Post by Cruise meerkat Youssy on Apr 11, 2017 10:21:41 GMT -5
So, I think the popular consensus is that Fiji is one of the least enjoyed/favorite seasons of Endurance. Now that doesn't mean I don't enjoy watching Fiji - I'm just saying that it would probably be my last choice to rewatch out of all the seasons. I would rate all 5 prior seasons as spectacular, whereas with Fiji I would just say it's really good, but not particularly spectacular. I was wondering what exactly about this season made it... not like the others?
At first glance, it seems that 3 Ball and DK went all out for this season. I mean, Fiji is arguably the best location of any season. The location was beautiful and exotic. The graphics were upped for this season. The kids had a real photo shoot and the website was given an overhaul. It seemed that Fiji was going to be a great season.
But things fell short. Obviously one of the most glaring of them is the number of cast members. It was reduced from 20 to 16 this season. While this was probably done to cut costs on flying people out to Fiji ($$$!), I can also see it working out in that we would get to know the cast members a little better seeing as they have to share screen time with less people. So while it's a change, it didn't necessarily have to be a bad one. The negative turn for the season came when their twist didn't pan out.
For those that don't know, there was a planned twist for Fiji that didn't go through. They were supposed to bring back all the RTS eliminees and have them become 2 returning teams, making 8 teams instead of 6. However, when they got there they realized that filming in Fiji was much more expensive than they thought so they had to cut costs and shorten the season... getting rid of the twist. I honestly think this twist could have been great because I thought the RTS eliminees this season were actually all charismatic and had a good shot of doing well in the game. But the bigger consequence is that we were left with only 6 official teams of Endurance Fiji. And that was just way too small of a number. Lower number of teams = lower number of episodes = we get to know the people less and aren't as attached to them.
And that's another place I think Fiji went wrong. Maybe they had different editors this season, but we didn't really get to know the cast that well. In previous seasons, you got a pretty good sense of who each person was after 3 episodes even. Heck, Green team in E3 was my absolute favorite for years and they were in, like, 5 episodes? But in E6, I don't really KNOW much about the players. I feel like the phrase "Nice, but inconsequential" describes a lot of them... even the winners.
Don't get me wrong, there was some drama but it wasn't very memorable due to the lack of connection with the contestants. I didn't really feel like I had one team that I was specifically rooting for, which is part of the fun of Endurance. And there weren't really any underdog teams. Arguably Blue was an underdog team, but Blue team wasn't a particularly good underdog team. Like I said, they were nice, but inconsequential, and at the end of the day even though they were an underdog team they didn't actually do very much to make me think their win was warranted. So another strike against E6 - a very weak champion team.
And one more thing I thought contributed to the decline of E6 was what made it so beautiful - the location. I was sooooo jealous of those kids that they got to live on that beautiful beach. But it really wasn't about endurance at that point. It was like a vacation. With all the other seasons you got the impression that just living in those rough conditions was hard enough and that it really brought the kids together. But in E6, since everything was so nice, you didn't get that impression. It made the show a little less about endurance and perseverance and more about strategy and the game itself. Don't get me wrong - I know they had to take cold showers and sleep on hard beds still, but enduring the elements seemed a non-issue in this season.
Lastly, I think the missions were less creative. I did actually like some of them, like the RTS, the partner mission, Box Launch, but some of them just felt... trite. One thing that I loved about Endurance was that most of the missions were super creative. I've never seen something like Timeline from E1 or the RTS from E3 or Spin Fly E4, etc. on any other show. But I feel with E6 I've actually seen a lot of the missions in other shows, some even from Endurance (the one where they had to hang on that circle thing in the water, like the mission Erika won in E4).
Idk, I was just musing. I think Fiji had a ton of potential to be an amazing season, but it just fell short and I was just wondering why.
At first glance, it seems that 3 Ball and DK went all out for this season. I mean, Fiji is arguably the best location of any season. The location was beautiful and exotic. The graphics were upped for this season. The kids had a real photo shoot and the website was given an overhaul. It seemed that Fiji was going to be a great season.
But things fell short. Obviously one of the most glaring of them is the number of cast members. It was reduced from 20 to 16 this season. While this was probably done to cut costs on flying people out to Fiji ($$$!), I can also see it working out in that we would get to know the cast members a little better seeing as they have to share screen time with less people. So while it's a change, it didn't necessarily have to be a bad one. The negative turn for the season came when their twist didn't pan out.
For those that don't know, there was a planned twist for Fiji that didn't go through. They were supposed to bring back all the RTS eliminees and have them become 2 returning teams, making 8 teams instead of 6. However, when they got there they realized that filming in Fiji was much more expensive than they thought so they had to cut costs and shorten the season... getting rid of the twist. I honestly think this twist could have been great because I thought the RTS eliminees this season were actually all charismatic and had a good shot of doing well in the game. But the bigger consequence is that we were left with only 6 official teams of Endurance Fiji. And that was just way too small of a number. Lower number of teams = lower number of episodes = we get to know the people less and aren't as attached to them.
And that's another place I think Fiji went wrong. Maybe they had different editors this season, but we didn't really get to know the cast that well. In previous seasons, you got a pretty good sense of who each person was after 3 episodes even. Heck, Green team in E3 was my absolute favorite for years and they were in, like, 5 episodes? But in E6, I don't really KNOW much about the players. I feel like the phrase "Nice, but inconsequential" describes a lot of them... even the winners.
Don't get me wrong, there was some drama but it wasn't very memorable due to the lack of connection with the contestants. I didn't really feel like I had one team that I was specifically rooting for, which is part of the fun of Endurance. And there weren't really any underdog teams. Arguably Blue was an underdog team, but Blue team wasn't a particularly good underdog team. Like I said, they were nice, but inconsequential, and at the end of the day even though they were an underdog team they didn't actually do very much to make me think their win was warranted. So another strike against E6 - a very weak champion team.
And one more thing I thought contributed to the decline of E6 was what made it so beautiful - the location. I was sooooo jealous of those kids that they got to live on that beautiful beach. But it really wasn't about endurance at that point. It was like a vacation. With all the other seasons you got the impression that just living in those rough conditions was hard enough and that it really brought the kids together. But in E6, since everything was so nice, you didn't get that impression. It made the show a little less about endurance and perseverance and more about strategy and the game itself. Don't get me wrong - I know they had to take cold showers and sleep on hard beds still, but enduring the elements seemed a non-issue in this season.
Lastly, I think the missions were less creative. I did actually like some of them, like the RTS, the partner mission, Box Launch, but some of them just felt... trite. One thing that I loved about Endurance was that most of the missions were super creative. I've never seen something like Timeline from E1 or the RTS from E3 or Spin Fly E4, etc. on any other show. But I feel with E6 I've actually seen a lot of the missions in other shows, some even from Endurance (the one where they had to hang on that circle thing in the water, like the mission Erika won in E4).
Idk, I was just musing. I think Fiji had a ton of potential to be an amazing season, but it just fell short and I was just wondering why.
