Category: Into The Labyrinth

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Into The Labyrinth Season 1

Rothgo

Into The LabyrinthTerry and Helen, brother and sister, seek shelter in a cave when their day of playing outside is ruined by a sudden and violent thunderstorm. They’re not alone, either: an older boy named Phil has also sought refuge in the cave…but all of them hear another voice, somewhere deeper in the cave, asking for help. They find a man trapped under an enormous stone, a piece of rock that by all rights should have crushed him to death. With his instruction, they are amazed that they have the power to lift the stone and free him. He introduces himself as the wizard Rothgo, and he has been trapped in the cave by a sorceress named Belor. He seeks something called the Nidus, a magical item that will allow him to concentrate his power and escape his prison…but since he can’t leave the caves, he must trust his three new young friends to enter the labyrinth, and journey through various times in history to find it. They will find him there at various stages of his long, magically-extended life, and will have to seek his help against Belor. Their journey begins…

Order the DVDswritten by Bob Baker
based on an idea by Bob Baker & Peter Graham Scott
directed by Peter Graham Scott
music by Sidney Sager

Into The LabyrinthCast: Ron Moody (Rothgo), Pamela Salem (Belor), Lisa Turner (Helen), Simon Henderson (Terry), Simon Beal (Phil)

Notes: Executive producer Peter Dromgoole also worked with series co-creator Bob Baker on his previous series, Sky (1975), along with director (and series co-creator) Peter Graham Scott and composer Sidney Sager, was an integral part of a much-loved Into The Labyrinthprevious HTV children’s fantasy series, Children Of The Stones, in 1977. Like Children Of The Stones, Into The Labyrinth successfully jumped the Atlantic to become part of the “Third Eye” strand of children’s programming on nascent cable channel Nickelodeon, but only the first season was shown to American audiences.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Into The Labyrinth Season 1

The Circle

Into The LabyrinthTerry, Phil and Helen arrive at a point in the past that they can only identify as “druidic times”, where a bearded old man in tattered robes singles Phil out as his new champion and hands him a gleaming sword. Phil is to challenge an arrogant ruler named Cynon, who himself seems to have magical powers rivaling Rothgo’s. Phil also thinks he’s spotted the Nidus in the form of a shield, but when he and the others summon Rothgo for help, they may be fatally distracting the wizard from a battle he’s fighting with Belor on the astral plane.

Order the DVDswritten by Bob Baker
based on an idea by Bob Baker & Peter Graham Scott
directed by Peter Graham Scott
music by Sidney Sager

Into The LabyrinthCast: Ron Moody (Rothgo), Pamela Salem (Belor), Lisa Turner (Helen), Simon Henderson (Terry), Simon Beal (Phil), Paul Lavers (Cynon), Edwina Ford (Bradwen), Peewee Hunt (Caw)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Into The Labyrinth Season 1

Robin

Into The LabyrinthStill on the trail of the Nidus, Phil, Terry, and Helen arrive at a new location in the labyrinth, and in a new time. When they are attacked by sword-yielding guards, Helen is separated from the boys, and meets a man named Robin…Robin of Loxley, or Robin Hood, as legend knows him. Still engaged in his struggle against the Sheriff of Nottingham, he believes Helen to be the Sheriff’s niece, and potentially a valuable hostage. Phil and Terry find a dazed magician they believe is Rothgo…but Belor is employing more trickery than usual to throw them off the trail of the Nidus.

Order the DVDswritten by Bob Baker
based on an idea by Bob Baker & Peter Graham Scott
directed by Peter Graham Scott
music by Sidney Sager

Into The LabyrinthCast: Ron Moody (Rothgo), Pamela Salem (Belor), Lisa Turner (Helen), Simon Henderson (Terry), Simon Beal (Phil), Tony Wright (Robin of Loxley), Conrad Phillips (Sheriff of Nottingham), Patricia Driscoll (Marian), Suzanne Wright (Rowena), Philip Manikum (Guard Captain)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Into The Labyrinth Season 1

Masrur

Into The LabyrinthHaving been denied the Nidus by Belor, Phil, Helen and Terry are sent by Rothgo to free the prisoners of someone named Masrur. The wizard also grants them powers to help achieve this goal; they find themselves in an ancient caliphate whose grand vizier is none other than this time period’s Rothgo. He is hot on Belor’s trail and seems to have the upper hand this time around…or does he? Even when the Nidus is within reach, Belor is never far away.

Order the DVDswritten by Andrew Payne
directed by Peter Graham Scott
music by Sidney Sager

Into The LabyrinthCast: Ron Moody (Rothgo), Pamela Salem (Belor), Lisa Turner (Helen), Simon Henderson (Terry), Simon Beal (Phil), Derrick Branche (Ali), Adele Saleem (Scharazad), Paul Cresswell (Geni), William Evers (Caliph), David Trevena (Ahmed), Philip Manikum (Guard)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Into The Labyrinth Season 1

Conflict

Into The LabyrinthAnother quest in another time period, and another face of Rothgo…but this time he doesn’t know who he is, or how his powers work, until Phil reminds him. Helen and Terry try to contact the future Rothgo who sent them on their quest for the Nidus, but he is unable to help them, and Belor seems to be able to block their link to the wizard. Revolutionary plotters and schemers surround the three, their plans both distracting and potentially a danger to their quest. And on both the material and astral planes, Rothgo and Belor prepare to engage in battle again.

Order the DVDswritten by Ray Jenkins
directed by Peter Graham Scott
music by Sidney Sager

Into The LabyrinthCast: Ron Moody (Rothgo), Pamela Salem (Belor), Lisa Turner (Helen), Simon Henderson (Terry), Simon Beal (Phil), Ewen Solon (Colonel), June Barrie (Nan Ludd), Simeon Andrews (Thomas Coleman), Philip Manikum (Guard)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Into The Labyrinth Season 1

Revolution

Into The LabyrinthRothgo is in trouble. Weakened by his most recent battle with Belor, he is vulnerable to her abilities to twist his mind, and she causes him to forget his three young helpers. Phil, Terry and Helen are sent off-course in their plunge through time and the labyrinth, while Rothgo is convicted as a practitioner of forbidden magic and sentenced to execution. Phil, Helen and Terry find him, but he doesn’t recognize them. Even as he slowly regains his power and his wits, Rothgo is at a disadvantage this time.

Order the DVDswritten by Ray Jenkins
directed by Peter Graham Scott
music by Sidney Sager

Into The LabyrinthCast: Ron Moody (Rothgo), Pamela Salem (Belor), Lisa Turner (Helen), Simon Henderson (Terry), Simon Beal (Phil), Tim Bannerman (Pierre), John Abineri (Julien), Philip Manikum (Guard)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Into The Labyrinth Season 1

Minotaur

Into The LabyrinthDenied the Nidus by Belor yet again, Helen, Terry and Phil are brought back to their present, in the cave where they first met Rothgo. His powers and life force fading fast, Rothgo releases them from their obligation to find the Nidus: the fight is lost. But they stubbornly re-enter the labyrinth one last time to try to recover the Nidus. Their destination: the labyrinth of myth, in which Theseus is thought to have fought the minotaur. But in reality, Theseus is doing the bidding of Belor: his sword is the Nidus itself, and Phil is chosen to be Rothgo’s champion in the fight to claim the Nidus. Only if Phil is successful can he, Helen and Terry ever go home again.

Order the DVDswritten by Anthony Read
directed by Peter Graham Scott
music by Sidney Sager

Into The LabyrinthCast: Ron Moody (Rothgo), Pamela Salem (Belor), Lisa Turner (Helen), Simon Henderson (Terry), Simon Beal (Phil), Jeremy Arnold (Theseus), Philip Manikum (Guard)

Notes: This concludes Into The Labyrinth’s first series (of three years on the air), but for viewers of the series on the American cable network Nickelodeon, this was the end of the story: Nickelodeon did not air the two later seasons.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Into The Labyrinth Season 2

The Calling

Into The LabyrinthA rotting skull emerges from a sea of mist in the caverns where Rothgo and his young companions once consulted before going on their adventures. The skull is replaced by the visage of Belor, who exclaims “I live!”

Terry and Helen receive a call for help from Rothgo, by way of the crystals he gave them at the end of their previous adventures. With Belor’s return, he needs his champions once more. Phil, Rothgo’s other champion, walks into a stone circle and vanishes, reappearing in Rothgo’s cavern. Rothgo warns Phil that Belor is assembling a force intended to be equal and opposite to the Nidus, called Albedo, and Phil must again wander through the labyrinth into the past, finding a splinter of Rothgo’s former self with whom to ally himself. Helen and Terry follow, finding Phil has been sent back to the time of the Vikings, where Rothgo is fighting a losing battle to keep Belor from harnessing the power of the Albedo.

Order the DVDswritten by Bob Baker
directed by Peter Graham Scott
music by Sidney Sager

Into The LabyrinthCast: Ron Moody (Rothgo), Pamela Salem (Belor), Lisa Turner (Helen), Simon Henderson (Terry), Simon Beal (Phil), Howard Goorney (Loke), David Trevena (Alberick), Stephen Lyons (1st Guard)

Notes: In strict scientific terms, “albedo” refers to a measurement of how much sunlight is reflected by a body such as a planet or moon without being absorbed by an atmosphere or some other phenomenon in the way. High-albedo objects are brighter, and low-albedo objects are dimmer. Stone circles figured prominently in a previous collaboration between director Peter Graham Scott, and HTV executive producer Patrick Dromgoolie, 1977’s Children Of The Stones.

LogBook entry by Earl Green