Legends Episode Ranking System - COMPLETE

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Okay, here it is. My review on "The Helmet of Genghis Khan."

THE HELMET OF GENGHIS KHAN

MOAT: 5/10

MOAT: 6/10 (TRJ)

In this moat, the players had to swim across the moat with a rope in their hand. Once across, they would then wrap the rope tightly around the pole so their partner could cross. This round was generally unexciting, which is why I only gave it a "5." None of the moats on this production day were exciting or noteworthy anyways. Nothing really happened, so I don't have anything to add to it. Plus, the objective in general was both uncreative and boring. You would think the producers would've come up with a better moat idea other than just using a mere rope. At the end of the round, the Red Jaguars, Silver Snakes, Green Monkeys, and the Blue Barracudas ended up advancing to the Steps of Knowledge.

(TRJ's description)

This episode featured one of the most uninspiring moat crossings on the show. The first player had to swim across the moat while holding a rope and tie it to the pole on the other side. The second player then had to cross the moat by using the on top and on the bottom to cross. The first four teams that cross this moat got a chance to move onto the next round. As mentioned earlier, the moat used for this production day was very lame and uninspiring. The objective was too bland and cliche like most Season 1 moats. At the same time though, there really wasn't anything wrong with this moat either as the four teams that made it across didn't struggle too much. At the end of the day, it was just an average moat that lacked competition.

LEGEND: 7/10

LEGEND: 6/10 (TRJ)

This legend talked about Jamuka, who drove a giant Yurt (which is a giant tent wagon) for the Mongolian Army. Jamuka and his other tribe members followed Genghis Khan, who was their Mongolian ruler. One day, they ended up in China, and conquered a majority of Asia and parts of Europe. One of the passengers asked of Jamuka's name, and when Jamuka turned his back, it was Genghis Khan's voice that he heard. Jamuka introduced himself, and begged for Genghis Khan's forgiveness. Genghis Khan then tossed leather helmet to Jamuka, and told him he'd grow into it one day. Jamuka eventually rode off, and was rumored to have become a General at some point. The helmet eventually made its way to the temple. Pretty interesting legend if you ask me. Though I felt this legend had more to do with Jamuka than it did Genghis Khan. But at least an effort was made to include Genghis Khan in a good chunk of the legend. There were WAY worse offenders of an artifact/story having nothing to do with the titular character in the episode (Shiva, Cricket Cage, etc.) Plus, it could've been a little more detailed too.

(TRJ's description)

Long ago, there was a young boy who drove a giant tent wagon called a Yurt for the Mongolian Army. His name was Jamuka. Together, Jamuka and his other tribe members followed Genghis Khan, the ruler of all Mongols. They swept down across the plains and into China, conquering most of Asia and part of Europe. "Your driver" someone shouted, but Jamuka could not hear the command. The voice said the same thing again, and asked for Jamuka's name. The voice belonged to Genghis Khan, and Jamuka revealed his name as he begged the great leader for forgiveness. The great Khan laughed and tossed his leather helmet to Jamuka. He told Jamuka that it belonged to him know and told him that one day he will grow into it. Genghis Khan then rode off as Jamuka held the helmet in his hand. Some say that Jamuka became a great general, while his Helmet eventually made its way to the temple. Genghis Khan is definitely an interesting historical figure to cover. Unfortunately, this legend was not about him at all and instead was more about Jamuka. Which is too bad because Genghis Khan was a powerful ruler and leader. I wish the legend was more focused on him. But still, I can't really say anything bad about this legend either as it was still mildly entertaining. On a side note, the episode "Golden Cricket Cage" covered Kublai Khan, who was the grandson of Genghis Khan. The legend in this episode is much more interesting than the "Cricket Cage" one though.

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 6/10

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 7/10 (TRJ)

The Steps of Knowledge here was just an average round, as not much happened other than a few wrong answers given. Just like the moat, there is also not much to note here. The Blue Barracudas were the first team to qualify for the temple games. It came down to a two way tie on the second to last step between the Red Jaguars and the Silver Snakes. In the end, Becca and Taylor of the Red Jaguars were the second team to join the Blue Barracudas on the final step. The Silver Snakes got two questions correct, and the Green Monkeys did not get a chance to answer a question.

(TRJ's description)

This Steps of Knowledge round was pretty interesting because some of the answers were close calls. There were also a couple of wrong answers too. The most notable one was when both the Red Jaguars and Blue Barracudas gave the same exact wrong answer. -_- Other than that though, the questions felt pretty challenging in this episode and the teams did a good job getting them correct. We also had a tie on the second to last step twice. In the end though, the Blue Barracudas and Red Jaguars got three questions correct and advance onto the temple games.

TEMPLE GAMES: 7/10

TEMPLE GAMES: 7/10 (TRJ)

This temple games round was okay. It was sort of a close round, but it was still quite obvious the Red Jaguars were going to beat the Blue Barracudas. In the first game, Taylor and Phillip had to climb up a wall, grabs bricks to attach to their helmet, and then climb back down and put them in their bucket. It was a pretty close match, but Taylor ended up beating Phillip by winning the game 5-4. In the second game, Becca and Tammy had to climb up the soapy ramp, grab the soldier on top, and then put it in their basket. Both girls performed dreadfully in this game. Neither girl could climb up the ramp if their lives depended on it. Though it was pretty funny how Becca ripped off one of the doll's head. Naturally, it didn't count, and the game ended up a scoreless tie. Going into the third temple game, the Red Jagaurs were ahead of the Blue Barracudas 1-0.5. In the last game, the players had to assemble a yurt by using the same tired up and down pulley game. This was the exact objective the players in "The Moccasins of Geronimo" did. You know, the one with the tipi's? Anyways, Becca and Taylor finished the game with 25 seconds left on the clock, beating the Blue Barracudas in the temple games 2-0.5 and earning them a trip to the temple!

(TRJ's description)

The temple games featured a match-up between Taylor and Becca of the Red Jaguars and Phillip and Tammy of the Blue Barracudas. In the first temple game, Taylor and Phillip had to help Genghis Khan tear down the Great Wall of China. To do this, one player had to climb up the wall and grab a brick to place on their helmet. They then had to climb down and climb back up to grab another brick. The player that collects the most bricks after 60 seconds will win. Taylor was slightly faster and stronger than his competition in this temple game. The final score was close though with Red winning with a score of 5-4.

In the second temple game, Becca and Tammy had to climb up a slippery slope and grab a Mongolian soldier and place it into their bucket. While do this though, they could only stay on their knees while climbing. The player that collects the most soldiers after 60 seconds will win. Both girls struggled really bad in this temple game and neither of them could fully make it to the top. Kirk even told them that one of them would have to make a dive for the soldier. Becca did this and only grabbed the head of it. It was pretty funny how at the end of the temple game she is showing the head to Kirk and Kirk tells the audience how that is the only part she got. With a 0-0 score though, both girls earn a half-pendant. They enter the final game with a score of 1-0.5.

In the team game, the teams had to assemble a Yurt by grabbing pieces of flaps and placing it at the top. The players had to take turns getting to the top of the Yurt or else they will have difficulty reaching the top if they are not coordinating themselves. The team that gets the most flaps onto their Yurt after 60 seconds will win. The Red Jaguars managed to get all of their flaps at the top with 26 seconds remaining, while Tammy of the Blue Barracuda sort of took her sweet old time in this game. With a final Pendant score of 2-0.5, the Red Jaguars earn the right to enter Olmec's Temple.  

Overall, the temple games were pretty close and entertaining. Each temple game was relevant to the legend and the competition was good too. The "headless doll" incident during the second temple game really stood out and was pretty hilarious too. The Red Jaguars dominance was also fun to watch too.

TEMPLE RUN: 6/10

TEMPLE RUN: 6.5/10 (TRJ)

Well, Becca and Taylor had a straight to path artifact layout to deal with, and their layout was pretty simplistic. But, the team won fair and square and escaped with 9 seconds left on the clock. Not much else to say except when Taylor exits the temple, you can clearly see a temple guard still squatting down in the Cave of Sighs. Same thing happens in "The Star of Sultan Saladin" too. Oh, and Becca and Taylor were so excited about their win, they could barely keep in camera frame. This win was a lot less exciting than most other victories, but they still earned it.

(TRJ's description)

Like most Season 1 wins, this team had a pretty simple path to the artifact. In fact, there was no floor switching at all during this temple run and Taylor and Becca scored a win with less than 10 seconds. Becca chose to go into the temple first, where she met her first guard in the Cave of Sighs. After having no doors unlocked in the Cave, she was forced up into the Three Gargoyles and then forced in the Wall Climb. She chose the Observatory route where she had to force the door open with her hands because the door didn't open all the way. After walking all the way to the Shrine, she is removed from the temple by another temple guard. Taylor pretty much walks all the way to the Shrine, where he puts the Silver Monkey together and grabs the Helmet and makes his way to the temple exit. As he crosses the temple gate, he runs way out of camera frame and Becca soon joins him. You can totally see Kirk grabbing Taylor by the shirt and soon Becca to pull them into camera frame. Overall, this temple win was just average and there is not much to say about it. Becca and Taylor pretty much won with an easy temple layout. However, you can't really hold the easy win against them either. They didn't do many things wrong in their run either and the ending of the excitement at the end of the run was pretty entertaining at least. It is definitely not the best win on the show, but I don't have any complaints either.

FINAL VERDICT: 6.2/10

FINAL VERDICT: 6.5/10 (TRJ)

Not too bad, I figured this episode would finish in the low 6 range. This episode was just average really, though it's a vast improvement over most Season 1 episodes, especially after crap like Alhambra. The one thing that annoyed me about this episode, was the Blue Barracuda girl, Tammy. Not only did she perform terribly in every round, but she had zero enthusiasm. She didn't smile once and she looked like she didn't even want to be on the show. I'm glad she didn't go to the temple. I mean, I'm not expecting every contestant to be like Kate or Elisa, but you could at least try to look like you're having fun. Other than that, this was a decent episode and while I don't find the win too exciting, I still recommend a rewatch of this episode.

(TRJ's description)

"Genghis Khan" was just an average episode in every sense. None of the rounds were particularly top notch nor were they mediocre either. The episode was more on the boring side too. Compared to most Season 1 episodes though, this as quite good and was watchable. The stand out moments include the scoreless tie in the female temple game where Becca decapitated the head of a doll. And the ending to the temple win where the Red Jaguars refused to stay in camera frame. Other than that, this win was just average and don't expect anything exciting or memorable. Overall, I definitely recommend watching this episode. It was still a decent episode despite losing the excitement factor.

[The Red Jaguars]

Genghis Khan was a pretty average episode overall, and not the most exciting one either. However, it was probably the best Red Jaguars episode in S1. I personally like this episode just because it is very memorable from my childhood and one of the reasons I liked the Jaguars growing up.

It seemed like a lot of the Season 1 legends were about other people than what the episode was suppose to be about. Like how "The Stolen Arm of Shiva" legend hardly mentions Shiva at all. They did this a lot in S1 and it was pretty weird. My guess is because no one would know who Jamuka is while everyone knows Genghis Khan.

The temple games were pretty good. Apparently Becca and Tammy were challenged in climbing in the female temple game. I have never seen a contestant struggle as much as both of them did in this temple game. As a result, we get a rare 0-0 score. And we also see Becca rip off one of the dolls heads too. I personally hate when they used the harness temple game for the team game. I just didn't like the team dynamics behind it.

The temple win was average at best, but I like it more than most S1 wins. Becca pretty much walked through the whole temple all the way to the Shrine. Luckily she didn't grab the artifact because this would've been Geronimo 2.0. Taylor was a little faster than Becca, and he assembled the Silver Monkey, and grabbed the Helmet and brought it out. The ending of the temple run was pretty memorable and neither player could stay in camera frame. This definitely wasn't a top quality win, but it was still good for the most part. I will take it over Shaka Zulu anyday. A good win overall too and it was definitely the Red Jaguars best temple run of S1.

I noticed how short your summary for this episode was too. Don't worry, I think my summary would've been this short to if I did Genghis Khan. There is literally not a whole lot to say about it. Very good summary though, and I think that is respectable score for it. I am going to do "Atahualpa" next. Should be a fun episode to watch. 

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, I'm sorry I couldn't write more. But truth be told, there was nothing to talk about in pretty much every round. =/ I'll try to write better next time. And that should be easy, since the next one I want to review is "The Golden Pepperoni of Catherine de Medici." Now THAT episode should have a longer review. And like I've said before, I hate writing long things. I just like to get straight to the point. But I can't wait for your episode review of Atahualpa. Very exciting episode, even though the Blue Barracudas there didn't win.

[The Red Jaguars]

I wasn't slamming you for writing a shorter summary. I would've done the same thing for Genghis Khan too if I wrote it. If anything, it tells you how uneventful the whole episode is. I don't expect long summaries at all either. Sometimes short and to the point is better. When I am typing these summaries, I sometimes go overboard and add too much fluff. And my summary for Stone Marker was pretty short too since there wasn't a whole lot to talk about. And when I do Golden Stallion next, that episode summary will be short too.

Golden Pepperoni should be a great read. Maybe it will finally prove to others that this episode is not as bad as it is made out to be. It was definitely fun and memorable, and the temple run isn't even that bad. I would look forward to this one. And like Electrified Key, it had a couple of standout moments...

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, Golden Pepperoni had a lot of standout moments, especially the temple run. I always thought this entire episode gets way too much of a bad rap. I mean yes, Aqila screwed up big time, but she was still a decent player despite that. I definitely prefer Golden Pepperoni over episodes like Geronimo, which also got a short summary and was a rather uneventful episode. But granted, it was my first episode review. Not very good when a winning episode generates short responses, and can only score a mere 5.2 average. I honestly like most of the losses better than some of the wins. After all, a win is not always exciting, and a loss isn't always bad.

[The Red Jaguars]

If there is anything that will hurt Golden Pepperoni's score, it will probably be the silly legend. Other than that, it was a fun episode, especially the temple games. Geronimo is pure garbage and I sort of hate that episode. I think all of the "best temple win" talk really maligned my hate for this episode. It deserved the 5.2 score it got. If I ever ranked that episode, it would've had a lower score. 

Even though we have a lot of episodes to cover, most of them are watchable even though they don't seem like it. The only ones that I would dread ranking are William Tell, Lily-Crested Crown, Smashed Printing Plate, and Queen Nzinga.    The rest are fine for the most part.

[The Red Jaguars]

It's been a couple of weeks since one of these reviews were posted, so I went ahead and did "The Golden Jaguar of Atahualpa".   It was a good and memorable episode, and I am glad I chose to do this one. I also used Imgur for the images below. I will be doing the same for the rest of the episode reviews in the future. And while the images for the old episode reviews are still down, they should be back up by August.

THE GOLDEN JAGUAR OF ATAHUALPA

MOAT: 5/10

MOAT: 5/10 (PPF)

This was probably the most uninspiring moat on the show. All the players had to do was cross the moat by using the rope over their head. Once the first player reaches the other side, then their partners had to cross the same way. It required a lot of upper body strength, and the teams really struggled during this production day. The Blue Barracudas got across the moat without too much problems. The other teams struggled a lot though, and there was big gap in between each time someone clocked in. It was pretty painful to watch overall.

PPF's Description

For this moat, the players had to cross the moat by pulling themselves across the moat with an overhead rope. Once across, the first player had to brace themselves and pull the rope tight around the pole, so their partner can make it across. This was a very difficult challenge for most of these contestants. It required a lot of upper body strength, in which this set of contestants really seemed to lack in this round. Although Chris and Tracy of the Blue Barracudas were the only team to not have immense difficulty. This was a very hard round to watch due to the poor editing and players struggling to get across. Though it wasn't nearly as bad as the moat in "The Silver Saddle Horn of Hannibal," filmed right after this episode. Furthermore, this has to be by far the most uninspiring, most tired moats on the show. You just use a rope to get across, big whoop dee do. At the end of this very lengthy round, the Blue Barracudas, Orange Iguanas, Purple Parrots, and Red Jaguars advance to the Steps of Knowledge in that order.

LEGEND: 8/10

LEGEND: 7/10 (PPF)

High in the Andes Mountains were two brothers arguing over who became the rulers of the Inca. Their names were Huascar and Atahualpa. Their argument was so fierce that it turned into a Civil War that lasted five years. Atahualpa defeated his brother, but the war left the Inca empire very weak. Soon after, a Spanish conquistador named Francisco Pizarro visited the capital city of the Inca and defeated Atahualpa. Pizarro promised to set Atahualpa free if his people provided him with one room full of gold and twice full of silver. Pizarro never kept his promise though and Atahualpa remained imprisoned. The Spanish melted all the gold and took it back to Spain, except for a Golden Jaguar that it's way to Olmec's temple.

This was a very interesting legend, and it also a very familiar one too since almost everyone has heard about the Inca empire in grade school at one point. It had a serious plot and didn't have any silly bits either. My only complaint was that the legend could've used slightly more detail. But other than that, it was a very good legend and the artifact looked very neat also.

PPF's Description

The legend in this episode centered around Atahualpa, and his brother Huascar. The two brothers often bickered over becoming rulers of the Inca. Their argument was so intense that it turned into a Civil War that went on for five years. While Atahualpa managed to defeat his brother, the Inca empire weakened. And a Spanish conqueror named Francisco Pizarro visited Inca and defeated Atahualpa. The only way Pizarro would set Atahualpa free is if his people provided him a room full of gold and silver. But that never came to be as Pizzaro did not follow through on his promise while Atahualpa remained imprisoned. The Spanish melted away all of the gold and took it back to Spain with them. The only thing that remained was a golden jaguar, which eventually found its way to the temple. This was a decent legend in my opinion. I liked the story that was told, and it didn't cross the line into parodying itself, like most legends tend to do. On the other hand, the legend could've used a little more detail. They could've talked more about Atahualpa's stint in prison, and if he ever escaped. But other than that, this was still an enjoyable legend and the artifact was very high quality and neat looking.

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 7/10

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 7/10 (PPF)

The Purple Parrots got a couple of lucky breaks in the Steps. One of the answers they gave didn't really sound like one of the correct answers to the question. Olmec never got to finish the question and they answered "once with gold". That sounded like a partial answer to me, but the producers gave the answer to them. The only bad answer during this Steps round was when the Purple Parrot girl answered "Matadors" for the name of the Spaniards that entered the Inca Empire. Silly Purple Parrot girl, a Matador is someone that tames bulls. Tracy of the Blue Barracudas did well for her team and got all of the answers correct. Nothing really to complain here about this round.

PPF's Description

This was a pretty average Steps of Knowledge round. Aside from a few sketchy the Purple Parrots gave, this round was rather uneventful. The Purple Parrots finished first on the steps, despite a wrong answer they gave about "Matadors" earlier on in the round. The Blue Barracudas, who were very smart on the steps and did not get a single wrong answer, finished second. The Red Jaguars only got one question correct, and the Orange Iguanas did not get an questions right. Overall, not a bad round, but not a great round either.

TEMPLE GAMES: 8/10

TEMPLE GAMES: 8/10 (PPF)

The two temple teams included Tracy and Chris of the Blue Barracudas and Greg and Kelly of the Purple Parrots. The episode has a very memorable and infamous Kirk Fogg quote, which can be found in the second temple game below. The temple game sequence is also pretty unique too since it utilized temple games that were uncommon in S1. The temple games came down to a One Pendant tiebreaker, where the Blue Barracudas make a comeback in the team game and beat the Purple Parrots in the tiebreaker.

Temple Game #1 - Temple Ransom Payment

Chris and Greg had to climb up a "mountain" in order to get the ransom needed to free Atahualpa. In their bins were one bar of gold and two bars of silver. They must put each bar one by one on their head and place it at the top of the mountain. Once they placed one bar of gold down, then they had to do the same for the two bars of Silver. The player that gets all of their bars of gold and silver at the top or the player furthest along will win. The game was a close race between both guys, but Greg was victorious in the end.

Temple Game #2 - Incan Canoes

Tracy and Kelly had 60 seconds to slide down a slide on their bellies and see how much distance they can reach. They can not use their hands once they are down the slide. The ground will be slippery, allowing the players to slide further. The girl that makes it the farthest in 60 seconds is the winner. Kelly was able to slide the furthest in this temple game, deeming her the winner.

The best part of this temple game was the ending where Kirk comments on the Purple Parrot girls appearance - "By the looks of things, you look a little soapy." Really Kirk? It's not like Kelly and Tracy weren't sliding in soap for 60 seconds.  

Temple Game #3 - Brother vs. Brother

The final temple game had the male players attached to a wall while wearing a velcro vest. Their partners had velcro balls and had to throw them at their partner's vest. The male players had to catch the balls with their bodies. They could move their body around while the girls were aiming at them. The team that caught the most balls at the end of 60 seconds would be the winner. In the end, the Blue Barracudas win 13-11 and force a One Pendant tiebreaker.

The tiebreaker question asked was "Was the Inca Empire found in... North America... South America..." and before Kirk could reveal the last answer, Tracy chimes in and answers "South America" as the correct answer. With a comeback in the last temple game and winners of the tiebreaker, Chris and Tracy of the Blue Barracudas are deemed worthy into Olmec's temple.

PPF's Description

The temple games featured an excellent set up of games, (which is very rare for Season 1), and some close competition all throughout. In the first game, Chris and Greg had to climb up a mountain and put a bar of gold or silver on their helmet, and place it on top of the mountain. Greg was a BEAST in his game! You should see the way he climbed up that mountain. I swear, it had to be a record. Naturally, Greg dominants Chris and wins a half pendant for his team. In the second game, Tracy and Kelly had to slide down a soapy chute to see who can make it the "furthest along." This is one of my personal favorite temple games in the whole series. Unlike most Season 1 temple games, I like this utilization of the "furthest along" concept, and it looks like a lot of fun to do. They definitely should've used this game a lot more often. Furthermore, this was a close match throughout. At the end of the round though, Kelly of the Purple Parrots was just a smidgen bit further along, and won another half pendant for her team. But not without Kirk remarking "By the looks of things, you look a bit soapy!" Oh Kirk, where would this episode be without that memorable little tidbit? So now the Purple Parrots were up 1-0 going into the third temple game. The Blue Barracudas still had yet to score, but that could all change. In the final temple game, the female players had to throw Velcro balls at their tied up male partners. The Blue Barracudas seemed to be getting a good rhythm down, while Kelly of the Purple Parrots lagged behind in the ball throwing process. It was like she was not putting any effort into throwing the balls at Greg. This really cost her team dearly. At the end of the round, the Blue Barracudas came right from behind and won the game, with a very impressive score of 13-11! So with a 1-1 pendant tie, it was time for the tiebreaker. The tiebreaker question asked for this episode regarded where the Inca Empire was found. Tracy of the Blue Barracudas got the correct answer "South America" and earned her and her partner a trip to the temple! Of course, this means the Purple Parrots lost their first ever tiebreaker. Which would occur seven more times throughout the entire series, knowing their bad luck with tiebreakers.

TEMPLE RUN: 7.5/10

TEMPLE RUN: 8/10 (PPF)

One wrong turn usually spells disaster in most temple runs. Chris and Tracy find out the hard way in their temple. The temple run started out very unusually. Chris' strategy was to start low in the Cave of Sighs. Well, he thought that the opening between the Cave of Sighs and Olmec was the entrance to the temple. He actually ran into the two spaces, but only wasted 2 seconds at most doing so. As he moved along the bottom floor into the Throne Room, he was given two choices of rooms to go into next. He ultimately went into the Heart Room, where he met a dead end and temple guard. After heading back down into the Holes of Python, Chris is removed from the Shrine. Tracy didn't have much time to herself with a long path back to where Chris was taken out. She did manage to reach where he left off, assemble the Silver Monkey, and grab the Golden Jaguar with less than 2 seconds left. Nothing else could be done though as time was up for the team. While the team failed to win due to a useless detour by Chris, the temple run is pretty exciting. And most of the S1 temple losses were pretty boring and lackluster. However, this team moved fast and didn't have any glaring weaknesses in the temple. If Chris didn't enter the Heart Room at the start, it would've been a solo victory. But still, this temple run is rather exciting and was a nice way to top off a good episode.

PPF's Description

This was one of those temple runs where one wrong turn cost a team a chance at victory. Despite that though, this temple run was still very exciting. Chris heads into the temple first and.... heads in the wrong direction upon entering the temple. He goes behind Olmec, instead of directly into the Cave, until Kirk tells his "Wrong way!" Chris very quickly corrects this rather humorous mistake, and continues to move swiftly into the Throne Room. Once there, Chris has a choice of either entering the Holes of Pyhton, or the Heart Room. Unfortunately, he chooses the latter room, ultimately deciding the fate of this run. In the Heart Room, a temple guard takes away his teams only pendant, and promptly heads back down. He continues to to traverse the temple in a quick fashion, until he reaches the Shrine, where he is removed from the temple with 1:24 left on the clock. Tracy enters next and she moves quickly too. She goes a great job following Chris' path all the way to the Shrine, and even grabs the Jaguar in the last four seconds of the temple run! Of course, they didn't make it out, and time runs out shortly after. Had it not been for Chris' detour into the Heart Room, this temple run would've been a solo victory. Instead, it was the Blue Barracudas' only failed escape. Still a very exciting and fun temple run nonetheless.

FINAL VERDICT: 7.1/10

FINAL VERDICT: 7/10 (PPF)

"Golden Jaguar" was a very solid episode throughout and didn't have many weak moments. If I could pick one weakness about this episode, it would be the long moat. You can't blame the kids for this one though, the producers expected way too much when they made this moat. The rest of this episode is a decent watch though and very exciting too. The legend was very interesting and the temple games had some classic moments. The temple run was not bad either, and this is the only time the Blue Barracudas grab an artifact but fail to bring it out of the temple. I would definitely recommend this episode, especially since there weren't many strong S1 episodes on the show. You would be missing out if you didn't watch "Golden Jaguar". There a few classic moments that many Legends fans talk about.  You definitely don't want to miss what happens at the beginning of the temple run.

PPF's Description

Overall, this was one of the strongest episodes of Season 1, and it was very exciting and memorable the whole way through. With the exception of the moat, where the producers expected WAY too much of these kids, every round was very fun to watch. The temple games were the staple of this episode, as it featured a great set up of unique and rare games, priceless quotes from Kirk, and close competition the whole round. The temple run featured a solid performance by Chris and Tracy too, despite the fact that they lost in the temple. It was especially memorable for Chris' quasi detour behind Olmec at the beginning of the round. This episode was a classic and one of the better Season 1 episodes, and I would recommend it to anyone.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Atahualpa was a very exciting episode. Especially for the "by the looks of things, you look a bit soapy" quote. And for Chris' detour behind Olmec. The temple games was a decent match, even though it's the first of many Purple Parrot tiebreaker losses. Oh well, Chris and Tracy were still a good team. If Chris hadn't detoured into the Heart Room, it would've been a solo victory.

Overall, great review. I'll probably do "The Golden Pepperoni of Catherine de Medici" next.

[The Red Jaguars]

Golden Pepperoni will be interesting to see where it ranks. The whole episode has some good parts and some not so good parts. The only real "bad part" I remember was the legend. Other than that, I liked that episode and never had many problems with it. Especially the temple run.

I am thinking of doing "Stone Head" next before "Sultan Suleiman". I just watched that whole episode yesterday and it will be interesting to rank. This episode is mixed with some very bad rounds and really good rounds.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Okay here it is. My review on "The Golden Pepperoni of Catherine de Medici."

THE GOLDEN PEPPERONI OF CATHERINE DE' MEDICI

MOAT: 7/10

In this moat, the players had to cross the moat by standing on tubes, and use the poll above for balance. This was a pretty exciting moat, and the round was close where it wasn't too painfully obvious who the four teams would be. Also, none of the teams were penalized for going without their tubes, and just merely climbing across the moat by poll. I'm pretty sure the other moats that day weren't picky about the tubes either.

LEGEND: 3/10

The legend was about Catherine de' Medici, who was the queen of France, and had been having nightmares in her castle. Catherine called over the Great Linguini, to get some answers as to what was happening to her. The Great Linguini had told Catherine she had been eating too much pepperoni, and that she should tear down her new castle. Catherine heeded his advice, and tore the castle down. As a token of appreciation, the Great Linguini gave Catherine de' Medici a golden pepperoni. Both this legend and artifact was pretty lame. I mean, the Great Linguini, seriously? I expected MUCH more for such a legendary figure like Catherine de' Medici. And this is the best story of her the producers could hatch? This sounds like a legend that would fit in better with Season 3. Especially with artifacts and legends like Bifocal Monocle and Snow Cone.

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 6/10

The Steps of Knowledge was over in 7 questions. The Green Monkeys blazed through all their questions and was the first team to finish. The Purple Parrots eventually joined them on the second step. This round would've been rated much higher if it wasn't for all those wrong answers given by the Orange Iguanas. Seriously, were they even paying attention at all? Did they even study the legend backstage? They did get at least one question right, but still. Plus, I couldn't tell which contestant was a boy, and which one was a girl. Because that boy had some long hair! On a more off topic note, after Olmec was done telling the legend, he accidentally calls the Room of the Secret Password, "The Secret Password Room." And Olmec is usually the last person to flub a room name, (even with names like "The Bamboo Swamp"). Usually Kirk is the one Fogging up with that.

TEMPLE GAMES: 8/10

To make up for the lackluster legend and Steps of Knowledge round, the temple games featured a unique sequence and great competition. In the first game, Aqila and Tara had to collect pieces of the noble family's crest, all while avoiding the swinging obstacles. Both girls managed to tie 3-3, giving them both a half pendant of life. In the second game, Chris and Michael had to climb up the totem poll and remove the merlons on top. And only the merlons that actually made the bucket count. It was a neck and neck match between the guys, but Michael of the Green Monkeys ended up winning 4-3, since Chris dropped one of his merlons. At that point, the Green Monkeys were leading the Purple Parrots 1-0.5. In the third game, the teams had to take turns climbing the net, grab crowns out of the cubbyholes, and crown the mannequin heads. The Purple Parrots just barely edge out the Green Monkeys 3-2, giving them the full pendant, and just barely beating them to the temple 1.5-1!

TEMPLE RUN: 6/10

This temple run is an infamous one, with Aqila passing up the pepperoni at the end of the run. But besides that blunder, this wasn't a bad temple run at all. Chris goes in first and trips upon entering the temple. Much like how Leah from "The Bullet Riddled Handbag of Belle Boyd" tripped up the stairs in her temple run. Chris only lasts three rooms, and is removed in the Laser Light Room with 2:18 left on the clock. Aqila goes in next, and she moves pretty slow. She almost passes up the half pendant, but does go back for it. And she needed it too, since the third temple guard was waiting for her in the King's Storeroom. Now why couldn't Renee from Nzinga find her half pendant, like contestants like Aqila, Kerry, and even Claude did. Anyways, after Aqila assembles the monkey, time is really ticking down. She enters the Room of the Secret Password, and instead of reaching the pepperoni, she passes it! She ends up going down the Mine Shaft elevator and time runs out soon after. After time was called, Chris falls to his knees in complete and utter disbelief. Despite the outcome, it was still an exciting temple run and had a very interesting finish. Not many episodes from Season 2 can say they had a memorable ending.

FINAL VERDICT: 6/10

Yet another episode scores a solid 6, which is a fair score for this episode. The moat and the temple games were exciting, but the utterly cheesy legend is what drags it down. The temple run could have been ranked either higher or lower, but I figure a "6" is fitting. As slow and dimwitted as Aqila was, I think she gets some undeserved flack here. Besides the passing of the pepperoni, I thought she was still a decent player. At least she went back for her half pendant, something Renee from Nzinga can't say. And she completed the Jester's Court (whose lights wouldn't dim) with no problem, and she assembled the monkey in a decent fashion. So she wasn't a total lost cause like Kim from Missing Weather Maps was. Most people consider this temple run the reason the Purple Parrots are ranked "the loser team." But this temple run wasn't bad at all, and I think people like to over exaggerate how bad it was. There were way worse Purple Parrot players than Aqila, and way worse players from other teams in general. Regardless of outcome, I still recommend this episode. It's at least worth a laugh for the lame legend.

[The Red Jaguars]

Golden Pepperoni is an episode that gets a lot of undeserved criticism. To me, the only bad part of this episode was the stupid legend. Nightmares about eating too much pepperoni? The Great Linguini? This legend was such a bunch of nonsense and you can tell that the producers were desperate to come up with a plot revolving around Catherine de' Medici. The artifact was pretty lame too. Why would you give a Golden Pepperoni as a token of your appreciation? The legend easily hurts this episode's score.

The temple games is probably my most favorite part about this episode. Every single temple game was a close call. I also liked the temple game sequence they used also. The "swinging objects" and "spider web" games were some of my favorite from S2. The Purple Parrots barely beat the Green Monkeys for the win.

Now, the temple run is definitely the highlight of this episode and is also very memorable. It was also pretty exciting too. Chris made good time in his short time in the temple. Aqila was a good second runner, albeit a little slow. She seemed to complete her temple rooms with little to no problem though. And she found her half-pendant too. When she got into the Secret Password though, she passed up the Golden Pepperoni and headed for the Mine Shaft elevator for who knows what reason.   She eventually gets the hint that she passed the artifact up, but time is up by the time she reaches it. The ending was very memorable with Kirk shouting "GET THE PEPPERONI!!" and Chris falling to his knees. Pretty good run WITH a very memorable ending.  

Overall, I like the Golden Pepperoni episode and an even 6 is a good score for this episode IMO. The legend really drags the episode's score down a lot though. It probably would rank closer to a 7 if it wasn't so lame. But I like the rest of the episode and it definitely doesn't get the criticism it receives. Even though the temple ending was unfortunate, I don't find Aqila to be a bad player. It was just those last 4 seconds that make her look bad. Good episode and great review.  

For me, I am definitely doing "Stone Head" next. Only because I watched the whole episode a few days ago and I am curious on how it will rank. This episode had some really good rounds and some poor rounds too. And I after that, I promise I will get to Sultan Suleiman.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, Aqila was actually a much better player than people give her credit for. Sure she was slow and passed up the artifact, but it's not like she was entirely clueless. She definitely doesn't deserve the criticism she gets. Though I always theorized that she thought the artifact was in the Mine Shaft, and NOT in the Room of the Secret Password. That's my best guess at least. And the legend totally brings the episode down. I mean, the Great Linguini?! He's not even a real person, unlike what other people have tried to claim in the past.

And I can't wait until your review on Stone Head. It'll be interesting to see how that episode ranks. Especially for the temple games and temple run. It's like every round in that episode was either really really good, or really really bad.

[The Red Jaguars]

Yeah, Aqila was actually a much better player than people give her credit for. Sure she was slow and passed up the artifact, but it's not like she was entirely clueless. She definitely doesn't deserve the criticism she gets. Though I always theorized that she thought the artifact was in the Mine Shaft, and NOT in the Room of the Secret Password. That's my best guess at least. And the legend totally brings the episode down. I mean, the Great Linguini?! He's not even a real person, unlike what other people have tried to claim in the past.

And I can't wait until your review on Stone Head. It'll be interesting to see how that episode ranks. Especially for the temple games and temple run. It's like every round in that episode was either really really good, or really really bad.

Didn't Kamehameha think that the Great Linguini was a real person? Same with Needmore Rupees and Ling Ling from the Imperial Wizard legend.

And yeah, Stone Head will be very interesting to rank. Every round was either really good or really bad. Although I don't want to spoil the review too much. I should have Stone Head up by tomorrow. I am definitely interested in ranking this one. 

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, it was Kamehameha who said that. And TMH totally called him out on it and told him to "wake the fuck up." As for my next episode, I'll probably review either Silver Horseshoe or Leonardo Da Vinci. I'll probably review the former first, since it was a pretty interesting episode.

[The Red Jaguars]

As I promised, here is my episode review for "Stone Head". The final score of this episode is pretty surprising considering how bad some of the rounds of this episode scored. Luckily it wasn't a terrible episode though and it actually had some good parts. I never really hated this episode at all except for the temple run. And I double checked, so there should be no mention of Kelly at all.

THE STONE HEAD OF THE EVIL KING

MOAT: 1/10

Whoever came up with the idea of this moat should be fired from the production team. This was the worst moat that was ever used on this show. The teams struggled so bad that it took 45 minutes one time just to complete one round of this moat. How did this moat work? Basically the first player had to cross the moat by balancing themselves on a loose board while crossing. The second player had to hold the board still so the first player can hold their balance. Now why did the kids struggle so much with this moat? Because the board they were crossing was not sturdy at all and it was hard for them to hold their balance. The moat in this episode was very long to the point that the fog disappears. While this may have not been the "45 minute" moat mentioned in Kirk's interview, it comes close to it. And the crappy editing doesn't do this crapfest much justice either.

LEGEND: 9/10

One of the greatest heroes of Greek Mythology was a young Perseus. His mother was about to be forced into a marriage with an Evil King. To save his mother though, Perseus agreed to slay a monster named Medusa. Medusa was an ugly monster whose hair was made of live snakes and anyone that looked at her turned to stone. The Evil King knew that he was sending Perseus to his death, and Perseus set off to Medusa's cave. When encountering Medusa, Perseus tried to avoid looking into Medusa's eyes. Instead, he user his shield to capture her reflection and decapitates her. He then takes Medusa's head to the Evil King, who stares at her and turns into rubble. The only remaining part of the Evil King was his Stone Head.

In my opinion, this was one of Legends' most interesting stories. Medusa is a very interesting monster to study and read about. The legend also had a serious tone to it and didn't sound like some made up plot for "Are You Afraid of the Dark". The producers also mention quite some gruesome details in the legend. Most notably, how Perseus cuts of Medusa's head. The voice acting use for Medusa was pretty decent also. I would've given it a perfect score if the dialogue didn't sound so monotonous in some parts of the legend.

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 7.5/10

The majority of the questions asked dealt with Greek Mythology and the story that Olmec told. Nothing amazing particularly sticks out about this Stpes of Knowledge round. I do want to mention though how Heather and Tony were struggling a lot to try and chime in order to give an answer. They were pressing their marker hard enough, but they had some bad luck getting it to ring. In the end, the Silver Snakes make it first while the Blue Barracudas follow behind.

TEMPLE GAMES: 7/10

The temple games featured Heather and Tony of the Blue Barracudas facing Chris and Kristen of the Silver Snakes. Not much to say about this temple games round, except that the Blue Barracudas dominated it. They swept the temple games altogether, and this was with the uncommon Boy-Girl temple game pairing. Sometimes though, temple game sweeps are uninteresting when the other team has no chance at all in beating the other team. But these temple games were pretty decent since the sequence that they used were pretty interesting.

Temple Game #1 - Place a Wing on Pegasus

Heather and Chris each had a wing of Pegasus and had to shimmy up his back bone in order to plan the wings on him. While doing so, Pegasus will be spitting water at the female contestants. The first player to get both wings on Pegasus in 60 seconds will win. In the end, Heather was able to get both wings on Pegasus within 30 seconds of the temple game.

Temple Game #2 - Hang Medusa's Head

Tony and Kristen both a bag containing Medusa's head and they had to hang it on Athena's shield up in Mt. Olympus. In order to do so, they had to scale a wall using the pegs in the wall. Once at the top, they had to place the bag with Medusa's head on Athena's shield. Neither Tony or Kristen managed to get their bag onto the shield, but in the end Tony was deemed the winner as he was the furthest along.

Temple Game #3 - Destroy the Evil King's Statues

In the final temple game, the teams had to knock over statues of the Evil King. Each player had to take turns knocking down a statue of an Evil King with the use of a catapult loaded with a giant ball. There were four Evil King statues in total. The player that knocked down the most Evil King statues will be the winner. In the end, Heather and Tony with 3-2 to completed the temple game sweep.

TEMPLE RUN: 3/10

When a team like the Blue Barracudas dominated the earlier rounds, you expect a good performance by the team in the temple, right? For Heather and Tony though, it was everything but a good performance. This team only made it through 5 rooms in three minutes. Part of the reason why they made such little progress was because of the Medusa's Lair objective. In the earlier layouts of S2, the contestants were required to put four snakes in Medusa's head. In this temple run, the Blue Barracudas were one of two teams that had to complete this task (the other team being the Red Jaguars from "The Lost Love Letter of Captain John Smith". Tony wasted 1/3 of his run just trying to get the snakes into Medusa's head. But he had no luck whatsoever getting the snakes to align. He was getting frustrated in the process and kept jabbing the snakes into any area of her head. In his defense, four snakes Medusa's Lair was very brutal since the producers had to dumb down on the objectives. But there was no reason for Tony to spend over a minute in that room. If Tony took his time in the first place, he might've not spent half the time he did in that room. To further support that Tony was a moron, he punches the King's Storeroom pots in an ineffective way that could've sent the key flying off the set. Overall, this was a very disappointing run and the Blue Barracudas really blew their load in the temple.

FINAL VERDICT: 5.5/10

"Stone Head" was an unusual episode where it featured some really good rounds and some pretty bad rounds. Most episodes that have been rated so far do not have this much diversity as this one. To hit on the high and low points of this episode, I will start off with the bad. The moat was very long and frustrating to watch. It was not the kids fault at all, but the producers should've fixed this moat considering that earlier episodes like "The Cracked Crown of the Spanish King" teams struggled with this moat. The temple run was also very frustrating and the Blue Barracudas should've done much better than the final outcome of the run. The high lights of this episode include the very interesting legend and good Steps of Knowledge that went with it. In the end, the episode managed to get an average score. I wouldn't really recommend this episode, but I say it is worth a watch. It will probably not be on a "Must watch" list, but it wasn't a total lost cause episode either. Watch this episode once you have watched all the good episodes first.