It would arguably be misleading to devote a
Lexicon entry to
Knightmare Series 2's toadodile without acknowledging that
Jake Collins wrote about this creature for
The Eye Shield (
TES) fanzine in 2005, kindly sharing his article in the Lexicon in 2007 (see:
giant amphibian).
In writing about the toadodile myself, I will quote from that earlier
TES article using italics.
A large green creature that sometimes floated around at the far end of the [variants of the Great Corridor of the Catacomb] in Series 2, and was apparently a threat to dungeoneers.
The toadodile was encountered by four
teams and two characters in Series 2:
Team 6 of Series 2,
Level 1
"Something is coming!" intoned
Treguard gleefully. This portrayed the as yet unnamed creature as an advancing menace, even though it proved not to be so mobile.
The green light in which the corridor was bathed complemented the toadodile and may even have been magically emanating from it.
After being wrongly guided to the exit with the
Cup, Treguard reminded the team of their quest object and dungeoneer Akash was redirected left to the exit with the
Sword while the toadodile looked on.
With the team already in
losing status after multiple blunders, the toadodile may have longed to finish them off but left that to
Lillith. Her description of Akash as a
greenhorn may have endeared him to the toadodile, but it was too late.
Team 7 of Series 2, Level 2
Having quizzed the team on the Minotaur,
Merlin forewarned them that they would "meet [their] own monster" and, upon doing so, should "take the first left to escape". When later faced with the toadodile, dungeoneer Neil took the nearest left-hand exit from the corridor.
Treguard cautioned the team: "You don't have magic powerful enough to deal with this entity." As well as implying that the toadodile could pose a serious threat, this discouraged the team from prematurely using the
SHOVEL spell they were carrying. In the event, the team failed to cast the spell at all, wrongly recalling it as
SPADE.
Team 9 of Series 2, Level 2
The toadodile is encountered by dungeoneer Jamie and
Cedric the monk, who advanced to "keep it busy" with his quarterstaff while Jamie exited to the left (the portal has a crown, his quest object, above it). Cedric had agreed in the previous room to journey along with Jamie, hoping for "some action" for his "staff arm".
We don't fully hear what Cedric calls the creature, except that it includes "you toad". Given that Cedric called Team 7's dungeoneer "toad features", this doesn't tell us an awful lot.
Team 10 of Series 2, Level 2
Dungeoneer Julian was travelling with
Folly the jester when they entered the corridor and Folly exclaimed: "Yikes! it's a toadodile!" Folly's use of "toadodile" was instructive (
watchers now knew what to call the creature), as was his use of "a" (implying other toadodiles existed elsewhere).
Folly continued: "Quick, Julian. I'll try to hold it back while your friends guide you out. Good luck." As Julian exited to the right, Folly approached the toadodile, brandished his
bauble at it and jumped nimbly from side to side. The creature did indeed stay back and was never seen again.
Two series later, the jester
Motley evoked this encounter when he singlehandedly repelled
Ariadne, protecting Giles from
Team 8 of Series 4.
Folly and Cedric were both forced to 'hold off' toadadiles during the course of Series 2 so that the dungeoneers they had been escorting could escape, but it was really just an excuse for the partnership to come to an end.
Although the spelling 'toadadile' was used in TES, 'toadodile' is more reflective of a fusion of
toad and crocodile, even though the creature has no obvious resemblance to a crocodile.
The toadodile's ethereal appearance and limited movement are reminiscent of the
catacombite in Series 1-3, suggesting a similar effect was used to create both.
Interestingly enough, the toadadile was seen again six years later in Virtually Impossible, as a more tangible CG threat for the contestants in an area called Castle Future.
Provided By:
David, 2019-11-17 15:20:10