Ayoade also said the contestant were on the outer rim of the Crystal Maze at the start of the show - whereas in fact, they were standing in some mystery Aztec space where the tunnel used to go to Industrial, and they broke through some rocks. They emerged from the where the tunnel entrance once was and tip-toed over the stepping stones.
They weren't therefore starting on the outer rim of the Maze - they were starting sandwiched between the Aztec and Industrial zones.
It's already been established through the Celebrity specials the pathways between the zones as we knew it are gone, now with the option to play the zones in any order. It would have been nice for variety to have that first time round but of course if we take the overhead map as used in the original programme (bearing in mind what you saw on screen was pretty much what you got in terms of zone connectivity) it wasn't going to be practical.
These days of course commercial breaks cover up the entire zone transitions now so there's probably little need to have a life/tunnel/rope bridge/steps now.
But they did emerge from the tunnel from the Industrial Zone across the stepping zones in the 1st Celebrity Special. Which means they would have had to break through those rocks also - something which wasn't shown.
I know the transitions aren't actually present in the new Maze - but they seem to emerge from anywhere after the commercial break, into the Zone they are coming into. They could easily emerge from a manhole cover in the Industrial zone.
They aren't keeping it consistent in the new Maze therefore. However, it is good.
Various elements of the original show weren't consistent either - if you pay attention to what's going on different rooms hold different games in different episodes, and on at least one occasion IIRC the same room was used for two different games in the same zone and programme. You've also got that entire situation en route to the dome where they exit the maze via the entrance routes in the Aztec/Future zone and just run off up the stairs in both Industrial and Medieval despite it already shown not to lead anywhere else but the next zone. So inconsistency isn't new
Not that it really mattered but it was never explained how one got to the Crystal Dome from anywhere in the maze, aside from a shot in the Tudor-Pole years that revealed an extra door on an inside wall...
Much better episode this week - felt so old school it was unreal. Just the right level of thickness from the team that wouldn't have been out of place in the original
