I first heard of "Knights and Warriors" when I saw something on an entertainment news show about one of the American Gladiators supposedly getting fired from the show because she married one of the cast members of "Knights and Warriors". Being a big fan of "AG," I decided to check out "K&W." It was painfully obvious that it was trying to feed off the success of "AG", with "average Joe" contenders ("knights") facing off against the Warrior Dome's version of the Gladiators ("warriors") in physical games of skill with such names as Catapult, the Volcano, Roller Joust, and the ultimate Target Onslaught. As much as "AG" played up the real people behind the contenders and Gladiators, "K&W" was the opposite. The "knights" wore spandex outfits with trim reminiscent of something you'd see at a renaissance festival. The "warriors" had names like Chaos, Plague, Pyro, Lady Battleaxe, Raven, and Princess Malice. They wore black leather and spandex outfits that looked like they were stolen from the wardrobe of an early 80's Motley Crue video, and each adopted a villainous persona to match his or her name. "K&W"'s equivalent of "AG"'s referee Larry Thompson was a silver-robed gent calling himself the Lord of Rules and Discipline. He sat high above the action, giving his verdict on instant replays and reprimanding warriors who didn't play nice.
If you thought that "AG" was cheesy, "K&W" made it look like a session of "Meet The Press." Still, for all its hokey-ness, it was kind of like a car wreck; you felt like you shouldn't watch it, but you couldn't tear your eyes away from the screen. Despite its hackneyed "good vs. evil" premise, it was actually fun. Like many copycat franchises in the U.S., "K&W" never really caught on, and was gone long before "AG" made its own exit.
Looking back now at "K&W," I find that I really miss it. The current full-contact type game show, "Battle Dome," could never hope to hold a candle to what "K&W" was. I wonder if anyone else has as "fond" memories as I do about this show... for that matter, does anyone else remember it?
If you thought that "AG" was cheesy, "K&W" made it look like a session of "Meet The Press." Still, for all its hokey-ness, it was kind of like a car wreck; you felt like you shouldn't watch it, but you couldn't tear your eyes away from the screen. Despite its hackneyed "good vs. evil" premise, it was actually fun. Like many copycat franchises in the U.S., "K&W" never really caught on, and was gone long before "AG" made its own exit.
Looking back now at "K&W," I find that I really miss it. The current full-contact type game show, "Battle Dome," could never hope to hold a candle to what "K&W" was. I wonder if anyone else has as "fond" memories as I do about this show... for that matter, does anyone else remember it?
