A crazy thought concerning the Robin Hood and Marian's Ladder temple run

[PurpleParrot319]

I was thinking about our favorite train and something occurred to me. Here's what I'm thinking:

We all know this run was way too easy because all the team had to do was complete very simple objectives like hit a few actuators and sit on a throne, but I'm thinking that the production crew may have had more completed rooms in mind. They were probably thinking that the team would have had to go down from the Treasure Room, crawl through the Holes of Python, and find the key in the Tomb of the Ancient Kings and use it to go up (and who knows, maybe the team would've been forced to enter the Well and maybe even the Torch Room too).

Here's what I think truly happened: the Treasure Room/Shrine door was never meant to open, but like in The Mask of Shaka Zulu, it did open by mistake. I mean, the production crew was pretty harsh when it came to making temple layouts in season 1 (Ponce De Leon, Lucky Pig, and Dead Man's Hand to name a few). I don't think they would make this layout that easy. I'm really starting to think the opened Shrine door was a mistake. Also, to help back this theory up, I came up with this:

The Silk Ladder was hanging on the shelf closest to the Torch Room. Whenever an artifact was on that shelf, the teams that ended up grabbing the artifact always entered the Shrine from the Dark Forest room space, the Mine Shaft room space, or the Secret Password room space. And to back this theory up even more, only once was an item never on that shelf, and that was The Collar of Davy Crockett. The collar was on the Silver Monkey's pedestal at the front of the room. After completing the Treasury of the Golden Orbs (room to the right of the Shrine in this layout), Adam went directly to the Shrine and got the Collar. Now, unlike the Silk Ladder run, the Collar run was harder because this team didn't have as many simple objectives to complete, plus both players went up the entire central shaft. Once these objectives were completed, it was up to Adam to escape the correct way, which he did. To add onto this, the team only won one pendant, so I'm thinking the crew didn't want to make the run too hard because of this, but not necessarily too easy either. So all of this (especially where the Collar was placed in the room) leads me to think that the only door to open from the Treasury was the door to the Shrine.

With that being said, I'm truly starting to believe the Shrine-Treasure Room door in the Silk Ladder run was a production error that helped the team. Had this not happened, Jeremy would've had to complete a few more objectives. If this were to happen, we might not be making fun of this run. In fact, we might be considering it top 20 win material. Anyone object to this?

[Purple Parrots Fan]

I can kind of see where you're coming from. I mean, the victory for Silk Ladder was practically handed to them. But I don't agree on where the artifact was placed. I mean, we had several artifacts where the artifact was placed on the shelf closest to the Torch Room. And the results were usually mixed, so where it was placed really doesn't mean anything. The only reason The Collar of Davy Crockett was placed where the monkey is put together is because it was a mere pendant of life. Pretty fitting since the team only had 1 pendant. That was a smaller artifact, it would obviously be hard to find had it been placed on a shelf.

As far as the door not supposed to be open, that could be possible. Either that or the production crew felt charitable that day considering most of the runs before them were losses.

[The Red Jaguars]

I agree with PPF, I think the producers were just charitable towards the Silver Snakes in this run and gave them a cupcake layout due to the other production days in S1L8 being flops. That's the one thing about season one that bothers me is the inconsistent layouts. I mean some teams like the Lost Fountain of Youth and Golden Chains of Zenobia teams get stuck with brutal layouts, while  gets this easy layout.

It would probably be better to compare this run to the Golden Chains of Zenobia and Silver Saddle Horn of Hannibal. Both of those runs had artifacts in the Shrine and the Treasure Room was a deadend room in both of those runs. Another thing both of those runs had in common were that the Holes of Python did open from the Throne Room while it never did in  . If the Shrine was truly meant to be locked in  , then I would imagine at least the Holes of Python would've opened when Erika completed the Throne Room.

The only reason people think the Mask of Shaka Zulu is a production error is due to the number of rooms the teams had to complete and the sketchy temple guard layout.

[The Ancient Warrior]

Admittedly, I'd never thought of the production defect possibility with this one before.  It's possible that they would've had to go down from the Treasure Room, and it would be interesting to know where the third Temple Guard was.  The only possible place on the path that actually happened was the Observatory, but it feels kind of odd to have all three guards in the central pillar.  I'm not saying that's impossible, but to me it seems kind of unlikely.

I'm actually wondering if the third guard might have been in the Tomb and the team should've been forced to take a path similar to that of "The Broken Wing of Icarus," only with a little more floor switching involved before getting to the Heart Room.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, if the production crew was NOT being charitable to Jeremy and Erika, they could have been forced into a path like we saw in Icarus. It would be interesting to see the temple guard placement then. If this run was a charity case, the third temple guard really could have been in the Observatory. We've seen players run into all three temple guard in consecutive rooms, so it could have happened.

[The Red Jaguars]

Admittedly, I'd never thought of the production defect possibility with this one before.  It's possible that they would've had to go down from the Treasure Room, and it would be interesting to know where the third Temple Guard was.  The only possible place on the path that actually happened was the Observatory, but it feels kind of odd to have all three guards in the central pillar.  I'm not saying that's impossible, but to me it seems kind of unlikely.

I'm actually wondering if the third guard might have been in the Tomb and the team should've been forced to take a path similar to that of "The Broken Wing of Icarus," only with a little more floor switching involved before getting to the Heart Room.

You know, that's true about the third guard placement in this run. If we are assuming that this run is not a production error, than the last temple guard would've had to be in the Observatory. That would only mean that the last temple guard was completely pointless and it would've been a useless detour if that was the case.

Its very possible that this run could've been a production error. Didn't Kirk sound surprised when Jeremy entered the Shrine?

[The Ancient Warrior]

Admittedly, I'd never thought of the production defect possibility with this one before.  It's possible that they would've had to go down from the Treasure Room, and it would be interesting to know where the third Temple Guard was.  The only possible place on the path that actually happened was the Observatory, but it feels kind of odd to have all three guards in the central pillar.  I'm not saying that's impossible, but to me it seems kind of unlikely.

I'm actually wondering if the third guard might have been in the Tomb and the team should've been forced to take a path similar to that of "The Broken Wing of Icarus," only with a little more floor switching involved before getting to the Heart Room.

You know, that's true about the third guard placement in this run. If we are assuming that this run is not a production error, than the last temple guard would've had to be in the Observatory. That would only mean that the last temple guard was completely pointless and it would've been a useless detour if that was the case.

Its very possible that this run could've been a production error. Didn't Kirk sound surprised when Jeremy entered the Shrine?

Watching it right now, I didn't notice too much of a change in tone.  Certainly not like "The Mask of Shaka Zulu."

But, I stand by the theory that like most game show hosts, Kirk really didn't have any info on the correct "answers," that being the path to the artifact in this case.  He did his part to try and help confused contestants figure out the objectives and find their bearings, but I don't think he knew which way they had to go.  Considering how late in the season "The Mask of Shaka Zulu" was, he might have simply gotten used to Temple Runs where players had to loop around to the artifact and might have just been genuinely surprised that it wasn't the case there, production defect or not.  Seeing as "Robin Hood and Marian's Silk Ladder" was only a few episodes later, he might have forgotten how rare it was to get the artifact that way or something.

[The Viper]

But in an interview, he said that he knew the paths they were supposed to take.

[The Ancient Warrior]

...Well, if that's the case, then my memory's definitely a little fuzzy.

[The Red Jaguars]

But ilin an interview, he said that he knew the paths they were supposed to take.

Did he really say that? I don't remember reading that anywhere. 

If that was the case, what would happen if the team could take multiple paths in a run? I mean just look at the Lost Logbooks of Magellan. Kirk seemed to be convinced that the Room of Harmonic Convergence was not a deadend at all when the team was forced to backtrack in that run.

[The Viper]

But ilin an interview, he said that he knew the paths they were supposed to take.

Did he really say that? I don't remember reading that anywhere. 

If that was the case, what would happen if the team could take multiple paths in a run? I mean just look at the Lost Logbooks of Magellan. Kirk seemed to be convinced that the Room of Harmonic Convergence was not a deadend at all when the team was forced to backtrack in that run.

He said it in a radio interview. I think they only told him the easiest path.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

But ilin an interview, he said that he knew the paths they were supposed to take.

Did he really say that? I don't remember reading that anywhere. 

If that was the case, what would happen if the team could take multiple paths in a run? I mean just look at the Lost Logbooks of Magellan. Kirk seemed to be convinced that the Room of Harmonic Convergence was not a deadend at all when the team was forced to backtrack in that run.

He said it in a radio interview. I think they only told him the easiest path.

I really don't remember him saying that at all. I always thought Kirk said he was kept in the dark about everything.

[The Viper]

At around the three minute mark.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

*Bump* This topic hasn't been brought up in over a year, and I hope that we can engage in some discussion about it. Perhaps some people's past opinions have changed, or maybe not.

We all know this run was way too easy because all the team had to do was complete very simple objectives like hit a few actuators and sit on a throne, but I'm thinking that the production crew may have had more completed rooms in mind. They were probably thinking that the team would have had to go down from the Treasure Room, crawl through the Holes of Python, and find the key in the Tomb of the Ancient Kings and use it to go up (and who knows, maybe the team would've been forced to enter the Well and maybe even the Torch Room too).

Here's what I think truly happened: the Treasure Room/Shrine door was never meant to open, but like in The Mask of Shaka Zulu, it did open by mistake. I mean, the production crew was pretty harsh when it came to making temple layouts in season 1 (Ponce De Leon, Lucky Pig, and Dead Man's Hand to name a few). I don't think they would make this layout that easy.

This is a very interesting proposal, and the theory is very well thought-out. However, I have a few questions about it.

First, I would like to point out that episodes where the artifact was housed in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey tended to have some of the simplest and shortest paths, notably the Collar of Davy Crockett (4 inner temple rooms), Broken Wing of Icarus (4 inner temple rooms), and Ivory Hunting Horn of Roland (3 inner temple rooms). The Secret Battle Plan of Nathan Hale could have been another short and simple run, depending on which doors opened from the King's Storeroom. The other Shrine runs that would have ended up entering the most rooms (Golden Cup of Belshazzar, Golden Chains of Zenobia, Silver Saddle Horn of Hannibal, Golden Stallion of Ali Baba, and Bifocal Monocle of One-Eyed Jack) all featured teams running into dead-end rooms. Had these teams not gotten caught in these dead-ends, their paths would have been just as short and simple as the other runs. So to say that this run was suspiciously short would not exactly make sense, since most Shrine runs were pretty simple in their paths. There were also other runs, such as Jeweled Scabbard of Sforza, that had paths just as short as Robin Hood and Marian's Silk Ladder.

Next, I would like to propose that the third temple guard in the Silk Ladder run could have been in the bottom of the Cave of Sighs. It is common thought that the final guard was in the Observatory, but unlike most Season 1 runs that featured a guard there, there is no sign of a headdress peaking out from behind the room. Instead, I think that the final guard was in the Cave of Sighs. Both players entered the Cave of Sighs from the Room of the Royal Gongs, and then Jeremy exited the temple through the Royal Gongs. The bottom corner of the Cave of Sighs, where the temple guard was always housed, was never seen, even during the credits. Perhaps the temple guard only made a capture if the contestants tried running through the bottom, gate-side entrance of the room. It would be impossible for the guard to grab the contestant if he was stationed at the very bottom of the Cave, but the contestants only stayed at the very top of the room.

Overall, I'm not sure that the Silk Ladder run was a fluke. There were many episodes with rather short paths, and the Shrine runs tended to have some of the simplest paths of the whole show. Kirk didn't seem surprised that the door from the Treasure Room to the Shrine opened, nor was his commentary at that part of the run voiced over, so that leads me to believe that this run was not a production error.

[The Red Jaguars]

My problem with the " " win was that the layout was so simple that even Kristen from "Amelia Earhart" could've won. I am not going to say that Erika and Jeremy were undeserving because they did enter the temple fairly and dominated every pre-temple round.  There is no reason why it should take 2:30 to sit on a giant chair and hit two actuators though. They were both slowpokes and looked around the temple rooms like they were lost. If they were forced to actually take a longer way, then I don't think these two would've won.

As for the temple guard, I do remember thinking a long time ago that the last guard was indeed in the Cave of Sighs. It is hard to tell though, but you would think that it would attempt to capture one of them. But then again, Erika entered the top door of the Cave of Sighs. It kind of seems weird though that they would force them to encounter all three guards. But it didn't matter because they had two pendants.