Legends Episode Ranking System - COMPLETE

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Billy you mean?

Also, I've been thinking of doing this kind of ranking too. I was thinking of doing episodes like "Geronimo" or "Sir Gawain," since those are episodes I know by heart since I've seen them a million times. I hope you don't mind. And Red Sash is a good episode choice next, either that or Enormous Nose Ring. Since we're ranking that episode right now and you wanted to rank Joel in the Player Rankings thread.

[The Red Jaguars]

Actually, I don't mind at all. That would be less episodes for me to rank and it would be interesting to get another individual's point of view. And I would be glad if you do Moccasins because I am not a fan of that episode.   My intent was to rank all 120 episodes and if other people contribute, that would be less episodes for me to have to worry about.

And I enjoy the whole Enormous Iron Nose Ring episode, so I don't mind at all doing that episode after Red Sash. It was actually a very fun episode. And I have to admit even though Joel is overrated, I still have respect for him more than other overrated players like Paula, Mitchell, Bobby, and Yakerra. He would've won if you gave him almost any layout. I have a hard time giving him a score in the temple. I don't want to rank him too low because he was fast and smart, but I don't want to rank him too high because he did make some costly mistakes.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, Joel was a good player, albeit a tad overrated. He made some mistakes (taking forever with the monkey, scaling the whole central shaft), that cost other players a chance at victory. But he really would've done well in any layout that was given to him. I like him MUCH better than overrated players like Paula, Shane, Bobby, and Yakerra. When I did rankings of Joel, I gave him an 8 for the temple run. The only points I took off were the aforementioned mistakes I just mentioned.

As for my rankings, I can't guaranteed they'll be as detailed as yours, especially with the "legend" bit. But I can still write enough and provide screencaps of the episodes I want to do. And it'll be especially easier with the episodes I've seen a million times.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Okay, I'm gonna try my hand at this. It's not gonna be as detailed as TRJ's review, but I'll do my best. Here is my review on "The Moccasins of Geronimo."

THE MOCCASINS OF GERONIMO

MOAT: 5/10

In the moat, the players had to paddle on a raft, and their partners had to cross in the same manner. It was a boring moat really, too short and all four teams rang in all at the same time. The Green Monkeys were first, and the Blue Barracudas, Purple Parrots, and the Silver Snakes all rang in soon after. I never liked moats that were either too short or too long.

LEGEND: 6/10

The legend talks about Geronimo, and how he fought back when soldiers imprisoned the Apaches. When the Mexican army tried to do a sneak attack on Geronimo, all they found were his moccasins. I'm indifferent to this legend. It wasn't bad, but it could've been a little more detailed.

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 4/10

The Steps of Knowledge round in this episode annoyed me. It seemed like EVERY team was getting a question wrong. The Purple Parrots were especially the worst for it. The Silver Snakes especially gave a ridiculous answer on how the "amazon river" created the Grand Canyon. -_- Alas, they eventually joined the Blue Barracudas on the final step.

TEMPLE GAMES: 6/10

In the first temple game, Mitchell and William had to put an arrow on their helmet, and climb up the soapy ramp and throw it through the bulls eye on top. William sucked, and he had a tough time staying on his knees. Mitchell ended up beating him 3-1. In the second temple games, Emily and Erin had to put feathers on the mannequins on all four corners of the Mr. Bubbles. Neither player was fast, but Erin beat Emily 5-4. In the third temple game, the teams had to put together a ti pi using the up and down pulley game. The Silver Snakes kind of sucked at this game, and they kept knocking off their ti pi's. In the end, the Blue Barracudas beat the Silver Snakes 5-2 and headed off to the temple with 1.5 pendants. Overall, it was a pretty average round. Neither team was impressive and the Silver Snakes' less than stellar performance was basically the reason they didn't go to the temple.

TEMPLE RUN: 5/10

The temple run is infamous for Mitchell switching floors three times and somehow getting the Treasure Chest to work. Despite this very quick win, it wasn't impressive at all and Mitchell was just lucky the treasure chest opened for him. In my player rankings of Mitchell, I gave him a "5" for the temple run, and I figured a 5/10 for this run would be fitting here as well.

FINAL VERDICT: 5.2/10

Wow, only a 5.2? That's not good for an episode that's supposed to be a win. The incredibly rushed moat and lackluster Steps of Knowledge round really bring it down. As well as the average scores all throughout. If you can't above a 6 for any other round you know this episode isn't very good.

And.... that's my take on Geronimo. I know this wasn't very detailed, but this was actually easier than I thought. I chose Geronimo because it was my first Season 1 episode and I've seen it a million times. It does have some sentimental value to me because it was one of the very first episodes I ever saw. But that doesn't mean it was an exciting episode though. Other episodes I'd like to do are "Billy the Kid," "Sir Gawain," and "Discarded Seal." So keep that in mind to those of you who want to review episodes as well. So.... thoughts?

[The Red Jaguars]

The first write-ups or so are kind of a learning experience, but once you write more reviews the process becomes quicker. Sometimes I do my write-ups in one sitting while others I do by pieces. If it is a good episode, I can do it through one sitting. The amount of detail though is optional, and I always give greater detail because I get carried away with what I am writing.  

And Geronimo was a lame episode. I remember watching this episode many times a long time ago, but I have not seen it recently. So your episode review is like a refresher for me. One thing I can say though is that if I reviewed Geronimo myself, I would've probably came up with around the same score. The legend not being very detailed was a flaw in a lot of S1 legends. I remember the "Golden Cricket Cage" legend being short as well. I am not sure why some of the legends were so brief in S1 and some were more in-depth. I guess bad editing? Another thing S1 episodes are guilty of are the bad Steps of Knowledge. Judging from your description from this SoK, it was kind of similar to "The Trojan Horseshoe" where there were bad answers every where. But not as bad as that one though.  

I do remember pieces of the temple games though. The first temple game had Kirk acting more annoying than usual about the "on your knees" rule. I hate when they used the team game in this episode also. I was never a fan of any variations of that game. And then the temple run was one of the most overrated runs on the show. I would've given this temple run the EXACT same score as you did too. Mitchell had to be one of the most overrated contestants on the show. All he was walk through the whole temple, reached the artifact, and walk out with it. There was no difficulty at all in his path and the biggest objective he had to do was spin the sundial. He lost all credibility from me when he started assembling the Silver Monkey with the Moccasins in his hand. He was just an average contestant that had a really generous layout. And I am sure this run wouldn't have gotten so much praise if the Treasure Chest didn't open. I think he was more overrated than Paula also. At least more people are convinced Paula was a fluke, but it is amazing that people consider Mitchell a strategist. I hate this win so much and there was nothing special about it.

Overall, good review. I think that this is the exact same score I would've given Moccasins. And thank God you did this episode, because this one would've been at the bottom of my list.  Aside from "Great Seal", all the other episodes from S1L4 are painful to watch.    I am almost done with my Red Sash review and I am going to post it tonight. It will be ready before we rank it tomorrow in GM1's thread.  

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, I wish I could've written in more detail, but for some reason I hate writing long things. Of course it's worth it in the end, whether it'd be a full episode ranking or the individual player ranking. I look forward to your Red Sash ranking, especially since you just reviewed that episode in the Player Ranking thread not long ago.

Also, I was thinking of doing "Sir Gawain," "Billy the Kid," and "Discarded Seal" next. And I updated the OP to reflect that.

[The Red Jaguars]

I know that feeling to. Whenever I write these reviews, I always feel like I never write enough. That is why I add the pictures along with it to make it a little longer. And there are just some parts of the episode that you can only write 1-2 sentences because there is absolutely nothing to say about them.  

Good luck with those three episodes too. All three of those are a classic. I am sure you know "Billy the Kid" by heart as a Purple Parrot fan, "Ivan the Terrible" is another fun episode and probably the best one where a team loses, and "Sir Gawain" was overplayed so much on Nick GaS that it is practically wired in everyone's head.

[The Red Jaguars]

I finally finished my ranking for "Red Sash". Since I reviewed this episode recently for my "Individual Rankings", most of this episode was fresh in my mind. And it was still worth a good watch because before I ranked the Blue Barracudas and Red Jaguars in the other thread, I have not seen this episode in a long time. My next project after this will be "The Enormous Iron Nose Ring of Babe" and then probably the "Mummified Hand" episode.

THE RED SASH OF TOKUGAWA IEYASU

MOAT: 7/10

The moat used during this production day was more simpler than other production days in S3. It was also quicker compared to most moats also. In this moat, the players had to cross three icebergs by walking across them one-by-one. Once the first player made it across, then the second player had a chance to move across it. The players had to balance their body though because the icebergs were wobbly and if they fell in the water, that player would have to start over again. The final result for this moat was pretty quick as expected. The first teams made it across with no problem while the Red Jaguars came in the rear in fourth place after the second player struggled to get across.

LEGEND: 6/10

Season 3 had a tendency to use silly and lame quotes in their legend, and this legend is about to use one of these lame quotations. The legend dealt with Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was the founder of the original and prestige Tokugawa Shogunate. In 1603, Tokugawa engaged into battle with any War Lords that resisted him. There was one War Lord that Tokugawa could not defeat though, whose name was Lord Yoritomo. For weeks, Yoritomo and Ieyasu battled out until Yoritomo's castle burned down. A punishment for defeat usually meant decapitation, but Ieyasu spared Yoritomo's life and he pledged his allegiance to Tokugawa for his salvation. In the end, Tokugawa gave his Red Sash to Yoritomo for his allegiance to him.

Now, the legend above sounds historically accurate and interesting. In fact, the legend was interesting for the most part considering we have all studied Tokugawa Ieyasu. Like all legends in Season 3 though, the producers liked to add a spin to the legend to add humor to it. When Yoritomo was about to be punished by Tokugawa, he thought his punishment would be "Grounded for two weeks with no TV.". Not only is this line lame, it doesn't even make sense at all. I am sure most children would know that TV was not around during the Tokugawa Shogunate. This legend would've received a much higher score if this line was not added to the legend at all. I wonder who was hired in the writing department for Legends, because they sure dropped the ball on them in S3.

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 8/10

The Steps of Knowledge was decent in this episode. Most of the questions revolved around Tokugawa and his Shogunate. Quentin of the Blue Barracudas answered two questions without any of the answers being revealed. The Blue Barracudas were the first to progress onto the temple games too. Another highlight of this SoK was the Purple Parrots pulling out an answer at the very last second. In the end, the Red Jaguars and Barracudas progress onto the temple games. Also, one of the questions at the steps was "What was the penalty for disobeying the Shogun?". Even though the question was answered without any of the answers being revealed, I can bet that one of the answers would've been the "grounded for two weeks with no TV".         

TEMPLE GAMES: 7/10

The temple games utilized a unique segment of different games. This set a temple games featured an athletic set of contestants. Some highlights included Quentin of the Blue Barracudas who played chess and wanted to be a video tester and Melody of the Red Jaguars who wanted to be a lawyer. The temple games were close competition, but the Blue Barracudas were the more dominant team. Both Barracudas completed their individual games. In the end, the Blue Barracudas out perform the Jaguars in a score 2-0.5.

Temple Game #1 - Raise the Sun

In the first temple game, both Troy and Quentin had to use the bungee cord to jump to the top of the ceiling and place their suns on the velcro portion of the ceiling. The player that got the most suns at the top would be the winner. Quentin was able to complete his temple game before the time was up. The Red Jaguar boy though struggled a little bit at the end and even knock some of his suns down. The first game went to Quentin of the Blue Barracudas.

Temple Game #2 - Destroy the Family Crests

"Suddenly these games have turned upside down." - Kirk before the second temple game

In the second temple game, Brandy and Melody were upside down and had to collect various family crests and drop them into the bin on the opposite side. The player with the most family crests in their bucket would be the winner. The temple game ended in a tie, but Brandy was the better player though in this temple game. At the beginning of the temple game, Brandy missed one of her family crests when she tried to throw it in her bin. However, she was still able to tie the temple game despite missing the first piece. Had she not missed that piece, then the Barracudas would've had one pendant going into the last game. In the end though, the temple game ended in a 2-2 tie.

Temple Game #3 - Conquering the War Lords

The final temple game had the players conquering different dynasties like Tokugawa did. One player was station a wall with four different city names while the other player uses a catapult to project the balls to their partners. The player on the wall had to catch the ball and place it next to each of the four cities. The temple game like the earlier game was competitive and came down to the last second. The Red Jaguars were close to reaching their city, Edo, before time ran out. But in the end, the Blue Barracudas made more progress and enter Olmec's temple with two pendants!

TEMPLE RUN: 8/10

Many temple teams in Season 3 faced temple layouts that required the team's to take a long path. This temple run was not exception for Brandy and Quentin. And like any bottom of the central shaft temple run on the show, this one ended in a loss. Enroute to the artifact, the Blue Barracudas entered 9 rooms total. This layout was very brutal, but this team put up a great effort. Brandy was one of the few contestants to make it back to the rope in the Pit of the Pendulum. However, on the upper floor of the temple, she hesitated too much and stalled a few objectives. Her biggest mistake though was she tried to assemble the Silver Monkey when the door to the Room of the Secret Password was already open. Now, this wasn't a total waste as the door to the Quicksand Bog DID open from the Shrine when she did this. She was taken out in the Room of the Secret Password.

Quentin did a good job following up on Brandy's path. However, he was hesitant himself and entered the Secret Password when he could've just entered the Quicksand Bog. He blazed through the bottom floor of the temple and reached the room with the Red Sash, but came up short of reaching the artifact. Too bad, this team would've won if they were allowed to use the Shrine shortcut. Both Brandy and Quentin still made a few mistakes though in the temple, and it cost them the second prize. The temple performance was still very exciting and both players should be proud of the strong effort they put up.

FINAL VERDICT: 7.2/10

Red Sash is an episode that is not talked about much due to it being forgettable. However, I highly recommend anyone to watch this episode. There was no real disappointing or bad moments to it at all. Brandy and Quentin were a very strong team and were forced to face a brutal temple layout. They would've won if they were allowed to take shortcuts, but it didn't help that either player stalled in a couple of rooms. But still, the episode was pretty exciting and the temple run was a nailbiter. If I had to name one disappointing moment about this episode, it would be the dumb quote in the legend. Other than that, if you have learned about Tokugawa in school, then this episode should be up your alley. Definitely try catching this episode if you have time.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Red Sash was a good episode, and good to see it ranked well too. It's kind of sad that a team who doesn't even REACH the artifact has its episode ranked better than someone who actually won. The Blue Barracudas were a dominant team all episode and they still gave it a good effort in the temple. However, when an artifact is in the bottom central shaft, losses are expected. Naturally, this episode was no exception. If it wasn't for all the hesitating by Brandy and Quentin, they probably would've won.

Great review like always, I would love to see your ranking of Babe the Ox next. And you should totally rank Joel in the Player Ranking thread too. As well as the other episodes from that filming day. I'm gonna rank Sir Gawain next. We should take turns ranking episodes in this thread too.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Here's my second review, and this time it's "The Much-Heralded Helmet of Sir Gawain."

THE MUCH-HERALDED HELMET OF SIR GAWAIN

MOAT: 7/10

The moat in this episode is when the players had to walk across the platforms at the same time. This is one of my personal favorite moats, and all the episodes to feature this moat were always close. The Blue Barracudas, Orange Iguanas, and the Purple Parrots gonged in at the exact same time, with the Silver Snakes joining in not long after. While it was a close moat, I only gave it a "7" because it was a rather short moat. Just like with Geronimo's moat, I never liked it when teams ring in at the same time.

LEGEND: 8/10

The legend talks about a stained glass window that was stolen from the royal chamber. As it turns out, it was a maid who accidentally broke the window. Sir Gawain pleaded to Merlin the magician to fix the window, but with the price of having to give Merlin Sir Gawain's helmet. I happened to like this legend, it was certainly creative and not a self parody like most Season 3 legends were. *coughRedSashcough*

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 7/10

The Steps of Knowledge were an average round. The only low point was Tiffani's "silver helmet" answer, but the Orange Iguanas still managed to join the Purple Parrots on the final step. One thing I found funny though was Jahmel's nearly falling over while trying to ring in at the buzzer.

TEMPLE GAMES: 8/10

The temple games in this episode featured great competition and an interesting sequence. In the first game. Tiffani and Donna had to jump up on the trampolines, repair the stained glass, then come right back down. Tiffani was kind of slow in this game, and it looked like she was taking her time jumping on the trampolines. Donna however moved much faster, and won a half pendant for her team. At one point of this game, Kirk almost called Donna "Jahmel" but corrected himself. "Ja- Donna!" Oh Kirk. In the second game, Jahmel and Josh had to grab a shield while avoiding the giant swinging boulder.... or mace in this particular case. This game was TERRIBLY voiced over, and the spotters were very sloppy with moving the wrecking ball too. This was obviously the first time the "swinging obstacle" game was used, and it would appear A LOT in Season 3. In the end, Jahmel beat Josh 4-3 and tied up the pendant score. In the third game, the teams used the rotating levers game to grab a chalice, and put it in their bin. The Purple Parrots were extraordinarily sloppy in this game, and couldn't get a good rhythm down. As a result, the Orange Iguanas mopped the floor with the Purple Parrots 8-3 and won a trip to the temple.

TEMPLE RUN: 8/10

This is yet another famous temple run, and unlike Geronimo, this run was MUCH more exciting. As we all know, Tiffani did not run into any temple guards in her foray in the temple, and grabbed the huge helmet with 53 seconds left on the clock. This artifact was so big you could hear Tiffani grunt as she tried to lug that thing out of the temple. Also, I liked Tiffani's method of entering the Ledges, climbing up the Crypt, and then race back down to the temple gates. Especially since those Ledges were pitch black. Nonetheless, she escaped with 12 seconds left on the clock, marking the final Orange Iguanas victory in the shows history. As well as the last of two times an artifact is successfully retrieved from the Jester's Court/Swamp/Holes of Python room space. The other win being good ol' Lawrence of Arabia. As for the win itself, I happen to like it, even though Tiffani got incredibly lucky with her temple guard placement. But her objectives were certainly no walk in the park, and she had to carry a huge artifact out. Plus, Tiffani got back on the platform, which is something only Brandy, Kris, and Travis accomplished besides her. If she hadn't gotten back, I doubt this would've been a win.

FINAL VERDICT: 7.6/10

This was a solid episode, though it's gone waaaaay down on my favorite episode list because I've seen it 1029384756 times. Since this was once one of the very few episodes that was on YouTube back in the day. And it was way overplayed on Nick Gas during the "20 episode cycle." With how many times it's been seen by everyone, there's no reason why you shouldn't know this like the back of your hand. The win was also great, Tiffani may not have been the fastest and she may have been lucky, but she did an awesome job. Definitely worth watching again if you're not sick of seeing this episode.

[The Red Jaguars]

Sir Gawain was an episode that was overplayed a little too much on Nick GaS. I didn't mind though because the whole episode is great from the legend to the awesome solo run. The moat that was used for the very first production day of S3 was unique. It was one where you had to work together with your partner to cross. I like this one a lot too, and is only beaten by the moat used for the Imperial Wizard/Useless Map day. The legend was also very interesting too and was among my favorites for S3. And it didn't have some silly one-liner in it like "Red Sash" and "Mussel-Shell Armor" had.

The temple games were very quirky, but they were also very relevant to the legend. I remember Tiffani taking in the first temple game, and Donna won rather easily. The stained glasses looked pretty neat also. And at least the girls' performance wasn't as crappy as "Bifocal Monocle" one was. I DEFINITELY remember the second temple game with the swinging mace. The mace was so out of whack and badly coordinated. I never understood the reason voice over either. Maybe it had something to do with how awkward the game was conducted? Also, was this the only time they actually changed the design of the boulder? The Orange Iguanas dominated the Purple Parrots too, and they went to the temple like usual when Orange-Purple happened. Although I don't mind this one as much as I did for "Butch Cassidy" or "Enormous Feather".  Also, I am surprised you didn't mention the "Exit Stage Left" quote. I remember one person here hated that quote.   

The temple run was a solid win too. I know Tiffani was lucky with her generous temple guard layout and winning after moving so slow, but she was still a very solid contestant and did many things right. She was one of the few contestants to make it back to the platform and she used the Shrine-Dark Forest shortcut. I am sure if she took the longer way then she would've been subjected to more temple guards. In the end, I like this win very much and it was a good effort. I am glad you gave it an 8 also and I never really like to call this win overrated. There were more exciting solo wins out there, but Tiffani and Jahmel deserved their win.       

Overall, great review. I know I went a little overboard with the whole Sir Gawain feedback, but I know this episode by heart and it was definitely worth it. I also like how some of the sections of your review were brief too and got to the main points. I am going to try that for my next review. I am going to do "Enormous Iron Nose Ring" tomorrow since I don't have any work for once. And when I get done with Iron Nose Ring, that will be 5 episodes we completed in less than a week.  I want to try and cover at least half of the Legends episodes before the summer is over, so any help from anyone would be great.

And one more thing, I am going to edit some areas of "Captain John Smith" too since I think it should get a lower score than 7.2. There is no reason why it should be tied with strong episodes like "Belle Boyd" and "Red Sash".

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Damn, I knew I was forgetting the "Exit Stage Left" quote. And to think, I know this episode by heart. I also liked the legend, especially since it didn't have any ridiculous quotes, like you said. I also liked the win, even though I don't think as highly of it as I used to because I've seen it a million times. I definitely prefer it over the overrated "Butch Cassidy," that's for sure. Furthermore, this is one of the very few Orange/Purple episodes that I like besides "Nostradamus" and "Dolley Madison." The rest are either forgettable or suck.

And I'll say, you wrote more about Sir Gawain than I did. But that just goes back to my point on how I hate writing long paragraphs/reviews. I definitely look forward to your review on Babe the Ox, AND your player rankings of Joel, Shane, etc. Let's not forget about the other ranking thread.

[The Red Jaguars]

I might do episode reviews for Iron Nose Ring/Ahmed Baba back-to-back. Since Iron Nose Ring will be part of my player rankings/episode rankings, I could work on both at the same time. I am interested on what score "Ahmed Baba" would end up with as a whole, especially since I gave it a 5 in GM1's thread. I know Enormous Iron Nose Ring will rank higher than Ahmed Baba, despite both wins being overrated. Of course, I will need to do player rankings for Ivory Elephant and Ivory Elephant. But I can do their episode rankings later. I might work on those two episodes tonight for player rankings and then finish Enormous Iron Nose Ring/Ahmed Baba tomorrow for both player and episode rankings.    

[Purple Parrots Fan]

You said Ivory Elephant twice.

As for me, I'll probably review Snakeskin Boots next, then Discarded Seal. But, it's your turn to rank an episode, so I'll hold off on that.

[The Red Jaguars]

I can't wait until you review "Ivan the Terrible".    I love that episode and I am especially interested in your score for the temple run for that episode. I already know what score I would give that temple run.

And below is my reviewfor "Enormous Iron Nose Ring". Since I was ranking the entire production day for this episode in my "Rank the Player" thread, I felt that I might as well do a review for this episode. And speaking of my player rankings, I already completed ones for this episode and "Missing Eye". I just need to do Ahmed Baba and Ivory Elephant, so I will try to post those tonight.

THE ENORMOUS IRON NOSE RING OF BABE

MOAT: 7/10

The players in this moat had to cross it by swimming out into the moat to grab a rope and swing across the moat to the other side without falling in. They then had to throw the rope to their partner who must cross the same way. If they fell into the moat, then the teams had to start over. Joel and Dorothy of the Silver Snakes were the only team to make it across without falling in. The other teams fell in at least once, but eventually three more teams clock in to make it to the Steps of Knowledge.

LEGEND: 7.5/10

Paul Bunyan was the biggest and strongest lumberjack of all time. He was so tall that when he was a baby, he needed multiple dairy cows just to feed him. With his giant blue ox, Babe, Bunyan logged out most of the West Coast of the United States. He had to carve out the Great Lakes just to feed Babe. One winter, a nasty winter storm hit Minnesota and Bunyan and Babe decided to help out the locals by gathering as much firewood as possible. When Babe died, Bunyan kept her Enormous Iron Nose Ring as remembrance of her.

Overall, the legend was pretty decent. It sounds exactly like the folklore tale of Paul Bunyan that we learned growing up. The ending was kind of depressing where they mention that Babe passed away. But I like the part where Bunyan carved the Great Lakes out just to feed Babe. I thought that was clever.

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 8/10

The whole Steps of Knowledge round pretty much asked questions about certain details mentioned in the legend. The only wrong answer given was by Dorothy of the Silver Snakes who answered "Bull" to the question, "What type of animal is an ox related to?". It wasn't a bad guess either way. Joel did all the answering for the Silver Snakes, but the whole time it looked like he was shouting in Dorothy's ear too. Likewise, the Michelle of the Green Monkeys got all of the answers correct for her team too. The ending was memorable for the Green Monkeys and Silver Snakes hugging each other too.   

TEMPLE GAMES: 7/10

The temple games featured a matchup between the Silver Snakes and Green Monkeys. The Green Monkeys team consisted of Billy, who was part of a skate team, and Michelle, who enjoyed swimming and the breaststroke. The Silver Snakes consisted of Joel, who skied a lot and played tennis for his  high school, and Dorothy, who enjoyed playing basketball. The temple games were pretty fun and creative, and related mostly to the legend. However, they were also too one-sided in this episode. The Silver Snakes felt like a more dominant team, especially in Joel's game and the team game. Another highlight of this episode is a pop culture reference made by Kirk Fogg in the first temple game.

Temple Game #1 - Bells on Babe's Neck

The contestants had to shimmy up Babe's back bone and place a bell on Babe's neck. While trying to climb up her back though, Babe will be snorting and spitting water at them. The player that puts them most bells on Babe wins. Dorothy of the Silver Snakes struggled with this temple game a little bit. The final score was 2-1 Green Monkeys.

And before the game started, one of Kirk's quotes were "Babes on Bells Neck, isn't this a song?" Very witty, Mr Fogg.

Temple Game #2 - Jump and Feed Babe

In the second temple game, the contestants had to help feed Babe the Ox by jumping up to her and feeding her corn. In front of each male contestant, there is a basic full of ears of corn. They must take each ear of corn and attach it to the top of the ceiling. The contestant that feeds Babe the most in 60 seconds will be the winner. Billy of the Green Monkeys struggled in this temple game while Joel was very dominant. Joel wins this temple game 7-2.

Temple Game #3 - Ring Paul Bunyan's Doorbell

In this temple game, the teams had to work together and climb Paul Bunyan's giant steps in order to reach the top. Once the team's reach the top, they will have to ring the bell to win. The Silver Snakes were entirely dominant in this temple game. The Green Monkeys weren't even up on their second step when the Silver Snakes rang the bell at the top. Joel was amazing where he pulled himself up each step without Dorothy's help. The Silver Snakes in the end win the temple games with a score of 1.5-1.

TEMPLE RUN: 7.5/10

The temple win for this episode is pretty controversial. Many people praise this win for Joel's performance and fast speed, while others feel that it is overrated and the praise is a bit excessive. What do I think? I am honestly split between the two parties. As for the temple run itself, it was pretty memorable for certain details. This was one of the very few temple runs where no temple guards were ever encountered. It is also memorable for the fast solo completion too.

Joel was a very fast player in the temple. He completed the entire bottom floor in under 50 seconds. It was amazing watching him breeze through the whole bottom floor. He even dodged a Temple Spirit along the way! However, his problems begins when he enters the Shrine. He spent almost an entire 30 seconds in this room assembling the Silver Monkey had some of the pieces in the wrong direction. He even makes a bigger mistake when he grabs the Enormous Iron Nose Ring and descends the entire central shaft while exiting the temple. Even though he won with 56 seconds left, he was lucky he had a lot of time to begin with because his mistake has cost players in other runs - Tara from "Sir Edmund Hillary" and Ron from "Anne Bonny" in particular. So while Joel was a fast contestant, he struggled when he faced a room with an actual objective and made a mistake that would've been deadly to the final outcome if he didn't have so much time. If he didn't make either of these mistakes, there is no doubt in my mind that this run would've beaten "The Mask of Shaka Zulu" for the fastest win.

Even though Joel's performance is overrated, he was still a great contestant. He made it across the bottom floor within the first 50 seconds of the run. I guarantee that if you give him most any temple layout, he would've won. So while he was a flawed contestant that is not as great as made out to be, he still had a solid performance and I respect him more than I do for other temple winners that are highly praised. It was still a good solo win at the end of the day.

FINAL VERDICT: 7.4/10

Joel and the Silver Snakes were a strong temple team throughout their entire production day. The Silver Snakes showed great enthusiasm throughout the production day and it was fun watching Joel dominating every round. The whole episode was a memorable experience too and there is no real disappointing round on this episode either. The temple win does get a high amount of unwarranted praise. But Joel was still a very solid contestant and his performance was fun to watch for me. I would definitely recommend this episode and temple win.