The premise of INTO THE LABYRINTH was a quest of the basic Dungeons and Dragons variety, but with children as the protagonists and produced on a minuscule budget.
At some point in the - apparently fairly distant - past Rothgo (Ron Moody), an ancient wizard of great power, barely prevailed in a battle with his nemesis, the evil but beautiful sorceress, Belor (Pamela Salem). Weakened and trapped in a cavern, deep underground, the source of his power - the Nidus - lost somewhere in time, Rothgo's telepathic calls for help are answered by three teenagers, Terry (Simon Henderson), his younger sister, Helen (Lisa Turner), and Phil (Simon Beal). Rothgo manages to convince his somewhat reluctant rescuers to help him recover the Nidus, and Phil, Terry and Helen enter the eponymous labyrinth, a rather pint-sized maze that allows them to travel back in time as they move through it.
In each era our heroes visit, they must try to locate the Nidus - which can only be seen in reflection - while being stymied by Belor. Aiding them is Rothgo - both the version from their own time who provides them with telepathic guidance and the corporeal version who lived in the time period they are visiting. And so it went, week after week, the children almost succeeding, before Belor is able - at the last moment - to "deny them the Nidus" hurtling it away into a different time and place, as a prelude to next week's adventure.
The series was obviously produced on a shoestring budget, with a very limited number of sets being endlessly redressed and reused, and very dodgy CSO providing all of the not-very-special special effects. Where INTO THE LABYRINTH excelled - at least in the first two series - was in its scripts, which were intelligent, quite engaging and capable of overcoming much of the cheapness of the production, and in the performances of Ron Moody and Pamela Salem. Moody, an excellent actor, is quite obviously having a ball with the lightweight material, playing the part completely straight, but injecting just the right amount of wit into his character. Salem seems to be equally enjoying herself, delighting in her role as the thoroughly wicked villainess.
After its first run of seven episodes, the program returned for a second series, with the same regular performers, a slightly modified premise and even better scripts, including contributions from the likes of Christopher Priest, John Lucarotti and Robert Holmes. Sadly, with the end of the very entertaining series two, the best days of the show were now behind it.
Gone from the third series of INTO THE LABYRINTH was Ron Moody's Rothgo, replaced by children's entertainer Chris Harris as the inept magician, Lazlo. Also not returning were Helen and Terry, leaving Phil on his own to sort out Lazlo's bungling. Pamela Salem was back - as delightfully wicked as ever - but it wasn't the same. Chris Harris seemed determined to play Lazlo for laughs and the scripts seemed willing to abet this unfortunate change in tone. A shadow of its former self, INTO THE LABYRINTH limped along to end of its third series and then was no more.
Proof that creativity and ingenuity can overcome a paltry production budget and that an engaging fantasy series can be produced without state-of-the-art CGI effects, INTO THE LABYRINTH, provided an appealing and entertaining series, the like of which today's entertainment industry would never even dare attempt - more's the pity.
