Time Masters (game show)

Time Masters
Genre	Game Show
Created by	Michael Boughen [1] Wayne Cameron [1] [2]
Directed by	Robert Burton
Creative director	Michael Boughen
Presented by	Tony Johnston
Narrated by	Mark Malone (1996-1997) Jason Walkerden (1997-1998)
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	195
Production
Executive producers	Wayne Cameron Michael Boughen
Producer	Bob Gillow
Production locations	Brisbane, Queensland (1996) Perth, Western Australia (1997-1998)
Running time	26 minutes
Production company	Southern Star Group
Original release
Network	Seven Network
Release	1 April 1996 (1996-04-01) [3]  – 1998 (1998)
Related
A*mazing Wipeout

Time Masters is an Australian children's game show hosted by Tony Johnston from 1996 to 1998 on the Seven Network. ^[4] Running for three seasons, Tony would meet the two school teams consisting of two players each. The teams then participated in three rounds of games, competing for points. After five days of play, the winning school would take home the major prize, whilst the losing school would take home a runners up prize. In each of the five daily episodes, players won player's prizes, and for Scramble, the fastest player also won a watch. In 1998, the show ended and was replaced with Wipeout a year later, also hosted by Johnston.

Season One

Brain Strain

A board of six themed answers were presented at the top of the course alongside numbered buttons. Once Tony asked the player their question, they would have to navigate through a specially designed obstacle course consisting of a Flying Fox, the 'Wobbly Planks' (a two segment walkway moving in opposite directions) and the 'Groove Tube' (a revolving pipe) before hitting the button that corresponded with their answer. There were five questions and six answers in total, meaning that a correct answer would remove it from play and therefore as a possibility to be selected again. There was a two minute time limit, and the total score awarded would depend on how many questions were answered correctly.

Scramble

In Scramble, the object was to retrace a pattern shown on a light up board by stepping on a selected tile from each row. The players were shown the correct pattern three times after Tony had asked the question, and they had 15 seconds to retrace the correct pattern. Once at the top of the board, they had to select the two correct options out of the four possible choices, as these were always two part questions. If the player selected the right answer first, the game would register their next button hit, whereas if they hit either of the decoy answers, the buttons would turn red instead of green and their turn would be over. Each player from one school had two turns, and then the next school players came on for their turns. The player who achieved the fastest time to scale the board correctly and input both right answers won a Lorus watch.

After Scramble, the second team would play Brain Strain.

Superball

Tony would give clues to the answer of a puzzle, and when guessed, the players would have to run to the end of the set to retrieve lettered balls from a chute. The aim was to spell out the usually seven letter answer of the clue with these plastic balls, in the quickest possible time whilst avoiding running back with letters not in the answer. The time limit for the game was one minute.

Season Two and Three

Slam Dunk

Slam Dunk replaced Brain Strain, but retained the same game board. Like before, there were five themed questions, whilst the game board presented six possible answers (and the category). In order to hit the buttons, the players would have to shoot a basketball from the key into the correctly numbered hoop. If a ball was aimed at one hoop and ended up bouncing into an unintended hoop, this would register the same as an incorrect answer. This round gave players 75 seconds to answer all five questions - including any they may have missed earlier by selecting an incorrect hoop, if time allowed. Points were allotted based on the number of correct answers, and if all five questions were completed correctly before the timer was up, the players stood by as a student from their opposing school was dunked into a vat of water on set.

Scramble

The Scramble setup was unchanged from the first series, and featured the same five tile wide, nine tile long course and rules.

After Scramble, the team that didn't play Slam Dunk earlier had their turn to play.

Pit Stop

An Arcade Driving Game, Manx TT, played simultaneously - the only game in the show's run to do so. Once one player completed one lap, they would need to jump off and let their teammate compete the second lap. The team that came first won the points for this round.

Trivia

• The show was rerun in 1999–2003 on Disney Channel.
• This show was produced by the same team as A*mazing and ran alternating seasons to the show.
• When Time Masters moved location, A*mazing, which also moved locations incorporated the 'Wobbly Planks' (minus the obstacles) and the 'Groove Tube' into their redesigned maze.

References

1. "Title unknown". Business Review Weekly. Vol. 18, no. 34–42. Fairfax Media group. 1996. p. 35. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
2. Groves, Don (7 April 1994). "New Oz TV Star is born". Variety . Retrieved 17 February 2020.
3. "1996: March 30-April 5". TelevisionAU. 31 March 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
4. "The Best Aussie Kids Game Shows from the '90s". Cactus Pop. 30 June 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2020.