Legends of the Hidden Temple was a good game show that aired back on Nickelodeon. Back in the early 1990's, when SpongeBob Squarepants did not exist, the cable channel actually had variety, from original shows (including the first Nicktoons like Rugrats and even some original shows) to acquired programming like Underdog and even the Looney Tunes, which they aired before the rights went to Cartoon Network. And of course, they also had game shows. This is one of them.
Hosted by Kirk Fogg and a talking stone idol named Olmec (played by voice actor Dee Bradley Baker),the show has six teams competing for a chance to go into the temple to look for the treasure of the day to win prizes. The first two rounds are basic elimination rounds: The first round, The Moat, has all six teams (each having two members each) doing a different stunt to get to the other side, and only the first four teams who get both members across will move on to the Steps Of Knowledge, a trivia game based on the story of the Treasure Of The Day (as I like to call it) told by Olmec himself. Speaking of the treasures, they are based on famous people, either historical or fictional, and some of them have events that never happened to make it more interesting (like Galileo's Cannonball being dropped on a sandwich, which ended up inventing pizza). Here, only the first two teams who get the end of the steps first move on, while the other teams gets consolation prizes (as do the two teams who lost The Moat, so no one goes away with only a sad tale of how they were shamefully eliminated on the first round).
The third round is the Temple Games, and this is where the variety kicks in. The remaining two teams compete against each other in three stunts, all made to fit with the story of the treasure. The two teams are playing for Pendants of Lives, which serve as a free hit in the Temple Run, where the first two games reward the winner half a piece, and the third and final game rewards a full pendant. In the event of a tie, a tiebreaker question would determine the winner (the rules are different in the first season, as a wrong answer resulted in the other team winning, while the second and third season changed it so the other team will have to answer. The winning moves on, while the losing team gets a consolation prize so they won't return empty-handed.
And at last, we have the Temple Run, where the team who comes out of the Temple Game triumphant get to go into the temple and attempt to recover the treasure of the day. This is not easy (and long after its cancellation, it was said it was made that way to prevent too many grand prize wins that would put the show over its budget). Olmec's Temple has many twists and turns, with each room having its own mechanism or stunt that the runners need to operate or get through to get to the next room. To make things more difficult to the brave runners, three Mayan Temple Guards are hiding in certain rooms, changing location in each episode, and once they pop out, the player has to give them their pendant of life to continue, but the second one will remove him, causing the second player to go into the temple. And this is where it hinges. If he has no pendant or half a pendant, if he or she gets caught by the third and final Temple Guard, then the round is over, and is immediately treated as a loss just like the three minute timer running out. However, for half pendant wielders, the other half will be hidden in a random room inside the temple, and if found, it will give said runner a full pendant, allowing him or her to stay in the temple. Here, three prizes are obtainable, one for entering the temple (the consolation prize), a second prize for reaching the treasure (a prize that is slightly better than the consolation prize) and the third prize for getting out of the temple with the treasure in hand within the time limit (which is usually a trip or week to NASA Space Camp).
So, yeah, that's the format. IMHO, it was a great idea. This show made the contestant use brains to answer questions and brawn for The Moat and Temple Games. Also, the temple had some good rooms, including my favorite, the Shrine Of The Silver Monkey (which nowadays, is treated like a meme due to some of the contestants having trouble putting a three-piece statue together, but they should cut them some slack. They are under a time limit, and seeing how far the shrine is from the temple entrance, and the fact they film five episodes at a time, segment by segment, the kids would be tired and won't have time to think how it goes).
Overall, it is a legendary game show, and one I would love to see bring back. It was already made into a TV movie, so I hope that could mean the game show will soon follow.
Hosted by Kirk Fogg and a talking stone idol named Olmec (played by voice actor Dee Bradley Baker),the show has six teams competing for a chance to go into the temple to look for the treasure of the day to win prizes. The first two rounds are basic elimination rounds: The first round, The Moat, has all six teams (each having two members each) doing a different stunt to get to the other side, and only the first four teams who get both members across will move on to the Steps Of Knowledge, a trivia game based on the story of the Treasure Of The Day (as I like to call it) told by Olmec himself. Speaking of the treasures, they are based on famous people, either historical or fictional, and some of them have events that never happened to make it more interesting (like Galileo's Cannonball being dropped on a sandwich, which ended up inventing pizza). Here, only the first two teams who get the end of the steps first move on, while the other teams gets consolation prizes (as do the two teams who lost The Moat, so no one goes away with only a sad tale of how they were shamefully eliminated on the first round).
The third round is the Temple Games, and this is where the variety kicks in. The remaining two teams compete against each other in three stunts, all made to fit with the story of the treasure. The two teams are playing for Pendants of Lives, which serve as a free hit in the Temple Run, where the first two games reward the winner half a piece, and the third and final game rewards a full pendant. In the event of a tie, a tiebreaker question would determine the winner (the rules are different in the first season, as a wrong answer resulted in the other team winning, while the second and third season changed it so the other team will have to answer. The winning moves on, while the losing team gets a consolation prize so they won't return empty-handed.
And at last, we have the Temple Run, where the team who comes out of the Temple Game triumphant get to go into the temple and attempt to recover the treasure of the day. This is not easy (and long after its cancellation, it was said it was made that way to prevent too many grand prize wins that would put the show over its budget). Olmec's Temple has many twists and turns, with each room having its own mechanism or stunt that the runners need to operate or get through to get to the next room. To make things more difficult to the brave runners, three Mayan Temple Guards are hiding in certain rooms, changing location in each episode, and once they pop out, the player has to give them their pendant of life to continue, but the second one will remove him, causing the second player to go into the temple. And this is where it hinges. If he has no pendant or half a pendant, if he or she gets caught by the third and final Temple Guard, then the round is over, and is immediately treated as a loss just like the three minute timer running out. However, for half pendant wielders, the other half will be hidden in a random room inside the temple, and if found, it will give said runner a full pendant, allowing him or her to stay in the temple. Here, three prizes are obtainable, one for entering the temple (the consolation prize), a second prize for reaching the treasure (a prize that is slightly better than the consolation prize) and the third prize for getting out of the temple with the treasure in hand within the time limit (which is usually a trip or week to NASA Space Camp).
So, yeah, that's the format. IMHO, it was a great idea. This show made the contestant use brains to answer questions and brawn for The Moat and Temple Games. Also, the temple had some good rooms, including my favorite, the Shrine Of The Silver Monkey (which nowadays, is treated like a meme due to some of the contestants having trouble putting a three-piece statue together, but they should cut them some slack. They are under a time limit, and seeing how far the shrine is from the temple entrance, and the fact they film five episodes at a time, segment by segment, the kids would be tired and won't have time to think how it goes).
Overall, it is a legendary game show, and one I would love to see bring back. It was already made into a TV movie, so I hope that could mean the game show will soon follow.