Legends of the Hidden Temple

Some things never lose their appeal. Scared, prize hungry 12 year olds, a giant talking Mayan statue, some goofy guy swinging from a rope, that silver monkey that nobody seemed to be able to put together, and some freaky temple guards all came together to make the perfect action game show on Nickelodeon. "Legends of the Hidden Temple" is an excellent game show that was featured on Nickelodeon from 1993 to 1995. Although hosted by Kirk Fogg, Legends is most famous for a much different host: a talking stone head by the name of Olmec. This television show will always be remembered for its creativity and its suspenseful action.

No matter what team won, you could have always done better then them.

oh and by the way there is a site selling the team shirts which is amazing.

HiddenTempleTees.com

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 when I was young, and for years all I ever wanted was to be on it. Sadly, no such luck.

This was a fun show that kept me and a million other kids coming back every week. I'm afraid I'll have to correct a previous reviewer that this show consisted of six teams and four rounds, not four and three. To trim the fat down to four, the teams had to cross a "moat" using some cleverly named "ancient" apparatus. Once across, four teams would listen to a giant stone head tell them a "legend" (normally a story from history, occassionally mythology), and answer questions on it. The crux of the game was an object from the "legend" placed in the temple. After that, the two remaining teams would do battle against one another to enter the temple. Prizes were won if the team retrieved the object.

Whenever I flip around and see reruns of this, I smile and remember my younger days. While this show of course won't have such meaning for anyone else who today watches it, it's always fun to suspend reality and root along something that happened 5-10 years ago. This show would still work if it were produced today (the target audience wouldn't care about repetition) just as it did then. A nostalgic show for me, a nice time for virtually anyone.

I really liked Olmec the talking rock and how his mouth would move and his eyes would light up red. My favorite team was the Blue Baracudas. I think Kirk Fogg was a great host. I wish they would not have taken it off but i guess they had to make room for other shows. My favorite part of the show was the temple round but I also liked the part where they had to get to the other side of that moat thing. I liked how they had to go through the temple and get the parts of the silver monkey and how there were all those trap doors and stuff and when you least expected it a temple guard would jump out and try to grab them. I always wished I could be on the show.

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.