Excellent! Thank you! Although even 999 lives may still not be enough for me. ;-)
Don't worry about all the questions, it's just nice to get some feedback and am happy to answer anything. :) I'm afraid there's no way past that, and that red thing is just an artefact from the Monty Mole graphics I ripped. It doesn't do anything. The Dark Sceptre character also blocks another level, and there's no way past that (until I add another level and remove the blockage).