From TES issue 65 (September 2010)

Series 4/5/6/7/8. Level 2/3.
THE CORRIDOR OF BLADES

Although this obstacle has by far the longest tenure of any Dungeon threat, it does not have anything like the greatest number of appearances or victims as it was used somewhat sporadically, unlike the (somewhat overused) causeways. However, when the Corridor of Blades did put in an appearance, we always knew we were in for an exciting time!


Series 4 was the only series in which it actually featured as a regular challenge. Who could forget that first moment when a buzzing circular saw started thundering down the corridor towards Alistair (which came as a complete surprise and a jarring shock, as the blade-free version of the corridor had already appeared twice in the series) to the sound of Pickle’s urgent tones telling the advisors to take action, only for Alistair to be sawn in half a few seconds later as the entire team fell to pieces.

Perhaps going some way towards proving their worth as the series champions, Dickon’s team later showed us how the Corridor of Blades should be done, while Giles had a very near miss with one of the blades and had to endure (perhaps as a consequence of this) the entire blade sequence running through twice! There was a strange but brief appearance of the blades during Simon’s quest too, this time in level two rather than level three, but Gundrada was on hand to guide him safely, and they only had to move once anyway!

The Corridor of Blades appeared twice during series 5, but both teams were undoubtedly in losing status at the time, and I very much suspect that the obstacle was only included as a quick and interesting way of killing them off. This is undoubtedly the case with Duncan’s team, who had trundled gaily past level two in the Descender, while Sarah’s team – having dithered too long with their ruby and failed to gain Elita’s help – didn’t stand much of a chance either!
The Corridor made one appearance each in series 6 and 7, and it is during its series 6 appearance that the phrase “the Corridor of Blades” is first uttered, by Pickle in a suitably nervous tone. On this occasion, Sofia’s generally brilliant team managed to complete the challenge successfully (just one of the many reasons why their quest was much harder than that of Ben’s “winning” team that year) while during the final episode of series 7, Barry’s team completed the tricky obstacle (albeit with an incredibly close shave) as part of their distinctly lengthy level three.

The Corridor of Blades returned for series 8, apparently residing in Marblehead now, and claimed its fourth victim in the shape of Daniel. Although this was quite a satisfying death, the fact that it happened at all is a tremendous shame in many ways and for many multifaceted reasons, but let’s not go into that now. Similarly, let’s not go into the travesty that is the Short Cut, which facilitated the Corridor’s final two appearances, with Dunstan and Oliver. For reasons I’d rather not remember, they both entered the Corridor of Blades in level one (this was a so-called “second entrance” if you can believe that) and they both made it through to level three, although (like Giles and Barry before him) Dunstan had a very close shave and still managed to get through… and I think it’s best not to say any more about that!

[See also: Gatwick]

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From TES issue 3 (June 1996)

THE CORRIDOR OF BLADES: SERIES 4-8: LEVELS 1-3
This must surely be the most bloodthirsty of creations ever to haunt Knightmare Castle. This particular obstacle was first released upon the hapless Alistair and friends in series four, bringing a cruel end to their quest.

The corridor of blades was a typically simple, yet ingenious addition to Knightmare's weaponry. The dungeoneer would simply travel innocently on a conveyor belt through a corridor when blades would suddenly whizz past - left, right, above, below - all this made worse by the obvious hindrance of no vision ! Guiders would lapse into panic stations, generally each guider would begin to bark instructions at the top of their voices - confusion and a gruesome death were usually the next two stages!

All of which brings us back round to Alistair and team - a classic example of how not to deal with the corridor of blades!

The team were clearly becoming nervous - having reached level three, with their goal in sight, they dashed hurriedly past the dangerous skull ghosts onto the moving floor of the corridor. The passage seemed harmless enough, until Pickle suddenly urged Alistair to move - cue panic stations amongst the guiding team. Within seconds a huge blade sliced Alistair in two, with the young team visibly heartbroken by their failure. By gum, I remember it well !

Ever since this gruesome beginning , the corridor has developed into the ultimate frightener for all teams - they are clearly gripped with fear from the moment they realise what lies before them. Towards the end of Knightmare's history, the corridor became a potential short cut from level one to level three. A clear indication of what an achievement it is to survive the corridor of blades.....

DIFFICULTY: 8 With a cool head, and a quick mind...
GORE FACTOR: 10 Say no more !!
KILLER INSTINCT: 7 Many quests ended here.
FAIRNESS: 7 Asked a lot of younger teams

Written by and submitted with the kind permission of Paul McIntosh.

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The Corridor of Blades was inspirational enough for one Knightmare Discussion Forum member to make it a username. Corridor_of_Blades joined the forum in June 2003 at the age of 18, almost immediately expressing a note of surprise: 'I would have thought my user name would be in use already??????????????????????????' Nine days after registering, Corridor_of_Blades made his/her fifth and final post to date.

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Ah yes the Knightmare feature that could really cut you down to size. The Corridor of Blades appeared on Knightmare from series 4 to 8, and was responsible for many a death. Basically to survive the CoB the advisors had to watch for blades heading down the corridor and move the dungeoneer out of the blades way. As you can see the team in the above photo weren't so successful in doing so. In series 8 the CoB was used as the SHORT CUT from levels 1 to 3, thus bypassing level 2.

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