29/05/2019

Fort Boyard on the Nintendo Switch and PS4

The Crystal Maze would not be without its sister show, known as "Fort Boyard".



Fort Boyard had a brief airing in the UK but did not take as well to our culture, as both Channel 5 and Challenge TV commissioned runs.

24/05/2019

Crystal Maze Sketches/Parodies Extra Extra (I need to learn to remember all of these at once)

In Britain, we love a panel show. Any excuse to cram a load of comedians and presenters on screen so they can all bounce off one another and have a joke about life, events, and everything in between. Since 2004, Channel 4 has marked the end of every year with 'The Big Fat Quiz of the Year' hosted by Jimmy Carr.

There have been a few spinoff versions over the years, BFG of the 80's/90's/00's, BFG of Everything but the one in question was the Big Fat Anniversary Quiz celebrating 25 years of Channel 4. With future mazemaster Richard Ayoade partnered with David Mitchell, after a couple of hours of questions covering everything from Oliver Reed getting lecherous to Shaun Ryder getting TFI Friday in more trouble than anyone had ever been in on the network, the BFAQ ended with a Crystal Maze clip, question and budget dome. It's a loose fit for "Sketch/Parody" but I'm counting it just based on the dome.

21/05/2019

The Crystal Maze New Zone

Following on from the huge official announcement that The Crystal Maze is to get a brand new zone for the first time since Ocean Zone replaced Industrial, we've made some mock-up graphics of what the new map and Eastern Zone logo may look like. This is a prime opportunity for the producers to update the graphic map and make it feel a bit more classic. But let's not get our hopes up. However the new zone is truly breathtaking (We've been around the new zone, but are not allowed to say anything more than that right now!). It's an opportunity for a colourful new zone, moving away from the dark and dinginess of Medieval. This will keep the show fresh, and we will also get to see newly themed games. James Dillion, production designer of the original Maze has brought us the new Eastern Zone. Amazing work.

20/05/2019

The (Maneki Neko) Cat is out of the Bag

A press release went out and the Radio Times reported it today so we can finally say:


There's a new zone



Thank Thor for that, I hate keeping secrets. Anyway, I was midway through typing up another Sketch/Parody post when it came to my attention that the Radio Times website had let loose the news we discovered in March that Medieval is no more and the castle has been replaced with an Eastern palace.

Richard Ayoade in the new zone with a new suit

15/05/2019

Crystal Maze Parodies/Sketches Extra (Another Video)

The bane of many a schoolteacher having to deal with their kids shouting 'Bogies', Dick and Dom in Da Bungalow was a weekend morning show (Two hours on a Saturday, one on a Sunday) that had kid contestants playing daft games throughout the mornings. Examples of such games saw them having to stick toast to themselves with chocolate spread, betting on who would win a race between a group of crawling one-year-olds, and spending points on forfeits for their friends, one of which saw a girl wearing a large gutted fish on her head. The finale of the Saturday show was always an overblown excuse for everyone to throw custard at each other to the sound of 'Ace of Spades' by Motorhead, often punctuated by a bucket of the yellow stuff slipping from one kid's hands to crack another in the head. For the last series, they made this segment into a game show parody which culminated in a muck-muck fight. 'Bullseye' was reincarnated as 'Bullsmuck' complete with original co-host Tony Green calling the scores, 'Strike It Lucky' became 'Strike It Mucky', and The Crystal Maze became...

13/05/2019

TV Choice Awards Voting

Throughout the year TV awards from different groups come and go, and the longlist for the TV Choice Awards features our favourite game show in the Best Entertainment category. So if you get a spare 3 minutes, feel free to go onto the TV Choice site, vote for whatever you like in the other categories but when you get to the Best Entertainment grouping, save your click/tap for The Crystal Maze.

https://awards.tvchoicemagazine.co.uk/vote-here

06/05/2019

Crystal Maze Parodies/Sketches (Video-heavy Post)

In 1992 Kurt Cobain, of the grunge group Nirvana, said that he felt like the band had finally made it after 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' was the basis for a parody by Weird Al Yankovic. Comedic tributes for things don't happen out of malice, they happen because the subject involved is highly ingrained in the public consciousness. Over the years there's been a few tributes to TCM featured on TV, so for those that haven't seen them (I'd guess mostly through age or these shows not being shown wherever you may be reading), here's a few.


The Mary Whitehouse Experience