Show discussion: The Cube Series Two

By | September 19, 2010

6:45, ITV1 and ITV HD, Sundays

Philip Schofield and The Body return for a second series of critical darling The Cube.

New games and returning favourites are promised, apparently there were sixty games prepped for series one but without counting I don’t think we saw more than about 60% of those, so “new” might be relative. Still though.

They’re pushing the iPod app on the website, I’ve reviewed it already.

41 thoughts on “Show discussion: The Cube Series Two

  1. Kieran Joesph Jupe

    Well, I for one will be watching… abd hoping that another person from my town/area (Clacton/Essex) appears (Dean Chase, Clacton, S1E1), and also sitting there and saying ‘Well that looks easy’

    Reply
  2. Alex

    Void is a very good new game. That said, there aren’t really games in The Cube that are particularly that bad.

    Reply
    1. Kieran Joesph Jupe

      And if you watch my upcoming YouTube video, you can see it on the CUBE Game

      Reply
  3. Anonymous

    Sort of like those ‘Stacker’ games in the arcade!

    Impossible without the Simplfy

    Reply
    1. Brig Bother Post author

      I’m not sure about impossible, but I think to get it as an opening game is a bit harsh, it could go anywhere in the stack really and if there was a proper difficulty gradient, it should go later.

      Reply
    2. Brig Bother Post author

      In retrospect, I do think it’s much harder than a Stacker machine as with those it’s quite easy to find a rhythm when it bounces back and forth, here it goes behind you so you also requires a sense of peripheral anticipation.

      I think it’s a good game in theory, although I think I would have made it much slower to start with or increased the allowable stop zone to two or three squares, especially for a game one.

      Reply
      1. Chris

        A stacker game is hard because it is LITERALLY impossible to win unless the machine wants to pay out (theres examples of the block skipping where you need it on youtube)

        If you can time your reactions on a first go then its easy to adjust yourself on a second – If you think it can take merely one life

        Reply
        1. Brig Bother Post author

          I think it is difficult to get a rhythm for it when it travels behind out of your field of vision.

          The Stavker machine may well cheat, but surely it will let you get to a certain point before doing so?

          Reply
        2. David B

          It definitely cheats – my wife can get to the top virtually every time, and you can see the square jump.

          That said, our local one has a defect in it which causes it to lose two rows of its small prizes because the prize fall sensor doesn’t work, so… swings and roundabouts.

          And it hasn’t stopped her winning a Nintendo DS on that lighthouse game, so it can be done.

          Reply
  4. John R

    The Cube voice / Schofield voice combo for the competition is slightly…weird!

    Wasn’t it just the Cube voice for the entire thing last year?

    Reply
    1. Alex

      Yeah, Colin did the whole thing. Although it was odd, as he sounded oddly perky throughout the terms and conditions. However at the end he did a badass “BEAT…The Cube” which sadly hasn’t made the jump.

      Reply
    1. Kieran Joesph Jupe

      I approve and +1 this post.

      PLEASE ITV! Makes the home game more fun!!!

      Reply
    2. Tim

      Very briefly there was a snippet of a new bed (I think it was during Void) which suggests they’ve gone back and asked for some new material for this series = very good!

      They keep mucking around with the victory theme which is quite a shame as I remember how exciting it was when they first played it and hoped there’d be more of the same coming at the higher levels.

      Reply
      1. Brig Bother Post author

        How many victory themes are there? I like the Star Wars-y one they used to play at £50k, although it sounds like they play that at £20k now as well.

        Reply
        1. Tim

          There’s only one, the Star Wars-y type one you mention. The first time we heard it was on a £50K win and I think we just rightfully assumed it was going to get even more epic for the next two. Seems like they just play it in full now whenever a contestant peaks, which is a bit of an unintentional spoiler 🙁

          Reply
  5. Simon

    Great start for the cube. Good to see a contestant trying some games at home although given the game was from last year, I presume he used that for research – I doubt the producers would give the contestants a list of all the games.

    Reply
  6. Travis P

    Phillip Schofield confirms on Twitter that the two celebrity shows will be aired at Christmas.

    Reply
  7. David

    I heard 8 and 2 specials myself- 8 eps takes it to Dec 7th.

    So what kind of ratings should we be expecting for this tomorrow numbers-wise?

    Reply
  8. Tataki

    Loooooooove the new Cube. ^_^ The new entryway is much better than the simple stairs from the last series.

    Reply
  9. Kieran Joesph Jupe

    Did anyone else notice that for the first time, the Bullet-time shot was MOVING? (i.e, swinging round but in motion, not freeze frame)

    Reply
  10. Jonathan

    Ratings: 5 million for The Cube. Most popular episode since the first one last year.

    That’s brilliant for a gameshow, right? If I’m not mistaken, Who Wants to Be A Millionaire only gets 3m nowadays.

    Reply
    1. Alex

      I reckon any show that gets about 5m in a Sunday ~7pm slot is good going.

      Incidentally what was Beat the Star averaging in each series?

      Reply
      1. Jonathan

        I have just checked on BARB. In its first series, Beat the Star had about 5m for its first 2 episodes but then fell under 4m for the next four episodes before rising a little back over 4m for the remaining episode.

        In its second series, it had 5 and a half million for the first episode but then fell to 4m or under for the rest of the series.

        Reply
      1. Travis P

        To compare to the same time last year.

        20th September
        19:00 All Star Family Fortunes – 5.74 million

        Given we are waiting for the official rating, that is about on par to last year but Family Fortunes aired 15 mins later.

        I think the crunch will come in three weeks time when The Cube will be the lead in for the first live results show. If they can reach 6 million then ITV have got a good two show combo with The X Factor.

        Reply
        1. Brig Bother Post author

          Blimey, I didn’t realise Family Fortunes did as well as that last year, it didn’t do quite that well Saturday, just over four mill by the looks of things.

          Bother’s Bar: leading research, there.

          Reply
          1. kylie

            Family fortunes actually won the slot last year, this year The Cube lost it by about 700k/800k

    2. David

      Good numbers, considering the UTV pre-emption…hopefully there won’t be much of a drop next week.

      And based on her body language, I think The Body had a ball tossing those balls out of the container…

      Reply
        1. David

          I think they set up the game examples so that The Body finishes “at the last second”- plus she didn’t have to worry about hitting herself in the face with flying balls because of her mask…and that phrase sounds dirtier than it actually is..

          Reply
        2. Brig Bother Post author

          Actually quite a clever game – it gets more difficult the further in you get, as the balls go aall over the place in the container..

          Not that ther bloke made it look hard, obviously.

          Reply
  11. James E. Parten

    It is quite likely that Saturday night will find Chuckles Gardner (good and close friend) and myself in front of this box, watching the full episode upload of the first new episode of “The Cube”.

    I’m looking forward to it myself!

    Reply

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