“The Quest” is certainly one of the better looking new reality competitions around. Gathering a dozen people to participate, they’re brought into a misty fantasy setting with castles and moors and magical forests. It is characters in costumes not toothy game show hosts who give them challenges. And yes, big ogres come out and drag people away (none of the competition mind you, but the supporting cast).
Participants say things like “I’ve dreamed of this. I can’t believe I’m here.”
But with all the cameras pointed their way, you have to think they’re ignoring the obvious. It looks like they’re on sound stages, a particularly elaborate theme park, or a Medival Times restaurant after hours.
Reality shows are all about casting and so far, there hasn’t been much personality showing itself on “The Quest.” Mostly, the participants seem overshadowed any time one of the actors steps forward to issue orders.With no other prize offered than title of One True Hero, the participants look happy just to be part of it (though some of them look like they wandered down the wrong corridor at ComicCon).
For them, and a large chunk of the audience, we assume, it’s so wonderful to be amid the fantasy realm of their minds, like some total immersion game better than anything virtual reality glasses could give them. Even so, their initial challenges are the kind of basic things that even “American Ninja Hero” wouldn’t have surpassed — shooting literal straw men with arrows by teamwork — one has to say where to aim an elaborate old school arrow shooter, the others just have to launch it. The losing team has to whittle itself down by shooting arrows into bags representing teammates.
Then there is a determination by the Fates — a grandiose trio that stands, robes flowing, in the best under lighting, making pronouncements that make trios of singing competition judges look down to earth.
Shall we delineate the participants and their chances to win? We would, but it is a fault of the producers that none of them really stand out immediately.
There is a guy called Shando, whose day job is a mixed martial arts fighter, who takes a lot of early control, but settles down halfway through. There is more than one nerd girl, one of whom is eliminated so as to better distinguish the ones left. There is a long haired dude named Jim who is just a little too into the superhero thing and says “this is real to me.” And there is a woman who says “being a mom is being like a hero.” Yeah, sort of.
There are aspects of the production that will make it seem cool to those who like these sort of fantasy things. But for those who don’t, it only seems sillier than necessary, with no time spent on better names for things, like the land itself is called EverRealm. Oh brother.
And there’s a booming, bemused narrator (Jim Dyne) saying things like “Our Story begins…” The generic and dramatic symphonic music is way out of control, trying to give the false impression that what the people are doing here is somehow more noble than any contests on “The Amazing Race” (whose producers were involved here), “Survivor,” “Big Brother” or “Naked and Afraid.”
Despite the trappings and the Mideval Times costumes, a lot of the standard reality show tropes survive “When people started being voted off, you realized this was real,” one says. So far nobody has said “I didn’t come here to make friends.” But as I said, we haven’t seen that much of their personalities yet.