DefunctTV: The History of Legends of the Hidden Temple

[Music] [Music] on April 22nd 1993 the US Congress announced its plans to increase the oversight of the Federal Communications Commission the regulator of television programming many legislators were concerned that the agency was not doing enough to curtail violence seen by children on network TV a year prior in 1992 the American Psychological Association had released a report estimating that a child would witness 100,000 acts of violence an eight thousand murders on television by the age of 10 this led to an outcry from parents and citizens concerned about the consequences of such media and many psychologists began speculating whether the children watching the violence would eventually replicate the behavior this was bad news for the major American networks but great news for Nickelodeon launching is pinwheel in 1977 before being given its recognizable name in 1979 Nickelodeon was the first cable channel dedicated to children's programming the network struggled for the first years of its existence but found its stride in the mid-80s by airing shows such as you can't do that on television and producing the first children's game show double dare Nickelodeon increases production output and in 1989 the network began producing the majority of its shows in a newly built studio within the soon to open Universal Studios Florida Park by 1993 Nickelodeon was the most popular children's television network with game shows accounting for a large portion of the channels productions after concerns were raised over the amount of violence on television more parents began to migrate their kids to Nickelodeon and other children's networks and more advertisers were beginning to realize how lucrative a pool of highly suggestible grade schoolers was this perfect storm resulted in the golden era of children's programming and on September 11th 1993 Nickelodeon will begin airing what would become the most memorable game show that they would produce legends of the Hidden Temple legends of the Hidden Temple was described as a combination of Indiana Jones in jeopardy with some American Gladiators influence as well the show is advertised as the first game show that lets kids live out legendary adventures Selina goober a children's marketing expert predicted the show success based off of the premise alone kids love game shows they love anything related to testing their own abilities they love to see kids winning prizes they love to see kids their own age interact with other kids and obviously they love to have fun so if this show has all the ingredients it will be successful legends of the Hidden Temple was produced by Stone Stanley productions the show is hosted by a then-unknown actor named Kirk Fogg and a talking stone head named Olmec voiced and puppeteer by Dee Bradley Baker a voice actor with a long resume of animated shows the game was separated into four parts with six teams of two competing for the grand prize the team name stayed the same for each episode these were the red Jaguars the blue barracudas the green monkeys the orange iguanas the purple parrots and the silver snakes each team comprised of one boy and one girl between the ages of 11 and 15 after the intro Olmec would introduce Kirk who would then quickly explain the premise of the show before asking Olmec what today's legend was each show had a different story that would serve as the episodes title and theme it would also be used throughout the different levels of gameplay during the intro Olmec would give the title detail to come this included the name of a historical or fictional figure and an object of some kind some of these were classic tales while others were a bit more obscure the mention of the royal torque of Queen Valencia of mystical spoke of the Imperial wizard your quest is to find the walking stick of Harriet Tubman and bring it back here the first challenge was the moat each team was tasked with crossing a small pool by specific means this could require swinging on a rope using a raft crossing a bridge or whatever else the production team could come up with each team would typically have their own Wrangler on the other side of the moat making sure that they were navigating the challenge safely and fairly this often resulted in the kids having to go back into the water to start over once both teams were across they could then press their button and ring their gong the first four teams to do this successfully moved on to the next round while the other two teams were eliminated and sent home with a consolation prize a savings bond from her.she her.she soup or chocolate milk mix people are packing light refreshing Starkist tuna it pitas salads and subs [Music] the next round was the steps of knowledge here o MEK would tell the episode's legend with the kids listening carefully to the story once he was done it would be quizzed over the information they were just given the answers were multiple choice and the teams rang in by pressing their foot on a stone on their step they were not required to wait until all the options were read which could lead to some pretty awkward moments which if these people fought the Trojans in the Trojan War the Romans ever snakes incorrect the team answered a question correctly they would move down to the next step if they didn't the other teams were given an opportunity to answer and there was no punishment for guessing wrong the first two teams to answer three questions correctly moved on to the next round while the other two were eliminated and awarded with slightly more exciting consolation prizes India Genesis puppies the most comfortable shoes in the whole wide world when you strap on after a commercial break the show will come back to Kirk and the remaining two teams before the next round of challenges Kirk would interview the four players typically asking their name age and sometimes a fun fact about themselves this was the peak of the show's awkwardness and I heard you liked to dance yes well I take jazz tap and ballet oh really would you like to tap for us right now thank you okay picture for uh what team for the Yankees really not the New York Yankees okay not yet I sing in my school chorus and I also went to AA state chorus this past spring right and what do you like to sing Madonna in chorus No alright the temple games were a series of three one-minute challenges in which the teams would compete for the pendants of life these were typically a test of speed agility and or prepubescent upper-body strength they were all themed after the show's legend and the type of challenge varied the tough part about this game is getting whoa three monkeys [Applause] the first two games were each worth 1/2 pendant with the final game being worth 1 pendant the team with the most pennants at the end of the three games moved on while the other would be eliminated and rewarded a consolation prize if the teams tied both earning one full pendant a final multiple-choice question over the episode's legend was served as a tiebreaker after another commercial break the team deemed worthy of entering the temple was introduced to the final round the temple run this was an extremely difficult maze of rooms filled with physical obstacles puzzles and traps before this final round would begin Olmec would explain the various parts of the maze to the kids in the simplest way possible you could start by climbing through the ledges and climbing down into the pit of despair [Music] loser and you could choose to go up to Medusa's lair into the Justice Court turn the wheel to lift the stone slab then race into the throne room sit on the throne of the Pretender and your choose to go up in beam of the fallen into the treacherous all laws of python to the minus key race down the stairs and back the temple gate the choices are yours and yours alone the team decides which player will start the run the first player to enter is given one full pendant in the second has given any of the remaining pendants wandering the temple games these were used if and more likely when a player would encounter a temple guard a grown adult dressed in costume and wearing a mask hiding in various rooms in the temple in preparation for the child to arrive there were three throughout the temple and if a player encountered one it would have to give up their pendant if the player was caught a second time they would be escorted out of the temple by the guard and their teammate would begin their run the second player would have either zero one half or one full pendant depending on their team's performance in the temple games if they had one half the second part would be hidden in the temple and the player would need to find it on their way to the artifact in case they encountered a guard as only a full pendant would allow them to continue in a scenario where the second player was caught with zero or one half pendant the team will lose and the game would end the guards terrified some kids and many cried after an during them apart from the temple guards the team only had three minutes to find the artifact and make it out through the temple gates each room had a fairly simple task necessary to open the door but to make it even more difficult some of the doors were permanently locked causing some path through the temple to result in dead ends during the show's run there were 15 different temple layouts and nearly 50 different rooms examples of these rooms were the observatory in which the player would turn a sundial in order to open a door the wall climb in which the player would have to use ropes to climb a wall and hit a button to open a door the mine shaft where players could take an elevator up break through a rock wall or find a button and the infamous shrine of the silver monkey this room made its way into every temple layout and despite the puzzle only being three pieces and never changing over the show's run the kids had an incredibly difficult time putting it together [Music] now he's got the head he's gonna get on [Music] after grabbing the artifact all the doors to the temple unlocked and the guards disappeared the only thing left of the contestant to do was run out of the temple as fast as they could in an attempt to beat the clock if they were successful they won the grand prize which included a few small prizes and a vacation if they were unsuccessful they won a lesser but decent prize like the majority of the other shows on the channel at the time the show was shot at Nickelodeon studios in Universal Studios Florida the kids were chosen through auditions most coming from in and around Orlando Florida the children were put through physical tests history tests and interviews the contestants were supposed to be between the ages of 11 and 14 but some that auditioned his 14-year olds were 15 by the time of filming after being selected in giving a filming date the children would arrive to the Universal Studios backlot the kids were separated from their parents both taken to their own waiting rooms the parents would remain in this room equipped with monitors so that they could watch their child compete but removed from the main studio space as to not influence or distract their contestant the kids were given their team teacher and a pair of sneakers both of which they would keep at the end of the day the waiting room for the contestants was filled with video games and toys to keep the kids occupied as it was typically four or five episodes shot simultaneously each episodes teams would complete each challenge before the crew and move on to the next round and set-piece for example if a contestant were in the first episode to be shot on the day of filming they would first cross the moat then return to the holding room and wait for the other four episodes to shoot their moat scene they would then return to the studio and shoot the steps of knowledge and then go back to the holding room to wait for the other four episodes to shoot their steps of knowledge and so on and so on this would result in one or two hours between rounds for each group which is why the contestants appeared to dry instantly between the MOE and the steps of knowledge the first day of filming for season 1 was done with little preparation resulting in a 12 hour shoot the moat section was typically edited down to a few minutes in post but it often took between five and 10 minutes to shoot and on very rare occasions it took the kids half an hour to fully cross the moat was also filled with warm water and not very deep Olmecs story relating to the artifact would be told to the contestants backstage to the shooting of the steps of knowledge this was to increase their chances of answering the questions correctly the teams that made it to the end would also be given a tour of the temple run with explanations of each room and the ways in which to unlock it the temple run was made purposefully difficult and only 26.7% of teams that attempted it succeeded this was supposedly due to the limited amount of Grand Prizes that the studio and sponsors were willing to give out thanks to highly detailed fan sites many statistics about the teams and their performances have been calculated notable findings are that the orange iguanas were the team that made it to the temple run the most appearing 25 times out of the show's 120 episodes the purple parrots appeared the least only making it to the temple 11 times the team also had the least amount of successful temple runs owing completing three during the entirety of the show while the orange iguanas made it to the temple run the most they were the second worst at completing it only making it through with the artifact four of the 25 attempts the green monkeys and the silver snakes were tied for the most successful temple runs both having completed the course eight times the first season of the show was shot in around 10 days with a total of 40 episodes being produced one or more episodes would air per week throughout the remainder of 1993 and until May of 1994 a second season was quickly ordered and produced while season 1 was airing and the first episode of season 2 would premiere just days after the final episode of season 1 likewise season 3 would begin airing days after the end of season 2 as there were many different versions of the temple run the more significant changes such as entire rooms being swapped out would occur between seasons also slight format changes would occur from season to season such as what would be introduced by Kirk and what would be introduced by Olmec the third season would be the show's last with the final episode airing on June 27 1995 legends of the Hidden Temple was a hugely popular show and many were surprised by its cancellation or more accurately its non-renewal the show produced a total of 120 episodes so Nickelodeon had plenty of material to air the non-renewal was reportedly due to indifference from executives and the channel standard practice at the time of only producing shows for a few seasons regardless of their popularity legends would continue to air and reruns on Nickelodeon until early 1999 when it would move to Nickelodeon's new sister channel Nick gas short for Nickelodeon games and sports for kids legends along with other Nickelodeon game shows exclusively on this channel until it's shutdown on December 31st 2007 however since the channel had been fully automated in its later years a glitch caused DISH Network subscribers to be able to view the channel and its programming until April 23rd 2009 legends would also aired during Nickelodeon's naked night programming block typically early in the morning the show disappeared from television after 2009 but quickly reappeared in October of 2011 with reruns of legends of the Hidden Temple airing on Nickelodeon sister network TeenNick as part of its the 90s are all that throwback programming block reruns continued to air irregularly on the channel over 20 years after it was canceled a television film based on legends of the Hidden Temple was produced for Nickelodeon using the same name as the show the film told the story of three kids traveling to a hidden temple theme park eventually getting trapped inside a real temple and swept into an adventure both Kirk Fogg and Dee Bradley Baker returned with Fogg playing a fictional version of himself and Baker reprising Olmec the film has many references to its gameshow source material such as the steps of knowledge temple guards dependence of life the shrine of the silver monkey the team names appearing in many forms and much more the film premiered on Nickelodeon on November 26 2016 legends of the Hidden Temple was peak 90s Nickelodeon it was a game show played by kids watched by kids and appeared as though it was created by kids the Indiana Jones asks theming large set pieces and complicated obstacles felt like something a child would imagine which was exactly the kind of content the Nickelodeon was hoping to produce thanks to the show's elaborate theming and deep lore legends had the biggest fan base of any game show on the channel and the community is still alive and well while it is hard to say goodbye to a beloved show let alone an entire era of television it can't be as difficult as the shrine of the silver monkey come on now it just goes on it's not out nope no other way [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Defunctland

Views: 2,212,806

Keywords: defunctland, kevin perjurer, theme park, extinct, abandoned, defunct, history, disney, disneyland, disney world, previous, attractions, on ride, lights on, legends of the hidden temple, kirk fogg, defuncttv, nickelodeon, 90's nickelodeon, nickelodeon games and sports for kids, full episodes, nickelodeon tv shows, nickelodeon 90's tv shows, olmec, shrine of the silver monkey, legends of the hidden temple history, behind the scenes, television history

Id: US-WKYA89Ig

Length: 17min 1sec (1021 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 17 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/dont_be_that_guy_29]

When the temple explaining music came on I was instantly transported back to 1995.

[u/mooseofdoom23]

I miss Nick GaS

[u/Piranhamonkey]

Whenever we do bar trivia we are ALWAYS the blue barracudas

[u/AgentTBone]

Defunctland is literally always my go to with meal time videos.

[u/[deleted]]

Defunctland is a great channel. Check out his other videos.

[u/xereeto]

There was a game show like this I used to watch as a kid, it involved little statuettes - possibly of monkeys. The statues were silver but there was one special statue that was a different colour and I think the statues got consumed in the final challenge somehow. There was also this weird thing where if a kid didn't get out on time they became trapped inside the maze or something, that part used to scare me a bit because I thought it was real lol.

I can't remember what channel it was on but I think it was British. CITV maybe?

[u/internetosaurus]

If I had been on the show I probably would have fucked it up too, but I definitely remember yelling at the TV when yet another dumbass would fail to correctly assemble the shrine of the silver monkey.

[u/Neverend3r]

Highly recommend this channel! A lot of great stories

[u/Dawgs919]

This is one of my favorite YouTube channels. Check out their Between the lions video as well.