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« on: October 18, 2007, 12:05:32 PM »
I had to write a one to two page definition of my choice (mine came out to five). Of course, I chose Legends! Enjoy!
Legends of the Hidden the Hidden Temple was a live-action children?s game show that aired on Nickelodeon from 1993 to1995. The host of the game show was Kirk Fogg and was accompanied by a large animatronic talking stone-head named Olmec. Olmec was voiced by Dee Baker. The set was indoors and featured a large ancient jungle that contained a pool of water (The Moat), a set of steps with markings on them (The Steps of Knowledge), a large field (used to play The Temple Games), and a huge multi-storied labyrinth (The Hidden Temple). The show lasted for three years and in all, produced 120 episodes. Although the show stopped filming over twelve years ago, the Nickelodeon Games and Sports channel still airs Legends of the Hidden Temple among other Nickelodeon game shows.
The game featured six teams: the Red Jaguars, the Blue Barracudas, the Green Monkeys, the Orange Iguanas, the Purple Parrots, and the Sliver Snakes. A team consisted of two children, a boy and a girl, who were usually between the ages of ten and fourteen. Each episode was based around a certain artifact and the person or place involved with it. The legend could be about a true historical figure such as Harriet Tubman, a mythological figure such as Icarus, or rarely, a special location such as the Alhambra. Using these examples, the full legend titles would be: The Walking Stick of Harriet Tubman, The Broken Wing of Icarus, and The Keys to the Alhambra. Each team was competing for a chance to enter The Hidden Temple and retrieve the artifact that was hidden in one of twelve temple rooms. The game began with a prerecorded introduction, followed by the host, Kirk Fogg, entering the arena and welcoming the viewers. Next, he asked Olmec, the talking stone-head, what the legend of the day was. He concluded his introduction by introducing the teams by simply calling out their team name and asking Olmec if he was ready. This question was humorously answered usually with ?This rock is ready to roll!?
All six teams competed in the first round called the Moat. The Moat was a pool of water the teams had to cross. After both contestants crossed, they would have to ring a gong (which was a pedestal with a button on top). There were many different ways the contestants crossed, but most challenges required strength (such as hanging on to one rope and pulling themselves across) or balance (such as jumping onto unsteady floating ?icebergs.? Usually if a team member touched the water, they would be sent back to the start. Most moat crossings required the team members to cross one at a time, but some relied on team work. The first four teams to ring their gongs were sent to the next round; the two who didn?t make it were sent home with a consolation prize.
The second round was the Steps of Knowledge. Here, contestants would have to listen to the legend and answer questions about it. Kirk gave a quick introduction then Olmec would recite the legend while the four remaining who were standing on the top step listened to it. The very detailed recitation lasted about a minute. After Olmec was finished, Kirk would ask him where inside the temple the artifact was located. Olmec would give his response, and the questions would begin. Olmec would read a question with three answer choices. At any time during a question, a team member could buzz in by stomping on an ?ancient marking? on the floor. The step would light up and make a sound and then the team who buzzed in would have three seconds to come up with their answer. If they were correct, they would move down to the next step, but if they were wrong or ran out of time, the other teams would have a chance to answer. The first few questions were fairly obvious because they asked about the major points of the legend. As the round continued, the questions got more and more obscure. Sometimes, a question would be asked that wasn?t told in the legend but instead be about other historical people at the time or the geographical location of the legend. Such questions were found at the end of the round. The first two teams to make it to the bottom step (3 correct answers) would move on to the next round. The other two teams would be sent home with consolation prizes.
The third round was the Temple Games. Here, the two remaining teams would vie in three physical challenges to win ?Pendants of Life.? Kirk would introduce the round and interview the 4 remaining contestants. This interview consisted of asking the team members names and interests. After the interview, Kirk would send the teams off to get set up for the games. The first two games pitted one kid from each team against one another, and the third temple game had both kids from each team against each other. Over the three seasons, there were countless games. The goal was usually either to collect as many items as possible while repeating the same task over again or getting the highest score. Most season one episodes contained games that had contestants climbing up slippery ramps with bungee cords attached to them and climbing walls or shafts to retrieve items. In the second and third seasons, the temple games were much more varied and are too detailed to describe here. Almost every game had a 60 second time limit, but a few games were untimed. The first two games were worth a half Pendant of Life each and the final, team game was worth a full pendant. A few episodes had ties, and when one happened, the ?Tiebreaker Pedestal? was brought out. To break the tie, a final question about the legend was read and the first team to buzz-in and give the correct answer would move on to the temple. As usual, the team who lost would be sent home a consolation prize.
The final round had the winning team taking their earned pendants (1, 1 ?, or 2) and entering Olmec?s Temple to going after the artifact hidden in the room told by Olmec during the temple games. Kirk would give an introduction that was the same for each episode:Welcome back to Legends! The (team name) have proven themselves worthy to enter Olmec?s temple and Olmec will give them some valuable information how they can retrieve (artifacts name).
Olmec would then begin his detailed description of the temple which included how to complete each room?s objective. The temple consisted of twelve rooms in a six rooms long and two rooms high layout. The exceptions were the center of the temple which was three rooms high and room to the right of it was always a one room sort of pit. When Olmec finished his description, either Kirk (season 1) or Olmec (seasons 2 and 3) would give the rules of the temple. The team could choose who went first and he first contestant to enter was given a full pendant, and the second to enter was given whatever was left over (0, ?, or 1 pendants). These pendants were for the three temple guards that were hidden in three different rooms. If the first contestant was caught, he would give up his only pendant. If he was caught a second time, he would be taken out of the temple then the second team member would enter. If she had a full pendant, the third temple guard would be of no worry, but if she entered with only a half-pendant or none at all, then the appearance of the third temple guard would end the run. In the half-pendant case, the other half would be hidden in the temple, and would give a full life if found. Nearly every run had the first contestant being taken out by two temple guards, but a few times the first contestant would make it to the artifact solo. On top of the temple guards, there was a extremely short time limit- the team would have only three minutes to get to the artifact and bring it back out of the temple. After Kirk gave an ?On your mark, get set, go!? the first contestant would race into the temple. The entrance of the temple was on the far right, and the contestants moved leftward. Each room of the temple had an objective that had to be completed before the contestant could move on. After this was done, a door opening noise sounded and a sliding door flew aside. In the first season, many of the rooms only required the contestants to press an actuator (a red button) on the side of the door for it to open. However, this simple action was made more complicated by the rooms that objective was used in. For example, one room that featured a hit the actuator objective was the Bamboo Forest. Contestants would have to struggle through the simulated bamboo to make it to the other side. Because of the simplicity of the rooms, the production staff was able to change the rooms frequently. In the other two seasons the rooms required much more difficult objectives such as ?The King?s Storeroom? where the contestants would have to smash pots to find keys hidden inside then place the key in the correct pedestal. The only room that stayed the same for all three seasons was the ?Shrine of the Silver Monkey? where contestants would have to assemble a three piece ?silver? monkey whose parts (the base, the belly, and the head) were spread across the room. Surprisingly, despite the difficulty increase of the rooms, the difficulty of the entire temple run stayed consistent. This was because season one runs generally had longer paths to the artifacts, contained more dead ends, and had temple guards appearing much later into the run (therefore giving the second contestant much less time). If a contestant managed to reach the artifact, all the doors would instantly unlock, and the temple guards would vanish. If they brought the artifact out before the time expired, they would a vacation, if they were unsuccessful, they would be sent home with consolation prizes. Winning was fairly rare; only 32 out the 120 episodes ended in a victory.
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