Inspired by Dungeons and Dragons, 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy', and the BBC microcomputer, 'The Adventure Game' was a particularly charming piece of children's television. Watching it now on DVD, a number of things strike you: how well-spoken everybody is, how the male contenstants casually patronise the female ones, and the preposterousness of inviting the presenter of 'Play School' to solve logic problems based on recongising Tschiakovsky's '1812 Overture' or the title of Lawrence of Arabia's book 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom'. Also that it's a strange example of reality T.V., with scripted aliens interacting with mostly genuine contenstants; and above all else, that no-one really seems to have a clue what they're doing. The problems are too hard, some of the gags are brilliant while others fall flat, the early episodes varied in length because they couldn't edit them into a consistent format (and apparently, in some instances, they even ran out of time in filiming them). And yet there's a magic here, with its bizarre sense of humour and challenges far more engaging than those seen on other vaguely similar programmes. Series 1 (featuring Moira Stewart, of all people) is the most improbable, it really feels like the producers are winging it; series 3, with the vortex, the aspidistra, and the backwards speaking man, is the one that surely sticks in most people's minds. They really don't make them like this any more.
Review of The Adventure Game
