Project 365: Day 55 — ‘The Crystal Maze’ & a huge shot of nostalgia

I happened to come across a video of a programme that used to air in the nineties when I was growing up. It was called ‘The Crystal Maze’. It was a British show, so naturally each season was called a ‘series’. It aired in the early nineties and came to India only in the mid to late nineties. I remember waking up at 5.30 am every Sunday to watch the show along with my grandfather who was the only person I knew (at the time) who could wake up at that ungodly hour.

Hosted by the wonderful Richard O’Brien (who unbelievably, was over 50 years old at the time), the show comprised of a group of 6 people playing a round of gaming tasks (physical, mental, skill and mystery), wherein each contestant would be sent in a room to complete the task. If they completed the task successfully, they’d win a crystal and if they didn’t they’d just have to make it out in the time set (usually a maximum of 2.30–3 minutes per task). The tasks were set in four ‘zones’ — Aztec, Medieval, Industrial and Futuristic. Aztec would be an Egyptian setting with sand et al; Medieval was old-fashioned and spooky, as the name would suggest; Industrial had, lights and leaky pipes and; Futuristic had a computer which talked (novel for the 90’s) and the monitor moved, so the other contestants watching their fellow contestants performing the task would also move along with the monitor (it was funny at the time). Each successfully completed task would end in the contestant getting his / her hands on a crystal. Each crystal would be worth 5 seconds in ‘The Crystal Dome’. The Crystal Dome is where all 6 contestants were taken at the end of the episode The contestants would have to step into the dome which they would be in for the no of seconds that the total no. of crystals had won them. For example, 10 crystals = 50 seconds (5 seconds each). In the dome, they’d have to collect gold foils as they flew around and deposit them in a box in the dome itself. They had to be careful not to add silver as silver indicated negative points. The Crystal Dome was far from the most exciting part of the show — the actual tasks were much more exciting even though they got repetitive after a while. Personally, I preferred the Aztec and Futuristic zones (the moving and talking monitor was my favourite).

After watching this Facebook video, a friend informed me that she had watched the entire series with Richard (he was replaced by another host in the last two seasons) on YouTube. So I decided to watch the show again. I can’t tell you how lovely it felt to relive the excitement that you felt in the pit of your stomach when the contestant was on the verge of completing the task and time was running out or if the contestant got locked inside on account of misjudging time. The group would then have to decide whether or not they would be open to trading a crystal for their trapped teammate’s freedom.

I’m probably going to binge watch at least the first series this weekend. Have you watched The Crystal Maze when you were younger? Are there any shows that have been an intrinsic part of your childhood? I’d love to hear about them. In the meanwhile, I’m going to leave you with a link to The Crystal Maze episodes on YouTube. Go check them out!

Till next time…

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