Page: 1 2 3 4 5
Takeshi1
*Choose a Title*
Joined: 04-2018
Post Count: 691
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: ANW 13
So episode 5: a pretty stacked field like last week and the results made that clear. I think that if they continue to use one venue for all regionals in the future that they need to not focus at all on allocating people to heats roughly corresponding to their regions to balance out the field more. Not much to talk about with the course as we've seen almost all of it before. Sideways is a pretty bland obstacle, it's not bad but not good either. Tilt A Whirl worked fine too but I feel like having two bar obstacles on a course, even though they're different in function, makes the course feel a bit repetitive but I'm being picky here this was probably my favourite course so far of the season (not saying much) because there were no stinkers.
With regards to the editing, I thought the episode itself was one of the best edited this season (again not saying much because editing had been awful). I really liked how they ended the show in a fail - I thought Torres being main-evented meant either Mega Wall clears, fastest time or he had a very good Vegas season but no a shock obstacle 2 fail, I can't remember the last time we didn't end on a clear so good to be surprised although of course not good to see a strong competitor fail so early but we don't really get that much now with how hard people train. Also there were no profile pieces that felt horrifically out of place.
However, I do have a problem with the "COMING UP..." segments. They try to make them funny like some kind of viral internet video or something but it really doesn't work. They also hype up some kind of sportsperson as if they're running when they're clearly only in the video call watching someone run! Then to top it all off, pretty much everything in the segment is then in the fast-forward montage at the start of the next part (sigh). It's just awful, the producers need to understand what their show is and what it's not. People don't watch ANW for comedy, they watch to see people run a ninja course. Sad stories aren't inspiring, the only possibly inspiring moments are when you see people do something spectacular on the course - I'm sure Kacy's WW clear, Jessie's Stage 1 clear and the total victories did much more to inspire people than the fluff pieces about unrelated stories which everyone forgot very quickly. Admittedly there's a couple that stick in your mind, I think everyone who saw Flip's remembers that, and if only impactful ones like that are included rather than for every run everyone would appreciate them much more. The majority just put sad stories in a ninja show - we're here to be entertained not made sad (as unemotional as it sounds it's true).
Anyway, moving on to LA and the semi-finals. They aired a trailer after the episode showing *Corkscrew, the Tuning Forks / Inverter split decision and the new Power Tower* and I'm liking what I see so far, I've also seen the obstacle list for one of the semis and that looked fine as well as a couple of social media pics which had obstacles you'd expect. Usually the season gets better from here on out - and it better do because so far this season has fallen flat.
|
|
15/Jul/21, 11:28 am
|
Link to this post
PM Takeshi1
|
Messup434
Administrator
Joined: 12-2014
Post Count: 12897
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: ANW 13
Agreed, this was my favorite episode so far. New obstacle didn't do very much (it looked harder than it appeared to be, although maybe they cut a lot of fails), but the episode felt a lot more cohesive. .Honestly not to sound cold, but it helped focusing a bit less on the teens.
I find the themes they've been forcing in recent weeks to be interesting. First friendship and now mentor/student? It strikes me as being a bit desperate for ratings and giving the show a certain topics even though both so far have been very vague. Agreed also about the weird "comedic" moments. The "coming up" segments look like they're for a different show because they're so "fun", but then we just see it fast-forwarded or in the Akbar Moments at the end.
It's a bit disappointing we had no real star upper-body obstacles this season, hope Finals are better in that respect. Bringing back the Tuning Forks is a shock and really good sign, but what is the Inverter? 
|
|
15/Jul/21, 7:47 pm
|
Link to this post
PM Messup434
|
Takeshi1
*Choose a Title*
Joined: 04-2018
Post Count: 691
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: ANW 13
Thanks to the preview run they've posted to socials, I've got enough info to say this is the full semi-final 1 course:
*****
Shrinking Steps
Lunatic Ledges
Tilt A Whirl
Spinning Bridge
Wall to Wall
Warped Wall
Salmon Ladder
Corkscrew
The Inverter / Tuning Forks
Spider Trap
*****
|
|
16/Jul/21, 2:34 pm
|
Link to this post
PM Takeshi1
|
Messup434
Administrator
Joined: 12-2014
Post Count: 12897
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: ANW 13
[WARNING; Obstacle discussion below]
The fact that Tilt A Whirl is getting a second appearance in the new location isn't a real issue in itself, but it's slightly worrying in that it makes me think they plan on. continuing this format, rather than traditional regions next year. I expected they'd construct a course of completely different obstacles, rather than going out of the name to reuse an obstacle from the week before, similar to what they did between Qualifiers and Semi-Finals in season 12. Just makes me think we're not getting our good ol' format back. Does my rationale make sense?
Also seems they're changing it up with a less grip-intensive fifth obstacle. All of these factors we're seeing with the different course design really lead me to believe that they're going to continue experimenting with it in the future, likely with this format of all regions in one place. It's hard to verbalize why I feel that way lol, but I have a hunch.
Also, not at all surprised we have Corkscrew back (it just seemed like the one they'd start with), just hope they're more choices. I'd forgotten about the balance Split Decision at obstacle 9, I figured Tuning Forks would be obstacle 3/4. They're definitely finicky, but I kind of thought from how they advertised it that this ninth balance obstacle would be something all-new and extremely difficult. Still been begging them to bring them back for years now, so no complaining!
|
|
17/Jul/21, 3:50 am
|
Link to this post
PM Messup434
|
Takeshi1
*Choose a Title*
Joined: 04-2018
Post Count: 691
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: ANW 13
Yeah I really like Tuning Forks as an obstacle concept - I just hope that the tops aren't capable of breaking ankles this time! Not that I think we'll see it much - I'd imagine if they're putting it next to a position 9 upper body obstacle that it must be in a really difficult orientation to make people consider the upper body killer next to it. I'd imagine it'll be more of a last chance gamble if your upper body is already spent and so you know you can't make it through The Inverter. Also I hope they do start playing around more with the kind of obstacles they put in each pool because we need something to keep the show fresh.
With regards to format, I think this format may well continue but not because they've brought a qualifying obstacle over to the semis. I think this format is so much more practical - only having to build 3 courses rather than 7, not having a mega wall awkwardly standing there in semis/city finals to not get used, being able to film qualifiers in one indoor location during the day without weather threats - something liked as much by the competitors as production. As much as I like the idea of touring the country and seeing different backdrops week on week, I always thought it was really impractical and a waste of money - something which, with declining ratings, they'll really have to keep an eye on. I think the fact that even before covid, ANW12 was going to just do three regional filming locations, 2 of them indoors, and doubling up qualifiers in the indoor locations - suggests they were heading towards the new way of doing things anyway and the situation we've found ourselves in over the last year and a half just accelerated that shift.
|
|
17/Jul/21, 11:02 am
|
Link to this post
PM Takeshi1
|
Messup434
Administrator
Joined: 12-2014
Post Count: 12897
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: ANW 13
Yeah, you're probably right that they're sticking with this. It does suck a bit though - it always seemed a bit infeasible but I never considered that they might actually do it.
And sorry, but what is The Inverter? It's bugging me and the name sounds familiar, but I'm sure it hasn't been on before!
|
|
17/Jul/21, 5:29 pm
|
Link to this post
PM Messup434
|
Takeshi1
*Choose a Title*
Joined: 04-2018
Post Count: 691
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: ANW 13
Quote:
Messup434 wrote:
Yeah, you're probably right that they're sticking with this. It does suck a bit though - it always seemed a bit infeasible but I never considered that they might actually do it.
And sorry, but what is The Inverter? It's bugging me and the name sounds familiar, but I'm sure it hasn't been on before!
Yeah it's a new obstacle - we've seen a trailer with a clip of it in, it gives me Unstable Bridge / Wave Runner obstacle vibes but clearly different so really not like what I've described 
Edited by Takeshi1, 17/Jul/21, 8:16 pm
|
|
17/Jul/21, 8:15 pm
|
Link to this post
PM Takeshi1
|
Messup434
Administrator
Joined: 12-2014
Post Count: 12897
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: ANW 13
Thank you for your description (and nothing else that you may or may not have shared, just the description )! In all seriousness, that does look like an interesting obstacle. Pretty tough too!
|
|
18/Jul/21, 4:18 am
|
Link to this post
PM Messup434
|
Takeshi1
*Choose a Title*
Joined: 04-2018
Post Count: 691
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: ANW 13
Quote:
Messup434 wrote:
Thank you for your description (and nothing else that you may or may not have shared, just the description )! In all seriousness, that does look like an interesting obstacle. Pretty tough too!
Glad to hear that worked! (My fantastic description of course...)
|
|
18/Jul/21, 12:20 pm
|
Link to this post
PM Takeshi1
|
Takeshi1
*Choose a Title*
Joined: 04-2018
Post Count: 691
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: ANW 13
Semi-Final 1 (Clearly some spoilers below)
Now that's more like it! A good course made such a difference, better editing helped too.
I'll start with the course. This is the first course this season that I've truly liked - and I think this split decision works so much better than the heats one. I liked both Tuning Forks and The Inverter and the difficulty of both seemed good. I really like the idea of having a last chance balance obstacle to take a gamble on if you're too tired to do the upper body one - or if your name is Daniel Gil, a little challenge to have fun on! The only flaw with this was as it was so late in the course, the edit focused almost entirely on people who got to obstacle 9 (I'll mention this more later). And then there was the new Power Tower - definitely the most substantial of any we've seen by some distance, this one didn't have the simplicity and therefore somewhat barren appearance of its predecessors. Shame that Daniel slipped up because you always want a tight race on these things but I feel like this PT has the potential for close finishes. A well deserved win nonetheless for Brian Burkhardt.
With regards to editing, this long course combined with the long fluff pieces of modern ANW reduced most segments to one full run with fast forwards and I wonder if that would be annoying for those watching with adverts? As I don't watch with adverts I don't get that perspective. Other than that, for ANW standards and especially after the mess we saw in the heats, the editing for this episode seemed so much better! No fluff pieces felt entirely out of place, although a few were a bit long, and all the runs shown seemed like good choices. I'd have liked to have seen another full run end early in the course, my bias would make me think Sam Sann would have been a good full run to see, the majority of runs shown were people making it to obstacle 9 and failing. Perhaps having the split decision so late in the course caused a lot of that problem as they wanted it to get air time (not complaining too much though because the two obstacles on it were in my opinion the best two on the course). The only truly bizarre editing decision was to not give Abel Gonzalez - one of the clears on a course which only had 4 - a full run, or at least a mid-cut run. One thing that was nice to see though was Deren Perez getting some air time - the episode didn't go into depth about his success on NWUK (I assume for legal reasons) but he came 2nd in series 4, reaching the Flying Bar at the end of Stage 3 and then reached Stage 3 again in series 5. His two ANW 9 runs and his qualifying run this year were all cut, tonight he made it to the Tuning Forks.
The final thing I want to mention is actually the aesthetics. I've always loved the Universal Studios backlot location they use for LA - it looks SO good. I think that's especially noticable after the indoor location of the heats. An indoor location doesn't inherently mean bad aesthetics as long as the lighting is good, and in most cases being indoors would usually improve lighting, but in the case of ANW their indoor lighting always looks off - especially so this year and in ANW 12, I can't quite put my finger on why but ANW 11's indoor lighting I preferred a bit and I'm wondering if it's the lack of blues in the lighting these last two years that made it feel not quite right. Anyway, looks so much better visually in terms of both lighting and backdrop in LA so great to be back (even if it may be an inconvenience to competitors and crew who like their sleep). Also I like how, with using a different location for the semis, there isn't the Mega Wall awkwardly sitting around looking like it should be used!
A much better episode tonight in almost every department, shame that because of the Olympics there's going to be a bit of a break now - just as the season was really starting to get somewhere!
Edited by Takeshi1, 20/Jul/21, 9:11 pm
|
|
20/Jul/21, 9:10 pm
|
Link to this post
PM Takeshi1
|
Page: 1 2 3 4 5
You are not logged in ( Login)
|
