Time for our next episode review, and this time we worked on Shaka Zulu together. The overall score is really not surprising as this episode was not that great at all. It finishes with the exact same score as Silk Ladder.
THE MASK OF SHAKA ZULU
MOAT: 6/10
(Credits to "Purple Parrots Fan" for her contribution to this section)
For this moat, the first player had to swim across the moat with a rope in their hand, and tie it around the pole on the other side. With that, the first player would brace themselves with their feet, and then the second player would cross by walking on the bottom rope. Basically, it was your typical "walk on a rope" kind of moat. Uncreative and uninspiring. There was really nothing interesting to note about this round. In the end, the Orange Iguanas, Silver Snakes, Red Jaguars, and Green Monkeys got to advance to the Steps of Knowledge.
LEGEND: 7/10
Long ago, there lived a great ruler of the Zulu nation named Shaka Zulu. When he was little, him and his mother were banished from his tribe and for many years they lived off of bugs and plants. Finally, they were taken in by another Zulu tribe called the Matawans. While with his new tribe, Shaka Zulu never forgot how his old tribe treated him and his mother. When Shaka was 30, the Matawan chief put Shaka in charge of a tribe of his own. He created new tactics and a new Zulu army with regimes and commanders. He also put distinguishing markings on the soldiers' shields so you could tell them apart. When Shaka became chief of all the Zulu tribes, he conquered the other tribes in Southern Africa, including the tribe that was cruel to him and his mother. Many years later, a thief stole his burial mask and it ends it ways to Olmec's Temple. This legend was pretty good compared to other Season 1 legends. There was no bad voice acting or childish one-liners in this legend (which is a good thing.) But this legend felt a little boring. It would've been nice to see a little more detail about how Shaka Zulu conquered other tribes. But then again, the producers don't have that much time to go into detail with only a few minutes to tell a story. Also, I can't help to think that the artifact was "forced" into the legend. I mean they don't talk about Shaka Zulu's Mask until the very end? It was a cool design for an artifact, but it should've tied into the legend in some way.
STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 3/10
Despite this Steps of Knowledge round being a close call, it was filled with a lot of wrong answers. There were 8 wrong answers in total, and three of them were given by the Red Jaguars and Orange Iguanas each. And some of the answers to these questions were obvious, so it is not like the contestants were given hard answers. Now if this round wasn't so close in competition, then the it might've received the lowest score possible.
TEMPLE GAMES: 7/10
The temple games featured the
Red Jaguars butting heads against the
Green Monkeys. On the
Red Jaguars, we meet
Bobby, who wants to make a lot of "dough" when he gets older, and his partner
Brittany who likes to babysit her siblings. The
Green Monkeys included
Michelle, who liked to play the flute and was part of an honors band, and
Phillip, who liked to move around a lot.
The temple games were pretty memorable for the temple games interviews from the players and Kirk's reaction to reading the title to the first temple game.
The temple games were also creative too from the different color mask in temple game 2 to the battle horn in temple game 3. Too bad the competition was kind of lackluster, or else this round would've gotten a better score.
Temple Game #1 - Drat that Zulu Drought
During Shaka Zulu's time, the tribesmen had to travel far to get water in times of drought. In this temple game, Michelle and Bobby had to climb up a hill and pull down three buckets of water. The first player to pull all three buckets of water or the player the furthest along after 60 seconds will win. This temple game featured a dominating performance by Bobby of the Red Jaguars. He managed to pull all three of his buckets with 27 seconds left. Melissa was not bad herself as she was going up for her last bucket, but she was no match for Bobby.On a side note, Kirk's reaction towards the temple games title was priceless.
You know your temple game titles suck when even Kirk think it's lame.
Temple Game #2 - Mask the Zulu Warriors
In the second temple game, Phillip and Brittany had to climb up a shaft and place a mask on a Zulu warrior. Once they were done, they had to climb back up and place another mask on their head. The player with the most masks on their Zulu warriors after 60 seconds will win. Brittany kind of struggled to get her masks up towards the end of this temple game. Phillip was able to get his last mask up though after 60 seconds was up. Both players head into the final temple game with a 0.5-0.5 score.
Temple Game #3 - Signal the Battle Horn
In the final temple game, both teams had to work together to signal their battle horn four times. The first player will climb up the top of the mountain and blow their battle horn. Once they were done, their partners then had to climb up and signal their battle horn. They must repeat the process until both players signal their battle horn 2 times a piece. The team with the most battle horn signals after 60 seconds will win. The Red Jaguars won the temple game in a close match in the end. Brittany was on fire in this temple game as it took her like 3 seconds to climb the wall? The Green Monkeys were close to, but the Red Jaguars blew their horn four times. They head into Olmec's Temple with 1.5 pendants.
TEMPLE RUN: 5/10
(Credits to "Purple Parrots Fan" for her contribution to this section)
This temple run is notorious for having the quickest victory ever. But something is suspicious right away. As soon as Bobby opens the Holes of Python/Tomb door, he actually gains access to the Tomb of the Ancient Kings! Obviously the production crew and Kirk were not ready to pass him through the Tomb, and the door was supposed to be locked. Thus, this was a production error. It took Bobby 53 seconds to reach the Tomb, and took him 53 more seconds to exit. He escaped from the temple with 1:14 left on the clock. As you may have already guessed, this win was very lame and unimpressive. Just because a player exits the temple with plenty of time to spare, doesn't make him a great player. It doesn't automatically make it "the best solo win ever" just because one production error proved to be beneficial for the team. Bobby was just plain average, and he is in no way, shape, or form comparable to the likes of David from Lawrence of Arabia and Jennifer from John Sutter. It should also be noted that the treasure chest was opened during the rundown of the temple. Which basically proves that Bobby was NOT supposed to enter the Tomb so soon. If he had to take a different route, this team would've lost.
FINAL VERDICT: 5.6/10
(Credits to "Purple Parrots Fan" for her contribution to this section)
Overall, Shaka Zulu was just an average episode. The temple games featured an unique sequence, and the legend was interesting, but the Steps of Knowledge and temple run really drags this episode's score down. Whatever you do, don't listen to anyone who says this is "the best temple run ever." That couldn't be further from the truth. Just because a team gets lucky and finishes with plenty of time, doesn't make them great players. Bobby was just an average player, who basically just lucked into a direct path win. Regardless, this really isn't a bad episode by any means, and I still do recommend it to anyone.
Topic: Legends Episode Ranking System - COMPLETE (Read 87086 times)
