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The Krypton Factor was
a show on ITV that ran from about 20 years from the
seventies right through to 1995, and what a show it was
too, it regularly drew audiences of above 10-12 million
each series! Now Challenge TV are repeating the show it
seems about time to put the show on Trial in The Gameshow
Courtroom.
At the time, I liked
The Krypton Factor but never really watched all that
much. Now it's on Challenge I tend to watch it much more.
Why? Because it's one of the most well thought out, well
balanced quizzes that's ever been on television. The
premise was simple: find the UK Superperson each year by
testing all their abilities to the full. Six disciplines
are tested on the four contestants and whoever comes off
best wins. Heres a run-down of the six rounds:
1 - Mental
Agility
Each contestant would be given 40 seconds to
answer as many questions as they could on a variety of
things. For example, they'd be given a sentence such as
'Many hands make light work' and would be asked for 'the
second word after 'hands'' or to 'spell the third word
backwards'. Whilst wach contestant would have different
sentences, the type and style of questions would be the
same for each contestant.
For every event apart
from the last, points were given 10, 6, 4, 2 depending on
position. If players drew, whoever did it in the fastest
time will be decared the winner.
2 - Response
This has taken many forms over the years but it
tended to be flying a plane in a simulation for most of
the last ten years. The idea was that each player would
fly in the simulation a plane and they had to land it as
best they can, an Army bloke would then decide who did
the best. In the Group finals and the Grand Finals,
they'd be asked to simulate controlling something a bit
more special, a Harrier Jump-Jet or a helicopter for
example.
3 -
Observation
A game which has also had many different things
over the years: it's either been 'spot the continuity
errors', a clip would play but with things that are wrong
in it and the players have to work out what six things
are wrong, 'Double Take', a clip is played then ANOTHER
clip is played with six differences and the players have
to spot the differences between them, and later it sort
of turned into a soap with celebrity actors such as Tony
Robinson, Tony Slattery and Josie Laurence and after each
installment (one per week) those contestants would be
asked multiple choice questions which they would answer
on a keypad.
4 - Physical
Ability
The infamous Krypton Factor Assault Course, more than
anything, this is what the show was famous for! The
contestants raced to the finishing line taking all 20
obsticles into effect. The female contestants got a
thirty second headstart on the males in order to be fair.
5 -
Intellegence
And then the round that the contestants hate -
the 2D or 3D Spatial Intellegence test! This would be
different every week and whoever completed it first would
be the winner. It would be something like fitting eight
blocks into a cube so that all the sides were different
but one colour and things like that.
6 - General
Knowledge
The only round that breaks with the scoring
tradition. This would be 90 seconds of rapid-fire
first-on-the-buzzer questions with two points for a
correct answer and two points away for a wrong one. There
would also be some tenuous link between the questions by
a word or something.
Whoever had the
highest score at the end of the contest had won the game
and went through to the Group Final. There were three
heats in each group and each Group final consisted of the
winners of the heats and the highest-scoring runner up.
The Grand Final players consisted of the Winners of each
of the three Group finals and the highest-scoring group
final runner-up. And that was it! They didn't play for
money, not much anyway, they played for a trophy and the
right to be called the UK Superperson for whenever.
And that was it until
the final series which had a new set to make way for a
new round... The Super Round. The
Intellegence test was dropped (for some obscure reason)
and the points the players had gathered up until then
were then used to buy advantages and shortcuts for this
round. It didn't matter how many points you had, whoever
won this round and did it in the fastest time was the
winner
The Super
Round
All the players started high on the gantry.
They'd be shown a combination which was unique to them.
As soon as they could remember it, they deathslided down
to The Kryptic Rings. This was a giant 3D maze and the
only way out (if you didn't want to be disqualified) is
to find your proper exit. To do that you have to remember
the combination you were shown on the gantry. Once you
have done this, you go on to the Computer. You have to
replicate a code on the top of the screen. Sadly, when
you push a letter something else comes up so you have to
work out the pattern and use it. When you've got it
correct it's time for the laser tripwires. If you hit any
you are penalised ten seconds. After that it's the
Response Revolve, a giant revolving tunnel. Inside some
of the rocks of the tunnel are batons of your own colour.
You have to take four of them out. The catch is, you can
only take them when the flashing light on that rock is
turned on, that's when it's released. The final obsticle
is a climb up 'Mount Krypton', for this they had to build
a ladder (some people with enough points could have most
of the ladder built for them already) and then climb up
to the top using the handholds and pick up they're little
'K' symbol. That was the finish.
And I quite liked it!
This was the first series of the show I watched in its
entirety, but sadly a lot of people didn't like it's new
look and consequently the show was axed. Which is a shame
really because it was great! Gordon Burns hosted it
amicably throughout and as I said before, it was
extremely well balanced.
Verdict: 8/10 - A
very good little show that thouroughly deserved it's
moniker 'Television's Toughest Quiz' at the time.
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