special skills to keep track of. Finally, Lord Fear's Domain 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 Knightmare game 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. The latter game was an RPG similar to the Dungeon Master and Eye Of The Beholder games which, whilst well received at the time, had very little to do with the TV series besides the fantasy setting.

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 eight series starting from the channel's launch in November 1995. However, ratings were low, perhaps exacerbated by the satellite sharing that meant UK fans were unable to receive the Sci Fi Channel at the times when the show was airing. (Cable television was also relatively unusual in the UK at this time, and completely unavailable in some areas, further limiting the show's existing fanbase.) 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 the United States, Series 5 and 6 were shown for a short time on local New York channel WLNY.

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.

Reasonable ratings, combined with the high fanbase, ensured that the other seven 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" continued to run on Challenge until 31 March 2007, when the rights to the series expired. By this time only five of the eight series were still being repeated, as the rights to Series 3 expired at the end of 2004, Series 4 on 31 May 2006, and Series 5 on 30 September 2006, the latter two following a final showing of those series.

"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. [http://www.knightmare.com/forum2/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=1875] .

Other versions

Two other versions of "Knightmare" were also made: one in France ("Le Chevalier Du Labyrinthe"), which ran from 19 September 1990 to 31 August 1991, and the other in Spain ("El Rescate Del Talisman") which ran from 29 May 1991 to 1994. Both versions were sponsored by Sega.

Possible versions for 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

* [http://www.knightmare.com/ Knightmare.com]
*
* [http://members.aol.com/treguardd/knight.html The original Knightmare fansite] (not updated since 1999)
* [http://interactive.knightmare.org.uk/ Interactive Knightmare]
* [http://www.ukgameshows.com/index.php/Knightmare UKGameshows.com: "Knightmare"]
* [http://www.televirtual.com Official Televirtual site]
* [http://www.bothersbar.co.uk/weekendspecials/knightmarepilot.htm Bother's Bar's review of the Knightmare VR pilot]
* [http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?name=Knightmare Demian's Gamebook Web Page reviews of the first six books]
* [http://www.bringbackknightmare.co.uk BringBackKnightmare.co.uk] - a petition to bring the show back
* [http://www.knightmare.com/fanstuff/fansfaq.htm The Knightmare FANSFAQ] - frequently and not-so-frequently asked questions
* [http://www.freewebs.com/knightmareepisodeguide/ Knightmare Episode Guide] - a guide to episodes of Knightmare
* [http://kmv.partreal.com/ KMV] - an online Knightmare RPG being developed by a former contestant