Rate the Legends Season - Day Three: Season Three

[The Red Jaguars]

Here is another "Rating" thread that deals with an aspect of the show. Like the Legends team one, this one will be very quick and should be done by the time the weekend is over.

This time, we are ranking all three seasons of Legends. When ranking the seasons, please try and take the whole show into consideration: Moat, Steps, Legend, Temple Games, Temple Runs, Production Quality, Players, etc.

Results:
Season One: 5.00
Season Two: 8.80
Season Three: 7.25


Featured Season:

Season: Three
Production Year: 1995
Temple Layouts: 1
Wins: 10
Temple Appearances by Team:
Red Jaguars - 4
Blue Barracudas - 5
Green Monkeys - 15
Orange Iguanas - 9
Purple Parrots - 2
Silver Snakes - 5

[The Red Jaguars]

I am going to give the very first season a 5.

I don't know, there were more bad things than redeeming qualities for the first season. I know it was the first season of the show and everything, but the episode quality was pretty poor. The whole season just felt awkward compared to the later seasons. Maybe this was because Olmec didn't play a real big part in the first season. I know it was Kirk's first season as a host, but he just felt off and most of the time sounded unenthusiastic. The temple games were poorly officiated at times by the spotters where they either miscounted them or took the "furthest along" rule way too seriously. Also, they really could've used a better variety of temple games. A lot of them were way overused and were inconsistent in rules.

The temple also was changed up way too much. I mean 9 layouts through 40 episodes? Not to mention, they only used a few rooms for 4-5 episodes only. Must've been a pain to switch the temple around. Plus, most of the rooms were carbon copies of each other and way too easy (Heart Room, Treasure Room) or broken (Harmonic Convergence). Plus, a lot of the temple runs were either way too easy or downright brutal. And I think we were all getting tired of seeing the Silver Snakes and Red Jaguars in the temple. 

There were some good things from Season One. The legends were pretty decent and accurate compared to later seasons. And I loved how the producers got more personal with the contestants - interviewing them and asking them for their temple strategy. And not every episode was bad either - Map to the Lost Gold Mine , Galileo's Cannonball, Sultan Saladin, Lawrence of Arabia, Blue Pearl, Kamehameha, and Sir Edmund Hillary were great episodes.

It laid out a good template for later seasons, but overall this is my least favorite season.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, a 5 here as well. It just felt so unprofessional, and way too different from the latter two seasons. I also felt that the season got boring really quickly. What with the overused temple games, (which I'm sure entire production days had literally all the same temple games). And not to mention the obnoxious amount of Red Jaguars and Silver Snakes going to the temple. Seriously, there were at least 6-8 episodes that had the same tired Red-Blue-Green-Silver/Red vs. Silver with Silver winning combination. Just way too repetitive for me. Plus, some of the temple runs were absolutely terrible, (Cricket Cage, Lost Hammer, Alhambra, Blackbeard, etc.) While it did have some highlights, (John Sutter and Lawrence of Arabia), this season just felt rather subpar. On the other hand, production of this show was basically thrown together. So we can't entirely blame Season 1 for how it turned out.

[GreenMonkeys#1]

5. It may have my favorite episode but it was the worst season.

[The Red Jaguars]

I think this is a good time to end Season One's poll.

Next up is Season Two.

[The Red Jaguars]

I gave Season Two a 9. This is easily the best season of Legends. The producers pretty much took all the flaws of Season One and made them into strengths for Season Two. I liked how Olmec had a bigger part in the show and it gave Kirk a little break. Also, the entire set look so much better and actually looked like an ancient temple. The temple featured in this season was also my favorite on the whole show and introduced some of my all time favorite rooms - Laser Light Room, King's Storeroom, Dark Forest, and Room of the Mandarin Hand. Also, there wasn't really any team that dominated the temple either. Maybe the Orange Iguanas had a little more than they should, but that made up for last season when they barely had any temple appearance. Also, some of the best wins were from S2 - Annie Taylor, Freydis, Atocha, and Nostradamus. Some other great episodes include Napoleon, Polynesian Girl, and Henry Morgan.

If there was one thing I didn't like about S2 it was the heavy editing. I mean most of the temple game introductions were cut off and we don't get to know the player. Not to mention, some of the temple runs had that awful Kirk Fogg dubbed over voice.

Overall, it was my favorite season of the show and gave us some of the stuff we love today.                 

[SGLegendsfan]

Season 2 gets a 9 from me. A good season and each team gets a fair sHARE!

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Also a 9 from me too. From amazing temple runs (Annie Taylor, Freydis, Atocha), to more variety of rooms AND teams going to the temple. Plus, it was much more professional than it was in Season 1.

[GreenMonkeys#1]

9! Season 2 is my favorite season due to it's variety of teams going to the Temple.  And some great episodes too! (Annie Taylor, Freydis, Atocha, Billy the Kid, Nostradamus, Emiliano Zapata, Henry Morgan, Polynesian Girl)

[The Red Jaguars]

And Season Two ends with a score of 8.80.

Next up is Season 3. 

[The Red Jaguars]

I gave Season 3 a 7. It was my second favorite season of the show, but it is kind of overrated IMO. The best talent on the show easily came from Season 3. The contestants were more enthusiastic this season also. The production quality was at it's best during this season - I love the shots where there is a close-up on a random prop of the temple going into a commercial break. That was very creative. Also, this season definitely had the most interesting legends and artifacts. The temple was also very unique during S3 and offered some of the toughest rooms. Some of my favorite S3 wins include Pirate Captain, Apanuugpak, Chandragupta, Catherine the Great, and Egyptian Queen.

On the downside though, S3 kind of gets repetitive fast. I mean they used the same temple format throughout all 40 episodes. Couldn't they have changed it up a few times? I could never marathon S3 temple runs because they would get too boring fast. Also, some of the episodes and legends from this season just flat out sucked - Snow Cone, Bifocal Monocle, Marble Armrest, and William Tell all were unbearable to watch. Also, way too much Green Monkeys in the temple. They almost took up half of the season with Green Monkey temple runs. 

Overall though, this season is memorable for the high production value and vast talent pool of contestants. The only downside is that they could've switched up the seasons a bit.

[GreenMonkeys#1]

7 from here as well. Also my 2nd favorite season, it is known for only one layout. Then you have some of the best wins on the show with some of the worst runs in the show. Pretty much, this season was dominated by the Green Monkeys. 37.5% of the episodes were Green Monkey runs and 40% of the wins went to the Green Monkeys.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Season 3 gets a 7, for same reasons.

[SGLegendsfan]

Season 3 gets an 8 from me. Even though its my most favourite season for having memorable temple runs, just way too many green monkeys!

[The Red Jaguars]

Well, here is our final rankings.


1. Season Two: 8.80
2. Season Three: 7.25
3. Season One: 5.00

My thoughts:
No surprises with the final results at all. I knew S2 would rank the highest and S1 would be the lowest. Season 2 was definitely the best season of the show and you can tell the producers took their time to fix up on the flaws of S1. All of the good stuff came from S2 and it also had the best diversity in temple teams.

Season 3 upgraded S2 even more and offered us a better talent pool of contestants. Unlike S2 though, the temple really could've been switched up a little bit. It was getting overwhelming to see the same layout for 40 episodes straight. Still, this season had some of hte best wins.

Season 1 is obviously the weakest link here. But it's to be expected since it was the very first season of the show. I blame the lack of talent among most of the contestants and Kirk's mediocre commentary. Plus, the temple was filled with too many lame rooms. But there are still some gems from S1 and it did set the format for later seasons to build up on.