OK people, time for me to begin my Only Connect retro-reviewing. Beginning back at the very beginning with the very first episode, back in 2008, when Gordon Brown was PM, Portsmouth were in the Premier League and UC was a straight knockout competition.
As we'll be encountering a lot of, what TV Tropes would call, 'Early Installment Weirdness', I'll get some of it out of the way first: the big difference in the first three series was the use of Greek letters instead of Egyptian hieroglyphs as question markers (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon and Zeta); these were eventually dropped. The first series also saw VCM allow the teams to introduce themselves, something that was quickly abandoned in the next series. The set was slightly different in the first series too, with the main colour being green rather than the blue we're all used too. Also, as dxdtdemon points out, the questions were slightly easier at first to try and get things settled.
Right, on to the first ever episode then: contesting the first ever episode were the Lapsed Psychologists, Richard McDougall, Matthew Stevens and captain Jack Waley-Cohen, and the Knitters, Craig Carruthers, Esther Knight and captain Tom Willis.
So, we began, as usual, with the Connections round. The Psychologists began with Epsilon, and received the first ever picture round; we saw gray scale photos of various men, including Sir Robin Day and Screaming Lord Sutch; the Psychologists identified them as having unsuccessfully stood for parliament. The Knitters chose Gamma, and a set of clues including six US flags and two golf balls; these were all things left on the moon. Delta for the Psychologists, who got pretzels, then double-entry bookkeeping, then kung fu, and now they got that these were invented by monks; they took the final clue, genetics, just to be sure. Beta for the Knitters, and the first ever music question: the set included Mozart (the Brain of Britain theme tune), and finished with 'Summer Nights'. No answer came from either team; they all have night in the title apparently. The Psychologists chose Zeta, and got 'Merrily We Roll Along', then 'Betrayal', 'Memento' and 'Time's Arrow'; neither they or the Knitters spotted they were all books told backwards. Left with Alpha, the Knitters got Olympia, then Babylon, then Alexandria and finally Rhodes; they correctly spotted them as the locations of Wonders of the World. At the end of the first round, the scores were 2-all.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Psychologists began with Epsilon, which revealed Infant, then 'whining school-boy'; they thought this might be the Seven Ages of Man, and tried to work out what was next; 'lover' was third, and they identified 'soldier' as fourth for two points. Delta for the Knitters, which revealed pictures: some brown stuff, then Sir Ian Blair, then a Major epaulette; they didn't get it, but the Psychologists guessed 'Thatcher', this being PMs in reverse. Good call! Gamma gave the Psychologists a complicated numbers question: '7, 24, 25', then '6, 8, 10', then '5, 12, 13'; after some frantic thinking, they guesses '3, 4, 5', these being Pythagorean triplets. Nope, me neither. The Knitters chose Alpha next, and got 'blood', then 'frogs', and spotted these were plagues, possibly of Egypt. 'Lice' was third, and they incorrectly guessed 'locusts'; the Psychologists guessed wrongly too, the right answer being 'flies'. The Psychologists chose Beta, and got 'gold', then 'red' and seemed to know what was going on; 'blue' was next, and this was enough to confirm this was an archery target we were on about, so 'black' would complete the set. Left with Zeta, the Knitters got 'Scott', then 'Virgil', so it must be Thunderbirds captains; 'Alan' was third, and they tried desperately to drag up the fourth name, eventually remembering it was 'Gordon' who was in charge of 4. At the end of the round, the Psychologists led 9-4.
On to the Connecting Walls. The Knitters went first; they chose the 'Alpha' wall, and quickly identified 'Elastic band', 'puck', 'squash ball' and 'condom' as a group of things made of rubber, then tried a few more unsuccessfully. (I notice VCM talks a lot more during the Walls than she does now) Eventually, they isolated 'screw', 'grass', 'snout' and 'lag' as old prison sland. With seconds to go, they isolated the final groups: 'Santa', 'Satan', 'bottom' and 'Dr Riviera', who they didn't spot as being all called Nick, and 'up', 'down', 'charm' and 'strange', which are all quarks, which they didn't see. So, that's six points.
The Psychologists got the 'Beta' wall, and spent a bit of time studying the wall, and tried a few unsuccessful combos, eventually isolating 'love', 'zip', 'goose-egg' and 'duck' as terms for zero. After a bit more studying, they isolated 'sparrow', 'hook' 'haddock' and 'Ahab' as fictional captains. Timed out before they could work the rest out, they nonetheless identified 'fox', 'ace', 'fish' and 'buttress' as 'flying' things, but missed 'bullet', 'cowboy', 'deuce' and 'crab' as playing card nicknames. Five points there, which meant their lead now stood at 14-10.
The final round then is, as usual, Missing Vowels. The main difference to later episodes is that wrong answers don't lose a point here, just concede bonuses as usual. Only two sets: 'egg dishes' went 2-1 to the Psychologists, as did 'famous mathematicians', and that was it. The final score was a win for the Lapsed Psychologists 18-12. They progress to the QFs, and sadly the Knitters leave the contest.
Well, that was interesting to watch. Good work both teams; a fine start to, what has since proven, an excellent series. Yes, maybe the questions were a bit easier than later in the show's run, but not by a great deal, and we all have to start somewhere. This should be an interesting review series.
I'll continue on to Match 2 sometime over the weekend. See you then, I guess.
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