History Series / TheCrystalMaze

---> '''O'Brien''': Did I hear a "go for it"? That's a yellow card.
---> '''Team captain''': Well, as Richard's punishment for saying "go for it", he's gonna do a game, and it's going to be a physical one!
---> '''O'Brien''': I've got one that's 'deserving'; this one's evil. In fact, I'm going to withdraw the yellow card, because there's every likelihood of you being locked in here.

--> '''O'Brien''': I bought the crackers in good faith!
--> '''Mumsey''': You should have bought them in Harrods.

--> '''Ed''': Hello, will you go out with me?
--> '''Barbara the computer''': Not until you get a haircut!
--> '''Ed''': (crestfallen, to himself) What sort of haircut does a twenty-fourth century computer favour?

---> '''Team''': Come on, Adrian! Come on, Adrian! Come on, Adrian!
---> '''Richard''': Do you think his name's Adrian?

* ForDoomTheBellTolls: The very first automatic lock-in game consists of a giant spider web, with very large hanging bells. The contestant has to climb this web without ringing the bells; if they did this three times, they were locked in. The tension is palpable while this game is being played.

* FashionDissonance: The perms, mullets, and toupees sported by so many of the contestants certainly were a product of the time. Some contestants wore over-sized spectacles.

* SpiritualSuccessor:
** Numerous pundits have compared this series to the 1980-86 [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] children's series ''Series/TheAdventureGame'', in which teams of three (two celebrities, one civilian) would have to complete various (untimed) games of skill and lateral thinking in order to get a crystal.[[note]] Though the crystals played a different role; they purportedly allowed the contestants to return to Earth from the series' setting of the planet Arg.[[/note]] And like ''The Crystal Maze'', ''The Adventure Game'' had a GoldenSnitch final round in the form of the Vortex; if the contestants solved every puzzle with ease, they could still "lose" if they all stumbled into the Vortex in the final game (which happened more than once).
** After the original run ended, the UK did get its own version of ''Fort Boyard''.

* BambooTechnology: A feature of the Aztec Zone.
* BeehiveHairdo: In Series 3, Auntie Sabrina has a beehive hairdo.

Due to the popularity of the "Crystal Maze Experience" and the celebrity revival, Channel 4 commissioned a brand new series to be hosted by Creator/RichardAyoade and broadcast in 2017, including a number of celebrity specials. Changes to the revival include the change from six random contestants to a group of five acquaintances, the return of the Industrial zone, and redesigns to the Future zone and the Crystal Dome. Medieval Zone was ditched in 2019 in favour of the new Eastern Zone, meaning that only Future and Aztec have been ever-present now.

A U.S. version premiered on Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} in January 2020, hosted by Adam Conover (of ''Series/AdamRuinsEverything'' fame). This version whilst also filmed on the UK set this time features teams of families, with the youngest family member being the team captain. Only one season of 10 episodes has aired so far; despite being renewed for a second season in February 2020, the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic went into full-swing almost immediately after, making filming the show unfeasible. It's unknown if Americans will return to the Maze anytime soon.

A U.S. version premiered on Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} in 2020 hosted by Adam Conover (of ''Series/AdamRuinsEverything'' fame). This version whilst also filmed on the UK set this time features teams of families, with the youngest family member being the team captain.

** Conversely... [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGlMjh5g4sc&t=46m27s One Crystal + Crystal Dome]] = EpicFail. It actually happened twice.

** And of course, [[https://youtu.be/S-MaYk0d7m0 the only way to top the above]].

* TooDumbToLive: Several contestants, although [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tzsAleuY9c this]] is probably the most ludicrous example.

* {{Corpsing}}: In the third 2017 celebrity special, Tamara Wall was reduced to helpless laughter by Richard Ayoade's repeated mentions of [[ItMakesSenseInContext balls]].

Due to the popularity of the "Crystal Maze Experience" and the celebrity revival, Channel 4 commissioned a brand new series to be hosted by Creator/RichardAyoade and broadcast in 2017, including a number of celebrity specials. Changes to the revival include the change from six random contestants to a group of five acquaintances, the return of the Industrial zone, and redesigns to the Future zone and the Crystal Dome. Medieval zone was ditched in 2019 in favour of the new Eastern zone, meaning that only Future and Aztec have been ever-present now.

* ArtsyBeret: In the first episode of series 3, Richard O'Brien indicates a picture he is painting, and is then incandescent with rage and sorrow when his beret is missing.

* BeehiveHairdo: In series 3, Auntie Sabrina has a beehive hairdo.

* BorrowedBiometricBypass: In series 5, the contestant had to place a dead man's hand on a palm reader to open a safe, in a murder mystery game.

** Subverted for a while by Richard O'Brien who decided to make "Go for it!" his catchphrase, but whenever he used it would shortly after go off on a monologue [[BreakingTheFourthWall explaining to the audience]] that he had decided to make "Go for it!" his catchphrase. However, in series four he started disliking the phrase, and threatened to sanction contestants who used it, notably to one contestant also called Richard:

* DoorSlamOfRage: In series 3, Richard O'Brien has an angry outburst about his artist's beret going missing, and furiously slams his paint box shut, making a crash which echoes around the Medieval Zone. Sometimes he slams a door particularly dramatically when a contestant is locked in.

* FortuneTeller: One of the inhabitants of the Medieval Zone was a stereotypical fortune teller who asked quiz questions and handed over a crystal (which was hidden in the base of her crystal ball) if the contestant answered correctly. O'Brien would provide the contestant with silver coins to cross her palm with. The fortune teller is his in-show mother, 'Mumsie', something that O'Brien made up on the spot during a first-series episode and it stuck. In Series 3, 'Mumsie' was replaced by 'Auntie Sabrina' - which was strange, because they were both played by Sandra Caron (possibly it was just an elaborate excuse to change her costume, as the characters did dress differently). 'Mumsie' returns in Series 4, announcing her arrival back in the ChristmasEpisode which kickstarts said series.

* TheGhost: Richard frequently called out to Ralph the butler, who was never seen. He also made phone calls to Duane, Mumsey's lover in the fourth series.

* LinkedListClueMethodology: A lot of the games had a dash of this, but particularly one of the most iconic games, the 'Murder Mystery' where a trail of clues would lead around a messy room (which also had a dead body in it because [[AlwaysMurder reasons]]) to the crystal. These games were so popular a different incarnation was done in each series. The fifth series acquired an actor playing the dead man, rather than a dummy.

* MagicKiss: Played with in one game in series 1: the contestant had to find their way through a maze of mirrors and glass, and kiss a sleeping princess (actually the producer's daughter), to win the crystal. Only the male contestants were selected for this game. The outtakes video shows one contestant having to do lots of takes of this, because her crown kept falling down. Another contestant tried to kiss her through a pane of glass, prompting his team to ask "did that work?".
* MagicPotion: One game in the Medieval Zone in series 4 required the contestant to mix four potion ingredients in a cauldron, out of which the crystal would rise. The real challenge was that the ingredients were on shelves protected by rotating blades, in glass phials which had to be reached with a grabber. If a contestant dropped three bottles, they were locked in.

* PlungerDetonator: One game in the Aztec zone required the contestant to fish plunger handles from a river using a fishing rod, before using them to detonate the entrance to a mine shaft.

** Due to her being his in-show mother, Mumsey also left at the same time as O'Brien. Mumsey did however [[TheBusCameBack return in the 2016 celebrity special]] ([[TheOtherDarrin now played by Maureen Lipman]]) but WordOfGod says that she won't return for the 2017 revival.
* RebuiltSet: Avoided with the 2016 special, which was filmed in the live experience site, but the 2017 revival has [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40354288 recreations]] of the Aztec, Mediæval and Industrial zones from the original plans. The Future zone and Crystal Dome area were redesigned from scratch. The Dome is now in a separate set as its fans had previously blown sand around in the Aztec Zone.

* TermsOfEndangerment: In series 1, episode 3, there was one male contestant who was constantly calling his female team mates "darling". He also tried to hug them when they won a crystal: if you look carefully, you can see them brushing him off.

* CompartmentShot: This often happens when the contestant opens the safe or other receptacle containing the crystal.

* DoorSlamOfRage: In series 3, Richard O'Brien has an angry outburst about his artist's beret going missing, and furiously slams his paint box shut, making a crash which echoes around the Medieval Zone.

* LinkedListClueMethodology: A lot of the games had a dash of this, but particularly one of the most iconic games, the 'Murder Mystery' where a trail of clues would lead around a messy room (which also had a dead body in it because [[AlwaysMurder reasons]]) to the crystal. These games were so popular a different incarnation was done in each series.

There were also SpinOff {{Gamebooks}}, set in a more elaborate version of the Maze: ''The Crystal Maze Adventure Gamebook'' by Dave Morris and Jamie Thompson aimed at teens and adults, in which the more "realistic" maze was justified by it being set [[ExtyYearsFromNow a hundred years in the future]], with advanced holographics and robotics (including the robot host [[FunWithAcronyms ROB]]); and four targeted at younger readers (''The Crystal Thief'', ''Tea at Rick's'', ''The Sacred Necklace'' and ''Phantom in the Tower'' all by Peter Arnold), which just {{Handwave}}d it.

* BaldOfAwesome:
** Richard O'Brien.
** The third host, Creator/StephenMerchant, also sported a bald head but that was because he originally [[DyeingForYourArt shaved his head]] [[{{Film/Logan}} for another role he had just finished filming]].