The Crystal Maze returns to C4

Here's my two pence worth.

Overall I enjoyed it. Richard Ayoade seems a good fit as presenter. I've often thought that someone like Russell Brand would be one of the few to pull off the zone master role but was pleasantly surprised with Richard bringing his own style to the show.

Industrial and Aztec zones plus the games rooms looked almost identical to the original sets, Medieval didn't look quite right to me (don't know why, less spider webs?). Would have preferred the old futuristic zone (if you know what I mean) but totally understand why they opted for a refreshed look. Was glad to see Ocean World not resurrected, absolutely hated that zone in the later original episodes.

Disappointing parts. The main dome set was a bit of a let down. I miss the rising of the drawbridge, the dome door opening and the classic 'hold on to the rail' line. I suppose some parts have been cut to fit in the extra commercials and it seems the Crystal Maze format has been constrained because of the increase in commercial breaks.

The sound during the games is a nod to Fort Boyard but is just annoying and needs ditching and the on screen clock is too big.

Future World in 1990 was what the future looked like then Future World in 2017 is what the future looks like now.
I don't understand the Ocean hate, it fitted in perfectly with the idea of these different worlds and looked beautiful on screen, at least iin it's first series before they mucked around with the lighting to make it look more like a sunken ship. Whereas I find the old Industrial totally dull looking, lighting etc makes it look better now though so I can get along with it.


The dome set simply had to change, the dome looked too ugly for starters. The drawbridge and low automatic door looked really naff by todays standards.

I think you're totally wrong there. You can't do a gameshow these days without music. And as The Crystal Maze is the closest gameshow that feels close to a movie or a high end drama it's even more important. It's not even a nod to Fort Boyard, it's just how gameshows are made now. As I already said the lack of music dates the 1990's series considerably and they're trying to make something for now not 1990!


I think a lot of your views are to do with wanting everything to be exactly the same as the original, despite the fact it doesn't all hold up in 2017. My view is they've largely kept everything the same but updated the things that needed updated for 2017.

Of course, those were my opinions. And those are yours, let's just agree to disagree. Your opinion certainly isn't gospel.

Of course it isn't. But I will say those three big changes (dome set, music and future world) are things I have long believed would have to change in a contemporary version of The Crystal Maze.

Will watch later but do wish they'd started out with the civilian episodes. The show itself is the star attraction and the SU2C episodes could have been held back until the event itself in the autumn.

The background music in the games I can take or leave - if used properly background music can enhance, otherwise it overpowers. Didn't Channel 5 Fort Boyard have background music in the games? I know Challenge Boyard did.

In an ideal world we'd keep the drawbridge at least for the dome but not the half height entry - it worked but realistically always felt like an afterthought.

Still, each to their own. Not a total disaster but will almost divide old school fans.

It did. The music on Boyard is a lot more overpowering, and it kind of worked well for that show as it didn't have a Richard O'Brien and the games were very physical. I think they've laregly struck the right balance here though.

I agree, although I think starting off with one celebrity special is important to get the biggest possible headline rating for the series launch. I think you almost have to disregard the fact they're in aid of SU2C, they're just celeb specials of this particular show and the money goes to that charity because it happens to be Channel 4's in house charity.

What horrific "celebrities" they've got for their first show. I'm guessing they worked their way downwards from actual celebrities and still had most of the five slots left to fill when they were leaving Y-list level.

Yes a really poor line up to launch with. I like Alex Brooker and he's really funny on The Last Leg but his performance on this highlights the fact he's not actual an comedian. Spence was Louie Spence, so it saved the episode by him being locked in for quite a bit of it. The others weren't interesting on this at all. Think even the Rylan episode would have been better. Don't imagine these are being shown in the sequence they were filmed.

It's just been commented on Bothers Bar that the new series will see all episodes being made available 48 hours early for O2 customers. So that's a really interesting direction for Channel 4 to be going in. Maybe in part why they are playing out all the celeb shows in one go.

Old school fan here, and I thought that was great. Clearly made with a lot of a respect for the original series, and it felt like it's where the programme could have evolved to had it continued over the last 20 years.

It's a shame they don't have the timer devices outside the game rooms any more, and yes the lack of moat and drawbridge is a bit of a disappointment, but then seeing the team climb into the Dome was always such an awkward shot that just held things up, so I'm not too bothered.

The reappearance of the player who has been bought out is a bit underwhelming compared to how they used to send a player back through the previous zones to collect them, but I guess ultimately unnecessary to the narrative of the game.

I'll be honest, I didn't notice the music during the games, but in the original there were always sound effects in the various zones like the birdsong in Aztec.

Enjoyed it and I'll definitely be putting it on Series Link.

Not to mention the fact it'd potentially leave team down to three or even two if they had more than one players locked in.