15-01-2024, 01:19 PM
I was a BIG fan of the show in the '90s, then loved watching the repeats on Challenge several years ago, and for the last couple of years I've enjoyed an American reactor watching them, so I think it's safe to say that I was really looking forward to this. I thought the first episode was great.
Very glad to see the original opening theme, although it is a bit long, as others have said. Kudos to eladkse for the edit they posted. It works well. The opening sequence is... Fine? A little boring, but it does give you a good look at all of the new cast at least.
I appreciate that they didn't stray too far from the graphics used in the original show, just made them look a bit more modern. A particular shout-out to the "REPLAY" transition which is a pretty close recreation of one of the originals.
I thought the editing was ok. A few moments that felt "off" but nothing major.
However, it felt strange going:
Male contenders intro > Event 1 for males > Female contenders intro > Event 1 for females
I'm so used to it going:
Male contenders intro > female contenders intro > Event 1 for males, Event 1 for females.
Especially since showing the male and female tries of events are back to back for the rest of the episode. Why have it different at the beginning?
The games were good. The new ones were decent but could maybe need a little fine-tuning.
It's nice that the Eliminator event is mostly the same, although the Travelator was nerfed quite substantially - shorter and less steep. I couldn't judge if it was slower or not.
Music during the events was disappointing. Very unmemorable and didn't add to the events. Maybe subtracted from it at times. The original show's music was great at it's a shame that it wasn't used or updated. Yeah, I'm aware that nostalgia is a powerful thing. 😆
If they wanted to only use the very bare minimum of music from the original, I'd say that the opening theme and the Eliminator are definitely the most important.
The Gladiators themselves are pretty good. A fair few of them don't stand out much, but there are a small handful that really have some good character to them. Not feeling Viper though. He's certainly no Wolf!
Bradley and Barney were... ok? Not long after I watched it on Saturday, I didn't particularly remember much of what they contributed other than one or two sentences from Bradley and when Barney got pushed over. They were just kinda bland. I'd be fine with keeping one of them if they were alongside someone more energetic and/or charismatic. That may sound harsh, but I felt like it needed some more energy.
On a similar note - the commentator. He did an ok job. Some more fun and cheese would've been welcome, like they're doing with a lot of other parts of the new show. Lean into it!
All-in-all, I thought it was great. A few very minor things, as I mentioned above, but I think that this turned out to be as good as it can get for a reviving an old show like this. Really well done to everyone involved.
Very glad to see the original opening theme, although it is a bit long, as others have said. Kudos to eladkse for the edit they posted. It works well. The opening sequence is... Fine? A little boring, but it does give you a good look at all of the new cast at least.
I appreciate that they didn't stray too far from the graphics used in the original show, just made them look a bit more modern. A particular shout-out to the "REPLAY" transition which is a pretty close recreation of one of the originals.
I thought the editing was ok. A few moments that felt "off" but nothing major.
However, it felt strange going:
Male contenders intro > Event 1 for males > Female contenders intro > Event 1 for females
I'm so used to it going:
Male contenders intro > female contenders intro > Event 1 for males, Event 1 for females.
Especially since showing the male and female tries of events are back to back for the rest of the episode. Why have it different at the beginning?
The games were good. The new ones were decent but could maybe need a little fine-tuning.
It's nice that the Eliminator event is mostly the same, although the Travelator was nerfed quite substantially - shorter and less steep. I couldn't judge if it was slower or not.
Music during the events was disappointing. Very unmemorable and didn't add to the events. Maybe subtracted from it at times. The original show's music was great at it's a shame that it wasn't used or updated. Yeah, I'm aware that nostalgia is a powerful thing. 😆
If they wanted to only use the very bare minimum of music from the original, I'd say that the opening theme and the Eliminator are definitely the most important.
The Gladiators themselves are pretty good. A fair few of them don't stand out much, but there are a small handful that really have some good character to them. Not feeling Viper though. He's certainly no Wolf!
Bradley and Barney were... ok? Not long after I watched it on Saturday, I didn't particularly remember much of what they contributed other than one or two sentences from Bradley and when Barney got pushed over. They were just kinda bland. I'd be fine with keeping one of them if they were alongside someone more energetic and/or charismatic. That may sound harsh, but I felt like it needed some more energy.
On a similar note - the commentator. He did an ok job. Some more fun and cheese would've been welcome, like they're doing with a lot of other parts of the new show. Lean into it!
All-in-all, I thought it was great. A few very minor things, as I mentioned above, but I think that this turned out to be as good as it can get for a reviving an old show like this. Really well done to everyone involved.
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