29/03/2019

First review of the BRAND NEW Crystal Maze Live Experience - West End, London


A critique of the new Maze Live Experience Venue on Opening Day

Just hours after our lucky involvement once again with the best show ever made, (that's all I can say for now), we had another Maze to attend to, and that's one I'm allowed to currently talk about - that's right, the brand new Crystal Maze Live Experience venue that recently relocated from Angel, to the heart of London's West End in the Trocadero. 

Our slot was booked for 3.15pm and we were the very first team to go through on opening day today, 29th March 2019. We walked in and were greeted by staff who were stood behind a very lavish mirrored Crystal desk. There was also a rather cool looking neon light fixed to the wall behind, with the immortal words 'Will you Start the Fans, Please".  We were told that they were still rushing upstairs to get the bar finished in time, and that the lift was not currently working. We were led up a lot of stairs into a briefing room, before entering the Maze. Unfortunately, teething problems were expected due to being the first team into the new Maze. This was the case in fact, at one point, some of us were left alone in the briefing area for a good five minutes, before eventually being led into the Medieval Zone. Two players had already started without us, and we were there before them! Not quite sure how that confusion had come about. It wasn't the best of starts for me and Adam. We had missed two games in Medieval. Our host was 'Enzo'. 

Wired.co.uk article on how the games are designed and tested

Now, for reasons you either will or won't know, I want to share this quick interview last year with Anna Kidd, the Crystal Maze games designer, from Wired.co.uk where she discusses the process behind the games. From initial ideas through to having a ready and willing group of games-testers try them out on set to ensure they work as expected when the cameras are on.

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/crystal-maze-season-two-game-design-channel-four

"In one game, contestants sit on a rope swing suspended from the ceiling and have to push a number of buttons placed on the walls within ten seconds. Many contestants spend the three minutes allotted for the task hopelessly bouncing off the walls. But one completed it after just a couple of goes, with more than four seconds to spare."

I'm still far too smug about that. Only just outdone by that bloke from Derry Girls. Who is now my sworn nemesis.

28/03/2019

Guess What We Did Today!!!

Go on, guess.

And keep that guess in your mind because we can't say if you're right or wrong. We can't say a thing. Although if you're a regular reader here, then that itself might suggest something.

I'm writing this on the coach home from [NAME REDACTED] and a few of us are still there now. I only left a couple hours early as I had to keep to a coach timetable to get home from [NAME STILL REDACTED] but it was absolutely worth the 9 hours each way travel. We can't say anything, nor would we want to yet. Can't go killing the surprise. Rest assured if you're a fan of a very specific TV show, you're in for a hell of a treat this year.

Now wish me luck, it's 9:30pm, I won't be done with the coach until 6am, and even then that's not the end.

EDIT: It was 7:10am when I got home, absolutely worth it.

25/03/2019

Happy Birthday Richard O'Brien!



The Crystal Maze Fan Blog would like to wish a very happy 77th Birthday to the Maze legend that is Richard O'Brien! You might be living in New Zealand, but we hope you read this. Nearly 30 years since the inception of the Maze and your legacy lives on.

O'Briens birthday falls on a big week for us. We are involved with a project again. In addition to this, the new Live Experience Maze in London's West End opens its doors this Friday. We will be there for that. This is a very exciting week, and this all coincides with the week of O'Briens Birthday. What's your favourite O'Brien quote?

18/03/2019

A King's Seal of Approval - Exclusive interview with Maze actor (Part 2)


(Continued from part one). My enjoyment of series 6 was greatly enhanced by the time I was lucky enough to spend with these two fine gentleman, as well as with the crew and the few people I’d got to know at all well, like Nick Badham. There was a wrap party at the end of filming with a staggering amount of booze on offer, while we were all treated to a highly amusing film made on the set featuring the crew, cast and some contestants. I remember that my majestic tones were overdubbed by one of the guys in wardrobe to make me sound like some colossal lisping pervert, so a great time was had by all.

I was woken at home the next day with a hangover that felt as if underground nuclear testing was taking place in my skull, to learn the sorrowful news that my father had died just a few hours before, but I know that dad was proud of me for being a part of such a famous and successful production, and perhaps even more pleased and proud had he known of the eye-watering amount of alcohol I’d somehow managed to surround the night before. I have nothing but the very happiest memories of my time on The Crystal Maze. I was elated to audition for this programme and delirious with joy when I was accepted. I’m not usually one to tempt Fate, but I told anyone and everyone who would listen at the time that I was going to appear on this iconic programme, broadcasting the good news to the Four Winds, not in the least bit worried that my part might be edited out at the last moment.

I was excited to depart for the distant set each morning and I was awestruck to arrive at the airfield, with its haunted hangar and the enthralling production homed within its walls. All the contestants I encountered were ecstatic to be part of the programme, while I got the impression that all the crew equally felt that they were part of something special as well. I was in awe of the vast, intricate and imposing sets, while the act of getting ‘robed up’ as Lance was a heady sensation, knowing that I was about to become a real, living part of a programme that had captured the imagination of the world. It was just as exciting the following year to appear as the Aztec High Priest, to meet and work with Marino and Sam, then to renew my acquaintance with David, Ed and the rest of the crew.

I have a large extended family, with many younger cousins, nephews, nieces and the like, who were all thunderstruck to learn that I was going to appear on The Crystal Maze. My neighbours were excited, as were my other friends and family, while I don’t mind admitting that I was delirious with joy to see my gauntleted hand cradling a crystal in the opening sequences. I’m the only person, as far as I’m aware, to have had two separate speaking parts as two different characters on this fantastic show, but even if this hadn’t been the case and I’d just had one, fleeting appearance, I’m sure I’d be just as contented to have once been a part of something truly lasting and extraordinary.

With the recent revival of The Crystal Maze, I am often asked if I’m going to reprise my part as Lance or else as the Aztec High Priest. Well, to paraphrase Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, I’m always ready for a close up, but failing that happy eventuality, I continue to bask contentedly in the warm glow of my former thespian triumphs. It would be very poor form to hog the limelight, as I also had a small part as The Barker in the pilot episode of The Magic Carnival, which was planned as the successor to The Crystal Maze, but my photographs of my time on that particular set were lost in the fire that destroyed my home last year. A small part of me sometimes thinks that it would be great to appear once again in The Crystal Maze, but what will be, will be, and I wish nothing but happiness and great good fortune to all those involved in the programme’s latest incarnation.

In conclusion, I’m not sure that I can add a lot more to this account of my part in the story of The Crystal Maze. When I was invited to compose this piece a few days ago, I glanced at the Wikipedia page for The Crystal Maze, something I’d not done in years, and I was mildly surprised to see no mention of either Lance or else the Aztec High Priest. I’m not remotely bothered by this, not least because so many other people played more lasting and important parts than mine in this production, but I know from long personal experience how many people the world over are fascinated with the historical details of every aspect of this wonderful show. I hope that in writing this brief essay and in supplying some photos, that I’ll have satisfied the curiosity of anyone who’d ever wondered about these minor characters, and if you’ve derived any enjoyment from reading this account, then I’ll be very pleased.

- Dennis Price, Actor - The Crystal Maze (Series 5 and 6, 1994/1995).

12/03/2019

Crystal Maze Excitement reaching new levels

Crystal Maze excitement is reaching fever pitch here at the Maze Fan Blog right now... we have something secret we are working on - but we cannot talk about that just yet, maybe we will tell you later on in the year - so onto other things... We are looking forward to the new West End Maze in London to open on 29th March. It will feature 32 brand new games and be located in the iconic Trocadero Building. The venue will be 30,000 sq foot, which is almost the same size as the real TV Maze set in scale.

Here are some sneak first previews of the new Live Experience Maze. What a time to be alive, as a Crystal Maze Fan. It opens 29th March, and we will be there on opening day! Here's an article: https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/8585849/new-crystal-maze-live-experience-london/




06/03/2019

A King's Seal of Approval - Exclusive interview with Maze actor (Part 1)



WITHIN the mysterious world of The Crystal Maze, lived a few characters who brought the Zones to life. Dennis Price (Actor, Stage name: Dennis Llewellyn) - 1990's Crystal Maze actor who played Lance, Guard of the King's Seal and the Aztec High Priest, talks exclusively to The Crystal Maze Fan Blog. Here is the first instalment of his memories from working on the show.

If my memory serves me well, over a quarter of a century after the fact, I first set foot on the path that led to my time on The Crystal Maze a year or so before I started filming on series 5. I’d been lazing around at home in north-west London one afternoon when I was surprised to get a series of urgent phone calls from a few friends and an agent, asking me if it were true that I could speak Latin? At some point, during the course of a previous shoot I’ve forgotten, I must have mentioned that I’d studied Latin and ancient Greek to A level at school in the 1970s to some of my new friends and colleagues, and someone, somewhere must have remembered this.

I returned the calls, but without going into the minutiae of what I later presented, I composed a short excerpt from a Black Mass in Latin and performed it for an episode of Channel X’s The Unpleasant World of Penn & Teller. I was a Satanic High Priest, whose role it was to perform a Black Mass at some luridly decorated church in Richmond in south London for the benefit of the late, lamented Christopher Reeve, the star guest on the show. I haven’t spoken to him in a long time, but I’m as certain as I can be that Nick Badham worked on this production, then later recommended me for the part of Lance, Guard of the King’s Seal on series 5 of The Crystal Maze, for which kindness I remain eternally grateful to him.

For some reason connected to the passing of the years, I don’t remember my audition for the part, but I clearly recall that I was enormously excited to be appearing on The Crystal Maze, as it was a huge, huge show at the time. I made my way early in the morning in my old Ford Capri from Hendon where I lived, around an insanely busy M25 and then eventually up to the Aces High Studios at North Weald Airfield. I was overjoyed to be able to surround a huge, hot breakfast after I’d turned up, then I was taken to the wardrobe department, where I was gradually transformed into the baleful, taciturn character that Ed Tudor-Pole described as “Lance, Guard of the King’s Seal”.

All the original photos I had of my time on The Crystal Maze were lost in a blaze that destroyed my home on March 8th last year, which is a great shame, but I have a few photos of photos. I don’t remember having any say in what I eventually wore on set, but looking back, I’m delighted with the massive sword, huge cloak and furry collar, as I’ve long thought it was like a forerunner of Jon Snow and the Night’s Watch on Game of Thrones. Not that I come close to this man amongst men, but it’s yet another pleasing memory and aspect of my time on the show.


While I remember, aficionados of The Crystal Maze will be aware that Ed Tudor Pole went on to have a small part as a preacher in one episode of Game of Thrones. I never appeared in this particular series myself, to my regret, but two of my friends from my time on what was then the world’s only touring mediaeval jousting tournament worked extensively in the murderous world of Westeros; one was Rowley Irlam, the triple Emmy winning stunt co-ordinator and the other was Dominic Preece, who in turn spent most of his working time as the stunt co-ordinator on Outlander. But I digress.
On set, I was taken to meet David Croft, the director and another man amongst men, and I’m delighted to say that I’m still in regular touch with him all these years later. I also met Ed Tudor Pole and we got along well, but my contact with him was strictly limited due to the nature and schedule of the filming. I got to meet pretty much all the crew during my time there, but it was a bit bewildering for me as there were so many of them and they were all so tied up with their different jobs in and around the vast hangar.

I was given two lines to say; which one I articulated depended on whether or not the eager contestant had successfully completed their allotted task, which was correctly putting together the elements of the “King’s Seal”. I was told the result through a concealed earpiece and every one of them got it right, as far as I can remember, so “That is the King’s Seal” was all I said on camera during series 5. I had a great time while I was there; I was paid very well and I think I spent 6 mornings filming in total, while I was intrigued by the stories of the cavernous Hangar 6 being haunted, as I’d been seriously interested in ghosts and such like since I was a kid back in the 1960s.

I was invited back the next year to audition for the part of the Aztec High Priest in series 6, so I think I met up with David once again at some offices in Oxford Street before being given the part. This time around, instead of looking like Jon Snow and his brothers would do over a decade later in Game of Thrones, I wore some spangled outfit that might not be completely out of place on a particularly lurid edition of Rue Paul’s Drag Race. And now, I had some company, as there were two other guys with me in the Aztec Zone and we spent a fair bit of time chatting together in some secluded room before we were required on set.

One of them was a male model by the name of Sam, a lovely, kind and warm gentleman, while the other was Marino Franchi, who was working as a stripper at the time – well, not at exactly the same time, but after he’d finished filming for the day. Marino was a great guy as well, but I’ve not seen either him or Sam since then, although I naturally hope that they’re both happy and healthy, and that life has treated them well.

PART 2

First Look Inside the New Crystal Maze Experience

On the 29th March, the new live venue for The Crystal Maze Experience will open it's doors in the West End of London, just around the corner from Piccadilly Circus.

Up that road, opposite McDonalds
Following a £6million investment in development in the old Golden Nugget casino building, the new venue will be able to hold 3 times the number of visitors that the Islington location could handle. London's Evening Standard were invited along and have a few pictures from inside the venue and from what we can see it looks like the money is being well spent. Obviously, there's not an awful lot being shown and why would there be? Better to maintain the surprise for paying customers. It just so happens that two of those paying customers on opening night will be going representing us so as experts of the Crystal Maze, who better to cast reviewing eyes on the experience.

One game from the new venue has been revealed in an artist rendering so if you want to visit and go in completely blind with every game being a surprise, do not click...




Looks to be based on a game from the 90's series, one that you were guaranteed a soaking from.

Tickets for the new Crystal Maze Live Experience can be bought from https://the-crystal-maze.com/ and at the time of writing, there are still places available for opening night.

Prices start at £50pp.