From TES issue 66 (November 2010)

Series 3. Level 2.
MERLIN’S THRONE ROOM
What a brilliant idea it was to include the summoning of Merlin’s three steps in series 3! Not only did it add a bit of continuity between the events of levels one and two for the first time (just one of many seeds of development sewn during this series) but it also served to underline the importance of a meeting with Merlin at that crucial point in level two, where he would either reward you with magic, thus ensuring your passage to level three, or judge you unworthy of his aid, thus dooming your quest. As the sole remaining original Dungeon-bound character, Merlin’s importance as the Master Wizard was really bigged up throughout this series, and the calling of the three steps showed both the team and the watchers what a crucial point they had reached in a stark and visually pleasing fashion.
It is testament to the fact that series 3 was particularly tough that only half of the teams (exactly six out of twelve) got far enough (and with enough information) to complete this challenge successfully. If Merlin’s room was supposed to represent the halfway point of the entire quest, that means that only half the teams in series 3 managed to get halfway into the quest, which just goes to show that this series was ruthless with its punishment of the teams’ mistakes. Think of Scott’s team, who had missed the first step and were forced to make their dungeoneer take a jump (although a big step would have been better, I’m sure) and so ended their quest thanks to that one small piece of missing information. And even if the team did manage to summon Merlin successfully, they still had to get both his riddles right (”Two out of two or it just won’t do!” – Merlin) if they were to stand any chance of reaching level three, as Julie’s team discovered to their cost.
I always found it much more satisfying to see actions being carried out to invoke the steps rather than simply calling them (as Scott and Martin did, disappointingly) but the gradual appearance of the path was always pleasing and exciting to watch. I’ve often wondered whether animal noises could have been used to invoke such unused steps as the cat and the dog; indeed, some steps that were actually invoked did require a noise rather than an action, such as music and laughter.

login to vote