Gamesworld // Gamesmaster // Bad Influence

[si]

I'm sure that in hindsight they were all equally poor -- proving that there is nothing duller than watching other people play video games. However, all three were essential viewing growing up in my house.

Dominick Diamond before he become a cunt and Patrick Moore's face on a really badly pixelated backdrop, Violet Berlin and her datablast/burst (which didn't really work unless you had a VCR without tracking issues).

My real favourite was Gamesworld though. The Games Mistress, Radian Automatic (who was good at games) and that Samaurai guy (who was really, really poor at them). Bob Mills with a kipper tie (ho-ho) and Big Boy Barry.

The point of my post: was that a young David Walliams as Big Boy Barry's dupe, Lesley?

[MoondialSlater]

si said:

My real favourite was Gamesworld though. The Games Mistress, Radian Automatic (who was good at games) and that Samaurai guy (who was really, really poor at them). Bob Mills with a kipper tie (ho-ho) and Big Boy Barry.

The point of my post: was that a young David Walliams as Big Boy Barry's dupe, Lesley?

Yes it was.

Gamesworld kicked arse and there's been nothing like it since. Imagine contestants Vs Videators on the next-generation consoles.

Having said that I always liked Bits, but that may be because it had Emily Bouffante in it.

And Mr Mathers was the best Videator being the only one to remain undefeated in the whole thing. Personally I preferred the Violet Blade.

[si]

David Walliams was very thin back then.

Who was The Violet Blade? And Mr Mathers? Remind me.

[MoondialSlater]

I had the old GamesWorld magazine which had all the videators challenges listed but it collapsed when the show was taken off the air (for some reason). There was a really bad 4th series but no-one watched.

A lot of the Videators were people who'd appeared on shows like Games Master on previous series or industry figures.

Videator list:

Big Boy Barry- Gamesplayer Alex Verry, appeared on Gamesmaster. Was on all 3 series and on series 1 was the #1 Videator. Got worse as the series went on, by series 2 was more interested in getting his face on the telly than actually playing.
Games Messiah- Doug Johns, industry figure who worked for the show’s creators and Virgin’s PR. Appeared on series 1 & 2. In series 2 they changed the scenery from a fairground to an apocalyptic setting and his character just looked so out of place.
The Ninja- No idea who he was but he was an actor (who among other things played a Ninja turtle) purely hired to play a character, hence he was very bad at games and had the brilliant moment of losing at Street Fighter II in two "perfect" rounds. So unsurprisingly only lasted one season.
Master Moriaty- The public schoolboy played by Tristan Moriaty. Another gamesplayer (and friend of David Walliams) who was the best Videator in series 2 and the worst in series 3 (during which time he'd actually had to study for exams and puberty had hit as well.) Certainly one of the best "characters" though who was brilliantly played.
Radion Automatic- The grungy rocker with brilliant hair (floppy and long on top yet all shaved off top the sides). Again no idea of his real name (though rumours were he'd changed it to Radion via deed poll) but he was a videogames journalist. He was hired for his gaming ability but his on air personality left a lot to be desired. He had none. Only on series 1 which was a shame as he was really good.
The Executioner- Masked character who never spoke. Worked for the same magazine as Radion and wore the mask as the guy was quite shy. Apparently still a very big part of the magazine world. Very good gamesplayer who panicked under the studio environment and lost most of his games. Only on series 1.
Lettie Edwards- Any regular viewer of Games Master knew who Lettie "the games playing Granny" Edwards was. Really good at "Columns" (which was how Games Master found her) but not much else and so only did series 1.
Mr Mathers the Megabyte Millionaire- Martin Mathers: a contestant on series 1 who became a Videator on series 2. Brilliant in front of the cameras and a great gamesplayer. Described in the mag as a ‘Gaming Mr Burns’ and he would be as horrible to the contestants as possible (some of the the younger ones were close to tears though he was quite nice off camera.) Actually lost his first two challenges in series 2 and but quickly picked up and was undefeated from then on including the whole of series 3. Also appeared in series 4 but the less said about that the better. The best Videator out of the lot of them. He also appeared on Gamesmaster a couple of times where he did challenges such as completing House of the Dead on one credit or doing Virtua Cop on one credit and using both guns at once.
Violet Blade- Violet Blade was the guy dressed as a pirate, went "Aha" in an Alan Partridge style and did innuendo laden ‘Carry On’ humour including his cabin boy named ‘Roger’ and his ship the "Flaming Queen." Not necessarily the best gamesplayer but certainly the funniest. Played by Rik Henderson, the producer of the series who like Martin appeared on Games Master, but as a commentator. Did series 2 & 3. Like Barry by series 3 the character took over his games playing and he wasn't as good a gamesplayer but unlike Barry this was due to him overplaying the character rather than being a "star" and he took the innuendo even further and started being horrible to contesants whilst acting more and more drunk. Fantastic and in retrospect my favourite of the lot, as good as Mr Mathers was.
Persian Prince of Perfection- Dressed as the typical Aladdin character. Played by a good gamesplayer called Muhammad but suffered from a crap character where her would lecture contestants and attempt to inspire them through a serious of perplexing riddles. Bad idea which was boring and only lasted for series 2.
Combat Cal- Cal Jones, another games journalist and PR dressed as a cyberpunk bie chick. The female Videator of series 2 (they dropped Lettie) Apparently well known in the gaming community she wasn't actually very good. In retrospect hated the whole experience and only did series 2.
Trixie Bell: The Minx From Hell- Series 3's female Videator, dressed in the St Trinan's bad girl look, complete with chewing gum and hockey stick. In the show she went to the same school as Moriaty who had a crush on her. Played by the sister of one of the show’s researchers though was still a very good gamesplayer and played the rude arrogant character brilliantly. Technically Games World’s most successful female Videator though never as good as the males. So she was good "for a girl".
Electric Eddie- New addition to series 3 who only lost once the whole series (on Street Fighter). Played by Robert Nathan, a Games World nut who always turned up to the filming of the previous series and appaeared a couple of times on screen giving tips. Also a friend of Big Boy Barry's who kept begging for the chance to be a Videator. The character was a crazy kid, who was hit by lighting, and forever possessed with extraordinary gaming abilities. Weird to say the least but just as filming was about to starts the shows producers decided to alter the character into strange Cyberman/Android character so Rob was given a bizarre silver mask and boiler suit to wear which like with The Executioner limited his appeal. Brilliant gamer though, however really got into the part of a "star" too much, wearing lightning flash ear rings off camera, so everyone would know who he was. Apparently his enthusiasm and ego alienated him a little bit from the other Videators off screen.
Colin the Console Cowboy- Yes well not everyone can be the Violet Blade, this was absolutely dreadful addition to series 3. A cowboy unsurprisingly with a really bad American accent though his game playing skills were sort of OK though not brilliant. Only worth watching because of his feud with the Violet Blade but that was more down to the Blade's responses.
Ragga D: The Games MC- A top games player who went by the real name of "Cecil" who was apparently one of the best Street Fighter players around who would take on all comers in the practice area. Would allow contestants to win the first round of a challenge to lull them in to a false sense of security and was a typical ‘player’ who would laugh and taunt his opponents (though was able to recieive it in good humour.) Unfortunately another one who was better with games, than in front of the camera though a lot of this can be blamed on the producers who gave him a character of an ultra hip game DJ that was supposed to appeal to fans of Hip-Hop, and Gangster Rap and it would all go wrong once he got out in front of the audience. Also suffered in gamesplaying since his trademark tactic of letting an opponent win a round before crushing them worked off camera, on camera he panicked under the intense pressure and nerves and lost the second one too.

Series 1 has the cult viewing, series 2 was the best one, series 3 was more of the very good same the later series 4 was a disaster. The only flaw in the first three series was they kept changing the non-challenge shows and some worked (BTV) and some didn't (Madam Pixel's Peep Parlour) At the time though a 26 week video-game series was a huge thing and was sorely missed by most. Actually made by the same company who made Games Master but rather than cram everything into twenty-five minutes spread it out over a week which made the challenges a lot better to watch and you didn't have it interrupted by stupid features you didn't want to watch.

Despite being a huge success even at the end of series 3 the show was dropped since during the gap between the collapse of 16-bit gaming and the arrival of the PS and Saturn the gaming industry in general suffered with poor consoles such as the 3DO and the Jaguar failing. Also there were rumours that the producers had gotten bored with it and feared being typecast as only producing gaming shows. Series 4 came four years later in 1998 and was poorly produced and a series I don't like to talk about.

Still the first three series were great. Oh and Bob Mills was a brilliant host who also did a nice line in sarcasm. Oh and it had Jet from the Gladiators on it as well.

Though I did watch the aforementioned Games Master and Bad Influence, Games World was the best ever, even better than Bits though the four girls on that show would make good Videators themselves.

[Robbing the Dead]

Was the Gamesmaster Patrick Moore*

*i'm not sure if I have the right name. There, the guy from the Sky at Night with the monocle.

[MoondialSlater]

Robbing said:

Was the Gamesmaster Patrick Moore*

*i'm not sure if I have the right name. There, the guy from the Sky at Night with the monocle.

Yes.

[Robbing the Dead]

Wow!