Legends Episode Ranking System - COMPLETE

[The Red Jaguars]

That has to be Ty from "Atocha" on Guts. His name in Guts was Ty Mathen and he also appeared in the "Nickelodeon All Star Challenge" too as a Legends player along with Jennifer and Olivia-Emma.

[The Red Jaguars]

Here is my next victim:



Episode #88 is "The Thornwood Gavel of Judge Roy Bean". Man, I haven't seen that episode in a loooooooooooong time. Its probably one of those few episodes that I haven't fully seen since the Nick GaS days. Didn't they overplay this episode back then? Besides the temple run, I only remember the stupid legend. Other than that, I completely forget that this episode exists. And I honestly can't stand the temple run either for a certain Orange Iguana player. 

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Actually, they almost never played this episode. It was never overplayed or part of the 20 episode cycle. It's definitely one of the most forgettable episodes of the series. And Kelli's incompetence doesn't help matters either.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

"Bifocal Monocle" and "Thornwood Gavel" were the only two episodes I had on VHS from the 1990s, so after the reruns stopped on Nick and before Nick GaS came along, those were the only two episodes I had. It's funny to me that you haven't seen "Thornwood Gavel" in such a long time and that you think that it is so forgettable, because I have it memorized from watching it so much back then. It's amazing how different circumstances such as that can cause people to have such different memories or views on things.

[The Red Jaguars]

"Bifocal Monocle" and "Thornwood Gavel" were the only two episodes I had on VHS from the 1990s, so after the reruns stopped on Nick and before Nick GaS came along, those were the only two episodes I had. It's funny to me that you haven't seen "Thornwood Gavel" in such a long time and that you think that it is so forgettable, because I have it memorized from watching it so much back then. It's amazing how different circumstances such as that can cause people to have such different memories or views on things.

What a coincidence, I had at least 6-8 episodes taped somewhere when the show originally ran on Nickelodeon in the 90's. The episodes include - "Alhambra", "Montezuma", "Polynesian Girl", "Imperial Wizard", "The Trojan Horseshoe", and "Red Sash". I agree, everyone's own circumstance regarding a certain episode can have different opinions. As bad as "Alhambra" was, I still have a soft spot for it since its one of the few episodes I could remember from the old Nick reruns days. Even when Nick GaS ran Legends episodes back in the day, we had different opinions on different episode depending on how much they aired them. For example, we were kind of getting sick of "Sir Gawain" since they aired it every week. But they never seemed to air episodes like "Lily-Crested Crown" and "Ivory Elephant".

As for "Judge Roy Bean", I just find it to be an average episode. Nothing really memorable or nothing really bad about it. I suppose the Orange Iguanas were very dominant in this episode though. Although I really can't stand the temple run.

[The Red Jaguars]

Here is my ranking for the "Judge Roy Bean" episode. Overall, it was an above average episode. I bet you know what was the standout round for this episode before even reading this ranking.

THE THORNWOOD GAVEL OF JUDGE ROY BEAN

MOAT: 6.5/10

I liked the moat used in this episode, it was one of the more creative ones used on the show. The players had to cross the moat by having one partner push their partner on a stone board. But the partner pushing the board couldn't touch the player that was riding on top of it. And the player riding the board can't fall off either or else they were sent back. It required skill on both players part to cross. This moat was about average in quality and a couple of teams made it across fine while the Silver Snakes lagged behind. Overall, a creative moat.

LEGEND: 7/10

The legend takes place in the Wild West and talks about a ruthless Judge named Roy Bean. He was an iron-fisted Judge that was tough in the Wild West. He allegedly owned a bear that he used to scare people in order to keep order in the Wild West. One day, a group of cowboys came along and dragged an unconscious man to Judge Roy Bean. Roy Bean, being ruthless, charged the man $40 (which was all the guy had in his pockets) for loitering even though he was unconscious.

I liked the setting used for this legend. There weren't many legends on the show that were placed in the Wild West. And the legend did a pretty good job portraying Judge Roy Bean as being ruthless. But what sets me off of this legend is the silly part about the unconcsious man and Judge Roy Bean charging him $40 for loitering.

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 6/10

Nothing really exciting happens here. In fact, the whole round was boring filled with silly questions. The Orange Iguanas and Green Monkeys were the only two teams that even got a correct answer. Oh yeah, the Silver Snakes also believe that Judge Roy Bean's gavel was made of a bear paw.

TEMPLE GAMES: 8/10

This was the best part about the entire episode. The temple games were very creative in this episode. The first temple game had the girls traveling through a maze-like shaft where they had to clear rubble out of the way and find a way out of the chamber. Once they were outside of it, they had to pull their bag of money through the holes until it was completely out. Definitely one of the most interactive temple games on the show. But I still don't know how the Green Monkey girl lost after having the lead almost the whole time?

The second temple was silly and unique also. Both male contestants had an "unconsious" man attached to them while they are riding a bucking horse. If the player fell off, then their opponent earns a point. It was very close, but the Green Monkeys fell off once, giving the Orange Igauans a final score of 1-0.

The last temple game had the teams in giant "Wells Fargo Wagons" and the teams had to smash their piggy banks by breaking them with their gavels. The Orange Iguanas won this temple game and shut out the Green Monkeys for the first time ever in the show's history and go to the temple with two pendants.

TEMPLE RUN: 5/10

This is one of those temple runs where the frontrunner makes good progress in the temple, but the second runner screws everything up. But Kelli screwed this temple run up major time. But I will get to that later. Mike was a fast guy in the temple and made it very far in his layout and not even half of the time on the clock had expired. He even had one of the fastest monkey assemblies on the show. When he was taken out, this temple run takes a turn for the worst. The second Kelli enters the temple, she already looks lost. She was so bright that she went up into the uncleared King's Storeroom where she wasted time completing the objective when she didn't have to. If that wasn't bad enough, she tries placing herself in the suits of armor and when she makes it to the Room of the Secret Password, she reads the passwords out while keeping her mouthpiece in. I am not sure what password even worked because none of them were comprehensible. But the producers must've felt bad and opened the door to the Quicksand Bog anyways. Not that it mattered, because her time ended there. She basically added one room of progress with over 1:30 on the clock. Way to go, Kelli.

While this temple run wasn't a total disaster, the second runner ruins it to the point that it is painful to watch. I wish I could rank it higher on account that Mike was pretty awesome, but Kelli's performance was so bad that I just can't tolerate to watch this run.

FINAL VERDICT: 6.5/10

For season three standards, this episode was slightly above average. But the episode is at least watchable and definitely worth the viewing. My favorite round was the unique set of temple games. Seriously, every temple game was unique in their own way and relevant to the legend. I wish more temple game rounds in other episodes were creative like this episode. I liked the legend also about Judge Roy Bean and the Wild West. The temple run though is very disappointing considering that Orange was first in the moat and swept the temple games. But you can blame Kelli for that one. Its such a shame when one players kills the entire run after working hard to get to the temple.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Thornwood Gavel, what a quirky episode. From the moat to the unique temple game sequence, it felt so different to most of the other Season 3 episodes. As for the episode itself, I personally always hated that "balancing on a boogie board" moat. It looked hard to do, and I'd probably fall in a lot if I were to attempt it. I was never the balancing type. The Steps of Knowledge was nothing special aside from the Green Monkeys and the Orange Iguanas' double sweep. The temple games featured a very unique sequence. Why couldn't all Season 3 episodes be that creative with which temple games they used? The temple run sucked, all thanks to Kelli. Yet another temple run that should have been reserve order of players. But, we got Mike's fastest assembly of the monkey ever, so that kind of makes up for it. Overall, the episode was just fine until the temple run. It sucks when a team that dominates nearly everything has a subpar temple run due to one incompetent player. Oh well, it's a breath of fresh air from the Golden Cricket Cage episode, right?

[The Red Jaguars]

That was my first time seeing the entire "Judge Roy Bean" episode since the Nick GaS days. It was worth the watch though and I enjoyed reviewing even though its not the most exciting episode in the world. I liked the temple games the most in this episode and forgot how unique they were. Also, I like stories about the Wild West and the legend was pretty decent even if the end of it was too goofy. And yeah, I would probably fail miserably at the boogie board moat too.  But the teams didn't seem to have much problem. The one thing that drags this episode down is the temple run. Its too disappointing when one runner is too incompetent. I can't even find a redeeming thing about Kelli.

And oh yeah, it was definitely a breath of fresh air from "Golden Cricket Cage". I bet any episode is a fresh air from that shitfest.  Okay, there are a couple of more episodes that is probably complete garbage like that one is. I think the only three episodes that will come close to that ranking is Alhambra, One-Eyed Jack, and Snow Cone. And I don't plan on doing any of those episodes soon.

I think I am going to do "The Pendant of Kamehameha" next. Its one of the few season one episodes that was good from beginning to end. I think i will enjoy this one very much. And the temple run was very exciting with a heartbreaker ending. And let's not forget that a former forum member was in this episode. 

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, kamehameha. But his favorite episode was "BENZIBAB!!!!" remember?

But yeah, great choice for the next episode to get reviewed. That was a very exciting episode from start to finish, even if the temple run ended on a rather heartbreaking note. On another note about the Thornwood Gavel episode, don't you think Mike looks sort of like Nick Carter from his early days in the Backstreets Boys? I know this sounds random to throw in there, but I kind of see it in the hair and facial expressions.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

In the Steps of Knowledge, the Silver Snakes believed that the gavel was made of a bear's leg bone, not a bear paw. And I guess that goes to show that even when the answer is the episodes title, the team might still get it wrong. So maybe that was why the producers asked what Xerxes' marble armrest was made out of for the Xerxes tiebreaker question?

Oh, and by the way, Kelli's Secret Password combination was "Long Live Olmec," "Open Sesame," and finally the third one (that I never completely understood what it was, regardless of who said it).

[The Ancient Warrior]

The third one was "Klaatu Barada Nikto."

I can't believe it's so easy for me to forget how quirky this episode was, even with the weird legend and Temple Run standing out as they do.  I think I'd forgotten how creative the Temple Games were because the weirdness of the other rounds overshadowed it and the Moat, but it probably should've stood out a bit more, because I think one of the only other episodes that was that creative with the Temple Games was "The Sacred Ring of Sultan Suleiman." The producers should've tried to make a full sequence with the games a lot more often, you know?

[The Red Jaguars]

Yeah, kamehameha. But his favorite episode was "BENZIBAB!!!!" remember?

But yeah, great choice for the next episode to get reviewed. That was a very exciting episode from start to finish, even if the temple run ended on a rather heartbreaking note. On another note about the Thornwood Gavel episode, don't you think Mike looks sort of like Nick Carter from his early days in the Backstreets Boys? I know this sounds random to throw in there, but I kind of see it in the hair and facial expressions.

I totally forgot that Mike had his hair like that. During the temple run, his hair is concealed by his helmet so I never noticed that he had long hair before. Reminds me of Nate from "Queen Boadicea". And yeah, he does look like Nick Carter in that image.  I never understood the appeal for that hairstyle, luckily my hair never looked like that. 

In the Steps of Knowledge, the Silver Snakes believed that the gavel was made of a bear's leg bone, not a bear paw. And I guess that goes to show that even when the answer is the episodes title, the team might still get it wrong. So maybe that was why the producers asked what Xerxes' marble armrest was made out of for the Xerxes tiebreaker question?

Oh, and by the way, Kelli's Secret Password combination was "Long Live Olmec," "Open Sesame," and finally the third one (that I never completely understood what it was, regardless of who said it).

Oops, you're right about the Silver Snake answer being a "bear's leg bone". Shows how much detail I paid attention to during that round. But yeah, its possible that is the reason why they use the almost exact same question in "Xerxes" for the tiebreaker. After all, it was produced the very next day after "Judge Roy Bean" production day. Although it was kind of silly to use it as a tiebreaker question.

The third one was "Klaatu Barada Nikto."

I can't believe it's so easy for me to forget how quirky this episode was, even with the weird legend and Temple Run standing out as they do.  I think I'd forgotten how creative the Temple Games were because the weirdness of the other rounds overshadowed it and the Moat, but it probably should've stood out a bit more, because I think one of the only other episodes that was that creative with the Temple Games was "The Sacred Ring of Sultan Suleiman." The producers should've tried to make a full sequence with the games a lot more often, you know?

The uniqueness about the temple games in this episode was how they used the temple game. Like the "bucking horse" temple game using the unconscious man as a part of game's challenge was a pretty neat idea. Not to mention, that it was kind of funny to see. Also, this is the only time that the "Giant Human Wheel" game was used as a team game. Plus, breaking open the piggy banks with the gavels was neat also. And all of the temple games pertained to the legend mostly too. As for "Sultan Suleiman" temple games, I haven't seen that temple game round in a while. But I do remember the sequence of the temple games being exactly like the legend.

I agree, the temple game sequences should've followed the legend of the episode a little more better. I never liked when they used a random temple game and try to associate it to the legend by some lame or irrelevant connection. 

[Purple Parrots Fan]

I totally forgot that Mike had his hair like that. During the temple run, his hair is concealed by his helmet so I never noticed that he had long hair before. Reminds me of Nate from "Queen Boadicea". And yeah, he does look like Nick Carter in that image.  I never understood the appeal for that hairstyle, luckily my hair never looked like that. 

Yeah, Mike didn't show off his blonde hair like that during the temple run. But you could totally see the blonde throughout all the pre temple rounds. I'm not sure if Mike ever looked like Nate though. Nate's hair was rougher and less straight than Mike's was.

Oops, you're right about the Silver Snake answer being a "bear's leg bone". Shows how much detail I paid attention to during that round. But yeah, its possible that is the reason why they use the almost exact same question in "Xerxes" for the tiebreaker. After all, it was produced the very next day after "Judge Roy Bean" production day. Although it was kind of silly to use it as a tiebreaker question.

Not to mention, wasn't there a Steps of Knowledge question in "The Star of Sultan Saladin" where one of the choices was the episode title itself? And someone STILL got it wrong. I'm pretty sure it happened in more episodes too, but I don't quite remember.

The uniqueness about the temple games in this episode was how they used the temple game. Like the "bucking horse" temple game using the unconscious man as a part of game's challenge was a pretty neat idea. Not to mention, that it was kind of funny to see. Also, this is the only time that the "Giant Human Wheel" game was used as a team game. Plus, breaking open the piggy banks with the gavels was neat also. And all of the temple games pertained to the legend mostly too. As for "Sultan Suleiman" temple games, I haven't seen that temple game round in a while. But I do remember the sequence of the temple games being exactly like the legend.

Yeah, the whole episode (Thornwood Gavel), was just.... off. It had such a different feel to it than most of the other Season 3 episodes. And yes, Sultan Suleiman had the same quirkiness too. Didn't all three temple games connect to each other one after the other? Not to mention, they had a unique temple layout and subpar run too.

I agree, the temple game sequences should've followed the legend of the episode a little more better. I never liked when they used a random temple game and try to associate it to the legend by some lame or irrelevant connection. 

Case in point, the bucking horse game in "The Broken Trident of Poseidon." Where Poseidon was somehow the god of horses? What?

[The Ancient Warrior]

Well, actually, Poseidon was in fact a god of horses as well even though he is better known as the Greek god of the seas, storms and earthquakes.  I was very interested in Greek mythology when I was little so that reference didn't surprise me at all, but I can understand why it seemed like it came out of nowhere because it wasn't even mentioned in the legend as a background detail if I recall.  I think because of that, it still seems like a sorry excuse for using the horse machine as a Temple Game.



Anywho, going to have to do a little catching up to read the earlier reviews, but I can't wait for the next one.

[The Red Jaguars]

Yeah, Mike didn't show off his blonde hair like that during the temple run. But you could totally see the blonde throughout all the pre temple rounds. I'm not sure if Mike ever looked like Nate though. Nate's hair was rougher and less straight than Mike's was.

Well, I met more along the line that both Nate and Mike had the same hairstyle pretty much. During the temple run, we don't see their hair since it is concealed in their helmets. But both have that long and ugly 90's hairstyle. But yeah, Nate's hair was darker and more curly than Mike's was. Although I guess some of the other male contestants probably had weird hairstyles too but was concealed in their helmets. I mean look at Gator's hair at the end of his temple run - I never thought he had that much when I watched his episode. 

Not to mention, wasn't there a Steps of Knowledge question in "The Star of Sultan Saladin" where one of the choices was the episode title itself? And someone STILL got it wrong. I'm pretty sure it happened in more episodes too, but I don't quite remember.

Yeah, it had something to with one of the contestants answering "King" instead of "Sultan" if I recall correctly. I mean how many times did Kirk and Olmec talk about Sultan Saladin in both the episode and legend? Very inattentive.

Yeah, the whole episode (Thornwood Gavel), was just.... off. It had such a different feel to it than most of the other Season 3 episodes. And yes, Sultan Suleiman had the same quirkiness too. Didn't all three temple games connect to each other one after the other? Not to mention, they had a unique temple layout and subpar run too.

Yeah, "Sultan Suleiman" temple games followed the exact sequence as the legend did for that episode. And yeah, both episodes had unique temple games with subpar temple runs. Except the "Judge Roy Bean" temple run was more tolerable than Sultan Suleiman one.

Case in point, the bucking horse game in "The Broken Trident of Poseidon." Where Poseidon was somehow the god of horses? What?

Season one and three were guilty of this a lot. It reminds me of Gator's temple game in "Apanuugpak" where they had to carry seals through the top of a maze. I mean what did the seals have to do with the legend? It didn't really correspond to the legend in anyway except that it dealt with Eskimos. The "Poseidon" hardly made any sense also.

Well, actually, Poseidon was in fact a god of horses as well even though he is better known as the Greek god of the seas, storms and earthquakes.  I was very interested in Greek mythology when I was little so that reference didn't surprise me at all, but I can understand why it seemed like it came out of nowhere because it wasn't even mentioned in the legend as a background detail if I recall.  I think because of that, it still seems like a sorry excuse for using the horse machine as a Temple Game.



Anywho, going to have to do a little catching up to read the earlier reviews, but I can't wait for the next one.

I wonder why the legend didn't mention this in relation to the artifact? I mean it would've made the horse temple game a little more relevant and understandable. But I had no idea that Poseidon was also known as the god of horses.

And I am half-way done with the "Kamehameha" one. I should definitely have it up by tomorrow for sure. So far, it has been a good episode and I haven't even got to the temple games and temple run yet. The one thing I like about reviewing these episodes are that it gives me a reason to watch some of the earlier rounds of each episode. I forgot how good some of the other rounds of the temple that is not the temple run.