Knight Mare

A pioneering Virtual Reality? gameshow for kids.

• http://www.knightmare.clara.net/

A team, consisting of one kid with a big, helmet (grow up) wandering around a fantasy landscape (some ruined castle in reality, but with substantial CGI extras on the screen), directed by two (three?) teammates who could see the action on a screen. There was navigation, puzzles, items to pick up and use, spells ("spellcasting ... V - A - N - I - S - H ..."), a quest, all the classic Role Playing? tropes. Oh, and a big beardy bloke in charge, called Tregard. There were a bunch of other recurring characters in the fantasy world. It was quite Susan Cooper in tone.

The video effects were terrible, even for that period in history. They were in fact mostly done with some sort of Quantel Paintbox apparatus rather than proper computers.

The Eye Shield! I'd forgotten about the Eye Shield! And the wall monsters! -- TA

As the series progressed, efforts to keep it fresh seemed to dilute its essential appeal- Tregard, originally quite a menacing figure, became kindly and friendly towards players, and was eventually provided with an annoying elvish sidekick, the 'Eye Shield' as mentioned above by TA moved from being a rare device which would provide P.O.V. vision for a while to a regular (and rather pointless) feature, and Lord Fear (a pale faced black clad evil person) became a regular villainous character. I personally recall the video effects as being rather fun. The game was, in fact, quite difficult, and it was extremely rare for the players to succeed in their alloted task. -- WJR

Recently there is/will be a new program very much based on the same idea, however with much updated 3d graphics, so it will probably look really bad. Apparently it is called Timegate, though something on CBBC called Raven also looks similar.

Knightmare is a game ideally suited to be played in the back quads of a large college, or perhaps as a Punt Party Panto feature:

"Sidestep to your left! No... no, your other left...!"

DOOM GONG

"Oh dear, but I'm afraid your player has sidestepped into the Cherwell." -- WJR

Category Kids TV