becrystalamazed

[becrystalamazed]

Based on my current posting topics, how happy do you think I am with this week's Wie Is De Mol?

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[becrystalamazed]

A near-comprehensive list of death and death-like consequences in British Children's Gameshows

Shows in which death is the consequence for losing:

Terror Towers (1994-1996) - The losing team is eaten by werewolves (off screen). The death is permanent.

Knightmare (1987-1994) - The dungeoneers lose by dying in a variety of different - and graphic - ways. One death clause also effects their advisors. However they are ultimately resurected.

Raven (2002-2010) - The warriors are killed by demons or curses for failing the majority of challenges. However, they are ressurected afterwards, and ultimately leave the compition alive.

Raven: The Island (2006) - Losing warriors are killed if they fail a single challenge or do not attempt a challenge. The death is permanent.

Raven: The Secret Temple/The Dragon's Eye (2007, 2009) - Losing warriors are killed if they fail a single challenge. They are ressurected under certain conditions: 1) Their team has collected enough magic jewels to exchange for their life 2) They haven't been ressurected previously 3) Their elimination takes place during the first three weeks. But if any of the three conditions aren't fufilled, they are dead permanently.

Prosiect Z/Project Z (2018-2020) - Any child that get touched by a zombie becomes a zombie. If the team fails to crack the exit code and escape, they all become zombies. They are seen as zombies on screen, either in person (case A) or through an animation (case B).

Don't Unleash the Beast (2020-2021) - Teams that fail to escape the treasure room in time are eaten by the eponymous beast (off screen). The death is permanent.

Fee Fi Fo Yum (2010-2011) - The losing team are eaten alive by the giant holding them captive (on screen). The death is permanent.

Den Of Doom (2007) - Losing kids are eaten by hyenas off screen, but their cooking is shown.

Shows in which a death-like outcome is the consequence for losing:

Escape from Scorpion Island (2007-2011) - The losing team has their souls trapped by the Island.

Raven (2017-2018) - Instead of dying after challenges like in the original series, the warriors are sent to a dark dimension. They are still always returned, however.

Trapped!/Trapped! ever after (2007-2010) - Losing children are trapped in a tower of horrors forever.

Relic: Guardians of the Museum (2010) - Losing teams are imprisoned within the muesum exhibits forever.

Mission: 2110 (2010) - Losing children (bar those in 3rd and 4th place) are vapourised and sent to an unknown location in spacetime, their safety in question.

Jungle Run (1999-2006) - At various places in the jungle, failure in a single challenge can result in eternal imprisonment, the most prominent being the Temple of the Jungle King.

Sub Zero (1999-2001) - The losing team is either cryogenically frozen or (in later series) ejected into outer space (NOTE: This is unpleasant but also shown as survivable within the show).

Gwrach y Rhibyn (2022) - Any losing team is captured by the titular Hag

Show in which death is the consequence for WINNING:

Mission: 2110 (2010) - Due to a continuity error, the winner appears to be vaporised instead of being sent home via time travel, which is what's supposed to happen.

Terror Towers (1994-1996) - The winners become ghosts who haunt the towers forever.

Honourable Mentions!

Splatalot (2011-2013) - The winners are assassinated (off-screen) soon after winning. While the show aired in Britian, as well as Canada and Australia, the assassination is only canon in the Canadian version.

Jedi Temple Challenge (2020) - An American gameshow, as The Mandalorian has canonised it as part of the Star Wars Universe and confirmed its place in the timeline, all the kids that win and become Jedi Knights, and possibly every kid that competes, presumably die in Order 66

To be updated as I find out about more

[becrystalamazed]

Thanks to the Gladiators reboot, I get to have a bisexual panic every week, so I started doodling some of them. Hoping to fill a full page with these :D

[becrystalamazed]

35 whole years! It’s hard to believe. And even more unbelievably, it’s more than the number of years from now until the Futuristic Zone!

The Crystal Maze at 35

At this hour in 1990, Richard O'Brien asked a simple question.

Can you win a time crystal?

Climb over walls, or take out a giant screwdriver? Find your way through a mirrored maze, or drive a dune buggy by remote control?

For the viewer, it was incredibly simple. We got a few shots to see what had to be done.

For the players, it was anything but simple. Sploosh! as the contestant fell off the log into the drink. Splat! as they fired a catapult at some greedy gods. Zap! as they shot at a robot guard.

And when they failed to get out in time, that'll be a lock in - as my learned friend @becrystalamazed noted recently, every game show has some element of prison or public school, and The Crystal Maze had lots of both.

Richard left The Crystal Maze after four very successful series. His replacement, Ed Tudor-Pole, was a great character, and brought energy to the role; his only drawback was that he wasn't Richard O'Brien. The Crystal Maze came off air in 1995.

Picked up by The Family Channel, and a mainstay of successor channel Challenge, The Crystal Maze kept all of us entertained and beguiled. And there was the live attraction which opened in 2016, and which begat a television revival hosted by Stephen Merchant and Adam Conover and some other bloke.

TV reviewer Mark Lawson was rather impressed by the first episode.

An entertaining new game show appears to be an elaborate attempt to evaluate how many yuppies it takes to change a lightbulb. A group of smooth youths attempts each of four tests (physical, mental, skill, mystery) in each of four "zones" (Aztec, industrial, mediaeval, futuristic). The tasks involve much clambering around mazes and towers (a visual pun on upwardly mobile!) and arrangement of gigantic puzzles. Those who best survive the tests stand under a construction called The Crystal Dome and grab large pieces of gold hurtling out of a spout. The game might therefore be said to have a first round of Darwinism and a final round of Thatcherism.

How many yuppies does it take to change a lightbulb? Six, if we're lucky.

[becrystalamazed]

The UK just can't make a gameshow without involving fighting something or killing someone or someone dying or being hunted for sport or imprisoned forever. Recreating The Hunger Games but fake since 28 years before it was published. Ridiculously melodramatic.

[becrystalamazed]

I need more of the Prosiect Z, completing-location-specific-escape-rooms-while-monsters-chase-you-around format. You could do it in places other than schools too. Museums. University campuses. Shopping centres. Some of the larger train stations. Large enclosed space with interesting architecture and layout, and side rooms that are equally interesting.

[becrystalamazed]

Since being more open about the gameshow special interest offline, I’m experiencing a weird phenomenon of people coming to me with half-remembered gameshows and asking me to help identify them. I thought it might be fun to keep a log of the statistics here.

• Trapped! (x2)

• Den of Doom

• Fort Boyard: Ultimate Challenge

[becrystalamazed]

🎵"Give it to your sister and never wonder, if the same pressure would have pulled you under"🎶

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ITOPIA SERIES 3 AT THE END!

Hunter Sisters my beloved <3

[becrystalamazed]

🎵"I'm a sad, sad post-teen, caught up in the love machine. No dream, come clean, walking like a zombie"🎶

Did I wait until I had something for Alys and Lwsi to post this? Maybe so. Zac isn't even in my top 5 Itopia characters, and yet this song is so aesthetically and lyrically him that I was compelled to make it.

[becrystalamazed]

Incredible Games on imdb and on Wikipedia

Every few years I remember about this show and forget what it's called.

Remember the second series so much more vividly than the first. Crystal Maze-esque kids show with the vibe of tumbling up the rabbit hole. That Darth Vader esque knight on a chessboard scared the shit out of me!! Such dark energy and I couldn't stop watching was such a stressful watch!! (And they wonder why millennials have anxiety 😂) I remember feeling relieved sometimes when they lost cos they had to go down the bin chute into the basement and even though it felt like they were trapped in there forever I guess? at least they weren't up in the penthouse with the creep 😅 loved the alphabet soup though 😂 and the hand through gloves in the wall! Much more dramatic than it sounds and still a fit issue I find as an adult 🤣 but even the fact they could get gunged while trapped in a Victorian schoolroom like they'd travelled through time just to be low key humiliated by a ghost was so eerie to me. Anyway 10/10, great for a rewatch 🤣

*ps - the Dark Knight from series 1 went on to become the recast Tinky Winky in Teletubbies 👀

Title sequence on BBC archive

[becrystalamazed]

petition to give carly rae jepsen a sword

i like her and think she should have one

[becrystalamazed]

I wanted to write down all my thoughts about series 3 of The Traitors UK, but it kinda got out of hand so I made it an article on my clunky, unfinished neocities website.

The review is favourable with some mild critism regarding specific game mechanics and missions, not the contestants. There are also way too many references to other gameshows and I give all the missions silly or melodramic names. Not exactly prestige journalism.

[becrystalamazed]

It is vital for kids shows to have the horrors in them. The children YEARN for the horrors. They CRAVE the horrors. I craved the horrors and so will the next generation. And so will the next. Years and years and years of craving the horrors. Which is why you gotta put scaries into the kids stories.

[becrystalamazed]

Twist ideas for possible future series of Traitors

Head Traitor: The Traitors are chosen as per usual, but with one less than expected. The Traitors assume they recruit someone like in S2 but Claudia enters the turret. She explains that they are not the only Traitors, and that a secret third traitor has been recruited. This traitor is the Head Traitor, and they are kept a secret from both the traitors and the audience. The Head Traitor currates the list of people up for murder that night and the other Traitors have to choose from that list. (I can't decide if I want the faithfuls to know about this or not. If they do, Claudia will explain this at the round table when she picks the traitors). This will add both more jeopardy to the round tables as a traitor might accidentally vote out the head traitor and have the banished player's reveal be tense for the viewers as well.

Sheriff: One faithful player is chosen to be the Sheriff. Once in the entire game, they can choose someone who they think is a traitor to kill. This power can kill even if the target has a shield. I know some social deduction games have the Sheriff die if they choose wrong, but this version will only kill the target regardless of whether they were traitor or faithful, and their identity is revealed at breakfast the next morning. If the Sheriff is murdered or banished before they use their power, a new faithful is chosen to be the Sheriff. This is all explained at the first round table.

Bonus murder: Within the walls of the castle, there is a hidden capsule of coloured power. One time, at any point during the game, the traitors can take this capsule and break it on someone to mark them. Unless that person has a shield, they will be murdered that night along with the traitors' regular murder. The traitors do not know where this capsule is, but there are clues around the castle to help them find it. However, the faithfuls are also aware of this capsule. If a faithful finds the capsule before the traitors, they can hide it, so long as it stays within the castle walls and is not kept on their person. A high risk high reward murder in plain sight in short.

Would any of these actually work in the game? I don't know, I just think that these could be cool, even if it's just in theory

[becrystalamazed]

Watching those big feisty female gladiators and I've never had so many girl crushes in my life.

(did you see the muscles on Cyclone?)

[becrystalamazed]

Not gonna lie, I hate the Ultimatum mechanic. I get why it exists, but the incessant recruitment drives me crazy, and it makes the traitor strategy way harder. I think they need an alternative the last traitor could potentially choose. A ‘Will’ perhaps, to dictate kills even after the last traitor dies.

They also do not need to do it now when this is the last murder!!!!!

[becrystalamazed]

Random Gladiators thoughts

• While I don’t hate Viper’s cartoon villain shtick, I think the silence worked better. And it probably would have been more funny if he’d just snatched the microphone to cut him off and just left.

• Love how Sabre is a human cat even when she’s not trying. ‘the trick is to climb up the atlaspheres’ yeah sure it is.

• Speaking of Atlaspheres, it looks like a brutal game. I’m not 100% sold right now, but I have a feeling it’s going to grow on me.

• I am so excited to see Cyclone in action. I love her brace/gauntlet things, and I think the glimpse of the spinning thing she does looks cool. I also really want to see that running challenge in action.

• Also: