Legends Episode Ranking System - COMPLETE

[The Red Jaguars]

Time for our 114th episode review, and this time it is "Joan of Arc".  This episode is forgettable like Gordian Knot, but it was not really bad in anyway. It finished with the exact same score as Gordian Knot as a matter of fact. Enjoy!

THE HELMET OF JOAN OF ARC

MOAT: 6/10

(Credits to "Purple Parrots Fan" for her contribution to this section)

For this moat, the teams had to paddle across the moat on a raft, unhinge the raft, and tie the rope on a pole, so their partner can get across. Nothing remarkable happened in this moat, as it's pretty much the same tired "cross the moat by using the rope" type moat. At the end of the round, the Red Jaguars, Blue Barracudas, Green Monkeys, and the Orange Iguanas crossed the moat in that order. The same order in which the teams are introduced before the moat starts.

LEGEND: 5/10

Joan of Arc was a young French peasant girl that fought in the war between England and France. One day, she approached a group of Soldiers and demanded to see the crowned Prince of France. She told the Prince that her mission from God was to drive the English out of France. He was doubtful at first, but she persuaded him to put her in charge with a small army of men. Though she was greatly outnumbered, she began to win battles and drive the English out. She was always dressed up like a soldier and always fighting in the front and urging her men to fight harder. Sometimes when her army reached a town, the whole town would surrender to Joan's army. However, when she tried to free Paris from the English, she was wounded in battle and injured. Legend has it, one of her jailers were so impressed by her bravery that her Helmet eventually made its way to the temple. Joan of Arc is such an interesting historical figure, but this legend does not do justice for her. It sounds like something that came out of a history text book and was way too general. It would've been nice if they talked about some historical event associated with her. This was a pretty boring and lackluster story.

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 7/10

This round was really close, but it was brought down a little bit by a couple of wrong answers. The round started off with all four teams be tied up on the second step, and then three teams tied on the second to last step. There were a couple of answers thrown out because the players did not let Olmec finish, but they weren't painfully bad answers. In the end, the Blue Barracudas made it to the bottom first followed by the Red Jaguars.

TEMPLE GAMES: 7/10

The temple games featured a match-up between the Red Jaguars and Blue Barracudas, which happened three times during that day.     On the Red Jaguars, we are introduced to Amanda or Mandy, who was 12 and has been dancing for nine years, and her partner Eddie, who was 11 and was in boy scouts. On the Blue Barracudas, we are introduced to Amanda, who was 13 years old and was a cheerleader/basketball player, and her partner Brian, who was 10 years old and collected a lot of rodents. During the temple game introductions, you can hear a baby crying in the background too. The temple games were very close, and it almost came down to a 2-2 tiebreaker! The first two temple games were tied, and the last temple game was won on a photo finish. It would've been nice to see a 2-2 tiebreaker, but this whole round was exciting and competitive. And the temple games were pretty cool too with a couple of interesting temple games.

The first temple game was titled "Fleur-de-lis", which was the symbol for the King of France. In the first temple game, Eddie and Brian had to climb up a wall and place a Fleur-de-lis on an empty spot on the wall. Once they were done, they had to climb back down and place another one up. The player that places all five Fleur-de-lis on the wall, or the one the furthest along after 60 seconds will win. Both boys moved a little slow and got 2 Fleur-de-lis a piece, so they both tie with a score of 2-2. On a side note, a part of Eddie's Fleur-de-lis fell off the wall as he was climb up. But Kirk still counted it since only part of it fell. Furthermore, the term "Fleur-de-lis" totally sounds like "Florida Leaves." I don't know why, but it just does.   In the second temple game, the two Amandas, (or Amanda²), had to climb up to top of a tower and place a crown on each of the five heads. Once they were done, they had to climb back down and grab another crown. The player with the most crowns on the five heads after 60 seconds will win. Both girls were neck and neck in this temple game, and they both got 3 crowns a piece. Both teams head into the team game with a 1-1 Pendant Score. In the final temple game, one player on each team had to grab a piece of treasure and place it on their heads. They then had to pull themselves towards their partners, who had to take the piece of treasure and put it into their team bin. The team with the most treasure collected after 60 seconds will win. The temple game was VERY close and the Red Jaguars got their last piece of treasure into the bin in the last second. If they didn't get this last treasure in before time was up, then both teams would've tied again and we would've had a 2-2 tiebreaker. In the end though, Eddie and Mandy get a chance to enter Olmec's temple with two pendants.

TEMPLE RUN: 5/10

(Credits to "Purple Parrots Fan" for her contribution to this section)

This was one of those temple runs where it should've been a reverse order of players. Eddie goes in first and he moves pretty fast. And quite frankly, THIS Eddie should've been called "Fast Eddie." He runs into a temple guard immediately in the Gargoyle Room, which he almost managed to dodge! He runs across the bridge and tries the Observatory door, but with no avail. Eddie eventually makes his way down to the bottom floor, and into the Room of Harmonic Convergence, where he is removed from the temple a minute into the run. Mandy goes in next and she is not as fast. Instead of going directly into the Cave, she unnecessarily detours into the Gargoyle Room. She also does not take any shortcuts, which includes plowing through the Wall and taking the ever so slow elevator. She DID find the key in the Tomb of the Ancient Kings, but did not use it. Time ran out for her as she was assembling the monkey. If Eddie had gone in second, or if Mandy had taken more shortcuts, then this team would've had a much better shot at winning.

FINAL VERDICT: 6/10

(Credits to "Purple Parrots Fan" for her contribution to this section)

Overall, Joan of Arc was just an average episode. The Steps of Knowledge and temple games were close, but the temple run was lacking a bit. This temple run definitely should've been a reverse order of players. As Eddie was much faster than Mandy was. This temple run was a lot like "The Oracle Bowl of Delphi," both with central shaft artifacts and slower second runners. But Mandy was MUCH more competent than Jackie was in the Oracle Bowl run. However, Mandy was also too slow, and just didn't get the job done. Despite that, I still recommend this episode to anyone, as there were really no bad parts to this episode.

[The Red Jaguars]

My thoughts:
Joan of Arc was an average episode at least for most of the rounds of this episode. Before watching it, I did remember the temple games where both girls were named Amanda and the temple run with the rare Torch Room objective being completed. I like how you mentioned that "Fleur-de-lis" sounded like "Florida Leaves". That is what it exactly sounds like when Kirk mentions it. The temple games were very close to a 2-2 tiebreaker too. The temple run was just your average Season 1 loss. The fast front runner goes in first and is taken out in no time and the second runner is too slow and the team comes up short. Mandy should've tried the Tomb of the Ancient Kings door because she did find the key. The team would've had better success if Mandy started high and get removed from the Room of Harmonic Convergence. And Eddie would've most likely reached the Helmet too. Overall, it was an average episode with average rounds at least. And it is very fitting that it finishes with the same score as Gordian Knot too.

It looks like Queen Nzinga is next? God, I hate that episode so much. It is pretty boring and lackluster the whole way through.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Seriously, it sounds a lot like Kirk is saying "Florida Leaves." Knowing Kirk though, he probably literally thought "Fleur-de-lis" was pronounced that way. Though this show IS recorded in Florida, so it is pretty fitting. And Gordian Knot did indeed finish with the same score as Joan of Arc. Regardless, both were forgettable episodes that pretty much ended the same way.

And it looks like Nzinga is indeed next. I hate this episode too, I was rooting for the Parrots in the temple games.

EDIT: And I updated both the OP and the production day rankings. I don't know what happened to the chart. The formatting was extremely off, and I had to fix the whole bottom half of it. I don't know what wrong thing was typed in or erased, but it's fixed now. And I updated the latter post for the S1L6 filming day. And I've got to say, it came very close to beating Xerxes' day in terms of last place. I mean, Joan of Arc ranked average, but a lot of the episodes that day really brought it down.

[The Red Jaguars]

I can't stand Nzinga at all. I won't be surprised if it ranks as low as Robert the Bruce and William Tell. Nothing redeemable came out of that episode at all. And it is so boring and filler in the first place. And of course, it is one of the worst triple captures on the show. Only the Nathan Hale run beats Nzinga.

And I never expected that S16 would rank that low. No surprise though, since the highest ranked episode was a 6.0 and that was from Joan of Arc. Not even Buddha ranked past a 6. Although with five episodes that day, it still ranks higher than the Snow Cone. Which shows you how really awful that day is. 

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Well, what can I say? Episodes like Stone Marker and Shiva brought it down, episodes YOU ranked too. I don't think I ranked any of the S1L6 days besides Joan of Arc. At least with most other filming days, there was at least one really good episode, or on the flip side, one really bad episode. And production days where almost every single episode is terrible, is definitely going to rank low. Even when THK ranked S1L6 in the player rankings thread, even he wasn't impressed with any of the episodes. Great temple layout sure (Bamboo Forest I'm looking at you), but the episodes themselves were dull in every sense. Oh well, Nzinga is next, which I assume is gonna take weeks to finish. Seriously, what a poor excuse of an episode. Makes me want to retch just thinking about it. O_O

[The Red Jaguars]

I hate Queen Nzinga and I give that episode a personal score of a 2. Everything was boring and lame about it. Especially the way the temple run ended too. Although I hope to get it complete around the weekend. After that episode, we only have 5 left. And all of those episodes have some kind of decent round. Except for Harriet Tubman though.  

[The Red Jaguars]

I sent you a copy of the Nzinga review. There is really not a lot to talk about this episode. I left the temple games and final verdict to be completed. This episode is not really ranking well so far, as expected. I can't wait until we put this episode behind us too. That should be another production day completed too once we are done. 

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, that will be another day completed for us. And I should have my half up by tonight. I'm having keyboard problems right now, and can't type anything on my computer. So it might be a while before I send you anything. But don't worry, I'll get it sent to you ASAP. Just a heads up. Sorry in advance.

[The Red Jaguars]

No rush at all, we do not have much to do left with these reviews anyways. I am going to update all the stats later too for the temple room rankings and start the team rankings page.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

True, we do only have about four or five more episodes to rank after Nzinga. Not to mention, I only have two sections to fill in, which won't take long anyways. And I can't wait to see your other rankings too, assuming you're also gonna add those to the OP. I know you have the temple room rankings post somewhere in this thread.

[The Red Jaguars]

Time for our last Red Jaguars episode, and this time it is the lowly, Queen Nzinga. Not a very good episode to close the Red Jaguars out with, but it had to be done eventually. And of course, we know how bad the temple run turned out. Enjoy.  

THE CROWN OF QUEEN NZINGA

MOAT: 4/10

The six teams had to cross this moat by swinging across a series of ancient Babylonian Wheels. The first player had to swing out from the first tire to the next one, and keep using the tires to make it to the other side. Once they are across, their partner had to cross the same way. If any of the players were to fall into the water, then they had to start over again. The first four teams that make it across will get a chance to move onto the next round. This was one of the longer moats used on this production day. It took a good couple of minutes for the first team to make it across. The other teams that clocked in had a good window of time between them too. Bu the time the last team got across, neither the Orange Iguanas or Blue Barracudas had a single player across. Despite the long moat, the concept was pretty good and this was one of the more creative moats of Season 2.

LEGEND: 5/10

One of the greatest African leaders in the 1600's was the Queen of the Ndongo tribe, Nzinga. When she was young, her broth sent her to make a peace treaty with a Portuguese governor in Rwanda. Nzinga's brother warns her that the Portuguese are very treacherous. When she arrived, the governor waited for Nzinga to speak. Nzinga was upset that the governor did not offer her a place to set, but he stated that was for "equals only". She refuted by saying that she was his equal as she was the leader of the Ndongo tribe. Nzinga clapped her hands, and one of her attendants knelt down on all fours. She sat on his back and proposed a treaty. By the end of the visit, they made the treaty on her terms. When her brother died, she became Queen of the Ndongo tribe for over 30 years and kept her people free. The Crown she wore on her head eventually made its way to Olmec's Temple. This legend was not special in anyway. I never heard of Queen Nzinga before this episode, so I expect something interesting to be talked about here. Instead, we get a conversation with her and a governor about making a peace treaty. There was no conflict in this legend in the first place like most of them. It felt like the legend was all over the place.

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 6/10

The Green Monkeys got shafted in my opinion in this round. One of the questions that Olmec asked was, "What tribe did Nzinga come from?" and the Green Monkeys girl mispronounced the word "Ndongo". Yet, Olmec did not accept the answer. Ben on the Red Jaguars answered the question instead with the correct pronunciation. But honestly, the Green Monkeys girl's answer was pretty close in my book and Legends has accepted sketchier answers in the first place. Other than that, this round was pretty close. At one point, the Red Jaguars, Green Monkeys, and Silver Snakes were all tied on the second to last step. It was the Purple Parrots and Red Jaguars who would go onto the temple games in that order.

TEMPLE GAMES: 5/10

(Credits to "Purple Parrots Fan" for her contribution to this section)

The temple games featured an interesting set up of games, but the round itself was completely unexciting. In the first game, Benjamin and Tracy had to grab a jewel, climb up the spitting horse, and put the jewel on the horse's neck. Benjamin of the Red Jaguars won this game, earning his team a half pendant of life. In the second game, Renee and Robbie had to climb up two ropes, grab a crown from the ceiling, then sink back down and put it in their bin. Renee was extraordinarily sloppy in this game. She kept fumbling her crowns, and they kept on missing the bin. Naturally, this helped Robbie of the Purple Parrots win this game, giving him a half pendant. It was now tied a half pendant a piece going into the final temple game. In the third game, the teams had to swing their partner around in a sack, and knock down three soldiers. The Red Jaguars just barely won this game, giving them the full pendant, and earning them a trip to the temple with 1.5 pendants!

TEMPLE RUN: 2/10

By the time Season 2 came around, there was no excuse for any team to miss their half-pendant (unless they were the "Missing Eye" kids.) Benjamin and Renee had an easy layout, but they blew it when Renee missed the obvious half-pendant. Benjamin was not that great of a frontrunner, and he completed his rooms at a leisure pace. He was removed from the Swamp with exactly 2:00 minutes on the clock. Renee slowly retraces his steps and makes an unnecessary detour into the Crypt, Inside the Swamp, she fails to find the half-pendant on the actuator leading to the Dark Forest. Inside the Dark Forest, she is captured by a temple spirit where this run ends with 1:07 left on the clock. This was one of the worst triple captures on the show. There was no excuse for Renee for passing up her half-pendant like that in the first place. This was the same half-pendant that Claude from "Lost Lion Tail" found. This is one of those temple runs you watch once and never watch it again. If the team had either found the half-pendant or plowed through the wall, then it would've been an easy win.

FINAL VERDICT: 4.4/10

(Credits to "Purple Parrots Fan" for her contribution to this section)

Overall, Nzinga was a horrible episode from beginning to end. None of the rounds were exciting, and the temple run was just pitiful. By Season 2, there's no excuse to NOT find an obviously hidden half pendant. Even contestants like Claude from "Lost Lion Tail" and Kerry from "Cracked Crown" found their half pendants in the exact same spot! I was rooting for the Parrots in the temple games. They wouldn't have passed up the half pendant or wasted time in the Dark Forest. I definitely don't recommend this episode to anyone. You're better off just skipping this whole episode altogether.

[The Red Jaguars]

My thoughts:
Queen Nzinga is an episode I watched once and never watched again unless I needed it for reference. The 4.4 score is not surprising and very deserving too. The whole episode is mediocre all the way through, and the Purple Parrots would've done much better than Ben and Renee. Plus, the episode is really forgettable anyways. I only remember the artifact being in the Lightning Room and the quick and unusual ending to the temple run. As for the temple run, both players sucked. Ben was slow and Renee really blew her load missing that half-pendant... the same one that Claude and Kerry found. Plus, she had the option of plowing through the stone wall even if it was potentially locked. It this didn't happen, then the team should've won. Of course, the win would not be impressive anyways. It would be forgettable and boring like Dr. Livingstone. I think the 4.4 is spot on this suckfest. The only team that has an excuse for their triple capture is the Missing Eye team.

I also updated the production day too for this. This production day ranked in the middle of the pack. Both Iron Mask and Two-Cornered Hat finished with high scores, while Efoua and Queen Nzinga finished with lower scores. It ranked almost close to a 6 for that production day.

As I mentioned other, I am glad to put this episode behind us. Next up is the episode with a really long title (William the Conqueror). I see this episode getting a good ranking. I am guessing this episode will finish in the 5-range even though I really enjoy this episode. Although this temple run really should've been a win, considering Jonathan and Olivia's layout was exactly like Apanuugpak. They made way too many mistakes.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, Jonathan and Olivia really should've won. They were equally responsible for this loss. This episode was kind of average though. I'm guessing oh I don't know.... a low 6 range ranking. But, we'll just have to wait and see.

[The Red Jaguars]

Oops, I meant that this episode should finish in the 6-range. The temple run was exciting, but the rest of the episode was kind of average. I remember Jonathan and Olivia kind of scraping by in the Steps of Knowledge. And during the temple games, they swept the Red Jaguars pretty badly. Those rounds will probably get average scores. I should have this episode ready by tonight since I have a lot of it memorized and have pictures for it.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, I remember the temple games being horrifically one sided. But then again, the Red Jaguars Olivia and Jonathan went up against, were woefully uncoordinated. Of course, this episode is known for having the longest title in the shows history. So when writing down the episode title, try to keep the text as small as possible.