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Post by takeshi1 on Sept 29, 2018 14:26:08 GMT -5
Stage 1 of next week's final: {Spoiler} Broken bridge Propeller bar Double dipper Wingnuts Warped wall Spider jump Invisible ladder
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Post by Kane-Not-Kosugi on Sept 29, 2018 16:27:54 GMT -5
Why do the spinoffs slap together a city finals course and call it stage 1? Like I get that's the order of the show, but it just doesn't follow the formula of Stage 1. It's a little nitpicky I know, but I'm just not sure if I like it or not.
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Post by sasukestatistician on Oct 6, 2018 1:47:36 GMT -5
The third season finished airing yesterday. Overall I'm fairly disappointed with this season. They stuck with last year's format, but added another qualifier episode. Just like last season, they let the competitors pick one of two obstacles (one a balance obstacle and the other an upper body obstacle) to start with in the qualifier round. In each qualifying heat 12 competitors moved on to that week's semi-final; the top female competitor and the top 11 of the rest of the competitors. This is different from how ANW does it since if a female places in the top 11 then the 12th spot can go to a male competitor, but if no woman places in the top 11, the 12th spot goes to the next best woman. On top of this, there were obstacle modifications for women in the qualifiers. For example the Flying Squirrel's handles were connected together with a bar across making it more of a trapeze bar and the steps on Parkour Run were less angled. This is the first time I've seen obstacle modifications for female competitors in any of the spin-offs. In each semi-final the top 5, regardless of gender, moved on to the finals. The top female overall also qualified for the finals. One of my biggest issues with Ninja Warrior France is their lack of obstacle diversity. To achieve the first obstacle option, they didn't add a 7th obstacle to the course. They instead place the two obstacles that would typically be second and third in most other spin-offs next to each other at the start. Over the five qualifiers each obstacle spot only featured three different obstacles. With all of the obstacles out there they should be able to have a completely new course every qualifier. Each semi-final consisted of the same obstacles. In my opinion, if every semi-finalist runs the same course, they should take the top 25 overall instead of the top 5 in each heat. In one heat, someone finished the semi-final course with the 9th best time overall, but didn't move on since 5 others did better than him that episode. 17 people who did worse than him did move on in their heats including someone who failed the Salmon Ladder. Another issue I had was that they consistently completely cut competitors from the broadcast who made it to the semi-finals. In one episode 5 of the 12 semi-finalist were not shown at all so 5 of the 7 featured semi-finalists moved on. This continued in Stage 1 with 10 of the 26 runs not getting any air time. In previous seasons when semi-finalist/finalists were cut from the broadcast, their runs were posted online. This has not happened at all this season so I don't expect the cut Stage 1 runs or results to be posted in the coming days. I was also disappointed that neither of the previous last men standing competed this season. This includes Thomas Ballet who last season came within 2 meters of total victory. Below are results. {Finals Results}4 out of the 26 finalists completed Stage 1 and only 2 reached the second part of Stage 2. The second part of Stage 2 consisted of four obstacles; the European Cliffhanger with one Crazy Cliffhanger jump, Flying Shelf Grab, Hang Climbing, and Flying Bar. This is probably the most difficult second part of Stage 2 aside from Australia's. Thomas Hubener, a 29 year old Cirque du Soleil performer, failed the Cliffhanger. Jean Tezenas du Montcel, a 28 year old design engineer, made it all the way to the Flying Bar before failing the first jump. Jean is consistently in a league of his own. Last season he finished Stage 1 with over 2 minutes left which was almost a minute faster than anyone else. This season, he finished over 45 seconds faster than anyone else in his qualifier heat. He also had both the top semi-final and Stage 1 times. Hopefully he'll be back next year.
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Post by takeshi1 on Oct 6, 2018 6:31:29 GMT -5
I agree that: - I don't like how Ninja Warrior France repeats loads of obstacles throughout the heats
- I don't like their special rules and modifications for women
- and I don't like them having the same stage 2 each week and then not doing an overall leader board from all 5 semis
However, NW France has got some good ideas: - I like the split path for first obstacle - much better than steps and gives the show a bit more variety and much better than the 6 back-to-back obstacles in every other ANW spin-off
- I like having two stages in each heat like Germany
- I like the ambitiousness of some of the obstacles - eg. Swing surfer, Double dipper and that second part of stage 2, and the fact that very few obstacles used had been seen on previous seasons of NW France
So overall, although this series can seem quite stale in the later heats and some aspects of their format and editing are a bit questionable, I do like the show because it tries to be different and not just another copycat European ANW spin-off.
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