This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The Crystal Maze was not so much a quiz show but almost more of a 90s version of an 80s based UK challenge show entitled: 'The Krypton Factor'. Presented by the impeccable and upbeat Richard O'Brien from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Crystal Maze was a stimulating, yet challenging and fun- filled programme where a group of six contestants take part in a range of games that taxed their mental and physical abilities and skills, in an attempt to obtain as many crystals as they possibly can. In the time limit that they are given they have to get out of the room, regardless of whether or not they have the crystal, otherwise they'd be locked in. Once the person is locked in, he/she cannot be released unless their team decides to forfeit one of their crystals. The difficulty levels of the tasks range from the very easy to the extremely difficult.Each crystal is worth 5 seconds and thus, the more they get hold of the more time they have in the crystal dome- the so-called finale where they have to collect as many gold tokens. The silver tokens would attribute to the overall total by means of the deduction of their gold tokens. And so if, for e.g., they have more silver tokens than gold ones, then the team would've lost in the end. But if they get more gold tokens and the grand total is over 100, then they would win the contest.The programme was very taxing, engaging and a rarity coming from Channel 4 themselves, given they are not usually renowned for showing quiz shows and challenging TV shows, well apart from Fifteen to One and Countdown. But The Crystal Maze was just a brilliant effort and Richard O'Brien made a great presenter and guide. At times, he'd even offer encouragement and help, if the group was really struggling with a particular task.Ed Tudor Pole, wasn't as good as Richard O' Brien when he replaced him during the latter series of the show but still The Crystal Maze was a good effort, up until its unfortunate cancellation. Like many quiz shows, you'd be screaming and shouting at the TV towards the contestants and even go on record and say 'I could do that task'.There will never be a show of this type ever again -and yet as there is a time for a new series of the show- with the state of TV nowadays at an all-time low , it is most definitely now.The 90s, like the 80s, was a great decade for TV shows, and The Crystal Maze is and certainly was one of the them. Great concept, intriguing tasks and engaging this was fantastic

When I was younger I sometimes caught this game show, but it was when I got older when I managed to see it all again and appreciate it more for the great fun it is, or was. Presented by The Rocky Horror Picture Show creator and actor Richard O'Brien for four series, with his exuberant and eccentric personality, big coats and boots (often with leopard patterns somewhere), amusing put downs and breakaways from the game playing the harmonica (amusingly badly) and small stories of his Mumsie (played by Sandra Caron in a few episodes), and then presented by almost as eccentric but not as fun actor Edward 'Ed' Tudor-Pole. The game consisted of six contestants (three men, three women) following the presenter around four zones in The Crystal Maze all full of rooms with set puzzles to play, solve and win for a crystal, each crystal representing five seconds of time for the final game, the Crystal Dome. These zones were Aztec - a past jungle setting with sand and temples, Medieval - a past castle setting with table and cobwebs, Futuristic - a 22nd Century spaceship setting full of computers (including the talking one), metal and sliding doors, Industrial - a steel, iron or aluminium made construction like a factory full of pipes and metal, this zone was replaced after three series by Ocean - a 20th Century sunken ship setting with he main saloon staircase and boiler room. There are four categories of games that the players can choose to play, all involving what they say in the name, they are Skill (tests of dexterity and accuracy), Mental (tests of brainpower often involving maths or word association), Mystery (tests of logic and cunning) and Physical (tests of speed and strength). The games played by the contestants, chosen by the team captain (yes, also a player), took between two and three minutes to play, and if a contestant goes over they are locked in, and some games are "automatic lock-in" which means a contestant making more than a set number of mistakes will be locked in immediately. If a player did get locked in a game room the players had the option to buy them out using one of the crystals they may have won, taking away five seconds of their achieved time for the final game. So the final game, the Crystal Dome, a large see-through crystal shaped the time in the dome is determined by how many crystals they have won in the sixteen games, times five, e.g. five crystals = twenty five seconds, and the idea is to collect as many gold credits (gold bits of paper) as possible and put them through the letterbox, however any silver tokens collected are subtracted, over one hundred after deductions gets them the big prize, under they take away a commemorative crystal saying I cracked The Crystal Maze" (they also get this if they win). I would agree the show has become a cult classic since it ended, on TV its heyday was the O'Brien years, it lacked the same spark when he left, I am one of he hundreds of fans as it was and still is in repeats very popular, with O'Brien (and moments of Tudor-Pole) making you laugh, a fantastic theme tune, and the games all fun to watch, a highly enjoyable game show. It was nominated the BAFTAs for Best Children's Programme (Fiction/Entertainment) (twice) (for the children's specials) and Best Graphics. Very good!

This show is a classic and should still be made today. I have fond memories of this show and I never get bored of watching the re-runs on challenge TV. If this show was to be made again i hope richard or ed would return if not i think the actor who plays kryten in red dwarf would be good, he presents scrap heap challenge. This show is sooo good i love it when someone gets locked in, and the theme tune also made the show. Richard o'brian was a fantastic host he is sooo funny with he's silly comments, ed tudor pole also done very well taking over from richard, he was funny and witty. Someone please remake this but don't change a single thing about the show, in it's day it pulled 6 million viewers which I think is huge for a game show.

I remember this show fondly. But, alas, I remember this show only from the couple of times I saw it in my early childhood when I visited my grandmother in Scotland. It was the most entertaining game show I've ever seen and though I don't know how, I hope all of you readers will happen upon reruns (no matter how unlikely that seems.)