Wild Bill Hickok and the Dead Man's Hand temple run

[PurpleParrot319]

The temple run in this episode has always had me confused. How were the Orange Iguanas supposed to win? They couldn't enter the Golden Idols room from the Observatory or Heart Room. From the Swamp, they couldn't enter the Tomb of the Ancient Kings. Both doors wouldn't open. Was this team really supposed to enter the Golden Idols room from the Swamp? If so, then in my opinion, that's asking way too much from an early season 1 team.

Two more things. During her tough battle with the central column, Sarah went back into the Pit. From there, she tried going back into the Observatory, but the door never opened. However, when she turned the sundial earlier in the run, the lever leading to the pit opened up. Why did this happen? I mean, the team couldn't enter the Observatory from the Pit, so what was the point of it going up? Clearly the Observatory was a dead-end. However, the Heart Room opened from the Pit, so maybe they could've started there if the team wanted to. This leads me to think that maybe one, if not both, of the doors leading to the Golden Idols malfunctioned and never opened when they were supposed to.

Next thing: the Mine Shaft elevator. During the temple rundown, the elevator was up in the Pirate's Cove and not down in the Mine Shaft. This leads me to think that the team couldn't enter the Mine Shaft (room where the artifact was) from the Ancient Kings and they were supposed to ride the elevator down. So the question is this: how were the Orange Iguanas supposed to enter the Shrine of the Silver Monkey? Were they supposed to go up from the Ancient Kings or go left from the Golden Idols? If it was supposed to be from the Ancient Kings, then one of the doors leading to it broke. Maybe both of them broke. Maybe both didn't want to open because the run was about to end? That would be on the production crew if it was this. Or was the team really supposed to go up from the Swamp? Or again, maybe the Golden Idols doors from the Heart Room and Observatory broke.

What a weird and mysterious temple run. Please discuss and share your thoughts about this temple run. I'd love to read what you guys have to say about this unusual and cruel layout.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

This run's intended path (from what I gather) reminds me of the path taken in "Golden Pepperoni of Catherine de Medici." I think that the path they were supposed to take was from the Throne Room to the Swamp, up to the Golden Idols, across to the Torch Room, and then down to the Mineshaft.

In both of the first two seasons, all of the doors (in all directions) that could be unlocked from completing an objective, did open when the room's objectives were completed. That would explain why the doors opened to both the Swamp and Heart Room from the Throne Room. There were plenty of other episodes where both doors opened, one of which was normally a dead end. The only difference in this episode was that instead of the Swamp being the dead end like usual, it was the central shaft this time.

There was another Season One episode where the team was forced into a roundabout loop between the central shaft and the Pit before they went into the Swamp (the episode title evades me at the moment). Just like in that episode, "Dead Man's Hand" featured all of the doors open from the Pit to the central shaft. It was very common throughout all of the seasons for more than one door to open from the Pit. The lever from the Observatory to the Pit lifted when door Sarah completed the objective. When she went back to the Pit and tried the door to the Observatory, the door was not slid over, nor did she try to slide it over; therefore, the door may not have been locked from the Pit side. There were many instances where the contestants had to physically move the door aside (Mitchell in "Moccasins of Geronimo" comes to mind). And there were other instances where doors got stuck shut, such as the door to the King's Storeroom in the "Lost Hornpipe" run. I think the door in the "Wild Bill" run happened to fall under the former.

The lack of use of the ladder between the Swamp space and the Treasure Room space may make it seem unlikely that this team was meant to go up there, but there was no way down to the Golden Idols from the central shaft, and both of the doors to the Tomb of Ancient Kings were locked. I doubt that the production team would have sabotaged the run by locking all doors leading to the inner temple. Therefore, there was no other viable option than to go up from the Swamp. Based on this path, the elevator's position in the Torch Room makes sense, since this team then would have been forced to ride the elevator down after completing the Shrine of the Silver Monkey.

[The Red Jaguars]

One thing that we should keep in mind about "Dead Man's Hand" was that it was most likely the second temple run ever recorded on the show. As a result, we should expect a more twisted layout. But anyways, the general consensus over the years was that Sarah and Josh should've gone up into the Rooms of the Golden Idols from the Swamp. I mean the Tomb of the Ancient Kings door was locked from the Swamp and they scaled the entire central shaft with no luck. Since it was the second temple run ever, the producers might've thought that the Swamp-Golden Idols route was feasible to use. Whether this was the intended path or not is debatable and we will probably never know. But it is worth noting that this path upwards never worked for the rest of season one anyways.

There was another Season One episode where the team was forced into a roundabout loop between the central shaft and the Pit before they went into the Swamp (the episode title evades me at the moment). Just like in that episode, "Dead Man's Hand" featured all of the doors open from the Pit to the central shaft. It was very common throughout all of the seasons for more than one door to open from the Pit. The lever from the Observatory to the Pit lifted when door Sarah completed the objective. When she went back to the Pit and tried the door to the Observatory, the door was not slid over, nor did she try to slide it over; therefore, the door may not have been locked from the Pit side. There were many instances where the contestants had to physically move the door aside (Mitchell in "Moccasins of Geronimo" comes to mind). And there were other instances where doors got stuck shut, such as the door to the King's Storeroom in the "Lost Hornpipe" run. I think the door in the "Wild Bill" run happened to fall under the former.

I don't really remember another season one episode that had the players running between the central shaft and Pit. Perhaps you are thinking about "The Golden Stallion of Ali Baba" where the Orange Iguanas kept running around the central shaft until they went into the Swamp?

[PurpleParrot319]

And Golden Stallion was an early season 2 episode, not season 1 like PP4L is thinking of.

He might be thinking of Silver Saddle Horn of Hannibal or Golden Chains of Zenobia. Maybe even Golden Cup of Belshazzar. You'll have to rewatch those three runs to see if they're familiar to what you are thinking of. Those three are season 1 by the way.

[The Red Jaguars]

The only thing about "Hannibal" and "Zenobia" was that both teams in the temple runs did not loop around in the Pit since the Trouble Bridge/Wheel Room was in tact.

[PurpleParrot319]

The only thing about "Hannibal" and "Zenobia" was that both teams in the temple runs did not loop around in the Pit since the Trouble Bridge/Wheel Room was in tact.

Shows you how forgettable those runs are.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

It was "Golden Stallion of Ali Baba" that I was thinking about. Even though it was a Season 2 episode (not a Season 1 episode like I had thought), I still stand by my statement and conclusions.