From
TES issue 17 (September 2002)
Series 1/2/3/4/7.
Level 1/2/3.
GIANT REPTILES.
Just to be clear, I'm not talking about
dragons here. I'm talking about real live reptiles that were brought into the studio at Anglia Television and enlarged by the magic of advanced camera techniques, for the purpose of superimposing them into the
Dungeon as colossal saurian threats. The first of these appeared in series 1 in the shape of giant snakes, which appeared from behind a broken-down door to menace passing
dungeoneers in level one. This challenge returned for series 2, but caused no real damage to quests as it was only ever intended as a scare factor. The closest shave, I think, belongs to Neil from series 2 [pictured], who was a hair's breadth away from brushing a large purple pre-recorded snake before he managed to escape.
The threat of becoming snake-chow remained in series 3, in the particularly nasty form of the Dreadful Khar, an enormous Egyptian Cobra. He popped out of his pit in level one to menace travellers with his immense appearance, but never actually satisfied his apparent constant hunger by eating a dungeoneer. Khar also appeared in level three from a pit in the room that used to be used for
Combat Chess.
Mogdred or
Morghanna called him forth, but, again, he was purely a scare factor.
The threat of giant reptiles returned for
series 4, but shifted to the form of giant lizards. Simon III had to stop a hissing monstrosity that was guarding the wellway by freezing it in time with an hourglass. An even more enormous lizard lived somewhere amongst the ruins of
Dungarth, which started licking its lips and hissing when it saw a dungeoneer. As Jeremy [pictured] and Vicky found out, however, a speedy dash to safety was all that was required.
After series 4, with the advents of first puppetry and then computer graphics, it was much less common to see threats such as the giant snakes and lizards. We were treated to one more enlarged reptile, though, early in series 7: a tortoise called Nigel. He was actually
Hordriss in
disguise, and Simon IV had to convince him to return to his true form so he could rescue a mini-Sidriss from a bottle. So, we have had giant snakes, lizards and tortoises - and, of course, dragons - so the only question is, why were there no giant crocodilians? Answers, please!
Fear Factor: 7 Even if they were only pre-recorded film.
Killer Instinct: 0 Purely for show.
Humanity: 3 We're all vertebrates.
Gore Factor: 8 Primarily the reason for choosing to enlarge them.