Quote:
Originally Posted by the sun fan
Something that makes me sad that Sonja was voted out so early, and this is never mentioned, or hinted at beyond anything you couldn't possibly see unless you already knew why, but Sonja was on the same tribe as Richard almost certainly because she is a lesbian, and that was meant to push Rudy's buttons. Unfortunately, it just never came up. The whole deal with Richard coming out to the tribe (mainly Rudy and Dirk being the only ones that he's actually coming out to) would've been a lot different with Sonja there as well.
|
I think it's good that it didn't aggravate him further, at least given the significance of the first season. If it was that drama heavy and such, it may have ended poorly and garnered negative publicity (see: Will in WA), and given how important S1 typically is for a show, it's probably a good thing it didn't work out that way. I think it's also just as lucky that Rudy is... well, not entirely what they expected. There were still some hilarious moments due to the whole homosexual/military situation, but they weren't such in an antagonistic way, which is great I'd say.
Just imagine if someone like Colton (who I hear is actually really cool and such out of the game) was in S1 on Rudy's tribe... then it might have been really bad.
Quote:
Originally Posted by the sun fan
I don't really know much about this, but there were also reward challenges during the time in this episode, as well as the next one, but they didn't make the final cut, and from what I understand the rewards were fairly trivial, as the show hadn't really figured out how to give good rewards. (Compare a reward in season 34, which was literally 10 extra-large pizzas and the end of the pre-merge phase, to a reward later this season, which was literally a single slice of cheese pizza).
|
I think that's a testament to the shift the game has undertaken; rewards used to be focused heavily on helping your survival, be it mentally or physically. Even the one slice of pizza has that; it gives that connection to home, so to speak. Now with rewards like yacht trips and such being fairly common, it's less about helping survival and more about an actual out-of-game boon. I don't think it's better or worse either way, it's more just another sign of a shift in Survivor.
Quote:
Originally Posted by the sun fan
Focusing on stuff Richard says is one of the best parts about watching the first season, because it really, really shows the extra level that he was thinking on compared to almost everyone else. While I don't agree with this claim, some people say that no one has ever played a better game than he did this first season, and while I think its preposterous, you can see why people say it. There was no blueprint. Pagong had no fucking idea what they were doing, aside from arguably Jenna, depending on your sources. Tagi, for the most part, its clear who was playing the game and who was building a bowling alley in the sand, and even beyond that, you see the mental divide between Richard and the rest of his future alliance. Wiglesworth didn't know how to win, only how to go further. Sue knew how to win, she just didn't have the appeal. Rudy didn't know how to win, just that he had no choice but to stick with an alliance or he'd be a goner. Richard knew how to win, and the remaining episodes really are a Richard en-route to victory highlight reel.
|
I'll discuss the whole Hatch = best player ever ordeal once I'm done my S1 rewatch, but I'd say that I disagree, though not too heavily. I think it's something that's impossible to really prove the merit of, because no season will be quite like S1 again, as there will always be the so-called blueprint to follow.
If going from a "Richard controlled the masses better than anyone!!", you could easily argue that Boston Rob did the same in RI, maybe even better; I know RI was a shitshow and some say the season was literally designed to give BRob the win, but I don't consider that diminishing of BRob's strengths.
If going from a "He innovated ____ so he's the best!" perspective, then many people did that. Cirie (I think it was her anyways) came up with the splitting votes strategy to avoid getting idol'd; Russell Hantz, love him or hate him, brought a whole new strategy to the game that's been seen often since; Sandra brought and perfected the UTR strategy (mostly UTR anyways), etc etc.
I think it's really impossible to tell if Hatch in S1 was the best player ever, because there will never be another chance to ever compare it fairly, and it's so different from everyone else that it can't even be put on the same level. Just like anyone who invented anything really; it's hard to call them the best at ___ because there's so many factors in place. Is Bill Gates the best OS developer? Did the first brewery make the best beer ever? Sure, neither of these are exactly to the point, but the gist of it is that I don't think it's all that possible to argue whether or not he was the best player ever.
Also you just reminded me that I need to go back to sucks sometime, I really should brush up on my strategy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by the sun fan
Man, this turned out to be longer than I thought it would be.
|
I love it when things turn out to be longer than I thought.