Author Topic: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2  (Read 18262 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Air

  • Big Brother Updaters
  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 2248
  • oh you speak french? oh man that's deep
Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« on: August 18, 2012, 12:27:32 AM »
I saw this thread discussing TARAus1 and I thought it would be good to bring back!

I think the winners and the final leg were really good and I liked it a lot. But I don't like leg 6, which was designed to eliminate the team that placed last in the previous leg.

Offline supah

  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 960
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #1 on: August 18, 2012, 06:35:56 AM »
JOYS
<<<<<<<<<<<< Let's get this out of the way. The best FF team of all time ran all 12 Legs of this race
- Even though I felt like the majority of the cast were cartoon characters, they ended being EXTREMELY likeable and loveable!
- Giving the earlier eliminated teams more screen time I think this is really good, compared to the American version where the first teams eliminated are irrelevant (wait who's Anthony and Stephanie?). This is probably one of my main JOYS of the season, I really they hope they continue this for future seasons! 
- Some people said the route is the worst part of the season. I think the route in general is absolutely AMAZING! They visited the different types of environments (beach, snow, desert, etc), they visited the four main regions of Asia, an unpredictable country (Cuba), the beautiful mountains of Canada and QUEENSLAND! A very diverse range of environments, even though they seemed boring because every other edition visits them, I still absolutely loved them!
- This race delivered my favourite Leg 1 of ALL AMAZING RACE HISTORY! It was perfect!
- The best team won the race (nice guys do finish first)
- Some AWESOME challenges! Even though some were recycled. Season 1 was all about the extreme, and this season they tried to lay off that. Special mentions to the raft building task, second RB in Leg 3, Detour in the desert, RB in the Basilica Cistern (Istanbul), the drive in the Cuban classic cars, the RB and Detour in Vancouver, RB at the Great Wall of China and the final Roadblock!
- Leg 9 was most definitely my favourite episode of the season! It was perfect! The other awesome episodes were 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10 and 11  :)
- Very well constructed finale
- Putting teams IN FRONT of the Finish Line. But why can't you have 4 teams on each side instead of all of them in one big line? ARGH
- 6 different teams won at least 1 Leg, that shows most teams had an equal chance to win a Leg
- All in all this was a very ENTERTAINING season, lots of laughs!
- Grant Bowler being a good host for the first half of the race

DISAPPOINTMENTS
- Forms of equalisers halfway through the Legs (thankfully two out of three of them ended up being non-elimination)
- EDITING OUT TASKS! This is the MOST disappointing disappointment. It leaves so many things un-explained!
- CASTING A VILLAIN TEAM - The casting directors need to know that they don't have to cast a villain. They could get 11 awesome teams and one of them could turn into villains along the way! I couldn't STAND Paul!!!!!
- Too many recycled tasks. It's fine to recycle the really good ones, but tasks like the turban un-ravelling.. lame..
- Grant Bowler's extreme awkwardness at the Finish Line :/
- Need at least one or two more Fast Forwards
- More U-Turns! Don't boast about adding the 'Must Vote U-Turn' and only executing it once

All in all, I genuinely loved this season, it is probably one of my favourite seasons of all time. It was VERY entertaining (props to Hunners and Lumelia). There was a true competitive spirit. Lots of intense, edge-of-your-seat excitement. Amazing and diverse route. Interesting challenges!
Overall, Season 3 is going to have to work its butt off to beat this season  ;)
« Last Edit: August 18, 2012, 06:45:03 AM by supah3ro »


Offline Best Loser

  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 733
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #2 on: August 18, 2012, 09:28:39 AM »
The good:
- Everyone was edited evenly. You got to know each team. There wasn't a "root for this team" or a "root against this team".
- Having really good winners. The finale finishing order was even how I wanted it.
- Reusing less tasks.
- The original tasks were all really good.
- Cuba and Canada.

The bad:
- "You are the _____ team to arrive!"
- They were so close to having a route without any of the first season's countries, but then they had to go and visit China. Why not Japan or South Korea. There's plenty of good tasks in those seasons that you could use.
- The Salvage Pass
- Most of the tasks they reuse weren't even very good to begin with
- Reusing a task from the previous season, and not to mention a terrible task. The "How well do you know your partner" task is terrible.
- The cast had less "real" people and more gimmick teams.
- Flying to Paris, doing a lot of tasks, then flying to Cuba where they drive to a nightclub and then the pitstop.
- Having an Intersection on a Marked for Elimination leg.
- Grant somehow got worse as a host. During his narration it sounds like he's recording it in slow motion.
- "You are the _____ team to arrive!"
- Sarah's botox/overdone makeup. She would probably look extremely attractive if she didn't have any of that done.
- Michelle & Jo's died hair and oompa-loompa tan.
- "You are the _____ team to arrive!"
- "You are the _____ team to arrive!"
- "You are the _____ team to arrive!"
« Last Edit: August 18, 2012, 06:16:51 PM by Best Loser »

Offline amazing race fan

  • RFF Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 227
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #3 on: August 18, 2012, 02:47:01 PM »
Good:

Cast was great
Their was a real "villain" in this season although not deserved
A real dominant team
China for the second to last leg is always the way to go
Going to India is always great
Good locations for the most part. Didn't like Turkey, Philippines or having two different Cuba legs, but locations were good for the most part
Final leg was great
Liked the jail challenge.

Bad:
Least deserving winners of the Final three
A few locations were suspect
Didn't like that a team could be U-Turned twice in a race.
Grace was so annoying

Offline Aussie

  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 792
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #4 on: August 18, 2012, 05:50:03 PM »
Good:

Cast was great
Their was a real "villain" in this season although not deserved
A real dominant team
China for the second to last leg is always the way to go
Going to India is always great
Good locations for the most part. Didn't like Turkey, Philippines or having two different Cuba legs, but locations were good for the most part
Final leg was great
Liked the jail challenge.

Why is that good? ???


Offline amazing race fan

  • RFF Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 227
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #5 on: August 18, 2012, 07:10:41 PM »
Good:

Cast was great
Their was a real "villain" in this season although not deserved
A real dominant team
China for the second to last leg is always the way to go
Going to India is always great
Good locations for the most part. Didn't like Turkey, Philippines or having two different Cuba legs, but locations were good for the most part
Final leg was great
Liked the jail challenge.

Why is that good? ???

Because I liked the dominant team.

Offline marylandboy234

  • RFF Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 158
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #6 on: August 18, 2012, 08:00:45 PM »
Joys

Going to India  :hearts:  :hearts:  :hearts:  :hearts:  :hearts:

Going to Canada

The Vote U Turn

Disappointments

Joseph & Grace getting eliminated  :'(  :'(  :'(

Paul & Steve not winning the race even thought i didn't care for them

Offline amazing race fan

  • RFF Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 227
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #7 on: August 18, 2012, 10:16:27 PM »
Joys

Going to India  :hearts:  :hearts:  :hearts:  :hearts:  :hearts:

Going to Canada

The Vote U Turn

Disappointments

Joseph & Grace getting eliminated  :'(  :'(  :'(

Paul & Steve not winning the race even thought i didn't care for them

I agree that its a real shame when the dominant team in the race doesn't win. Paul and Steve dominated the race, instead the Cops who got lucky to stay in the race many times got lucky that their best leg was the last one.

Offline compac171

  • RFF Not So Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 23
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #8 on: August 18, 2012, 11:56:01 PM »
Well I'm kinda newbie so I'm not going to write to much  :lol: and sorry for the misspelling

Joys
All the teams were awesome, even Shane and Andrew that look bored were fantastic
Cuba, Canada two awesome places that the American version should visit long time ago (I smell Cuba on season 22)
Like supah3ro says giving a lot attention to the first teams eliminated

Disappointments
The first disappointment its not the Salvage Pass, was bad but the real dissapointmen was the Vote U-turn, I was expecting the twist being more  not just 1 leg, was like the French Leg I was expecting a long leg in the magnificent French but was just a half-leg :(
The editing of some of the challenges in the firsts legs was bad too, they maybe were bored to watch but I like the typical 1 Detour 1 roadblock per leg (or 2 roadblock no detour)

Mexican teens love The Amazing Race too :D

Offline kevin2012

  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 554
  • Gangnam Style!
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #9 on: August 19, 2012, 01:09:27 AM »
Joys

- Stellar casting
- Fantastic original tasks
- Copied task are rendered much more epic (with the exception of the chinese waiter detour)
- Great locations
- Circumnavigation of the world. About time a foreign edition does it
- Much better boot order
- The voting U-turn is much better than a regular U-turn
- Lucy and Emilia 
- Great winners for once!
- Abundance of Route Info tasks, which are somewhat lacking in the US version
- A final three with interesting teams, the F3 of the first season was a snoozefest. ZZZZZZ
- Every team was given a decent amount of airtime regardless of their finishing position, we really got to know them well.
- Cuba was an awesome location. Very colorful and cultural.
- Teams were in many different environments: The desert (Dubai), the snow (Canada), the forest (Canada), the big city (Paris), the farmlands (China), the beach (Australia), the island (Australia), the chaos (India), etc.
- No extremely dominant teams, I'm talking like 1 or 2 team that win almost every single leg like the American version has had for a while now. No this season, 6 teams have won a leg, a good amount.

Disappointments

- Grant Bowler has gotten worse, he's more awkward, apathetic, cheesy, etc.. and he does a lot more of weird poses that just bothers me. Not too mention that really, REALLY off-sounding laugh in leg 11 after telling the twins they're in the final three.
- Less epic moments than the first season.
- Leg 6 and 7's bad design
- Not enough Paris!
- The dumb Salvage Pass (although I'll admit it saved my favorite team)
- not enough voting U-turns!
- The editing isn't as polished and consistent as the first season.
- Too many unaired tasks.
- Why go to China again? This is the second season, there's a whole world out there.
Bring on the 21!


Offline redwings8831

  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 3784
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #10 on: August 19, 2012, 01:26:41 AM »
Cuba, Canada two awesome places that the American version should visit long time ago (I smell Cuba on season 22)

Not going to happen anytime soon.

Offline amazing race fan

  • RFF Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 227
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #11 on: August 19, 2012, 01:33:18 AM »
Cuba, Canada two awesome places that the American version should visit long time ago (I smell Cuba on season 22)

Not going to happen anytime soon.

For Australians that don't know, we are not too fond of Cuba over here in the USA.

Offline 123blueandwhite

  • RFF Not So Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 30
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #12 on: August 19, 2012, 02:43:43 AM »
Joys

Going to India  :hearts:  :hearts:  :hearts:  :hearts:  :hearts:

Going to Canada

The Vote U Turn

Disappointments

Joseph & Grace getting eliminated  :'(  :'(  :'(

Paul & Steve not winning the race even thought i didn't care for them

I agree that its a real shame when the dominant team in the race doesn't win. Paul and Steve dominated the race, instead the Cops who got lucky to stay in the race many times got lucky that their best leg was the last one.


As much as I love Shane & Andrew, I thought the twins (even though I didn't like them towards the end) and the alphas deserved it more since they ran a good and consistent race (aside from the first 3 legs for the alphas). Good for the cops though, their stride picked up at the right time.

Joys:
- VANCOUVER (enough said!!)
- A likeable team won.
- Great route.
- Just the right amount of drama.
- Original tasks were good.
- Great cast.
- The irony of the villain being actually portrayed in a better light than the wonder twins in the finale.

Disappointments:
- Yield/Intersection
- The outburst by Jo in the jail and the immaturity during the treasure chest (loved the twins until that!)
- How the audience took Paul so seriously.
- Grant Bowler
- 3 week Olympic break.
- Reused tasks (basically half of the TAR14 China leg, poo bricks.. etc)
« Last Edit: August 19, 2012, 02:54:08 AM by 123blueandwhite »

Offline Air

  • Big Brother Updaters
  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 2248
  • oh you speak french? oh man that's deep
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #13 on: August 19, 2012, 03:22:33 AM »

- 3 week Olympic break.


#1 WORST THING EVER!  (:;)

EVEN WORSE THAN GRANT AT THE FINAL PITSTOP!  (:;)


Offline Kamineko

  • HOST: Design Challenge 8
  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 734
  • Pika Pika
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #14 on: August 19, 2012, 03:25:55 AM »
Joys:
- Awesome route! Especially Canada and Cuba!! :hrt:
- Great first task, it forced teams to interact and to work together even that they hadn't make any interaction before.
- Horse race task in Dubai. It made the teams "rest" for a bit.
- Lucy & Emilia released by the police. :hearts: :yess:
- Great teams in the finale!!
- Some original task that is HARD! (Build the raft in Leg 1, Memorizing Arabic symbols in Leg 5)
- Cooking task! :luvya: :luvya: :luvya:
- China for the second to last leg. :hrt:
- Roadblock in China! It definitely HARDER than the one back in TARA 4!
- Many memorable moments from Lucy & Emilia!
- The dramas are balanced between teams and episodes..
- The Indian guru in Leg 3's Roadblock... GO BACK!! :lol3: :luvya:

Disappointments:
- Too many repeated tasks that are even not memorable. I don't think that the production are running out of idea. So, why are they repeating tasks? But, if the tasks are hard and memorable, they can repeat it.
- The way that they put equalizer halfway through some of the legs.
- The U-turn in Dubai.. It's just... Useless...
- Intersection in Turkey... Really disappointed with that. :(
- France only halfway through Leg 7... :'(
- Grant's way to greet the teams: You are the _____ team to arrive! :groan: :groan:
The Amazing Race: Design Challenge VIII - Game starts here!

The Amazing Race Japan - Sign up here!
*Postponed until after TAR:DC 8 finished*

Offline Jobby

  • TAR & RFF Fanatic
  • TAR Detectives
  • I Live at RFF
  • *****
  • Posts: 13567
  • HEHEHEHEHEHE
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #15 on: August 19, 2012, 01:57:17 PM »
1. I hated the mid-leg equalizers. So, what was the U-TURN for?

2. I hated the NEL which is followed by an INTERSECTION in the following leg. Hello, how's the last place team supposed to catch up?

3. I hated the horse betting task. Could have been a really cool task. But every 45 minutes to wait for a race, is just pathetic. And when they don't get to wait, they just carry the team mate across the finish line??? Real stupid, if you ask me.

BUT...

I loved everything else! :lol: Loved Emilia and Lucy, Jo and Michelle... loved Paris (OH WAIT, WHY WASN'T THERE A PITSTOP IN PARIS???)... loved Canada... loved the tasks that we saw in India (epic few legs)... loved the dynamics between the teams... loved that the teams were interesting... loved the locations (NOT CHINA)...

It's a great season! But this is going the TAR USA way of all-male team winning all the time. :lol:

Offline tarflyonthewall

  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 520
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #16 on: August 19, 2012, 07:51:18 PM »
Cuba, Canada two awesome places that the American version should visit long time ago (I smell Cuba on season 22)

Not going to happen anytime soon.

For Australians that don't know, we are not too fond of Cuba over here in the USA.

Technically, the American government just doesn't like the Castro family. It's pretty well-known that everything's going to calm down between the two the moment Fidel and Raul are out of the picture. A bit like how the US government gets on pretty well with Saudi Arabia despite the whole thing with the Bin Ladens.

Offline supah

  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 960
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #17 on: August 20, 2012, 02:19:00 AM »
How could I forget the WORST final task ever! Never put a needle in a haystack right before the Finish Line! I am guessing the producers were hoping for a close finish but that was unnecessary! I never want to see that again.

Offline Glamazon Racer

  • "Expelliarmus"
  • Big Brother Updaters
  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 8622
  • Don't wanna go to heaven without raising hell. ♥
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #18 on: August 20, 2012, 04:32:53 AM »
How could I forget the WORST final task ever! Never put a needle in a haystack right before the Finish Line! I am guessing the producers were hoping for a close finish but that was unnecessary! I never want to see that again.

THIS THIS THIS! I would literally have gone insane if it had allowed Paul & Steve to overtake Shandrew... :lol:
I'd rather walk alone than let them throw dirty confetti. ♥

Offline boston_jen

  • RFF Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 134
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #19 on: August 20, 2012, 05:34:22 PM »
Joys:
-Great cast of competitors. I really like the winners.
-The Salvage Pass saved a team I REALLY enjoyed watching. 
-The Must Vote U-Turn.
-Some tasks that required thought, such as the raft building, and the steps challenge.
-All of the Paris (mini) leg, especially the souffle making task.
-I loved Shane and Andrew walking across Paris at dawn, taking in the sights, and avoiding another taxi.
-Joseph and Grace getting penalized for interference (it would have been a bigger joy if it had been applied at the actual pitstop). Their decision to pay another team's taxi meter plus a little extra in Paris probably contributed to their eventual taxi money woes late on in the race.   :yess:

Disappointments:
-The Salvage Pass prize (one hour head-start) was lame, and of no real consequence, seeing how far behind some of the other teams were.
-Having an Intersection on a Marked for Elimination leg.
-No pitstop in Paris.
-Having the Must Vote U-Turn and only using it once.
-Too little money/too much begging.
-"You are the _____ team to arrive!"
-The YouTube blackout.  I still haven't seen the final 3 episodes.  (:;)




Offline compac171

  • RFF Not So Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 23
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #20 on: August 20, 2012, 06:03:50 PM »
Cuba, Canada two awesome places that the American version should visit long time ago (I smell Cuba on season 22)

Not going to happen anytime soon.

For Australians that don't know, we are not too fond of Cuba over here in the USA.

Technically, the American government just doesn't like the Castro family. It's pretty well-known that everything's going to calm down between the two the moment Fidel and Raul are out of the picture. A bit like how the US government gets on pretty well with Saudi Arabia despite the whole thing with the Bin Ladens.

Well I'm sorry for the confusion, I already know about the American government had problems whit Cuba but I heard on the news about a old commercial route between Florida and Cuba that was reopened and my TAR spirit told me this was an opportunity for USA version to go to Cuba but I think I was wrong and by the way I'm Mexican not Aussie :lol:
Mexican teens love The Amazing Race too :D

Offline RaceUntilWeDie

  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1321
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #21 on: August 20, 2012, 09:38:55 PM »
Well, everybody has mentioned most of my joys and disappointments,

but I have one more disappointment, coming from someone outside of Australia:

-TARAus2 being blocked on YouTube!  :gaah:

The other sources tend to be good, but I'd very rather much watch it on YouTube.

Offline Saravannan

  • RFF Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 152
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #22 on: August 21, 2012, 02:54:13 PM »
Just wondering, why was "You are the ___ team to arrive." so bad? I didn't think it was too bad and it made penalties more surprising for about 4 seconds.

Offline apskip

  • Geographer Extraordinaire
  • TAR Detectives
  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 6189
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #23 on: August 21, 2012, 03:49:33 PM »
Cuba, Canada two awesome places that the American version should visit long time ago (I smell Cuba on season 22)

Not going to happen anytime soon.

For Australians that don't know, we are not too fond of Cuba over here in the USA.

Technically, the American government just doesn't like the Castro family. It's pretty well-known that everything's going to calm down between the two the moment Fidel and Raul are out of the picture. A bit like how the US government gets on pretty well with Saudi Arabia despite the whole thing with the Bin Ladens.

No, not like that at all. The Bin Ladens were a family who made a billion in construction and decided to allow Osama to spend it in the way he did. The Saudia Arabia government has always been totally independent from the Bin Ladens.

The Castros are the core of government in Cuba. Things will change when they are gone, but I believe it will be gradual and not immediate.

Offline Best Loser

  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 733
Re: Joys and Disappointments of TARAus 2
« Reply #24 on: August 21, 2012, 05:08:37 PM »
Just wondering, why was "You are the ___ team to arrive." so bad? I didn't think it was too bad and it made penalties more surprising for about 4 seconds.
For 20 seasons/10 years, we've gotten used to Phil saying "You're team number ____" except whenever there's a penalty and in that case he'll always say "You're the ___ team to arrive, however..." So when Grant says "You're team number ____" we're thinking "Oh no, what'd they do wrong? .......Ok, I guess nothing." I guess it's just annoying if you've watched the show a lot.