Lockdown 3: Lockdown with a Vengeance. Let the Binge Watching Continue

Happy 2021. Well it was inevitable, wasn't it? Once again Britain is locked in.

I won't say anything you haven't read or thought yourself, we know it's a pain in the arse, but what I can do is suggest something to fill in the hours you may be about to spend stuck inside again. 

Here's some playlists, if something takes your fantasy there'll be plenty more on YouTube to find.

If you've got any suggestions to add, stick them in the comments below and I'll add a playlist and this page will always be there keeping options available. And I'll get to the obvious one I've missed in due course. I found some more recent uploads of the episodes with much better picture quality than we've been used to on what's been uploaded to the youtubes in the past.

I Have Had My Tiny Little Mind Blown - There Was A Sequel Series to Crystal Maze: Magic Carnival

It's escaped my notice for 25 years, but there was a follow up to The Crystal Maze.

Last night I was watching Channel 4's "Back to the '90s", part of a series celebrating 4 decades of Channel 4. I was doing my usual thing on Twitter, liking and retweeting everything remotely relevant to this humble little blog. Every mention of quality Channel 4 programming (of which GamesMaster was noticeable by its absence). One tweet certainly grabbed my attention:

I Art Directed the last original series of The Crystal Maze, such a buzz to work on #backtothe90s

— Richard Drew (@dickydrew) December 28, 2020

The whole thread is there to find on Twitter, and after some messages, something came up that I've never heard of in 30ish years of being far too obsessed with a quirky Channel 4 gameshow:

I was very fortunate in my AD career to work with some fantastic Production Designers, but James and Dennis ( de Groot) probably had the biggest influence on me. James n I did the follow up show Magic Carnival together, was meant to succeed CM but it only got to pilot stage.

— Richard Drew (@dickydrew) December 29, 2020

Who Are The Final Set of Contestants For This Series (New Years Eve, 8pm)

 Almost as suddenly as it started, this series is almost over. However, we've still got one last episode to enjoy. So for the last time this series, who are they? Where've you seen them before? Which one's been on Strictly or I'm a Celeb? Keep reading after the photo.

Who Are the Next Set (December 24th) of Crystal Maze Contestants

 No sooner has one show finished and the next is nearly upon us. This Thursday, or as it was also known until fairly recently "Christmas Eve" (Hello Boris), at 10:55pm we get episode 5 of the current run. Yes, it's a little late but if you've got kids then they may well be up anyway in anticipation of whatever you've got them to play Fortnite on with a few more pixels to use. Or if you don't want them watching TV that late the whole run is on All4 already.

But who's taking part for the night, and where do you maybe perhaps possibly know them from?

Who Are Next Week's (Monday 21st December) Crystal Maze Contestants?

 Next week is bringing Christmas (sort of) and however we're each spending it, at least we still have some Crystal Maze to enjoy. Don't forget to go looking for the old Christmas specials online, they're all there if you look hard enough, and you don't have to look that hard. But who's taking part? Where do you know them from? And Why? When? How? If?.... Enough rubbish, here's who's who.

A Crystal Maze Christmas Special (for Future Consideration)

 'Tis the season to forget what an utter pile of [insert your own choice of something unpleasant here] this year has been. I'm finding myself laid up for a few days after a doctor stuck a needle in the underside of my foot and as such have spent today ploughing through various specials of various shows. 

My Christmas seasonal viewing tends to include the same shows year after year, I'm a creature of habit. I'll enjoy Richard Richard taking a finger off while preparing Christmas dinner in 'Bottom', I'll watch Blackadder's Christmas Carol and see the most harrowing use of a codpiece as Baldrick presents himself to the future Queen. I'll even revisit episodes of Never Mind the Buzzcocks I've got stashed for a Rick Wakeman/Bill Bailey supergroup the world needs more of.

But there's one set of shows that it should come as no surprise to anyone to know that'll I'll be watching without fail, the TCM Kids Christmas Specials. Yeah, I'll still be watching the more recent offerings that's have made the effort to offer up a more festive mise-en-scene but I do have a slight problem with them. As the show is currently, every show is a celebrity special, so they aren't all that special. I do really enjoy all the extra changes they make but, to me, they are missing one big shift that'd make them a proper Christmas Special.

A Reminder of New Civilian Crystal Maze, and News of New Celeb Specials

 Just a reminder that this Sunday sees some new episodes of The Crystal Maze starting to air on E4 at 4:55pm followed immediately by the family-friendly PG edit of all new Taskmaster.

Ever heard Roman numerals decoded in a Bristol accent?

No?

You haven't lived people!

Let's right that wrong on Sunday

4:55pm on @E4Tweets #CrystalMaze pic.twitter.com/ouA5w11UnO

— The Crystal Maze (@TheCrystalMaze) November 11, 2020

However that's just 3 new episodes, whatever will we do with ourselves when the third is shown in just over a fortnight?

At Long Last, 3 Forgotten Crystal Maze Episodes Get To Broadcast

 In 2017, 20 episodes were commissioned for a revived series of 'The Crystal Maze' hot on the heels of a successful one-off hosted by Stephen Merchant. Richard Ayoade took the helm for the series and everyone was enjoying themselves. However, as time wore on everyone was commenting that the games were becoming a bit samey, and viewing figures dropped as we'd all seen the Totem Mastermind Dragon game just a little too often. After 17 episodes, Channel 4 seemingly gave up with the run leaving three unaired.

These episodes still aired in other markets the show was sold to so they weren't forgotten completely, but last night @UndeniablyAlex alerted me to an ad airing on Channel 4 after they aired 'The Bridge' showing they were going to be airing these 3 shows on E4. "Coming Soon" says the ad so expect them within the month. 

@maze_blog @BothersBar here is that trailer confirming indeed S1 will finally be completed in the UK pic.twitter.com/qORcKK8PkO

— Danny Lee Kerner (@Danny_L_Kerner) November 1, 2020

About time too, with Lockdown 2 steaming into view on the horizon, I'm going to need something to watch. You'll be able to see The Ali family, The Midwives, and the Sasani Family and Friends at some point soon on E4.

The Midwives

Also, don't forget that The Crystal Maze USA will be back on Nickelodeon UK this week after a two-week hiatus. Friday, at 7pm.

My Trip Last Year to Test Out Games For The Crystal Maze

I've been sat around pretty bored of late. I keep ending up on eBay buying Crystal Maze related paraphernalia (more on that lot in another post for another day) so I thought I'd distract myself by recounting my travel last year from the North East to the South West to test games for The Crystal Maze.

I'll start by saying I don't drive, but thankfully we've got pretty good public transport covering the length and breadth of Great Britain. 

So...

Step 1 - Home to Middlesbrough: ~15 Miles. 

This stage is the easy bit. It's a trip I make not uncommonly. I went to Uni over there so it's somewhere I'm familiar with. At this time, McDonalds was doing Grand Big Macs so naturally, I had to go gorge myself on one in my usual combo - large meal, Big Mac, Fries, Strawberry milkshake. They should do GBMs more often because that meal kept me fed for the rest of what would be a long day. The meal in bag in hand, I head back to the bus station to wait for my first coach. I didn't take it on the coach, food in my possession rarely stays uneaten for long.

Step 2 - Middlesbrough to Leeds: ~65 miles

Getting Into Game Show Streaming inc. The Crystal Maze PC game

I'm a life long gamer. Since I first tore open a present of a Sega Master System 2 with built-in Sonic the Hedgehog (8-Bit version, bit different to the version everyone's familiar with), I haven't stopped. 

If you've got a PSN account, I'm 'Spudgun20', come say hello.

I recently got a new laptop which, unlike my past computers, doesn't soil itself trying to do anything more complex than minesweeper so I've been playing my old PS1 games via some emulators and I figured it could be fun to stream said games. 

As such, at twitch.tv/spudgun20 I'm going to be playing games such as 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire', 'The Weakest Link', 'Jeopardy', and a whole host of other older games on Twitch. It'll be mostly game shows but not exclusively, e.g. I've been rediscovering the game for The Italian Job. Chat'll be open, I'll get the old Crystal Maze PC game going, you can enjoy a relentless torrent of bad-control based failure.

If you know of any other game shows turned into games then let me know below. For now I've got TCM, Blockbusters, Weakest Link, Jeopardy, and Millionaire but I'd love to grow that list.

Follow me at twitch.tv/spudgun20 and say hi!

P.S. was setting my streaming up, looking for sound effects, and I found the ultimate clip of Chris Tarrant doing an alternate take for a voiceclip for a PC WWTBAM game (Some swearing within):

Two Key Members of the Maze Blog, And as Such Crystal Maze Superfans, Shortlisted for The Crystal Maze Live Experience Superfan Competition

"These old doomsday devices are dangerously unstable. I'll rest easier not knowing where they are."

- Professor Farnsworth

Great words by a great man, and words we can all live by I'm sure you'll all agree. But another great quote of his, far more relevant to anything going on today - 

As you may have guessed from the overlong title, two of our number have been shortlisted for The Crystal Maze Live Experience's Superfan competition. 

Crystal Maze Games That Were Too Hard To Win

One problem I've got with TCM since it came back, too many people going home with a prize. It's partly down to 50+ gold getting a middling prize but, and there's a mild spoiler for the US version rapidly approaching here so keep on reading at your own peril, out of 10 shows there was at least 3 and maybe 4 top prize winners.

A 100+ gold winner should be a treat, a rarity, there shouldn't be nearly half a series of winners. People are clearly winning too many games and earning too much time. A little conversation I had the other night started at frogs and ended up at games that were never won and as such, here's the '90s games that were never won, and should be looked at so as to stop people winning quite so often. I'm not including any of those one-off games made for a kid's Christmas Special as it's a lot easier to be an unbeaten game if only one small person has a go.

Series 1 - 1990

Nuke Defusing - A nice simple two minute game sharing a room with a nuclear bomb. It needed defusing by connecting the correct coloured wire to the associated image on the wall. For example connecting the YELLOW wire to a picture of some PAGES, or a GREEN wire to some FINGERS. The trouble comes in knowing what word was meant to be shown by the image, while it was meant to represent fingers, it's clearly a picture of a hand. With a two minute time limit, there was an explosion every time. Or the lights were turned up. Same thing.

Hows Everyone Managing? Keeping Yourselves Busy? There's Not A Lot of Crystal Maze Stuff To Mention, So Have Some More Playlists Instead

Hope everyone's coping well. It's been 3 weeks of this weirdness and hopefully we're at least past the halfway point, maybe.

There's not been much TCM-related stuff to mention lately, given the circumstances, but our best goes out to Phoebe Scholfield on the passing of her husband, actor Jay Benedict, in relation to the present situation.

Phoebe had a role as a one-time sleeping princess from the first series of TCM. Other times this game was used, the role was played by Karen Heyworth. Phoebe's husband Jay may be best recognised as Newt's father from 'Aliens'

All of us at the blog send our best, our thoughts are with her and the rest of his family.

The Marvellous Work of Charlie Wheeler

We've all been finding ways of passing time whilst in lockdown, I myself have been perfecting my juggling, standing on my head and polishing off some PS4 games (My PSN ID is Spudgun20 if you want to add it, let me know you came from here). However that pales in comparison to what Charlie Wheeler has been doing with his time.

Couldn't sleep, so I finished off the #crystalmaze Industrial Zone! Fairly happy with this, could just do with being a bit dirtier. Modelled entirely in Cinema 4D :) pic.twitter.com/C3tNiuD9ox

— Charlie (@Wheeler____) March 31, 2020

Week One Of The UK Lockdown Done, How's Everyone Doing?

Obviously, with TV production at a bare minimum and presenters hosting shows from their homes, there's not going to be any TCM in the near future. So, putting game shows to the side for now, how's everyone coping? Think I can sum up my monotonous days quite adequately in a song...

On the plus side, I finally got hold of another book I needed for my TCM collection. The Crystal Maze Puzzle Book 2 has been listed online for months at extortionate prices. Only a week or so ago it was on eBay for £77. I know that the main book seller on there has an automated pricing system so its an algorithm deciding to try and fleece bank accounts but still, £77. Thankfully that automated system dropped it to £6 at the back end of last week so I snapped it up while I could before it shot up again.

 Let us know how you're managing in the comments below. Found anything good worth watching to share? Just need a chat? I might have to sort out a little get together on Twitch or something

Challenge TV - Keeping Game Shows Repeats on Rotation Since '97

In 1995, the original run of The Crystal Maze came to an end and, this being before video streaming online or on-demand services, it meant there was no real way to watch the show anymore. One option was occasional repeated showings as part of Channel 4's 'The Bigger Breakfast'. This was an extension to the regular Big Breakfast which would be scheduled during school holidays when kids had less to do and needed more TV aimed at them to keep them busy. In amongst showings of 'Saved By The Bell', 'Batman' (the '60s version) and 'Eerie, Indiana' would often be a repeat of TCM. In 2000 The Bigger Breakfast' was replaced by T4 and the programming changed to mostly just be Popworld and repeats of Hollyoaks. However there was a more long term option than waiting for school holidays and hoping TCM was included in the week's programming. 

In 1993, "The Family Channel" was launched in the UK. Born from the remnants of ITVs closed South East franchise TVS, The Family Channel promised no sex, violence or bad language and instead focused on programming the family can watch together. Shows on the channel included Remington Steele, The Wonder Years and The Bob Newhart Show. However most importantly what would be a precursor to the the channels future, self produced content in Trivial Pursuit and a family version of the Roy Walker classic Catchphrase.

In 1997 the channel was rebranded as Challenge TV and all focused moved to game and quiz shows. Now while Challenge in its current incarnation has a somewhat limited selection (as I'm writing they've scheduled 2 hour blocks of Bruce's Price is Right, Pointless, The Chase and All Star Family Fortunes for the day), when it first launched there was a much wider range of programming filling the hours.

The Crystal Maze - 30th Anniversary Toast Post

30 years ago today on February 15th 1990, Sinead O'Connor was depressing everyone at #1, the UK was still 1 month away from the greatest movie ever committed to film in "Weekend at Bernie's" and Channel 4 broadcast the first episode of what would become a rather successful adventure game show. We just wanted to share some enthusiasm around the show and we also asked some fans to share their opinions of the show in a toast to The Crystal Maze's 30th anniversary (Note: Two days after we started putting this together, TCM's official Twitter account started asking for similar comments, so some may be via them):

@Phil98167545

Its entertaining. The host makes me laugh. He is a great host.😃

— Delina Edmond (@DelinaEdmond) February 11, 2020

I like it because of the set designs, the inspiration it gives me for my many projects...and I like shouting at the screen at the players who cant figure out where the Button for U3 on the wall (I'm looking at YOU Mr. Richard Colburn!)

— J.D. Sadler (@TheFinalDoctor) February 11, 2020

⭐️💎⭐️ THE CRYSTAL MAZE ⭐️💎⭐️💗👍🏼 I love The Crystal Maze! Missed him! 🥺 pic.twitter.com/dmaCnCz9JF

— CViper (@CViper2) February 11, 2020

I loved the crystal maze it so entertaining and with richard Ayoade as the host and he's funny he makes me laugh

— Samantha Redwin (@samantha_redwin) February 11, 2020

@JGAdventureZone

Cos I was on it!! 😉
Didn’t do that well 🤷🏻‍♂️
Got injured thanks to Ed Tudor-Pole 😩
Met five great people. Had three great days 26 years ago!! 😳 pic.twitter.com/9KbbLau1sh

— Roy Ellaby (@elan4872) February 11, 2020

what would you like me to say, it is my favorite UK Game Show, and it's something I would probably spend the most time on GSIS talking about, and saving it for a good guest!

— Jordan Hass (@jordha) February 11, 2020

It’s an epic adventure in sixty minutes culminating in a “Will they? Won’t they?” reveal.

What’s not to love? I’ll watch it until the day I die.

— Rob James (@FrasyBaby) February 12, 2020

I loved this show in the 90s! The #CrystalMaze deserved a reboot and it especially deserves to be screened in America (what took so long?) https://t.co/LGtDMGA34q

— Atish Patel - WTSP (@ATISH_WTSP) February 10, 2020

Loved the show from the very start - channel hopping & seeing this crazy bald guy locking someone up inside a medieval castle. There was nothing on tv like it....plus the fact that the zones were all genuine sets & not green screen absolutely amazed me. 🚀⚙️⚱️⚔️

— Phil Newton-England (@PhilNew98167545) February 13, 2020

I love the show because it was way ahead of its time. It was a very modern thing to watch back in the 90s, nothing we had ever seen before. It brought us escapism, adventure and fantasy. It brought us memorable moments. It made us all want to enter the Maze ourselves. This became a lifelong dream of mine. I was lucky to enter the maze twice by working on the new series. I've collected tonnes of items from the show, including timers from two of the original zones, Crystal's, tokens, books, jacket and more. I am so happy to see the Maze still going strong 30 years on. Maze Master Edward Tudor-Pole was just as good as Richard O'Brien. I loved Ocean Zone. - Neil Robinson

I feel like to get the best TV escapism and fantasy nowadays, you have to pay for it via Tom, Dick or Harry's streaming service. The Crystal Maze is free to air, and for that I will always be grateful 💎❤

— Alison G (@AlisonGurney) February 13, 2020

#crystalmaze30 #CrystalMaze

If there is one thing we can all agree on about what makes @TheCrystalMaze special other than the set designs and Games...It's the FAILS (Clip Source: https://t.co/0Ivu34VFqN)! pic.twitter.com/n93N8vKNSC

— J.D. Sadler (@TheFinalDoctor) February 13, 2020

L💎VE the show so much, I walked down the aisle to the theme tune 💙 pic.twitter.com/JocHgRZ4tz

— Phil Newton-England (@PhilNew98167545) February 14, 2020

Made a little something pretty for #crystalmaze #30years 💎 pic.twitter.com/YG9cA9y8Se

— Charlie (@Wheeler____) February 14, 2020

Ed Tudor Pole Appearing at Whitby Steampunk Weekend This Weekend (8th - 9th Feb)

Mazemaster #2 Ed Tudor Pole will be appearing at Whitby Steampunk Weekend this weekend. On  Saturday, Ten Pole Tudor will be performing along with Alice's Night Circus and Biscuithead & the Biscuit Badgers (best band name ever) at the Whitby Pavilion.

And then on Sunday the 9th, ETP will be talking about his life and career as well as answering questions in a Q&A.Now I wouldn't expect too much talk on TCM but for me, it was the show that got me into his music. Plus with 'Swords of a Thousand Men' gaining some popularity as the soundtrack to Haven's current ad campaign, there'll be some new listeners discovering Tenpole Tudor's work. By the way, if you've never seen Aardman's "The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists!" I strongly suggest you change that.

As mentioned on the poster, outside of music he's appeared in Kull the Conqueror with Kevin Sorbo of Hercules fame and Tia Carrera from Wayne's World, Game of Thrones, played Riff Raff on stage in The Rocky Horror Show and was in scenes cut from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

The US Marketing Begins

With under two weeks to go until TCM starts in the States on Nickelodeon, the marketing push has begun.

Today Nickelodeon put this out on Twitter as a brief introduction to the world and format of TCM.

EVERYTHING you need to know about The Crystal Maze 🔮Premiering Jan 24! pic.twitter.com/8WCI5rgKjN

— Nickelodeon (@Nickelodeon) January 12, 2020

We knew it would be a $25k top prize rather than the underwhelming rewards that are part and parcel of the UK show but the video explains how this prize is earned. Every gold token is worth $100 (that's some pricey Mylar), and we can assume silvers are -$100, so a minus score should mean they go home with nothing. Also, whilst the current UK rules mean you get nothing scoring 49 or less, I'd assume that even a gold total of +1 we still see them get $100.

Who's Who in the Christmas Special Line Up

As reported by The Sun this week, we may have a line up for this year's Christmas Special.

Returning for a second adventure is captain Scarlet Moffatt, alongside Strictly judge Shirley Ballas, choir leader Gareth Malone, Coronation Street alumni and Strictly contestant Catherine Tyldesley, and Mash Report host and comedian Nish Kumar. Also featuring is a cameo from One Foot in the Grave's Richard Wilson

It's been a while since I've done one of these, but for the uninitiated, let's see who they are: