h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am new to h2g2 and read with pleasure the It's a Knockout entry. I was an avid fan of the seventies Jeux sans Frontiers, and miss it sorely. One correction to the article. The Fil Rouge was not the final game of the Jeux sans Frontiers final, but the international name for the marathon (it literally means 'red line' - ie a thin red line running through the whole competition). At an international level the fil rouge was often very cleverly designed, ingenious even, like one where a team member (dressed as a sort of flying machine with wings) was hoisted into the air fastened on the end of a giant see saw contraption, having his counterweight slowly drained of water. As he became heavier and started to sink down to ground he had to flap his wings to stay up in the air longer than any of his competitors.

The essence of the Jeux sans Frontiers was that, despite the theatre and comedy of the games, the competitors (and the specatators) treated the competition with deadly seriousness, and many a time competitors would storm off the set in a temper or tears. I think that magic was somehow lost in the later versions which is why their revival was short lived - the presentation focused on the tacky slapstick rather than the competition.

Also, many other things added to the 'epic' intensity of the internationals - they were filmed at night; we, as TV viewers watched it with Stuart Hall and Eddie Waring from the distance of a commentary box, with all the other languages gabbling away in the background; dramatic music would be played in the background to each game; the settings, usually medieval marketplaces or town squares, had thousands of spectators packed in like sardines;and there was that giant electronic scoreboard totalling up the points from each game.

I am surprised that attempts to revive the show have failed to capture these essential attributes. I want to fly the flag for three things:

1 - BBC rerun the 1970s-82 Jeux sans Frontiers - to nearly all viewers it would be like watching them for the first time;
2 - make some of the best finals available on video (ie not selected clips of funny games, but the whole competition)
3 - is there some software designer out there who can capture the essence of the Jeux sans Frontiers for web based computer game - imagine half a dozen participants all over the place at any one time competing with each other, each 'representing' their town or country on a series of virtual 'knockout' type challenges!