American Gladiators: which version do you like better?

[danderson400]

The first season did have some differences... Instead of a referee, there was a guy dressed like a Medieval executioner who would use a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to judge rule infractions(an actual referee replaced him for season 1.5).
◦ The Gladiators themselves were played up as outright villains, as opposed to just human obstacles.
◦ The Powerball arena was just a semicircle.
◦ The first two swings of Cannonball were not shown (that was changed in season 1.5 to having both swing at the same time), and contestants were allowed to kick the Gladiators. (The only event, it was pointed out, where the contender had the advantage, as a result.)
◦ Assault looked like a World War II set, with prop grenades that exploded in glitter instead of tennis balls; the Gladiators also wore sunglasses during this event.
◦ Joust had a balance beam instead of a platform, and the pugil sticks looked like giant Q-tips.
◦ Instead of running the same event for the men and women twice in a row, it was just randomly thrown together; Swingshot was for the women only and never televised (it would be in season 3 with some modifications).
◦ The contestants looked like they dressed themselves, while Mike Adamle wore a sweat suit instead of a business suit(he *always* wore a business suit from season 1.5 on...).

The Eliminator was much different too.

the first season Eliminator was conducted in the following manner(changes for later seasons noted below)

Contenders rolled giant balls up a ramp, then placed them in a receptacle (replaced by reverse treadmill.)
Run across balance beam, where six Gladiators swing medicine balls in attempt to knock contender off (lengthened considerably in second half of season, replaced by pit to which contenders used a hand bike to cross.)
Cross a pit using a set of commando lines (also lengthened, with top line raised several inches to aid taller contenders, replaced by balance beam, then in third season, by a spinning cylinder.)
Swing on a rope over a wall (commonly referred to as the "Swing for Life" (replaced by a cargo net and zipine)
Negotiate a set of cones, then choose a corridor and a door-like paper barrier to break through. Four barriers were available to choose. In the first half of season one, two of the barriers were open while two hid Gladiators; beginning in the second half and continuing until the end of season two, three of the barriers hid Gladiators.(in the second season, jumping two track hurdles, then choose corridor and barrier with only one open, then in season 3 the contenders climb a padded wall with a step on it to aid in scaling. Once over the wall, they would face a gauntlet with two Gladiators trying to impede their path with giant medicine balls, then climb over a hurdle once cleared.
After several episodes, the gauntlet was removed. A second wall was instead used, and the stepped wall was moved to where the hurdle was before.
Gladiators threw giant medicine balls at contenders from an elevated platform after second wall
Climb over hurdle and break tape to win. Any part of the player's body that crosses the plane of the finish line determines the winner, not the player's torso. This resulted in players making drastic dives across the finish line, including the Series 3 Championship..)

[danderson400]

I really thought that AG hit their stride in season 2, when they added Larry Csonka to the hosting lineup along with Mike Adamle. To me, it was the duo of Adamle and Csonka that made the show must watch(along with the gladiators of course) also the show really got better over time. Also wasn't when Larry Csonka joined the show that they added Hang Tough and Atlasphere, plus a brand new re-vamped Eliminator? That era of AG(1990-93) to me was the best era of the show, with 1989-90 being close behind.

[Hawkee]

My cousin and my aunt and me would watch the original American Gladiators because my cousin liked the challenges that the Gladiators would do but my aunt only would watch American Gladiators because she had a big crush on Nitro and every time she would come for a visit with my cousin she always made sure I would have American Gladiators on the TV so she could see Nitro. It's a surprising fact that you don't see game shows like American Gladiators on TV anymore because American Gladiators really paved the way for all new cool ideas for game shows. Did you know that when American Gladiators debuted in 1989 there were two champions named Brian Hutchinson and Bridget Venturi who hold the record for being the big winners in American Gladiators history
Bestie

[danderson400]

Brian Hutson was the guy who hit Malbu with his feet during Human Cannonball, causing them to add the "tuck rule". there was also Cheryl Ann Silich, Bridget Venturi, Wendy Brown, Tracy Phillips, Billy Wirth, Joanna Needham, Elden Kidd( he was the one who defeated Gemini in the Joust (Gemini's signature event) not once...not twice...not even thrice...but four times!!!), Dorann Cumberbatch, Maria Nichting, Rico Costantino(wasn't he in the WWE at one point?), Mark Ortega, Joey 'Bam Bam' Mauro, Coz 'The Battle Kat' Worthington, Kathy Mollica, Susie Stencil, Darrell Gholar, Kimberly Lentz, Cheryl Wilson and Kyler 'Superman' Storm(he actually did a flip over Turbo in Breakthrough & Conquer, and he punched Turbo in Swingshot too lol but Larry Thompson ruled against both Kyler and Turbo, but Turbo was the one who got disqualified for the punch.)

Billy Wirth, by the way was in the movie The Lost Boys, where he was attacked by Corey Haim, who shoots an arrow from his longbow, hit him in his heart, into the stereo behind him, electrocuting him and causing parts of his body to explode. Likely as a revenge, Billy got mad at Gemini in Powerball! lol.

[danderson400]

some of the contenders could be cocky, like billy wirth, bridget venturi, eliden kidd, and a few others.

i remember when joanna needham hit the wall during the eliminator once, and also she got hurt during breakthrough and conquer. zimbob(cant remember her last name) got tossed around during powerball, and then later got hurt during the eliminator too. maria nitching was looking from atop the wall, and her opponent got caught by diamond.

[zombi2]

Originally Posted by danderson400

Their was a rule in "Powerball" where you could NOT tackle. it was enforced after contender Zimbob Schwartze was excessively tossed around by the female gladiators, and they kept disqualifying the gladiators, that there was just two remaining!

That rule didn't last long, thankfully. But did you see the episode where only ONE gladiator was left? Yes, Blaze had to go solo against two contenders because both Zap and Lace were thrown out!

[danderson400]

I'm hoping the 30 for 30 thing that ESPN is doing on AG will include what happened with the original Gladiators in 1992 when Gemini, Nitro, Ice, and Zap held a secret meeting. According to Nitro in his autobiography, they demanded that the producers give the Gladiators a portion of the merchandising revenue. Samuel Goldwyn said no. Gemini, Nitro, Ice, Zap, Lace, Blaze, Gold, and Thunder all walked out. Zap changed her mind and went back right away; Ice sat out one season, but went back; and Nitro went back after two years, when they offered him a deal to compete one last season as a Gladiator and then co-host the final year with Mike Adamle. The ratings went down a lot because Goldwyn made a big mistake.

[AMackII]

The Original One is better

[zombi2]

Lace wasn't part of the merchaandising walkout. She was confirmed for Season 4 but did end up backing out after they refused to pay the salary she wanted. That's why there was a second Lace. It was a deliberate dig at her by the producers.

Thankfully a lot of the old series has been posted to youtube recently. I don't care to venture beyond season 5 though. It got boring and the gladiators attitudes sucked from season 6 on. They basically all became Turbo.

[danderson400]

Originally Posted by zombi2

Lace wasn't part of the merchaandising walkout. She was confirmed for Season 4 but did end up backing out after they refused to pay the salary she wanted. That's why there was a second Lace. It was a deliberate dig at her by the producers.

Thankfully a lot of the old series has been posted to youtube recently. I don't care to venture beyond season 5 though. It got boring and the gladiators attitudes sucked from season 6 on. They basically all became Turbo.

I'll admit, Nitro got the best deal out of that- competing one last season as a Gladiator and then co-host the final year with Mike Adamle. They needed someone new because Lisa Malosky had sucked in the co-host role.

[howierules86]

The original version gets my vote, but the 2008 version was at least watchable.

[danderson400]

Originally Posted by zombi2

That rule didn't last long, thankfully. But did you see the episode where only ONE gladiator was left? Yes, Blaze had to go solo against two contenders because both Zap and Lace were thrown out!

There was one time when Ice tackled Alice Wilcox and Wilcox went down injured. I thought that Larry Thompson would have ruled against Ice for causing the injury, but maybe not because it was not above the neck area.

[danderson400]

Originally Posted by zombi2

The old version by far. The new one had waaaaaay too much chit-chat. Six events in an hour and a half? The old version did 7 or 8 in an hour! And whose bright idea was it to turn the quick and decisive eliminator into a 10+ minute endurance test? That defeats it's purpose entirely!

Plus the redux got rid of the best events, introduced some terrible new ones and ruined Powerball. Gladiators weren't rotated much (did Crush and Titan OWN joust or something?) and...season champions becoming Gladiators? What were they thinking? NBC officially killed the franchise, I doubt it'll ever be restarted because network short-sightedness will chalk up it's failure to lack of interest in the show, when in reality it failed because it was simply a terrible revamp. Done right, it could be a substantial hit.

I remember one time when Diamond was whistled for carrying Maria Nichting around in Powerball. I thought it was funny.

[danderson400]

Originally Posted by zombi2

That rule didn't last long, thankfully. But did you see the episode where only ONE gladiator was left? Yes, Blaze had to go solo against two contenders because both Zap and Lace were thrown out!

Blaze got whistled for tackling Susan Hirst above the neck area, so she had to be thrown out!

[danderson400]

Originally Posted by zombi2

That rule didn't last long, thankfully. But did you see the episode where only ONE gladiator was left? Yes, Blaze had to go solo against two contenders because both Zap and Lace were thrown out!

Blaze was known to get kicked out a lot. Even Zap wasn't immune to that either, one time, Zap tackled Betsy Erickson high enough that they blew the whistle and kicked her out.

Nitro got DQ'd sometimes too.