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The Crystal Maze is back; David Tennant hosting one-off special

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T

Tregard

Soothsayer
David_Tennant__Twitter_is_like_being_stalked_by_committee.jpg


crystal-maze.jpg
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Not only is the Crystal Maze revival you've been dreaming about apparently in the works - but its new host is a bonafide Time Lord.

21 years after The Crystal Maze signed off, Channel 4 is plotting to bring it back for a star-studded special potentially hosted by Doctor Who's David Tennant

The Crystal Maze is reportedly initially being eyed as a one-off special for Stand Up To Cancer, with the possibility of a full series if ratings are strong enough.
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Via Digital Spy

We'll blimey, this is something I didn't expect. A Crystal Maze revival has been a dream of mine since I was young, but I am terrified they will screw this up. The one-off special is a celebrity edition with comedians, and if they don't take things semi-seriously, I'm afraid a lot of the *magic* will be lost. So many questions, I'm sure we will find out everything in due time.

Automatic Lock-In in Ocean Zone if old.
 
G

GeeTeeCee

Member
Celebrities? Even as a kid, one of the greatest joys of The Crystal Maze was watching a team of regular people slowly turning against each other as the weak links emerged.

That, and the Futuristic zone was great. As long as they don't skimp on the sets I can live with it.
 
M

mclem

Member
GeeTeeCee said:
Celebrities? Even as a kid, one of the greatest joys of The Crystal Maze was watching a team of regular people slowly turning against each other as the weak links emerged.

That, and the Futuristic zone was great. As long as they don't skimp on the sets I can live with it.
Click to expand...

Based on how the rumours are circulating, it's a charity thing, hence the celebrity involvement. Since it's *very* short notice, people are assuming they'll be making use of The Crystal Maze Experience site; they're not going to be filling an aircraft hangar with sets for a single one-off!

That said, it's quite conceivable that this may also be a backdoor pilot. What the long-term setup may be, who knows?
 
T

Tregard

Soothsayer
McGreevious said:
Why no Richard O'Brien? Will they keep the theme tune the same? Will there still be an Aztec zone?

So many questions.
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Reckless Rick is in his mid 70s now, as much as I'm sure he'd love to do it again, I just don't think he has the energy to do it all again with the same vim and showmanship we're used to. Tennant is a fantastic choice, much better than I would have expected (although for my money Paul McGann would be the best Doctor -> Mazemaster)

Theme tune is rock solid, no changing that.

I would bet my life they keep all the zones the same for this special and potential first reboot series, after that, I could see one of them getting phased out.

GeeTeeCee said:
Celebrities? Even as a kid, one of the greatest joys of The Crystal Maze was watching a team of regular people slowly turning against each other as the weak links emerged.

That, and the Futuristic zone was great. As long as they don't skimp on the sets I can live with it.
Click to expand...

I suspect they'll be filming this in the London live experience version for the one-off, that or they're going to cheese it spectacularly with a new set, because lord knows you wouldn't build a full set for a one-off unless you knew you were doing a full reboot.
 
B

Browny

Banned
Looking forward to it. I expect multiple instances of:

"How long do we have?"

"Oh, ages yet."
.
.
.
.
.

"5 seconds..."

"Get out get out GET OUT RUN RUN RUN"

"Oh unlucky..."
 
T

Tregard

Soothsayer
mclem said:
That said, it's quite conceivable that this may also be a backdoor pilot. What the long-term setup may be, who knows?
Click to expand...

Heard a potential theory that if they build a set they'd be heavily pitching this to other countries to film their versions here. Well, countries that don't have Fort Boyard, that is.

I would bet any money we get a Richard O'Brien cameo in this special, passing the maze keys over for a second time. I do hope they show the whole thing as a single show, not spliced up throughout the night, that would suck.
 
T

Thornton Reed

Member
Tregard said:
Heard a potential theory that if they build a set they'd be heavily pitching this to other countries to film their versions here. Well, countries that don't have Fort Boyard, that is.

I would bet any money we get a Richard O'Brien cameo in this special, passing the maze keys over for a second time. I do hope they show the whole thing as a single show, not spliced up throughout the night, that would suck.
Click to expand...

he is going to be mumsy
 
S

Sir_Crocodile

Member
Tennant is one of the few people with enough energy to pull this off

Mumsy should be Catherine Tate

McGreevious said:
Why no Richard O'Brien? Will they keep the theme tune the same? Will there still be an Aztec zone?

So many questions.
Click to expand...

I loved that in every other zone there was a special "dry-off" room, but if you got wet in the Aztec Zone, you were SOL as Richard expected you to be "warmed by the hot amazon sun" lol
 
M

Monty Mole

Member
I thought they stopped the Crystal Maze because it was so ludicrously expensive to make - the sets were huge and sprawling. Of course, that was also the charm.

In 2016 they'll need to make significant cuts somewhere, hopefully they don't go the green screen route.
 
M

Monty Mole

Member
Aiii said:
So this is like Fort Boyard?
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Yes, Crystal Maze was born out of Fort Boyard. Because the fort wasn't available for filming for the initial series, Channel 4 decided to develop their own format instead based on the idea and The Crystal Maze was born.

But instead of using a fort, they used man-made huge, sprawling sets with different 'zones', it was like nothing else before or since.

We did end up getting Fort Boyard many years later (courtesy of Channel 5) but it paled in comparison.
 
N

NEO0MJ

Member
Man, I loved the original show. I liked that people could win this, unlike that Japanese show the Fort/Castle(?) where by the time the contestants reached the end too many were disqualified and had to face the full force of the fort and their super tank.
 
T

Triggerhappytel

Member
As soon as I read the topic title I now have the Crystal Maze song in my head!

Thornton Reed said:
nailed the host. What a perfect choice
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Yeah, he's a great choice. A very fun and charismatic guy. He was excellent when he presented Buzzcocks.

NEO0MJ said:
Man, I loved the original show. I liked that people could win this, unlike that Japanese show the Fort/Castle(?) where by the time the contestants reached the end too many were disqualified and had to face the full force of the fort and their super tank.
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Takeshi's Castle. But yeah; that feels like it was designed to never be won. I've probably seen 30 (?) episodes on Challenge TV or whatever, and even the commentator makes fun that no-one ever wins.
 
C

clockpunk

Member
Fantastic!

I took part in the Crystal Maze Experience in London a few weeks back - and felt as though I were right back in the 90's. It was amazing (and the dome is a lot harder than you might imagine). But of my four games, I earned the team 4 time crystals. ^_^
 
N

NEO0MJ

Member
Triggerhappytel said:
Takeshi's Castle. But yeah; that feels like it was designed to never be won. I've probably seen 30 (?) episodes on Challenge TV or whatever, and even the commentator makes fun that no-one ever wins.
Click to expand...

It was bullshit. Though I think I once saw an episode where the challengers won.
 
L

Lucreto

Member
Hype!!!

I was hoping for a revival for years.

I am so happy right now.

Been watching the reruns on challenge TV.
 
M

mangochutney

Member
McGreevious said:
Why no Richard O'Brien? Will they keep the theme tune the same? Will there still be an Aztec zone?

So many questions.
Click to expand...
It is apparently being filmed at the live experience place, so presumably the answer is yes, it will have Aztec.

The live experience has Aztec, Industrial, Futuristic and Medieval.
 
D

Death Metalist

Member
Hell yes, adored this show back in the day. Probably one of the best when it comes to these kinds of shows with Takeshi's Castle being the best.
 
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