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IdratherbeclimbingM9

18-Jul-2017
11:36:44 AM

>Ninja

I don't normally watch this sort of stuff but with the strong climber contingent within it this time around I can see the fun of it.
It'll be interesting to see how climbers fare against the other background pursuits involved with the other competitors...

Go climbers!

Post edit 24/07/17; Commiserations to Andrea who lucked-out on the 2nd but last (last is easy for a climber), obstacle. She actually completed it, though just skimmed the water and got disqualified... She made Ninja-history by beating the yanks with a first season ascent of the warped-wall obstacle which took their women 6 years to do it; with the brits still to achieve it at three years...
All three other climbers (Tom O'Halloran, Ben and Lee Cossey), are still in the race.

(removed)

27-Jul-2017
9:32:59 AM

OK I took the bait and watched the finale because of the climber connection ...

That 2nd stage looked very much like they were set up to fail.
i.e. "Whatever happens, we can't have anyone complete the course in season 1", said the TV producer

Would love to hear the opinions of Lee, Ben, Andrea or Tom to hear if anyone there actually thought it was possible for anyone, ever.


rodw

27-Jul-2017
10:18:00 AM

Its meant to be hard..in the US version it took several season for someone to finish the course and in the end those guys had experienced and trained specifically for the obstacles....and the obstacles are much the same there....ie I reckon if they want to finish the course they might have to do a bit of specific training for it like they have done in the overseas version.


rodw

27-Jul-2017
12:09:46 PM

To back up my claim :

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/reality-tv/americas-first-ninja-warrior-winner-warns-it-will-be-a-while-before-we-have-an-australian-winner/news-story/abf43c0f03ae9418b4f51cf3c2406ccf

One Day Hero

27-Jul-2017
1:18:22 PM

You're missing the point, Rod. People aren't bitching that the course was too hard. The problem is that they put a ludicrously short time limit on it. It smacks of last minute concern that contestants were performing better than expected.


rodw

27-Jul-2017
2:04:01 PM

There have been a few formats on the series elsewhere and the timed run has been a feature before, so nope not missing the point ODH, just disagreeing with it that it was a fix...now put away ya tin foil hat

(removed)

27-Jul-2017
2:33:27 PM

I'm with ODH here.

Even at (say) 90 seconds no-one gets through, and yet even that wasn't to the final stage - only the second half of the last stage. Plus our Ninja Warriors were undoubtedly better prepared than US in season 1 because of the benefit of watching it so many times and gyms that already existed here before the show- so they should have gone at least close rather than getting horribly spanked as they all did.

Maybe not a fix, but definitely an overreaction.

One Day Hero

27-Jul-2017
3:22:13 PM

It isn't crazy conspiracy shit Rod. It clearly wasn't in the interests of the producers to have someone finish.......I'm not going to explain that, cause you aren't a child.

They have the climbing comp situation. If you make it too hard, everyone pitches off halfway through and it's a dud show. On the other hand, if you make it too easy, half the field tops out and you have to go to countback or something stupid to find a winner. Plus the added problem that a topout is worth a million bucks, so you can be sure as shit that the sneaky competitors are sandbagging you with their apparent ability in the heats.

Good route setters would have gradually increasing difficulty to spit people off roughly in order, and hopefully spread out the field over the length of the course. Add enough time pressure to get people pumped, but not so much that they run out of time halfway through. To prevent anyone from finishing, just make the last two obstacles bullshit hard.

I reckon they were making it up as they went along, realised on the night that the problems were too easy, and used the clock a bit too heavy handedly in an attempt to compensate.


rodw

27-Jul-2017
7:44:21 PM

Agree to disagree...maybe that's my inner child speaking..it was good viewing IMHO.

Dave J

28-Jul-2017
9:58:45 AM

Im going to agree to agree with Fatboy and ODH. Almost certainly they panicked when they realised they had a handful of competitors who would likely get all the way through. Having five first australian ninja warriors in the first season was not an option and so they had to impose a ridiculously impossible time constraint. I think it was pretty essential for them that none got through in the first year and I think its safe to say if they keep the time limit at 65 seconds nobody ever will.

It might have taken the americans 8 seasons but I notice in the US version they had 2.5min to complete the same stage with very similar obstacles… (and the chap who won got about as far in 60 seconds as anyone in the australian version). I don't think anyone would have been disappointed to see everyone failing because it was hard, but having time be the only factor just reduces the whole thing to the same level as running or swimming.

Also I think they could have done with losing the 3 idiot commentators and giving their fees to the 3 best performers. With all the hoop la surrounding this show it seems a shame that none of the actual talent is getting paid.

PThomson

28-Jul-2017
10:15:51 AM

I'm with RodW on this one - I don't believe that there was any great conspiracy, merely that they were applying the same standards as has been upheld by the franchise everywhere else.

This isn't about "crowning a ninja warrior" because it was the best competitor from the pool that entered, it's about crowning a ninja warrior who is transcendentally good. If anything, it's this adherence to a higher standard (rather than just awarding the "best performer of the night") that originally set the series apart from others in a similar vein.

In the original Japanese, and subsequent US and UK series, the ludicrously hard "race stages" (with a nutty timer) and incredibly rare success have featured in their respective finals, and I wouldn't be surprised if its a part of the requirements for licensing the franchise for a localised version, that our standards for "transcendentally good" individuals to qualify for "ninja" don't slip.

If you've watched the foreign finals whereby individuals have actually succeeded, you're looking at athletes with Lee, Ben, Andrea and Tom's skillset, but applying a year (or more) specific training for the course, and you can see in their performance the difference between our professional rock climbers (and how they move on the obstacles), versus professional "ninja warrior competitors".

- Paul

Dave J

28-Jul-2017
10:24:40 AM

To back up my claim :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ke-0jXMaaw

(removed)

28-Jul-2017
11:21:29 AM

On 28/07/2017 Dave J wrote:
>To back up my claim :
>
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ke-0jXMaaw

Bingo.

Lee C

28-Jul-2017
11:34:53 AM

I would say most of the comments above rang true on the night...
- maintaining credibility for the franchise
- building suspense for subsequent seasons
- a stronger? first season field... or at least a field who'd been able to view previous seasons from other country's.

oh, and an extremely short weather window between storms that night!

Hope it was fun to watch for everyone! It was certainly fun to be part of!!

One Day Hero

28-Jul-2017
12:59:59 PM

On 28/07/2017 Lee C wrote:
>- building suspense for subsequent seasons

Apparently there are 150 franchised gyms in the U.S. I actually wonder if the majority of their profits even come from the tv show? Can't be having people top out without training at the gyms.

>Hope it was fun to watch for everyone!

Way more fun to watch when there are climbers to cheer for. You guys were rad.

One Day Hero

28-Jul-2017
1:14:01 PM

On 28/07/2017 PThomson wrote:
>This isn't about "crowning a ninja warrior" because it was the best competitor
>from the pool that entered, it's about crowning a ninja warrior who is
>transcendentally good. If anything, it's this adherence to a higher standard

Wow, you're so not jaded by the world. It's quite endearing.

My least cynical view is that they're building suspense and will tune the course to allow someone to complete it in season 3 or 4.
More cynically, they'll adjust difficulty based on ratings. No one tops out till viewers begin to lose hope and tune out...........just like a tv show based on long running sexual tension.

I'd like to hear Monty's 'industry insider' thoughts.

kieranl

28-Jul-2017
4:29:40 PM

I'm sure it was great fun and all that. And that a bunch of climbers got up there, did well, and enjoyed themselves.

But it's a TV program and franchise and it will behave consistent with the beast it is. Enjoy the ride while it lasts.

Dave J

28-Jul-2017
8:46:34 PM

On 28/07/2017 Lee C wrote:

>Hope it was fun to watch for everyone! It was certainly fun to be part of!!

asides from the annoying commentators and the anticlimactic one-minute time limit shutdown at the end, I thought it was great. loads of fun (And way better for having a few climbers in the mix to cheer for). All the kids at nati primary are obsessed with ninja warrior, making up courses and fighting over who gets to be who. Most of them are going for Ben (being the suckers for short shorts that they are), except my daughter who has been batting for Andrea (and kicking the rest of their arses thus far).

You never know, because of this a bunch of nati kids might get inspired about climbing who might have might otherwise have wasted their lives playing football.


phillipivan

31-Jul-2017
8:36:08 AM

ABC article on climbing Federation Ridge in winter .

TimP

31-Jul-2017
8:53:51 AM

I saw fragments of the ninja warrior online: Andrea was ace in nailing the wall thing the next time she did it. That is really taking on a physical problem and deftly solving it.

My other favorite bit was the cricketer who failed on the first move... cant think of anything physically elite about cricket!

Congrats to all the climbers who gave it a shot and gained some general public exposure / understanding for the amazing athletes they are.

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