We all have childhood memories. Depending on the generation of each one, you can remember the bollycao of the breaks, the tazos of Matutano, the Nintendo GameBoy or being in the street hitting the ball. Of course, also playing video games, or even better: watching a television program in the afternoon that hardly anyone remembers anymore, but that I personally never missed. It was called The rescue of the talismanand today I am surprised to learn that its first season was sponsored by SEGA itself.
It was a television contest broadcast through RTVE’s La 2, had a total of 78 episodes (something that was not bad at all) and its broadcast lasted almost four years, from 1991 to 1994. It was not a completely original production, since it was based on Knightmare, a British show, but had comparatively good production values and even its own personality. And what was it about? Well, basically in which the contestants got into a video game to pass a series of tests until they defeated the Lord of Evil and won a succulent prize: consoles and video games. Megadrive, Master System and gamegear.
A television game show in the form of a video game
The greatest peculiarity of The rescue of the talisman was that there was four contestants, of which one of them had to wear a magical helmet that prevented him from seeing, but allowed him to listen to the instructions of his companions. Basically, the player moved by the indications that he received within various rooms, which could contain a puzzle or various skill tests. If for some reason he lost, the next player had to take his place until the end of the adventure.
They were short programs, lasting no more than half an hour, and with each edition new challenges were proposed and the appearance of different characters, who acted as if they were in a play. The truth is that seeing it today is a real exercise in nostalgia, but I have to admit that it was very successful. Today we have more than seen the chroma technique, and depending on which cases it can be even seedy, but believe me that seeing this on a tube television of the time had an impact. The biggest problem? That the contestant who received the directions could go crazy hearing simultaneous commands from various members of his team: “walk forward”, “no”, “stop”, “turn to the right”…
But there was the magic, in seeing how the children who competed tried to reach an agreement, sometimes in a very clumsy way. It was a game of cooperation and coordination, and from home you felt in some way a participant in the situation. At times the player had to jump to overcome an obstacle, at other times they simply had to answer a general knowledge question, and to beat the final boss they had to memorize words that varied with each episode.
Another interesting detail about this television show is that its British version (the original) was based on video games like Attic Atac from ZX Spectrum, designed by the Stamper brothers. The idea was that if such great things could be done with such limited hardware, what couldn’t be done on television? So, using computer generated scenarioscombining them with some 3D animation, lighting techniques and a good handful of chroma, gave rise to an interactive program in which the contestants themselves were the protagonists of the adventure.
It is a relic, but I was pleased to see that RTVE keeps some episodes on its official website, with which there is no excuse to relive the past. I’ve seen one of the episodes from beginning to end without blinking, and that’s speaking of something that is 30 years old… the truth is that it’s not bad at all. What do you think? Did you remember? Well, for another day we leave Zona de juego or Hugolandia, which also had their importance.
