S12.E03: Qualifier 4

[Taeolas]

Week 4 of qualifiers.

 

Air date: Oct 5, 2020

[Taeolas]

At least 14 Finishers (12 men + 2 women) this time; the course may have been a hair easier than they intended but it wasn't too bad. (Checking online, there were 15 finishers, so one guy got cut for not running fast enough.

If Meagan had been the 3rd woman to finish, they'd probably still be sterilizing the Dome from Matt and Ackbar's reactions. 🙂 As is, we had at least 4 solid woman runs. 

I was surprised we got 2 brand new (for this year) obstacles instead of mixing in the other two we'd already seen; not that I'm complaining. 

Sideways had some challenges but may not have been as challenging as expected. The handle on the middle sliding panel is surely going to disappear for the next round to increase the difficulty. I did like that they added the spinning panel at the end. That kept Ninjas from attempting a leap from the slider instead of actually running the last 3 sideway leaps. 

And the Weatherman nailed the Megawall, the 2nd fastest time AND the Power Tower. No wonder he's one of the stars. 🙂 I loved his acknowledgement of Michael at the end. He knew/saw Michael attempt the quick transition to the ending in the Power Tower, and fell; but Michael had to do it. Either way, it made for a great finish. 

[saber5055]

I missed the first hour due to it being windy so my antenna kept dropping NBC. I'm hoping this episode will be rerun later in the week. I was sort of stunned to see Kevin Bull get a WWWA though. What's up with that, show?

Joe Moravsky is my favorite ninja, and it was exciting to see him not only go up the Mega Wall but get second-fastest time on top of that. The Power Tower run was exciting, and Joe was the complete competitor, the first thing he did after hitting the buzzer was to check on/say something to Michael, showing the guy from last week how to be a gracious winner. I did like Michael's teammates better than Joe's, so I'm sorry they won't get to continue on. But ... next year?

Meanwhile, Megan rocks.

[ClareWalks]

I am irrationally annoyed by the Cake Ninja. That particular schtick is terrible, because everyone loves cake. It's not unique or special. I have the same gripe with the Pizza Ninja. 

[Rosenrot]

2 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

I am irrationally annoyed by the Cake Ninja. That particular schtick is terrible, because everyone loves cake. It's not unique or special. I have the same gripe with the Pizza Ninja. 

Tell me about it. It's just kind of stupid. Why not call yourself a Breathing Ninja or a Ninja With Arms and Legs? That's just about as unique. I know it's probably what the network/producers want, but still, I'd love it if being a great athlete could be enough of a schtick. 

[eel21788]

12 hours ago, Taeolas said:

Sideways had some challenges but may not have been as challenging as expected. The handle on the middle sliding panel is surely going to disappear for the next round to increase the difficulty. I did like that they added the spinning panel at the end. That kept Ninjas from attempting a leap from the slider instead of actually running the last 3 sideway leaps. 

I always hate it when the contestant can dismount early and skip half the obstacle. I'm glad they found a way to prevent that.

[Vermicious Knid]

The course is suspect when a rookie who hasn't even trained hits the buzzer.

[realdancemom]

22 hours ago, Rosenrot said:

Tell me about it. It's just kind of stupid. Why not call yourself a Breathing Ninja or a Ninja With Arms and Legs? That's just about as unique. I know it's probably what the network/producers want, but still, I'd love it if being a great athlete could be enough of a schtick. 

But then you have somebody like Chris who might not even be on this year if he wasn't on Jesse's team.  He's just a good Ninja that reached Stage 3 last year but he doesn't have a schtick except for his fiance.  I like him and Joe since they're really good but they don't act cocky.

[Ilovepie]

On 10/6/2020 at 1:46 PM, Rosenrot said:

Tell me about it. It's just kind of stupid. Why not call yourself a Breathing Ninja or a Ninja With Arms and Legs? That's just about as unique. I know it's probably what the network/producers want, but still, I'd love it if being a great athlete could be enough of a schtick. 

This so much! I can't stand everyone having a shirt and a nickname! So Stupid!

This was, for me anyway, such a great episode! So many things:

Seeing two new women hit the buzzer! I love Sweet T - so glad to see her finally break through! And Maddy the Nurse - she is definitely a new one to watch for me. Love her! I am glad Megan M made it through, but I find her kind of overrated. She is good, but she often comes up short, and she's slow which is a problem in the finals when it's timed.

I loved seeing a couple rookies hitting the buzzer. The kayak kid was fun to watch as was the Cake Guy's teammate. I kept expecting both to fall but no - they made it! Even after all these years it still thrills me to see people defy the odds and get up the wall.

 And last but not least, my favorite being his usual great self. I was weirdly thrilled to see Joe finally get up the Mega Wall! And I've never cared much about him before, but this episode made me kind of Love Michael Torres. His care for his teammates was touching. And even though it's their right, seeing him and Joe fighting to get the fastest times to help their teammates just makes the others who went for the Mega Wall at the expense of their team look selfish. I'm looking at you Daniel Gil and "Kid". Those two could totally have had the fastest times but they sacrificed that to try the Mega Wall. It kind of makes them look greedy compared to someone like Michael Torres who ran so fast to try to help his team. I do wish he had beat Joe at the tower because I like his team more and think they have more of a shot in the next round than Joe's team. Will Da Beast is not as good as he thinks he is. I hope he has a spare pair of glasses for his next trip in the water 😜

[AdorkableWitch]

I was so excited to see the Deaf Ninja back! I was surprised because he had said last year would be his last for a while because he went back to school to get his PhD in kinesiology. I guess COVID messed that up for him. I saw him speak at our local Deaf school (my niece is Deaf) and he is such an inspiration for those kids. 

[saber5055]

19 hours ago, Ilovepie said:

Will Da Beast is not as good as he thinks he is. I hope he has a spare pair of glasses for his next trip in the water

I was disappointed we did not get to see the glasses retrieved from the bottom of the pool. That would have been one of the episode high points as I'm guessing some ANW PA had to dive in and fish them out. I thought at the start of his run he should have had one of those safety straps on them.

Edited October 8, 2020 by saber5055

[Quilt Fairy]

8 hours ago, saber5055 said:

I thought at the start of his run he should have had one of those safety straps on them.

He probably will the next time he runs.

[RedbirdNelly]

I thought Torres would win since we'd seen more about his teammates and they had more of the heart tugging story lines. But very impressed with Weather Ninja.

I have no issue with the tshirts and nicknames--in part because I'm bad at names, and I have an easier time with remembering Weather Ninja etc. It's harmless so I'm cool with it. 

I was very impressed with Maddy. She was very smooth. If memory serves correctly she turned that honey comb smoother than anybody. 

Meanwhile, I continue my at home quest to do one pull up. . . .

[ClareWalks]

4 hours ago, RedbirdNelly said:

I have an easier time with remembering Weather Ninja

It's the Weatherman. Not so memorable, I guess 😉

[eel21788]

5 hours ago, RedbirdNelly said:

Meanwhile, I continue my at home quest to do one pull up. . . .

This is OT, but I thought it was funny enough to include:

My father walked with a brace and a cane. He also had anemia. When he was in his 70s, his doctor wanted to start him on medication to stimulate red blood cell production. His response was, "But that would disqualify me from the Olympics. I'm planning to do the high jump, and I'm up to a quarter of an inch now." (a quarter of an inch was about how much clearance he could get when he tried to step over something with his bad leg)

[realdancemom]

On 10/7/2020 at 3:12 PM, Ilovepie said:

This was, for me anyway, such a great episode! So many things:

Seeing two new women hit the buzzer! I love Sweet T - so glad to see her finally break through! And Maddy the Nurse - she is definitely a new one to watch for me. Love her! I am glad Megan M made it through, but I find her kind of overrated. She is good, but she often comes up short, and she's slow which is a problem in the finals when it's timed.

I loved seeing a couple rookies hitting the buzzer. The kayak kid was fun to watch as was the Cake Guy's teammate. I kept expecting both to fall but no - they made it! Even after all these years it still thrills me to see people defy the odds and get up the wall.

 And last but not least, my favorite being his usual great self. I was weirdly thrilled to see Joe finally get up the Mega Wall! And I've never cared much about him before, but this episode made me kind of Love Michael Torres. His care for his teammates was touching. And even though it's their right, seeing him and Joe fighting to get the fastest times to help their teammates just makes the others who went for the Mega Wall at the expense of their team look selfish. I'm looking at you Daniel Gil and "Kid". Those two could totally have had the fastest times but they sacrificed that to try the Mega Wall. It kind of makes them look greedy compared to someone like Michael Torres who ran so fast to try to help his team. I do wish he had beat Joe at the tower because I like his team more and think they have more of a shot in the next round than Joe's team. Will Da Beast is not as good as he thinks he is. I hope he has a spare pair of glasses for his next trip in the water 😜

I really like this episode too.  I'm so happy for sweet T.  I've been cheering for her to hit the buzzer.  I remember Maddy last year since she's from Utah.  Glad she hit the buzzer too.  I agree about Megan M was good when there were few women.  She's strong but also slow. 

I'm happy for Joe for getting $10,000.  However, I was rooting for Michael Torres because I like his teammates more.  I also love how Michael wanted to go fast to give his teammates a chance.  I felt so sorry for the Parkinson's guy since I also feel that he could have gone further. I remember how disappointed Michael Torres was because he missed out on going to Vegas one year.  He missed it by one player based on time.  He's a lot better ninja now but maybe that disappointment helped fuel his desire to help his teammates.

It is risky to go fast too because I think that's what Big Cat wanted to do.  He said something to his team before he ran.  Now, he can't go to the finals either.

[Ilovepie]

1 hour ago, realdancemom said:

It is risky to go fast too because I think that's what Big Cat wanted to do.  He said something to his team before he ran.  Now, he can't go to the finals either.

I was bummed he fell! It feels like there is always one elite Ninja that is going for speed and makes a fatal error. I guess it was his year.......

[realdancemom]

1 hour ago, Ilovepie said:

I was bummed he fell! It feels like there is always one elite Ninja that is going for speed and makes a fatal error. I guess it was his year.......

But then if you don't go fast enough, you might not make it either even if you complete the course like Nick, the Eskimo Ninja.  I was bummed for him too.  Although, I'm glad that at least he has $10,000.

[Ilovepie]

24 minutes ago, realdancemom said:

But then if you don't go fast enough, you might not make it either even if you complete the course like Nick, the Eskimo Ninja.  I was bummed for him too.  Although, I'm glad that at least he has $10,000.

In a regular year he would have made it. It's just so hard when they are only taking the top 12.......

[SophiaD]

I was rooting for Michael Torres to win the Power Tower, because I liked his team better and they need the exposure more.  Joe Moravsky seems nice to me, but he also seems just the tiniest bit... smug?  I also didn't really care for his team and now we "get" to see them again.

I was so thrilled for Mady and Tianna, though.  That Zoom window of celebrating health care professionals was amazing.  

Megan has always been incredibly strong, but I'm not sure how much cardio she does.  I remember seeing her on some weird spinoff program a few years ago - a sort of "Spartan" thing, IIRC - and she was a solid performer, but she was slow and got gassed pretty easily.  I'm glad she made the Finals again, but am wondering how she'll do when she has to race against the clock.

I'm excited for the Finals next week.

 

[RedbirdNelly]

21 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

It's the Weatherman. Not so memorable, I guess 😉

thanks for the correction. I've now cracked myself up. I'm even worse than I realized. 🙂

[ClareWalks]

Just now, RedbirdNelly said:

thanks for the correction. I've now cracked myself up. I'm even worse than I realized. 🙂

It's fine! I laughed too, I always say Joe Moravsky is one of those guys who looks "totally unremarkable" but is a talented ninja, so of course we would forget his nickname 😉

[Taeolas]

15 hours ago, SophiaD said:

Megan has always been incredibly strong, but I'm not sure how much cardio she does.  I remember seeing her on some weird spinoff program a few years ago - a sort of "Spartan" thing, IIRC - and she was a solid performer, but she was slow and got gassed pretty easily.  I'm glad she made the Finals again, but am wondering how she'll do when she has to race against the clock.

Megan still has the semi finals to go through. She has to complete the course + 3? more obstacles and do it as either the fastest women or whatever the Top cutoff will be for the course finals. And THEN she will reach the timed portion of the competition. 

I wonder if Megan might be better for the cross-promotion with Titan Games next time. Titan Games is a strength/endurance competition as opposed to the speed/agility of Ninja Warrior. So that may play to her strengths better than Jessie Graff ran it. 

[enoughcats]

On 10/9/2020 at 3:39 PM, realdancemom said:

I felt so sorry for the Parkinson's guy since I also feel that he could have gone further.

Did I see that one of his arms just simply didn't try to grasp the rope?

It made me remember years ago when a man with one prosthetic leg competed.  And that didn't go very well, either. 

It was good to see Nat Pinkus still competing and his wife and children cheering for him. 

[realdancemom]

8 hours ago, enoughcats said:

Did I see that one of his arms just simply didn't try to grasp the rope?

It made me remember years ago when a man with one prosthetic leg competed.  And that didn't go very well, either. 

It was good to see Nat Pinkus still competing and his wife and children cheering for him. 

One of his hands missed the rope but I'm not sure if it was intentional.  I just felt bad for him since he said that he felt a lot better this year.