Legends of the Hidden Temple

"Legends of the Hidden Temple" has to be one of my favorite childhood game shows. It began right around the time I started first grade. I remember watching this show with my sister every time it aired. We both always wanted to be on the show.

The scenery of the game show was very well done and I loved Olmec the talking rock. He always introduced the new legend of that day. Host Kirk Fogg was also a very good host. My favorite team would have to be the Silver Snakes. That was an awesome name.

My favorite part of each episode was the fourth round: The Temple. It had a lot interesting rooms including the shrine of the silver monkey and the observatory. I give this show 10/10 stars.

For anyone who had access to Nickolodeon in 1993 and ever had a dream of becoming an archaeologist or adventurer someday, "Legends of the Hidden Temple" was a dream come true.

A show went like this: six teams consisting of two ordinary kids would start out on a quest for some sort of item, usually a historical artifact such as a paintbrush belonging to Leonardo da Vinci. The six teams--the Red Jaguars, the Blue Barracudas, the Green Monkeys, the Orange Iguanas, the Purple Parrots, and the Silver Snakes--would line up and wait for the signal from the show's host, Kirk Fogg, cleverly dressed in "adventurer" gear. In this sample show, one team member has to paddle a boat across a pool surrounded by enough jungle scenery to qualify as a moat. The boat has a rope attached to it, and when the first team member gets out of the boat, he or she tied the rope around a pole. The second team member then had to walk across this rope with the help of a bar placed above the moat. As soon as the second player was on the other side, that player ran to a pedestal and hit the button on top. The first four teams to do so go on to the next round. The two slowest teams, the Green Monkeys and Orange Iguanas in this case, went home with $50 savings bonds.

Next come the Steps of Knowledge. The mysterious talking stone head dominating the scenery, aptly named "Olmec", would tell a story to the four teams. Kirk Fogg then asked questions about the story. Players stomped on markings in front of their steps to ring in and answer. The first two teams with three right answers move on to the next round. The Red Jaguars and the Silver Snakes go home with a pair of Skechers sneakers.

Next are the Temple Games, three physical tests such as crawling along a slick plastic mat while attached to a bungee cord. These were somehow incorporated into the story told by Olmec. There are two individual games and one team game. Each individual game won gives the team a half Pendant of Life (more on this later), while the team game awards a full Pendant. The team with the most Pendants at the end of the Temple Games wins the right to go into the Temple. The Blue Barracudas go home with two video games apiece, while the Purple Parrots go on to the Temple with a full Pendant and a half-Pendant.

The Purple Parrots now go into the Temple itself to try to get the artifact and get out of the Temple within three minutes. If they can do that, they get a trip to Space Camp. The paintbrush is hidden in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. In the way are three Temple Guards who are assigned to three specific rooms in the Temple. The contestants go in one at a time. If a contestant enters that room, the contestant is "captured". The contestant can give the Temple Guard a Pendant of Life to go on, but if the contestant is caught without a Pendant, that player is taken out of the Temple and the player's partner must go into the Temple.

The first Purple Parrot, Joanna, runs in the lower entrance, the Cave. She crawls through to the Pit of the Pendulum, knocks over a column, and goes to the highest room of the Temple, the Observatory. A Temple Guard catches her there, but she has a pendant, so she can go on. She spins the compass and goes down to the Treasure Room. She opens the treasure chest and climbs down into the Swamp. She screams as a Temple Guard pops out of the muck to capture her. She doesn't have a pendant, so she must leave. Mitch must now run into the Temple. He follows his team-mate's path to avoid any Temple Guards and grabs the half-Pendant of Life hidden in the Treasure Room, giving him a full Pendant. He's safe now. He goes into the Tomb of the Ancient Kings and opens the sarcophagus to find the hidden key, then applies it to a tomb on the wall. It opens, and so Mitch climbs up...into the Shrine of the Silver Monkey! He grabs the paintbrush. Now all the doors are unlocked and the last Temple Guard is gone. He has thirty seconds to make his way back to the Temple Gate. He runs and runs and finally makes it back with two seconds to spare. They're off to Space Camp!

The Temple changed rooms often. There were picturesquely named rooms such as the Jester's Court, the Mine Shaft, the Crypt, the Tomb of the Headless Kings, the Hall of the Ancient Warriors, and the Throne Room, just to name a few. It was a good time and a new action adventure on weekday afternoons, all packed into a half-hour. I remember that I enjoyed the show very much, and if you have a chance to see a rerun (as on the Nickolodeon Games and Sports Channel), do so. You might be surprised by how much you enjoy it.

I remember watching this show clearly when I was about 11 or 12 years old. I'm 21 now, but I still remember how bad I wanted to be on this show. Not because I wanted to win cool prizes but because I wanted to meet the host, Kirk Fogg. I had the biggest crush on him and wanted to meet him so badly. That was the time when I used to read Bop magaines, you know, those magazines for pre-teens, I also bought Nickelodeon magazines to see if I found anything about Kirk Fogg, but sadly I never did. However, I did see him in alot of commercials and was happy to record them. Anyways that was years ago, but I will always remember the first tv host I had a crush on, Kirk Fogg!!

I remember watching this show when I was in like first or second grade (I'm about to be a junior now). I had probably forgotten it until I went to babysit and then I flipped to a channel (which now I know is the Nick GaS channel) and right there in front of me is one of my favorite shows as a kid. It was neat seeing the little animal teams (purple parrots, silver snakes, etc.) and the moat, and Olmec (who when I was little I thought his name was Old Mac so I would call him "Big Mac"). It's such a cute show with the little temple and the cool rooms at the end. I would remember screaming at the TV at the kids who would have trouble putting the monkey in the "Shrine of the Silver Monkey" room because it didn't look very hard. And when I was seven I wasn't really thinking of it but now looking at it again I noticed Kirk Fogg is kinda cute too! Well anyways, it's good to see that's it's still atleast showing re-runs.

Your moving through a dense jungle. Moving big leaves out of your way. When you finally come to a clearing you see a giant stone head. Suddenly the eyes light up the mouth moves and it says with a deep booming voice "Welcome to Legends of the Hidden Temple! Hosted by Kirk Fogg and here he is now." A man that you can only assume is Kirk Fogg makes his entrance. As the crowd greets him with a thunderous applause he thanks them saying "Thank you.", then turns to the stone head and says "and thank you Olmec." The stone head we now know is Olmec. Now that we are introduced to the hosts Kirk gives us a little summary of the game. He explains that six teams will have to face tough challenges in order to retrieve an artifact from the hidden temple. Then he turns to Olmec and asks what is the legend that they will be hearing bout today. Olmec in his deep booming voice responds. Then Kirk turns his attention to twelve children standing on the opposite side of pool of water. Each team is made up of two children. One is a boy and one is a girl and each of them are wearing a colored shirt with a picture of an animal on it. One by one Kirk Fogg introduces each team. "The Red Jaguars, The Blue Barracudas, The Green Monkeys, The Orange Iguanas, The Purple Parrots and The Silver Snakes.

That was the beginning to a show called Legends of the Hidden Temple. The show premiered on Nickelodean in 1993. It lasted for three seasons. It was canceled in 1995. Why? I am not sure. This was one of the best shows I have ever seen. Not just on Nickelodean but on all of television. To this day there has not been many shows, or at least game shows, that has compared to this one. One thing is for sure is that this show is better than any other show that is on Nickelodean now. Not many things are what they used to be. The kids that are growing up now missed out on some good times. I wish things now where like the way they were when I was younger. Yes, I know I am in my twenties now but the things that where around when I was younger were so enjoyable that I could enjoy them now. Besides the show being a great show that anybody could enjoy at any age but I really enjoy this show because it was a part of my childhood. I remember watching it whenever I could and always wanting to be on it. When it was canceled I was a little upset but there were still other good shows I could still watch so it did not completely bother me but now that times have changed and there's not as many shows worth watching I really miss it. Then again even with a a lot of good shows worth watching if you had watched this show and had not seen it for awhile you would want to see it again. I know I did. When the show was canceled it was off the air for awhile. I had not completely forgot bout it but I didn't think bout it every day of my life. I finally got the chance to see it again when I was over a friends house and he had a channel that I did not have. Its name is NICK GaS. The GaS stands for Game and Sports. Whats great about Legends of the Hidden Temple is that it kind of fit into both of those categories. What makes Legends of the Hidden Temple so great is that its a show that is diverse. It has the six teams face four rounds of tough challenges that would require different skills such as strength, strategy, speed, memory, and wits.

There was never a dull moment. Every round had something special bout it. All around this is a great show and if you ever have a chance to watch it, DO.