theidentfan: theguitarman19 I know, but given the trend this year (Poland, Turkey, Poland, USA, Poland, South Africa) it won't be surprising...
Nov 24, 2024 9:13:17 GMT -5
theidentfan: New top-prize winner in South Africa! (That's a sentence I never thought I'd say ) I guess the next on will be Poland then...
Nov 21, 2024 14:43:39 GMT -5
theomorton: Hi Matt, I was reading your post and I understand you have access to a question database? I'm working on a personal hobby project and was looking for a DB of questions. Can you help? Thanks ahead!
Oct 23, 2024 9:04:40 GMT -5
probium: Sound design of Arkadium Millionaire is flawed. Once I get the final question wrong, I get treated to the $32,000 lose cue, NOT the $1 Million lose cue.
Aug 19, 2024 0:42:37 GMT -5
Post by millionairenut on Sept 7, 2020 21:51:31 GMT -5
It was a pretty entertaining opening episode of Millionaire. Jeremy's introductory comments were what I'd expect out of him. I thought it was a solid first one, with everybody winning at least something. The two Phone A Friends is a nice touch, if you ask me.
I can't help but wonder if the Elsa used is tonight's episode was the same Elsa that Andrew Townsley called. It's unlikely, but who knows? I'm excited that the series is back.
Post by TruelyMostWanted on Sept 8, 2020 20:37:31 GMT -5
Episode 2 is now available on the GDrive. Also the Subreddit UKTVLAND seems to be collecting the episodes as well. I updated the links in my post on the previous page (28)!
Post by millionairenut on Sept 9, 2020 22:16:44 GMT -5
Well, I got caught up on the past two episodes, and here's what I think.
Tuesday: I was pretty crushed that Calum didn't get the 14th question right, but he would've gotten it wrong. I know I've seen that list many times. I would've gone for the exact same answer he did, had he chosen to answer. He was a brilliant player.
Scott's interests were widely diverse, and they helped him out. He walked away with a decent prize.
The two women were unfortunate these past two episodes, especially the first one, she was a good player, but all it takes is one question for it to all go bad. She burned through those lifelines on the 10th question, and couldn't help her on the 11th.
What in the world is the Hokey Cokey? Is that what it's known as in Britain? I have never heard of it being phrased like that, but Saul had some decent knowledge to him. I never heard of Tippi Hedren, and I only remember Janet Leigh being in Psycho. I figured it was either Grace Kelly or Kim Novak, but would've guessed wrong. Of course, when I see Grace Kelly mentioned on Millionaire, I think of Ken Basin.
I'm a pretty big fan of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, so I was 99.9% confident on that last one.
Is it me, or is Jeremy more polite in this series? Perhaps he doesn't have the live audience to crack jokes and to get a laugh, but that's possibly just me.
Post by millionairenut on Sept 11, 2020 15:55:57 GMT -5
Last night’s episode was okay, so-so. There’s only been one big winner the first four episodes, though by this point, I think it’s no secret we all know what’s coming this evening. I’ll be working tonight, so I’ll have to watch tomorrow.
{Spoiler} Just saw the episode! What a brilliant contestant! It felt like all those final questions were made for him! Based on his smile, I could tell immediately after he saw the last couple questions that he already knew the answer! Almost like the British version of John Carpenter! And the fact that his brother was on the show too and won a half a million pounds- his whole family is smart! If anybody were to take home the million, it had to have been him, and I’m glad that the million went to such a memorable and knowledgeable contestant. Also can we talk about that studio animation and lighting when he won that million? Literally everything about the episode was great. Even the contestant before him who took a shot and won the £32,000 made the episode interesting. And the banter between the contestants and Jeremy in this episode felt more enjoyable than the previous episodes. It was funny seeing Clarkson get blown away by the contestant’s quick answers. Overall, a perfect way to end the series!
{Spoiler} I'm not sure why people on Twitter and YouTube have been hating on him. I've seen accusations that this was staged, or fixed, or the questions went his way. The man is just really impressive. I wouldn't even say every question was a history or politics question anyway. The last two were, but when they wrote these, how did they know who was going to get into the hot seat? Aren't the batch of 15 questions randomly given to a contestant, anyway?
Looking at the initial ITV trailer, I suspected Donald was a strong candidate to win the million, based on how he looked, as silly as that might sound. I thought maybe JP Hogan was another possibility, again, just looking at them on the trailer. For all we know, the person wasn't even shown, but now we know. You talk about saving the best for last, wow.
When I saw Donald in the trailer, I said, "Huh, that kind of looks like Davyth Fear." Little did I know when I was watching the video that that was his younger brother, and when I saw "jaw on the floor," I figured it could've been him because he might've won a big amount when he said that, and Jeremy talked about this contestant's knowledge.
As far as I can recall, Donald is only the second contestant to reach the 15th question in the UK with multiple lifelines still handy, with the other being Pat Gibson.
How many people have won the top prize anyway without using all of their lifelines? Off the top of my head, he's one of three, along with John Carpenter and David Paterson in South Africa. This was one of the best contestants in the history of the franchise, in any country. He made Jeremy emotional.
I find it ironic how a question on pirates was the final question, Donald and his brother have pirated 1.5 million pounds from ITV. It's truly unreal. That's a family that just knows so much and has so much knowledge between them.
Now that we're a couple days past Donald's win, I suppose we're now allowed to talk about it without using the spoiler function.
When I watched the trailer for the fifth and final night by Stellify (the production company behind this current British version of Millionaire), the first time I saw Donald, I thought to myself "God, he looks almost like that guy who won a half million a year or so ago. Are they twins? You know, if they are related and if he has the same brilliance as his brother, he might be it. He might be our big winner." As it turns out, he most certainly was.
And he has most definitely earned a spot in my top three most favorite Millionaire top prize winners of all time (as well as being one of my most favorite contestants of all time). So incredibly humble and smart. I liked how he brushed off the questions after completing his stack. I mean, he may have found them easy, but to most of us (even the trivia nuts here), they were fairly hard (especially the last 3 questions). He reminds me of Ingram Wilcox (my favorite winner) in that he has incredible immense knowledge but is also so incredibly... shy (if that's the word) and humble. He had a story or more information to give with every answer. His run was absolutely incredible.
I only wish he had known the Diwali-Ramadan question (his £32,000 question) without using his 50:50 so he would've gone into the million (and won the million) with all 4 lifelines intact. Then he would've been the first person anywhere in the world ever to complete their run without using a single lifeline (thus making him, probably, the most epic contestant in the format's history). Note: I know John Carpenter essentially didn't use his PaF because he didn't ask his dad for help, but the fact that he used it at all means that his run is imperfect, because at the end of the day, there would be a giant red 'X' over the PaF even though he didn't use it for help and even though he did win the million.
It's a shame that Donald won during COVID season. Can you imagine how it would've gone it he had played during normal times? How wild the audience would've been? How Jeremy probably would've rushed up and hugged him the moment he told him he had won? The moment just would've been that much more epic, but I understand why things are being done the way they are now.
Speaking of Jeremy, I love his reaction into and through the question. I love his facial response when Donald started off his response with "I taught piracy one year...", the look of "Oh God, he knows this and he's actually going to win this." (Meredith had a similar look when Nancy Christy was explaining her million dollar answer) I love his excitement upon revealing that Donald won the million (very exciting and great and Chris-like). I love how genuinely touched and emotional and in disbelief he was ("How did you know that?!").
The final point I wanted to touch on, perhaps interestingly and paradoxically, is how disappointed I am by the lack of graphics in the refreshed version of Millionaire. I mean, I've already stated in the past that I hate the lack of straps (I think they're called that) that come up whenever a contestant gets an answer correct.
(this is what I was referring to)
Some of the other graphics look... cheap (for example, the money tree, which I still don't like two years on) or haven't really substantially changed in a number of years (the question graphics, which still only zoom forward to the screen and nothing else, meaning that it essentially hasn't changed since 2007). Donald's win made me realize and miss one more thing.
Like, I would've love to have been at the producerial meeting where they decided on these things. What on earth was their rationale? Did they think it made the show look better, presentation-wise? Did they blow their entire budget on the set and intro (because those two things look great) and had nothing left for graphics? And more importantly, why did the American revival choose to follow the British lead on this? Call me pedantic and nitpicky (I'm sure a number of you already do, which is fine because I feel the same about myself), but for a show with no real elaborate physical sets (like The Price is Right, Family Fortunes/Feud, Jeopardy!, etc.) that is so on-screen graphics dependent, I feel that these graphics are an integral part of the show's presentation, and the fact that they are missing from the current revivals on both sides of the Atlantic really takes away from the level and quality of presentation. It's like, we've gone 10 steps forward with respect to set design and the quality of the intro graphics but we've also gone 20 steps backwards in every other aspect of the graphics. If there is one thing I hate about the revivals, it is that.
EDIT: First, I've amended by collage of the faces of millionaire winners (the face people pull the moment they're told they've won a million dollars/pounds) to include Donald. He adds a new style of look to the collage, the one I like to call 'looking at the confetti falling from the ceiling'.
Second, in getting the image for the collage, I've found something very interesting.
Turns out, there IS a "Millionaire" win strap for this set of graphics (look between the top and bottom set of question lozenges). ITV/Stellify just chose not to use it. Shame.
Last Edit: Sept 14, 2020 19:07:03 GMT -5 by panampat: Some new extra tidbits
It's like, we've gone 10 steps forward with respect to set design and the quality of the intro graphics but we've also gone 20 steps backwards in every other aspect of the graphics. If there is one thing I hate about the revivals, it is that.
I COMPLETELY agree. I can't stand how they cut to the wide shot immediately after someone answers correctly. Seeing the close-up look on their face (and the reaction of their loved ones behind them) as orange goes green & the win strap comes up was always a highlight of Millionaire for me. (Beyond top prize winners, Phil Gibbons's $500,000 question comes to mind!)
Not to mention when we finally get a top prize winner! Seeing their name & "MILLIONAIRE" flash on screen while the confetti rains was always a magical moment. (And it hurts even more to see that they DO have those graphics, but choose not to use them! I just can't see a logical reason why they'd opt not to...)
And don't get me started on the blandness of the current question font. I still can't get past not having ITC Conduit there. It's like Jeopardy! not using Korinna for their clues! It's just... iconic...
All that being said, one of my favourite contestants ever. What a game. What an incredible run. So happy to see him finally end the drought! Here's hoping Jimmy gets to have a Chris & Jeremy-esque big reaction next month, too...
Post by TruelyMostWanted on Sept 16, 2020 7:27:49 GMT -5
Its always been weird why they removed that total winnings lozenge. But i really stopped "wishing it was there".. The game seems fluent either way. Emotions and Reactions are recorded & shown very well. And the moneytree is shown often enough, showing the status. I'm so used of watching that version.
i saw that strap for 1-2 frames too. And tbh... i expected much more than that ^^ I had a better idea than just writing "MILLIONAIRE" on a blue total winnings strap.
There is a high potential for the literally unused 1 MILLION from the Contestant Bumper here
I mean checkout what i made using just that Contestant Bumper. If you deform that lozenge's outlines, draw in the same colored background, use the 1 MILLION sparkle animation cutted out and looped apply some Chroma Key & Add a Total Winnings text et voila
I wish they would have done that.
But i see a problem with these total winnings graphics.. Even if they look beautiful, they can only be applied from certain angles. They would ruin the great wide-shots of the studio. Especially here it wouldnt fit to the videofloor. You couldnt show the full beauty of its animation.
) I guess the next on will be Poland then...
