'The Rescue of the Talisman' was a Spanish remake of
Knightmare and
Le Chevalier du Labyrinthe, produced by Televisión Española and broadcast on TVE 2.
Starting on 29th May 1991, it ran for three series, ending in 1994. Although it outlived the French version, it had fewer episodes (78 in total).
The plot of El Rescate del Talismán was more like the later
seasons of Knightmare, in which a quest object had to be retrieved from
Lord Fear's palace.
Teams of four children, summoned and aided by the Magician, were sent to recover a powerful
talisman stolen by the black wizard, El Señor de la Maldad (the Lord of Evil). The contestants were known as Emissaries of the Order of the Talisman, so the
dungeoneer in this version was called the "emisario" (emissary) or "caballero" (knight). The Magician would dress all four of them in knightly uniforms before the quest began.
In the first series, the emissary was blindfolded by a winged helmet ("el casco mágico"),
but this was later replaced by the familiar
horned helmet seen in Knightmare. They were also given a
knapsack, which came in useful as they were allowed to carry quite a few objects around with them. (As in Le Chevalier du Labyrinthe, there was no
life force and no
food to collect.) The Magician would then use his powers to transport the emissary into the
dungeon from his throne. The advisors watched the quest through a magic mirror in the
antechamber.
Each quest lasted only a single episode, and wasn't divided into
levels. There were apparently no
spells or
potions in the Spanish version. The challenges fell into three categories:
-- Guiding exercises, e.g. following a narrow path without straying across the edge.
-- Riddles posed by different characters. If the team gave the right answer, the character gave them an item that would be needed later in their quest.
-- Questions asked by talking heads that would appear somewhere in the room. The emissary could only continue the adventure if they answered correctly.
If the emissary failed any of the tests, they would be imprisoned in the castle and replaced by one of their teammates. The game was only lost if all four team members died (giving them even more lives than in the French version). Once they were
down to only one player with no advisors, they were guided by the Magician instead. It wasn't unusual for the first three contestants to be eliminated, with the remaining emissary given the task of rescuing the talisman and saving their friends.
The first series used only
David Rowe's hand-painted rooms, sometimes with new alterations. In the second series, real-life locations were introduced (using the same footage that was shot for Knightmare
Series 4 to 6, including some leftover material that never made it into the British show), and the Eye
shield was accordingly added to the dungeoneer's equipment. Interestingly, they continued to use the original painted rooms as well, resulting in a strange mixture of styles. At the end of a scene, the emissary was often seen leaving the same way they entered, which has been criticised by
KM fans for violating the ancient adage "
The only way is onward - there is no turning back!"
Near the end of their quest, the team would arrive in the
throne room, where La Dama Blanca (the White Lady) would appear in the window and ask three questions related to what happened in previous rooms. If they answered correctly, the next
step would appear, allowing them to continue. If not, the emissary was eliminated and replaced by a teammate, who was then provided with the missing step. Once they reached the other side, they would exit the room magically by sitting on the throne, as was the case in the French version.
While quests in Le Chevalier du Labyrinthe ended with a puzzle to release the treasure, El Rescate del Talismán always featured a final encounter with the Lord of Evil in his cave beneath the castle, similar to the dungeoneers meeting Lord Fear in person. This took place in a real studio set, where the emissary would remove their helmet. As in Knightmare, the villain was extremely easy to defeat - he moved
slowly and was destroyed simply by touching him and reciting a magic word they'd been given during their quest. They could then pick up the Talisman (a jewelled amulet) and win the game, before pulling a
sword from a stone to
free their kidnapped teammates. The Magician would take the Talisman and conjure up their reward.
The first series was sponsored by Sega, so the prizes consisted of Master System and Mega Drive game consoles. In later seasons each team member won a computer for their school. Viewers have recalled at least a couple of occasions where the final emissary forgot the magic word and was captured, so no prizes were won.
The Magician was played by a different actor in each of the three series: Eduardo MacGregor (1991-1992), Ricardo Palacios (1992-1993) and Ismael Abellán (1993-1994). While the original host was kind and helpful, his replacement was more inclined to mock and try to deceive the contestants, and would laughingly threaten to guide the final emissary into a pit (though of course he never did). The third host has been described as a Gandalf-like sage with long white beard and robes, based in a forest rather than a castle.
Daniel Fortea played El Señor de la Maldad, who resembled one of
Tolkien's Ringwraiths, with black robes and red glowing eyes. The villain of the third series was a red devil (said to be less ridiculous than his predecessor, as he could move at a normal
speed and speak!) with a froglike green henchman, perhaps inspired by
Lissard. Other characters included a skeleton named Tados (as in Le Chevalier du Labyrinthe), the
witch Uraut, a king, a female warrior, a princess, a jester, a monk, a frog prince, and
wall monsters using the same animations as
Brangwen and
Golgarach. There were also
Blockers,
goblins (known as
dwarfs) and
pookas.
El Rescate del Talismán used the same theme tune as Le Chevalier du Labyrinthe, with Spanish lyrics performed by rock singer Iñaki Egaña. In the second year they replaced the opening title sequence with that of Knightmare
Series 6-8 (including the theme music), but kept their own song for the closing credits. The show's ambient music was composed by Fernando Beti.
As with the British and French versions, there was also an MB board game based on the programme.
Three episodes from Series 1 are available on YouTube (
1,
2,
3), the third of which is missing the start. An episode from Series 2 can be downloaded from
this page of
Knightmare.com, or watched on YouTube (
pt1,
pt2). An episode from Series 3 has been shared on YouTube
here.