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Post by Fleck on Jan 7, 2013 2:17:46 GMT -8
Season 15: Survivor - China
Following the epic flop that was Survivor: Fiji, there's really nowhere to go but up. Survivor: China decides to go back to its safe place and hide for awhile, and not take any risks. This is probably the least twist-heavy season since... man, Vanuatu? It's been awhile since I watched a season that was played this straight.
Ultimately what ends up happening is a very safe season that isn't bad, but doesn't really stand out much anyway. Exile Island is removed from this season, replaced by a new twist, in which the losing tribe of reward challenges has one member "kidnapped." This kidnapped survivor is then given a clue to the hidden immunity idol, which they must give to a member of the kidnapping tribe. So really, it's a pretty tame twist in a pretty tame season.
China produces three Survivors who will eventually be retuning cast, the physical powerhouse James (later seen on Fans Versus Favorites and Heroes Versus Villains), the largely forgettable Amanda (FvF and HvV), and the stick-like Courtney (HvV). James is fun, highly relatable, and enjoyable to watch. Courtney is fun, because she's constantly badmouthing everyone with really funny lines. Amanda... well... she's there. Mostly her contribution is her habit of wearing underwear that's so tight and revealing that they have to blur her ass all through the season. Otherwise she's just a nice girl who doesn't suck at challenges. I didn't care for her in FvF or HvV and China doesn't change my mind about her.
The rest of the cast has some strong, relatable people and some decent enough villains to keep things interesting. I think, for me, this season was heavily marred by the fact that in FvF and HvV, China is talked about a lot, so pretty much all the surprises of this season were already spoiled for me. I think if the surprises had been actual surprises, I'd have liked this season more.
China is a safe season played by survivors who mostly play pretty safe, and it's okay to watch if you really like the show, but not really my favorite.
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Post by countlieberkuhn on Jan 7, 2013 2:44:21 GMT -8
I remember all of those 3 from the two seasons I watched. Courtney is kind of a blur, and Amanda I remember would often have a face like a depressed dog. James was cool though, even if he was a bit of a dick in HvV. He was near the top for my FvF guys though in terms of who I liked and wanted to win.
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Post by Fleck on Jan 7, 2013 14:21:13 GMT -8
Courtney never stood out in HvV because placing her in the villains tribe was really lame. She was never really a villain. It's just that her sense of humor was sarcastic and abrasive, which I found hilarious, but some people really hated. And then those people who hated Courtney ganged up on her and she had to defend herself. Really, she's one of the least villainy of all the villains in HvV.
And James becomes a lot less lovable and cute with each season, partly because of China. He gets screwed bad in China, and then Parvati screws him bad in FvF, so by the time his third season rolls around, he's not so friendly and nice anymore. But in China he's a big ol' teddy bear and fun to watch.
And yeah, I don't see what the appeal is in Amanda. Everyone either says that she's the hottest female Survivor, to which, I think your comment about her looking like a depressed dog really hits the mark, or they say she's a great strategic player, which I don't see either. Mostly she just sits around and then at the last minute screws someone over, and then acts really sad about it and cries a lot. Really, she's more of a villain in China than Courtney is, because Amanda comes up with all the back-stabbing ideas and Courtney just says, "Yeah, fine, whatever."
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Post by countlieberkuhn on Jan 8, 2013 2:01:53 GMT -8
People think Amanda is the hottest survivor ever? I'm genuinely surprised. In the 3 seasons or so I've watched, there are several I'd rate higher. Parvati for starters, and Courtney too, she has a nice face. Could stand to gain a few pounds though.
As for strategic players, I think Cirie was pretty good in social terms. She'd generally make the smartest choices on who to have as allies, and drop them at the right time, without ever making herself a primary target. She didn't do so well in HvV if I recall though, since people were aware of how good she was at this and booted her early. She's no Russell though, even if his strategy pretty much guaranteed stumbling at the last hurdle due to leaving a long line of pissed-off council members in his wake.
Hmm... I want to watch another season of survivor now. Might have to flick back through your reviews to see which one looks good!
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Post by Fleck on Jan 8, 2013 2:10:59 GMT -8
I generally avoid "hottest Survivor" lists, but she gets mentioned a lot, from what little I've seen. Maybe she's not as popular among the official Survivor fandom, but she IS lauded as a great strategist, even by Probst himself (at least according to Wikipedia). And yeah, Courtney is way hotter, but I can't fault her weight since... I'm basically the exact body build. I got 20 pounds on her though, so I've got that going for me. Cirie is now probably one of my favorite Survivors of all time. She's awesome in Exile Island. She manages to be strategic without being a horrible person. That's something even Russell couldn't do. And if you want my personal Survivor source, go here: www.tubeplus.me/player/1353190/Survivor/I can't vouch for the safety of that site, so make sure your virus protection is good. But it has every episode of every season, and it SHOULD be region-free, so even you weirdos across the ocean should be able to watch. And the source is pretty stable, unlike my youtube source, which would frequently get pulled down (and is now perma-banned). That website also has almost every movie and TV show ever, so if Hulu or something is giving you sass, then there's your site.
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Post by countlieberkuhn on Jan 8, 2013 19:39:56 GMT -8
That website looks pretty good! Cheers, you skinny fuck!
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Post by Fleck on Jan 8, 2013 22:01:14 GMT -8
Hey no prob!
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Post by Fleck on Jan 12, 2013 2:47:45 GMT -8
Season 17: Survivor: Gabon
We're going right from 15 to 17 because Season 16, as Count well knows, is Micronesia -- Fans Versus Favorites, which has already been covered in this thread.
Survivor returns to the African continent for the first time since Season 3, heading to the nation of Gabon. The producers avoid a lot of the danger from the third season, by placing them in a relatively calm section of the continent and giving the survivors a close source of water and dilapidated, but functional, huts. So unlike the previous African Survivor, no one really has any serious problems with the survival aspect.
Seasons immediately following big returning cast seasons, like Survivor All Stars and Heroes Versus Villains tend to be flops. It's not really anybody's fault. It just seems to turn out that way. It was true for the catty Vanuatu season and for the bland-as-room-temperature-water Nicaragua season.
Gabon bucks this trend by being halfway decent. The producers throw a lot of twists at the survivors, counteracting the straight China season, but instead of trying to do "All New Game Changing Twists That Will Rock the Game Forever TM" they stick with simple, effective twists, like tribe swaps and staggering the dates of expected events. It does a good job of keeping everyone on their toes without being hokey or falling flat, like Fiji's twists.
Gabon was a near-miss for the show, as it is basically Survivor: Thailand in reverse. Just go back a few pages and see how much I disliked that season. But unlike Thailand, where a group of horrible people face off against a group of cool people, and the horrible people win, it goes the other way in Gabon. This season starts off with people who are just so unbearably nasty and personal that I was confident that I would end up hating this season, but a lot of selfless (and, I'll admit, poor strategy) moves by key players keep this season from being dominated by its worst players.
So what starts off as an ugly season with more ugliness on the horizon, becomes steadily more compelling and emotional as the season wears on. For the first five episodes or so, I was already planning on how I was going to trash this season in my review, but looking back at the whole season now, I can't do that. The good outweighs the bad.
Gabon produces three people who would/will later become returning cast. HvV's villain Randy and HvV's Hero Sugar. Both were kinda flops in their season, but are extremely prominent in Gabon, and it's abundantly, ABUNDANTLY clear why Randy was put with the Villains and Sugar with the Heroes. Some casting choices for HvV were questionable, but there was no question here. Randy is probably the epitome of a villain, while Sugar is the epitome of a Hero. Unfortunately, both are kinda terrible at the game and depend on other people to play for them, which resulted in their dismal placements in HvV.
The third person from Gabon who's coming back is Corinne, who's returning for the upcoming Survivor: Caramoan season. I must say, I am not looking forward to her. The only person in Gabon who was more pointlessly vindictive and evil than her was Randy, so I was kinda hoping I'd never have to see her again. Sigh.
Anyway, Gabon rose from being one of the worst seasons to turning into... maybe not one of the best, but definitely worth checking out if you're really into the show. It's got strategy and twists, exotic locations, and deeply personal moments. It's got everything that makes Survivor great.
And now I've only got ONE MORE SEASON LEFT TO WATCH! My review of Survivor: Tocantins is coming in a few days.
Now what am I gonna do with my life? Be a productive member of society? GAH!
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Post by Fleck on Jan 19, 2013 1:22:16 GMT -8
I HAVE WATCHED EVERY SEASON OF SURVIVOR! ALL 25 OF THEM! I HAVE DEVOTED ALMOST 2 YEARS AND NO LESS THAN 400 HOURS OF MY LIFE IN THIS VENTURE! I.... need a life. Season 18: Survivor: TocantinsSurvivor Tocantins is the last season before Russell Hantz made his appearance in the next season, Samoa, and completely changed the game forever. So this is the last pre-Hantz season. Make of that what you will. Tocantins once more brings back Exile Island, but decides to play a twist on it this time, by sending two people at once, which was already done in Fans Versus Favorites. So really, it's not much of a twist at all. Other than that, this season is played pretty straight, depending on the strength of its cast to support it. And does it have a strong cast? Well, this season produces three returning players, J.T. (Heroes Versus Villains), Tyson (HvV), and Coach (HvV and South Pacific). J.T. plays probably one of the more heroic seasons of Survivor ever played, while Tyson plays probably one of the most villainous, in that he openly delights in watching other people suffer. Coach enters the game, making broad, sweeping promises that he's going to change the game forever by playing the first totally honest game in history. J.T. is adorable and lovable from the start, and plays a pretty strong season. Tyson had a chance to be a really ugly character, but like with Courtney, it's not so much that he's a cruel person, so much as he's just got a sarcastic and dark sense of humor, and he understands the game for what it is and doesn't pretend that it's anything more. So both of them are strong, and fun to watch. And then there's Coach. Cementing his place as my least favorite 3-time returning cast member (hell, my least favorite of ANY returning cast member), Coach does his damndest to try to ruin this season for me. Despite his promise to play the game honestly, with integrity, and to follow a moral code to keep the strongest in the game, Coach's BLINDING HYPOCRISY drives him to continually lie to himself and others. He, I kid you not, even lies to his loved one when he comes to the island. Who the hell lies to their loved one on Survivor? Coach Wade does, that's who. Granted, it's a stupid, pointless little lie, but still! He's a ridiculous mockery of a character, so hypocritical that he's actually capable of lying to himself, pretending that's he's some paragon of humanity when really he's just a self-aggrandizing twat. It would be one thing if he would eventually learn from this season, but he goes on to be a giant twat in HvV and especially in South Pacific. But although he ruins South Pacific with his twatery, he does not ruin Tocantins, and I ended up really liking this season. The supporting cast behind the soon-to-be returning cast members is really quite strong, and there are some good personalities who could have become returning casts too, given the chance. This season has a great cast (with one exception), and has one of the most complicated web of alliances, sub-alliances, and counter-alliances in the game. It's fun to watch, and generally unpredictable. All in all, one of the better outputs of the series. Even though it has Coach in it...
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