Knightmare (CITV, 1987-1994)

Pawnless Endgame

Pawnless Endgame

Pawnless Endgame

Soldato
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I searched here and found a thread from 2008, so thought I could get away with making a new thread as people come and leave over the years.

Knightmare normally started on the 1st Friday of the new school year at around 16:30. So this year, it would have probably been tonight. It ran throughout the Autumn term, finishing as we broke up for Christmas. As each season progressed, I remember it getting darker and darker outside at 16:30 as the nights drew in while watching Knightmare. In 1994, the season was cut halfway through and its slot got replaced by something else. It didn't return in 1995.

Was anyone here a kid/teen fan? I liked the room artwork, some in Tudor / half-timbered style, and I wondered how the filming worked with the kids inside each set. I later figured that they used a green screen as I've used it on the Harry Potter Tour and it's common for YouTube content creators. It still doesn't spoil the magic for me, as Knightmare while showing its age now was ahead of its time. I was terrified by the computer graphics overlays like the skeletons / ghosts and the life meter's face breaking apart into a skull and eyes

A few posts in the 2008 thread speculated about a TV reboot or as 3 films but that didn't happen. I did find a one-off special though, filmed in 2013 and uploaded in 2022. They did a good job and it was with the original main cast members.

 
Green screens and secondary school level drama from the "NPC"s and the host.

Watched it avidly even though it got more rubbish every year, didn't really matter.

rp2000
 
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Yeah, loved it. Born '82, so the latter half of its run was right in my wheelhouse.

I always liked when they were in the stomach room. Bag of salt wasn't it, to escape?
 
I absolutely loved Knightmare as a kid, watched it religiously and always wished I could play with friends myself.

Funnily enough I actually watched a youtube documentary about it not so long ago on the "Back in the Day" channel, they've made similar for other shows like The Crystal Maze and Gamemaster etc.

 
I used to watch that after School, very popular at the time. I still remember the hosts voice even though I have not seen it for decades...
 
rp2000 said:
Watched it avidly even though it got more rubbish every year, didn't really matter.
Click to expand...

I agree it wasn't as good imo when the setting changed to outdoors such as castles, ruins, forests etc. I liked the indoors dungeon setting better.

cheesyboy said:
I always liked when they were in the stomach room. Bag of salt wasn't it, to escape?
Click to expand...

That does remind me how difficult the quest was. Over the 8 seasons, there were only about 6 winning teams, so less than 1 winning team per season.

Here's another video I have found. It is every instance of Treguard saying "Oooooh naaaaaaaaaaaasty" stitched together into a montage :D

 
I've seen a few on them on YouTube in recent years.

I dunno...... I thought it was good but I can think of other things arvthf time, that were better.
 
Yeah loved this show, got all of it on the computer to watch, tho i dont rewatch it as often these days since i remember it all too easily.

Early seasons were good, 3 was about the prime of the show according to most fans. Wasnt a fan of some changes to the show like diff helmet and the silly pie gfx instead of the face turning into skull then the cool eyes coming out at you lol. Wasnt a fan much of the eye shield when they used pre made footage and ur like why is the team saying do this do that when they cant do squat during them bits. Then they wanted to do all this vr stuff and avatar stuff in the footage of what they were wanting to do if they got some funding and it looked silly, not live, and it just wasnt the same knightmare, green screen and real actors is the best bit of the show, kids not adults cos utube with the adults showed how dumb it was with them stupid utubers trying to be funny and ruining it all.

I do miss it and wonder what it be like with modern day rendering for the art and stuff but defo not vr and everything virtual animated thats just crap. Aka
 
^^ There was the Crystal Maze which traversed from room to room with puzzles and teamwork, but I agree, there wasn't really anything else similar to Knightmare after it ended.

Outside of TV, the closest you got to Knightmare were the Fighting Fantasy books by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson. They were typically 350 or 400 pages long, and each page had choices that you'd make. Turn to page X for choice one, turn to page Y for choice 2 etc. Most of their books were of the medieval dungeoniering sort, traversing rooms, picking up items and using them to progress through the story. A notebook or a piece of paper was handy for taking notes and inventory. A GAME OVER would normally occur if you made the wrong turn, didn't have the right item or you ran out of health. They were great fun and the 2 authors wrote over 50 game books between them.
 
I borrowed many of those fighting fantasy books from the library and even bought a couple. Then I got bored and went back to the choose your own adventure books. Both of them were better than this TV show.


rp2000
 
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