Legends of the Hidden Temple
Legends of the Hidden Temple was a physical challenge game show hosted by Kirk Fogg that aired on Nickelodeon from 1993–1995.
The show was produced by Nickelodeon in association with Stone Stanley Productions. Each episode featured six teams of two children (one boy and one girl) competing for prizes. The show incorporated physical stunts, as well as questions based on topics related to history and geography.
Theming and premise
The set design resembled various ancient Central American iconographies, especially Mayan and to some extent Aztec. It included areas for different types of physical challenges: a large pool of water (The Moat), a set of steps (The Steps of Knowledge), and a large, two-floor vertical labyrinth (The Hidden Temple) in the back of the stage. At the labyrinth's gate was a giant animatronic talking Olmec head simply named Olmec (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker). Every episode had a theme: a particular legend was picked (written), regarding a certain artifact from around the world that found its way to the Temple (actually a replica of the actual artifact), and the winning team had to retrieve it. Some artifacts included "Lawrence of Arabia's Headdress," "The Walking Stick of Harriet Tubman," and "The Jewel-Encrusted Egg of Catherine the Great". The physical challenges would then be loosely themed after the legend.
[edit] Main game
[edit] Teams
In each game, six teams of two members each competed in three rounds to get to the temple. Each team was designated a color and an animal, indicated on their uniform shirts:
Red Jaguars
Blue Barracudas
Green Monkeys
Orange Iguanas
Purple Parrots
Silver Snakes
[edit] Round 1: The Moat
Round 1
The first round of the show involved a stunt where the six teams had to get across a small swimming pool known as the "moat". Some of the commonly used methods included rafts, ropes, and bridges. All six teams attempted to get both members across according to the rules and punch a button, thus setting off the team's "gong". Typically, if a team member fell in the water, that partner (or occasionally both teammates) would have to go back and try again until they could get across. The first four teams to hit their gongs would move on to round two.
[edit] Round 2: The Steps of Knowledge
Round 2
To start round two, Olmec told a story about the artifact of the day. The story was always quite detailed and after it was told, Olmec asked the teams a series of questions to test their memories. A team that knew the answer buzzed in by hitting the button on their step with their feet (if Olmec was still in the middle of asking the question, he would stop talking immediately). Each multiple-choice question had three possible answers. If the team answered correctly, they moved down to the next level. If a team answered incorrectly or went too long without an answer (approximately 4 seconds), the other teams would have a chance to answer. A question would be replaced if two of its three choices were eliminated by an incorrect answer. The first two teams to step down to the bottom level by answering three questions correctly moved on to the next round.
[edit] Round 3: The Temple Games
Physical challenges employed on Legends were many and varied. The first season featured more of an emphasis on teams climbing/crossing ramps to retrieve objects, while hindered by bungee cords attached to them. Most times the ramps were covered with soap or water to make it more difficult. The second and third seasons introduced more physical activities such as climbing, riding moving or spinning objects, or spinning a giant wheel. Temple Game challenges were either not timed or lasted for a maximum of 60 seconds (ending either when time expired or when a team completed the objective). After each challenge, the winning team (the team who completed the objective first, or, failing that, the team who made the most progress) was awarded some portion of a protective Pendant of Life. The first two challenges awarded a half-pendant each, and the final challenge awarded a full pendant. If a Temple Game ended in a tie, both teams were awarded the pendant value of that game. After these rounds, the team with the greater number of pendants went on to the final round. The first two Temple Games were one-on-one, and were not restricted to gender, meaning that both individual Temple Games could be (and occasionally were) boy-versus-girl. Both members of both teams took part in the final Temple Game.
In the event of a tie concerning the number of pendants each team was awarded, Fogg (or, later in seasons 2 and 3, Olmec) asked a tiebreaker question to determine the winner. A "tiebreaker pedestal" was brought out, and the first team to hit the button on top of their gong earned the chance to answer the question. A correct answer would allow the team to go to the Temple. In Season 1, an incorrect answer would automatically award the other team passage to the Temple, but in later seasons, the other team would simply get an opportunity to answer the question correctly.
[edit] Round 4: The Temple
A contestant assembling the Silver Monkey.
In the final round, often known as the Temple Run, the winning team took whatever Pendants of Life they had into the temple, and attempted to retrieve the day's ancient artifact and bring it to back to the temple gate successfully. A player designated to go into the temple first would receive one pendant, and the second player would receive the remainder of what the team had won in the temple games.
The temple consisted of 12 or 13 rooms, depending on the layout, each connected to adjacent rooms by randomly locked or unlocked doorways. These unlocked doors could be opened either by completing a specific task or puzzle within each room, or by simply pressing a button on the wall near the door (known as an "actuator"). One room in the labyrinth contained the themed artifact; three rooms other than the artifact room held Temple Guards (spotters in lavish Mayan sentinel costumes). If the winning team had 1½ pendants, the remaining half-pendant would be in a room as well. If the room with the artifact was close to the entrance, then doors were often locked so that contestants were forced to take a longer route.
When a player encountered a Temple Guard, the player was forced to give up a full pendant in order to continue or, if caught without a pendant, be removed from the temple. The second player now had the chance to enter, with all opened doors remaining such. Further, each Temple Guard would only show himself once per run, leaving the second player with a clear route to where the first player was eliminated. If the second player did not have a full Pendant upon capture, the run would end at that moment. This placed pressure on the second player to search for the hidden half pendant to avoid such a situation. If a team only won one Pendant in the Temple Games, the second player would have no Pendant, and there would not be any portion of another Pendant hidden in the Temple.
The team had three minutes to complete the temple in its entirety. If either player reached the artifact (being defined as actually grabbing onto the artifact, instead of merely being in the same room with it), all remaining Guards disappeared and all locked doors instantly opened, allowing the player to escape unhindered. Just for getting into the temple, the team would win a prize. If they retrieved the artifact, they would win another prize of slightly higher value. If they escaped with the artifact before time ran out, they would win a vacation, often to another country.
[edit] Temple Layouts
[edit] Season 1
(Rooms listed starting with the upper-right room and going in a counter-clockwise direction)
Layout 1
Layout 2
Layout 3
Layout 4
Layout 5
Layout 6
Layout 7
Layout 8
Layout 9
The Room of the Three Gargoyles
The Room of the Royal Gongs
The Wall Climb
The Wheel Room/The Troubled Bridge
The Observatory- "sundial" (S1, 1–7)
The Observatory- "celestial lights" (S1, 8–9)
The Heart Room
The Room of Fallen Columns
The Room of the Golden Idols
The Treasure Room
The Treasury of Golden Orbs
The Shrine of the Silver Monkey
The Torch Room
The Pirates' Cove
The Room of Three Torches
The Mine Shaft
The Dungeon
The Well Room
The Tomb of Ancient Kings
Treacherous Swamp
The Spider's Lair
Treacherous Swamp
The Bamboo Forest
The Holes of Python
The Throne Room (S1)
The Room of Harmonic Convergence
The Throne Room (S1)
The Cave of Sighs[1]
The Room of the Three Gargoyles: In this room, the player needed to push in the correct tongue of the three gargoyles to advance in the temple.
The Room of the Royal Gongs: In this room, the player needed to push in the correct base of the three gongs to advance in the temple.
The Wall Climb/The Pit of Despair: Players have a choice of climbing the walls, or just crawling through the pit, the hit an actuator. Several ropes were added later in the season to assist contestants.
The Pit of Despair (The Wheel Room) / The Troubled Bridge: If the player came from the bottom, he or she was required to turn a wheel to raise a stone slab covering the door and its actuator. At the top of the room was a bridge connecting the two doors and their actuators that partitioned the room into two pieces inaccessible from one another.
The Observatory (S1, 1–7): In this room, the player needed to spin a centrally-placed sundial to open the door(s).
The Observatory (S1, 8–9): In this room, the player needed to spin the central celestial lights to open the door(s).
The Heart Room: In this room, the player needed only to hit an actuator of the corresponding door to go through it.
The Room of Fallen Columns: Similar to the Heart Room, except that several large columns were strewn around the room to slow down contestants.
The Room of the Golden Idols: By pushing down on the base of the golden idols at the front of the room, the downward door(s) could open. No contestant in the show's history ever completed this objective. Otherwise, players only needed to hit an actuator to open its corresponding side door.
The Treasure Room: Players entering this room had a choice of opening the treasure chest and climbing down through it, if unlocked, or hitting actuators to open their corresponding side doors.
The Treasury of Golden Orbs: In this room, players needed to place a golden orb in one of three pedestals at the center of the room. If they had placed it in the correct pedestal, a door would open.
The Shrine of the Silver Monkey: Contestants were required to retrieve and correctly assemble three pieces of a monkey statue. The statue contained a base, a torso, and the head with a long vertical pole. The pieces needed to be assembled in this specific order. After assembling the silver monkey statue at the front of the room and pushing it down into the podium, a door would open.
The Pirates' Cove: After a player entered this room from the Dungeon, he or she would need to take a torch placed on the outside walls of the room, and place it in one of three torch holders at the front of the room. After doing so, the door to the right would open. If the player entered from the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, he or she would need to spin the central ship's wheel to raise a rock slab covering the Dungeon ladder.
The Torch Room/The Room of Three Torches: After a player entered this room from the Well or the Mine Shaft, he or she would need to take a torch placed on the outside walls of the room, and place it in one of three torch holders at the front of the room. After doing so, the door to the right would open. If the player entered from the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, he or she would only need to ride the elevator downwards into the Well or the Mine Shaft.
The Mine Shaft: If the player rode the elevator down to the room, they could take the ladder up to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, or bash through the wall and head to the Tomb of the Ancient Kings. If they entered from the Tomb of Ancient Kings, they could ride the elevator up to the Torch Room, if it was available, or take the ladder up to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey.
The Dungeon: If the player came from the Pirates' Cove, they could take the ladder up to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, or bash through the wall and head to the Tomb of Ancient Kings. If they entered from the Tomb of Ancient Kings, they could take the ladder up to the Pirate's Cove, or take the other ladder up to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey.
The Well: If the player rode the bucket down to the room, they could take the ladder up to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, or bash through the wall and head to the Tomb of Ancient Kings. If they entered from the Tomb of Ancient Kings, they could ride the bucket up to the Room of the Three Torches, if it was available.
The Tomb of Ancient Kings: If the player entered this room from the Mine Shaft, the Well, or the Dungeon, he or she would take a key found in the coffin at the center of the room and proceed either upward or to the right. If the player entered from The Swamp, The Spider's Lair, The Bamboo Forest, or The Holes of Python, he or she could either bash through the wall to The Mine Shaft, The Well, or The Dungeon, or find the key to go upwards into The Shrine of the Silver Monkey.
Treacherous Swamp: The Swamp was filled with lots of aged netting. Players hit actuators to open their corresponding doors.
The Spider's Lair: after the players navigated the spider web, they could hit actuators and open their corresponding doors.
The Bamboo Forest: The Bamboo Forest was filled with long bamboo rods. After making his or her way through the room, the player could hit an actuator and progress through one of the doors.
The Holes of Python: The Holes of Python was a large room that featured wooden partitions extending from the front of the room to the back, and each had one or more holes carved into them. After making his or her way through the room, the player would hit an actuator to open a door.
The Throne Room (S1): In the Throne Room, the player needed to press the "Throne of the Pretender" placed at the front of the room, usually done by sitting on it, to open any doors.
The Room of Harmonic Convergence: In the Room of Harmonic Convergence, five red floor markings were placed around a central ladder. The player would have to press down on the correct two steps out of the five embedded in the ground to open the door(s).
The Cave of Sighs[1]: The Cave of Sighs was a room of different ledges that the player had to navigate.
[edit] Season 2
(Rooms listed starting with the upper-right room and going in a counter-clockwise direction)
Layout 1
Layout 2
Layout 3
Layout 4
Layout 5
The Crypt
The Pit of Despair
The Rock Quarry/The Troubled Bridge
The Pit
The Observatory (S2)
The Heart Room
Medusa's Lair
The Room of the Mandarin Hand
The King's Storeroom (S2)
The Shrine of the Silver Monkey
The Vipers' Nest
The Lightning (Ball) Room
The Room of the Secret Password
The Mine Shaft
The Dark Forest
Treacherous Swamp
The Jesters' Court
The Throne Room (S2)
The Laser Light Room
The Ledges
The Crypt: Three skeletons were placed at the edges of the room. By pulling the correct book from one of the skeletons, a door would open.
The Pit of Despair: As the name implies, the Pit of Despair was a large pit. In this room, the player would need to climb the outer walls in order to hit one of two actuators, or remain at the ground level and continue to the room on the left.
The Rock Quarry / The Troubled Bridge: This room was divided into two halves. When the player entered from either the Crypt or the Observatory he or she would only need to hit an actuator at the opposite side of the bridge to open the door. If the player entered from the Ledges, he or she would need to put five rocks into a large bucket to lift the stone slab covering the door to the Laser Light Room.
The Pit: The Pit was a very simple room. There were two rock slabs on either side of the room, with a rope hanging from the ceiling in the center. The contestant only needed to swing across the chasm to hit an actuator, and the corresponding door could open.
The Observatory (S2): In the Observatory, a stone column was placed at the front of the room. To open the door(s), the column needed to be arranged so that it formed a complete picture.
Medusa's Lair: A small "Medusa head" was placed at the front of the room. In order to open the door(s), the player had to place a number of snakes in Medusa's head. In earlier episodes players had to put four snakes into Medusa's head, but this was later reduced to two.
The Room of the Mandarin Hand: A large hand was placed at the center of this room, holding a globe with its thumb. The players needed to push the fingers of the hand around the globe to open the doors.
The King's Storeroom (S2): In this room, a pot was placed on each of three pedestals at the center of the room. The player entering this room needed to break open the pots in search of a key, and then place the key in the correct pedestal to open the door(s).
The Vipers' Nest: After a player entered this room from the Mine Shaft, he or she would need to open the pots placed at the front of the room, each containing rubber snakes. Once the player opened the wrong jar, the snakes would jump out of it, but the snake in the correct jar would not move. Once the unmoving snake is pulled out of its jar, the door to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey would open. This objective was rarely completed. If the player entered from the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, he or she would only need to ride the elevator downwards into the Mine Shaft.
The Lightning (Ball) Room: This room was rarely entered, but in here the player needed to connect four power cords into the pedestal holding the central "lightning ball" to "create their own lightning" and open the Shrine door. However, if they entered from the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, they could simply ride the elevator downwards.
The Room of the Secret Password: If the player entered from the Mine Shaft, he or she would need to open the cabinets placed on the outer walls, and shout out the inscription which was written inside the cabinet. (The four inscriptions were "Kilmar Niki," "Klaatu Barada Nikto," "Long live Olmec," and "Open Sesame.") If it was the correct passage, then the door to the right could open. If the player entered from the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, he or she would only need to ride the elevator downwards into the Mine Shaft.
The Mine Shaft: If the player rode the elevator down to the room, they could take the ladder up to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, or bash through the wall and head to the Dark Forest. If they entered from the Dark Forest, they could ride the elevator up to The Vipers' Nest, The Lightning Ball Room, or The Room of the Secret Password, or take the ladder up to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey.
The Dark Forest: This room featured two large trees with long arms and holes in their trunks. The player that entered this room would look for a key in the holes of the trees. If they were unsuccessful, they could run through a breakaway stone wall to enter the Mine Shaft. In this room, the trees would sometimes grab the player with their arms, indicating that it was "possessed" by the spirit of a Temple Guard and needed to be paid with a Pendant of Life.
The Jesters' Court: In the Jesters' Court, players needed to align themselves with three wall paintings, while pressing three actuators. If they had aligned themselves with the correct painting, the doors would open.
The Throne Room (S2): The Throne of the Pretender was placed on a reversible wall that blocked access to the left. The players sat upon the throne and pushed down on two actuators placed on the armrests to swing around the wall, allowing access to open doors.
The Laser Light Room: In the center of this room, eight square tiles were placed on a wall, each covering a "laser". The player that entered this room would need to pull the tiles down to unleash the special white laser, which was the one and only among the other red lasers.
The Ledges: As the name implies, the Ledges was simply a series of ledges that the player had to climb through. Beginning in this season, contestants could no longer enter this room from the front, but had to pass behind Olmec or enter from the room above.
[edit] Season 3
(Rooms listed starting with the upper-right room and going in a counter-clockwise direction)
Layout 1
The Crypt
The Pit of The Pendulum
The King's Storeroom (S3)
The Chamber of the Sacred Markers
The Room of the Ancient Warriors
The Shrine of the Silver Monkey
The Room of the Secret Password
The Pharaoh's Secret Passage
The Quicksand Bog
The Dark Forest
The Jesters' Court
The Tomb of the Headless Kings
The Ledges
The King's Storeroom (S3): In this room, a pot was placed on each of three pedestals, at the center of the room. The player entering this room needed to break open the pots in search of a key, and then place the key in the hole of the correct pedestal to open the door(s).
The Chamber of the Sacred Markers: On the left side of the central ladder was a certain sequence of markers, and on the right was that same sequence of markers, with a few missing. Players entering this room had to find the missing markers on the outer walls of the room, and place them in their correct positions to open a door.
The Room of the Ancient Warriors: Three sets of armor were placed at the back of the room. In here, the player needed to place him or herself into the armor, and pull two levers downward. If they had done so with the correct set of armor, the door would open. If a Temple Guard was in the room, it would hide behind one of the sets of armor and grab the player when they climbed into that same set of armor.
The Pharaoh's Secret Passage: The Pharaoh's Secret Passage was nothing more than a narrow tunnel-slide connecting the Room of the Secret Password with the Quicksand Bog.
The Quicksand Bog: In the Quicksand Bog, players had the options of going up into the Room of the Secret Password, up into the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, or bashing through the wall and into the Dark Forest.
The Jesters' Court: In the Jesters' Court, players needed to align themselves with one of three wall paintings, simultaneously pressing three actuators hidden in the painting. If they had aligned themselves with the correct painting, a door would open. Unlike in Season 2, players could no longer climb upward after completing the objective, since all doors connecting the Room of the Ancient Warriors to the Jester's Court had been covered up in Season 3.
The Tomb of the Headless Kings: Two skeletons of kings with no heads were placed at the center of the room, surrounded by vines that hung from the ceiling. In here, players needed to pull the vines to release bones, in search for the skull. After finding the skull the players then needed to place it on the correct king to continue.
[edit] Trivia
This article contains a trivia section.Content in this section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article or removed, and the trivia section removed.
Legends of the Hidden Temple won a CableACE award for Best Game Show Series in 1995 [1].
The show was taped in Soundstage 18 of Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
Many temple runs in Season 3 were taped without an audience. This was because usually four episodes were taped a day, and all segments were done at once. That is, all moat rounds were taped, then all Steps of Knowledge rounds, then all Temple Games, then all Temple Runs; players usually waited two hours between taping a round for their episode. The reason for no audiences, however, was because the Universal Studios theme park (where the show was taped) had closed for the night, and the audience members had been sent home.
Some props from the show (such as the replicated artifacts) would later be given away as prizes on Figure It Out.
In the show's first season, Fogg gave the instructions for the Moat and Temple Games rounds and asked the tiebreaker question, and gave the rules of the temple. In seasons two and three, these duties were turned over to Olmec, which left some to question Fogg's relevance to the show.
The least expensive travel prize offered on the show was a trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay, FL. It was not won. The most expensive vacation ever offered (presumably because it was the furthest from Orlando, FL) was a trip to Santa Monica, CA -- won by Zac Turney and his teammate, Miriam.
Olmec's voice was provided by Dee Bradley Baker, who also announced prizes on the show in his normal voice. To make Olmec's mouth move, Baker pulled a wire and Olmec's eyes were sound activated (the louder Baker spoke, the brighter the lights glowed). Baker went on to provide voices in many Nickelodeon cartoons, most notably SpongeBob SquarePants , The Fairly OddParents, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
In Season 1, the temple gate (not actually a gate, but two columns) was placed in front of Olmec, but in the later seasons it was an actual gate on the temple stairs, next to Olmec. As such, in seasons 2 and 3, Kirk would ask Olmec to lower the gate before the start of the temple run.
The Nick GaS tagline for this show is That Giant Talking Stone Head, which was obviously a reference to Olmec.
The show was produced by Nickelodeon in association with Stone Stanley Productions. Each episode featured six teams of two children (one boy and one girl) competing for prizes. The show incorporated physical stunts, as well as questions based on topics related to history and geography.
Theming and premise
The set design resembled various ancient Central American iconographies, especially Mayan and to some extent Aztec. It included areas for different types of physical challenges: a large pool of water (The Moat), a set of steps (The Steps of Knowledge), and a large, two-floor vertical labyrinth (The Hidden Temple) in the back of the stage. At the labyrinth's gate was a giant animatronic talking Olmec head simply named Olmec (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker). Every episode had a theme: a particular legend was picked (written), regarding a certain artifact from around the world that found its way to the Temple (actually a replica of the actual artifact), and the winning team had to retrieve it. Some artifacts included "Lawrence of Arabia's Headdress," "The Walking Stick of Harriet Tubman," and "The Jewel-Encrusted Egg of Catherine the Great". The physical challenges would then be loosely themed after the legend.
[edit] Main game
[edit] Teams
In each game, six teams of two members each competed in three rounds to get to the temple. Each team was designated a color and an animal, indicated on their uniform shirts:
Red Jaguars
Blue Barracudas
Green Monkeys
Orange Iguanas
Purple Parrots
Silver Snakes
[edit] Round 1: The Moat
Round 1
The first round of the show involved a stunt where the six teams had to get across a small swimming pool known as the "moat". Some of the commonly used methods included rafts, ropes, and bridges. All six teams attempted to get both members across according to the rules and punch a button, thus setting off the team's "gong". Typically, if a team member fell in the water, that partner (or occasionally both teammates) would have to go back and try again until they could get across. The first four teams to hit their gongs would move on to round two.
[edit] Round 2: The Steps of Knowledge
Round 2
To start round two, Olmec told a story about the artifact of the day. The story was always quite detailed and after it was told, Olmec asked the teams a series of questions to test their memories. A team that knew the answer buzzed in by hitting the button on their step with their feet (if Olmec was still in the middle of asking the question, he would stop talking immediately). Each multiple-choice question had three possible answers. If the team answered correctly, they moved down to the next level. If a team answered incorrectly or went too long without an answer (approximately 4 seconds), the other teams would have a chance to answer. A question would be replaced if two of its three choices were eliminated by an incorrect answer. The first two teams to step down to the bottom level by answering three questions correctly moved on to the next round.
[edit] Round 3: The Temple Games
Physical challenges employed on Legends were many and varied. The first season featured more of an emphasis on teams climbing/crossing ramps to retrieve objects, while hindered by bungee cords attached to them. Most times the ramps were covered with soap or water to make it more difficult. The second and third seasons introduced more physical activities such as climbing, riding moving or spinning objects, or spinning a giant wheel. Temple Game challenges were either not timed or lasted for a maximum of 60 seconds (ending either when time expired or when a team completed the objective). After each challenge, the winning team (the team who completed the objective first, or, failing that, the team who made the most progress) was awarded some portion of a protective Pendant of Life. The first two challenges awarded a half-pendant each, and the final challenge awarded a full pendant. If a Temple Game ended in a tie, both teams were awarded the pendant value of that game. After these rounds, the team with the greater number of pendants went on to the final round. The first two Temple Games were one-on-one, and were not restricted to gender, meaning that both individual Temple Games could be (and occasionally were) boy-versus-girl. Both members of both teams took part in the final Temple Game.
In the event of a tie concerning the number of pendants each team was awarded, Fogg (or, later in seasons 2 and 3, Olmec) asked a tiebreaker question to determine the winner. A "tiebreaker pedestal" was brought out, and the first team to hit the button on top of their gong earned the chance to answer the question. A correct answer would allow the team to go to the Temple. In Season 1, an incorrect answer would automatically award the other team passage to the Temple, but in later seasons, the other team would simply get an opportunity to answer the question correctly.
[edit] Round 4: The Temple
A contestant assembling the Silver Monkey.
In the final round, often known as the Temple Run, the winning team took whatever Pendants of Life they had into the temple, and attempted to retrieve the day's ancient artifact and bring it to back to the temple gate successfully. A player designated to go into the temple first would receive one pendant, and the second player would receive the remainder of what the team had won in the temple games.
The temple consisted of 12 or 13 rooms, depending on the layout, each connected to adjacent rooms by randomly locked or unlocked doorways. These unlocked doors could be opened either by completing a specific task or puzzle within each room, or by simply pressing a button on the wall near the door (known as an "actuator"). One room in the labyrinth contained the themed artifact; three rooms other than the artifact room held Temple Guards (spotters in lavish Mayan sentinel costumes). If the winning team had 1½ pendants, the remaining half-pendant would be in a room as well. If the room with the artifact was close to the entrance, then doors were often locked so that contestants were forced to take a longer route.
When a player encountered a Temple Guard, the player was forced to give up a full pendant in order to continue or, if caught without a pendant, be removed from the temple. The second player now had the chance to enter, with all opened doors remaining such. Further, each Temple Guard would only show himself once per run, leaving the second player with a clear route to where the first player was eliminated. If the second player did not have a full Pendant upon capture, the run would end at that moment. This placed pressure on the second player to search for the hidden half pendant to avoid such a situation. If a team only won one Pendant in the Temple Games, the second player would have no Pendant, and there would not be any portion of another Pendant hidden in the Temple.
The team had three minutes to complete the temple in its entirety. If either player reached the artifact (being defined as actually grabbing onto the artifact, instead of merely being in the same room with it), all remaining Guards disappeared and all locked doors instantly opened, allowing the player to escape unhindered. Just for getting into the temple, the team would win a prize. If they retrieved the artifact, they would win another prize of slightly higher value. If they escaped with the artifact before time ran out, they would win a vacation, often to another country.
[edit] Temple Layouts
[edit] Season 1
(Rooms listed starting with the upper-right room and going in a counter-clockwise direction)
Layout 1
Layout 2
Layout 3
Layout 4
Layout 5
Layout 6
Layout 7
Layout 8
Layout 9
The Room of the Three Gargoyles
The Room of the Royal Gongs
The Wall Climb
The Wheel Room/The Troubled Bridge
The Observatory- "sundial" (S1, 1–7)
The Observatory- "celestial lights" (S1, 8–9)
The Heart Room
The Room of Fallen Columns
The Room of the Golden Idols
The Treasure Room
The Treasury of Golden Orbs
The Shrine of the Silver Monkey
The Torch Room
The Pirates' Cove
The Room of Three Torches
The Mine Shaft
The Dungeon
The Well Room
The Tomb of Ancient Kings
Treacherous Swamp
The Spider's Lair
Treacherous Swamp
The Bamboo Forest
The Holes of Python
The Throne Room (S1)
The Room of Harmonic Convergence
The Throne Room (S1)
The Cave of Sighs[1]
The Room of the Three Gargoyles: In this room, the player needed to push in the correct tongue of the three gargoyles to advance in the temple.
The Room of the Royal Gongs: In this room, the player needed to push in the correct base of the three gongs to advance in the temple.
The Wall Climb/The Pit of Despair: Players have a choice of climbing the walls, or just crawling through the pit, the hit an actuator. Several ropes were added later in the season to assist contestants.
The Pit of Despair (The Wheel Room) / The Troubled Bridge: If the player came from the bottom, he or she was required to turn a wheel to raise a stone slab covering the door and its actuator. At the top of the room was a bridge connecting the two doors and their actuators that partitioned the room into two pieces inaccessible from one another.
The Observatory (S1, 1–7): In this room, the player needed to spin a centrally-placed sundial to open the door(s).
The Observatory (S1, 8–9): In this room, the player needed to spin the central celestial lights to open the door(s).
The Heart Room: In this room, the player needed only to hit an actuator of the corresponding door to go through it.
The Room of Fallen Columns: Similar to the Heart Room, except that several large columns were strewn around the room to slow down contestants.
The Room of the Golden Idols: By pushing down on the base of the golden idols at the front of the room, the downward door(s) could open. No contestant in the show's history ever completed this objective. Otherwise, players only needed to hit an actuator to open its corresponding side door.
The Treasure Room: Players entering this room had a choice of opening the treasure chest and climbing down through it, if unlocked, or hitting actuators to open their corresponding side doors.
The Treasury of Golden Orbs: In this room, players needed to place a golden orb in one of three pedestals at the center of the room. If they had placed it in the correct pedestal, a door would open.
The Shrine of the Silver Monkey: Contestants were required to retrieve and correctly assemble three pieces of a monkey statue. The statue contained a base, a torso, and the head with a long vertical pole. The pieces needed to be assembled in this specific order. After assembling the silver monkey statue at the front of the room and pushing it down into the podium, a door would open.
The Pirates' Cove: After a player entered this room from the Dungeon, he or she would need to take a torch placed on the outside walls of the room, and place it in one of three torch holders at the front of the room. After doing so, the door to the right would open. If the player entered from the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, he or she would need to spin the central ship's wheel to raise a rock slab covering the Dungeon ladder.
The Torch Room/The Room of Three Torches: After a player entered this room from the Well or the Mine Shaft, he or she would need to take a torch placed on the outside walls of the room, and place it in one of three torch holders at the front of the room. After doing so, the door to the right would open. If the player entered from the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, he or she would only need to ride the elevator downwards into the Well or the Mine Shaft.
The Mine Shaft: If the player rode the elevator down to the room, they could take the ladder up to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, or bash through the wall and head to the Tomb of the Ancient Kings. If they entered from the Tomb of Ancient Kings, they could ride the elevator up to the Torch Room, if it was available, or take the ladder up to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey.
The Dungeon: If the player came from the Pirates' Cove, they could take the ladder up to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, or bash through the wall and head to the Tomb of Ancient Kings. If they entered from the Tomb of Ancient Kings, they could take the ladder up to the Pirate's Cove, or take the other ladder up to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey.
The Well: If the player rode the bucket down to the room, they could take the ladder up to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, or bash through the wall and head to the Tomb of Ancient Kings. If they entered from the Tomb of Ancient Kings, they could ride the bucket up to the Room of the Three Torches, if it was available.
The Tomb of Ancient Kings: If the player entered this room from the Mine Shaft, the Well, or the Dungeon, he or she would take a key found in the coffin at the center of the room and proceed either upward or to the right. If the player entered from The Swamp, The Spider's Lair, The Bamboo Forest, or The Holes of Python, he or she could either bash through the wall to The Mine Shaft, The Well, or The Dungeon, or find the key to go upwards into The Shrine of the Silver Monkey.
Treacherous Swamp: The Swamp was filled with lots of aged netting. Players hit actuators to open their corresponding doors.
The Spider's Lair: after the players navigated the spider web, they could hit actuators and open their corresponding doors.
The Bamboo Forest: The Bamboo Forest was filled with long bamboo rods. After making his or her way through the room, the player could hit an actuator and progress through one of the doors.
The Holes of Python: The Holes of Python was a large room that featured wooden partitions extending from the front of the room to the back, and each had one or more holes carved into them. After making his or her way through the room, the player would hit an actuator to open a door.
The Throne Room (S1): In the Throne Room, the player needed to press the "Throne of the Pretender" placed at the front of the room, usually done by sitting on it, to open any doors.
The Room of Harmonic Convergence: In the Room of Harmonic Convergence, five red floor markings were placed around a central ladder. The player would have to press down on the correct two steps out of the five embedded in the ground to open the door(s).
The Cave of Sighs[1]: The Cave of Sighs was a room of different ledges that the player had to navigate.
[edit] Season 2
(Rooms listed starting with the upper-right room and going in a counter-clockwise direction)
Layout 1
Layout 2
Layout 3
Layout 4
Layout 5
The Crypt
The Pit of Despair
The Rock Quarry/The Troubled Bridge
The Pit
The Observatory (S2)
The Heart Room
Medusa's Lair
The Room of the Mandarin Hand
The King's Storeroom (S2)
The Shrine of the Silver Monkey
The Vipers' Nest
The Lightning (Ball) Room
The Room of the Secret Password
The Mine Shaft
The Dark Forest
Treacherous Swamp
The Jesters' Court
The Throne Room (S2)
The Laser Light Room
The Ledges
The Crypt: Three skeletons were placed at the edges of the room. By pulling the correct book from one of the skeletons, a door would open.
The Pit of Despair: As the name implies, the Pit of Despair was a large pit. In this room, the player would need to climb the outer walls in order to hit one of two actuators, or remain at the ground level and continue to the room on the left.
The Rock Quarry / The Troubled Bridge: This room was divided into two halves. When the player entered from either the Crypt or the Observatory he or she would only need to hit an actuator at the opposite side of the bridge to open the door. If the player entered from the Ledges, he or she would need to put five rocks into a large bucket to lift the stone slab covering the door to the Laser Light Room.
The Pit: The Pit was a very simple room. There were two rock slabs on either side of the room, with a rope hanging from the ceiling in the center. The contestant only needed to swing across the chasm to hit an actuator, and the corresponding door could open.
The Observatory (S2): In the Observatory, a stone column was placed at the front of the room. To open the door(s), the column needed to be arranged so that it formed a complete picture.
Medusa's Lair: A small "Medusa head" was placed at the front of the room. In order to open the door(s), the player had to place a number of snakes in Medusa's head. In earlier episodes players had to put four snakes into Medusa's head, but this was later reduced to two.
The Room of the Mandarin Hand: A large hand was placed at the center of this room, holding a globe with its thumb. The players needed to push the fingers of the hand around the globe to open the doors.
The King's Storeroom (S2): In this room, a pot was placed on each of three pedestals at the center of the room. The player entering this room needed to break open the pots in search of a key, and then place the key in the correct pedestal to open the door(s).
The Vipers' Nest: After a player entered this room from the Mine Shaft, he or she would need to open the pots placed at the front of the room, each containing rubber snakes. Once the player opened the wrong jar, the snakes would jump out of it, but the snake in the correct jar would not move. Once the unmoving snake is pulled out of its jar, the door to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey would open. This objective was rarely completed. If the player entered from the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, he or she would only need to ride the elevator downwards into the Mine Shaft.
The Lightning (Ball) Room: This room was rarely entered, but in here the player needed to connect four power cords into the pedestal holding the central "lightning ball" to "create their own lightning" and open the Shrine door. However, if they entered from the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, they could simply ride the elevator downwards.
The Room of the Secret Password: If the player entered from the Mine Shaft, he or she would need to open the cabinets placed on the outer walls, and shout out the inscription which was written inside the cabinet. (The four inscriptions were "Kilmar Niki," "Klaatu Barada Nikto," "Long live Olmec," and "Open Sesame.") If it was the correct passage, then the door to the right could open. If the player entered from the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, he or she would only need to ride the elevator downwards into the Mine Shaft.
The Mine Shaft: If the player rode the elevator down to the room, they could take the ladder up to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, or bash through the wall and head to the Dark Forest. If they entered from the Dark Forest, they could ride the elevator up to The Vipers' Nest, The Lightning Ball Room, or The Room of the Secret Password, or take the ladder up to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey.
The Dark Forest: This room featured two large trees with long arms and holes in their trunks. The player that entered this room would look for a key in the holes of the trees. If they were unsuccessful, they could run through a breakaway stone wall to enter the Mine Shaft. In this room, the trees would sometimes grab the player with their arms, indicating that it was "possessed" by the spirit of a Temple Guard and needed to be paid with a Pendant of Life.
The Jesters' Court: In the Jesters' Court, players needed to align themselves with three wall paintings, while pressing three actuators. If they had aligned themselves with the correct painting, the doors would open.
The Throne Room (S2): The Throne of the Pretender was placed on a reversible wall that blocked access to the left. The players sat upon the throne and pushed down on two actuators placed on the armrests to swing around the wall, allowing access to open doors.
The Laser Light Room: In the center of this room, eight square tiles were placed on a wall, each covering a "laser". The player that entered this room would need to pull the tiles down to unleash the special white laser, which was the one and only among the other red lasers.
The Ledges: As the name implies, the Ledges was simply a series of ledges that the player had to climb through. Beginning in this season, contestants could no longer enter this room from the front, but had to pass behind Olmec or enter from the room above.
[edit] Season 3
(Rooms listed starting with the upper-right room and going in a counter-clockwise direction)
Layout 1
The Crypt
The Pit of The Pendulum
The King's Storeroom (S3)
The Chamber of the Sacred Markers
The Room of the Ancient Warriors
The Shrine of the Silver Monkey
The Room of the Secret Password
The Pharaoh's Secret Passage
The Quicksand Bog
The Dark Forest
The Jesters' Court
The Tomb of the Headless Kings
The Ledges
The King's Storeroom (S3): In this room, a pot was placed on each of three pedestals, at the center of the room. The player entering this room needed to break open the pots in search of a key, and then place the key in the hole of the correct pedestal to open the door(s).
The Chamber of the Sacred Markers: On the left side of the central ladder was a certain sequence of markers, and on the right was that same sequence of markers, with a few missing. Players entering this room had to find the missing markers on the outer walls of the room, and place them in their correct positions to open a door.
The Room of the Ancient Warriors: Three sets of armor were placed at the back of the room. In here, the player needed to place him or herself into the armor, and pull two levers downward. If they had done so with the correct set of armor, the door would open. If a Temple Guard was in the room, it would hide behind one of the sets of armor and grab the player when they climbed into that same set of armor.
The Pharaoh's Secret Passage: The Pharaoh's Secret Passage was nothing more than a narrow tunnel-slide connecting the Room of the Secret Password with the Quicksand Bog.
The Quicksand Bog: In the Quicksand Bog, players had the options of going up into the Room of the Secret Password, up into the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, or bashing through the wall and into the Dark Forest.
The Jesters' Court: In the Jesters' Court, players needed to align themselves with one of three wall paintings, simultaneously pressing three actuators hidden in the painting. If they had aligned themselves with the correct painting, a door would open. Unlike in Season 2, players could no longer climb upward after completing the objective, since all doors connecting the Room of the Ancient Warriors to the Jester's Court had been covered up in Season 3.
The Tomb of the Headless Kings: Two skeletons of kings with no heads were placed at the center of the room, surrounded by vines that hung from the ceiling. In here, players needed to pull the vines to release bones, in search for the skull. After finding the skull the players then needed to place it on the correct king to continue.
[edit] Trivia
This article contains a trivia section.Content in this section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article or removed, and the trivia section removed.
Legends of the Hidden Temple won a CableACE award for Best Game Show Series in 1995 [1].
The show was taped in Soundstage 18 of Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
Many temple runs in Season 3 were taped without an audience. This was because usually four episodes were taped a day, and all segments were done at once. That is, all moat rounds were taped, then all Steps of Knowledge rounds, then all Temple Games, then all Temple Runs; players usually waited two hours between taping a round for their episode. The reason for no audiences, however, was because the Universal Studios theme park (where the show was taped) had closed for the night, and the audience members had been sent home.
Some props from the show (such as the replicated artifacts) would later be given away as prizes on Figure It Out.
In the show's first season, Fogg gave the instructions for the Moat and Temple Games rounds and asked the tiebreaker question, and gave the rules of the temple. In seasons two and three, these duties were turned over to Olmec, which left some to question Fogg's relevance to the show.
The least expensive travel prize offered on the show was a trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay, FL. It was not won. The most expensive vacation ever offered (presumably because it was the furthest from Orlando, FL) was a trip to Santa Monica, CA -- won by Zac Turney and his teammate, Miriam.
Olmec's voice was provided by Dee Bradley Baker, who also announced prizes on the show in his normal voice. To make Olmec's mouth move, Baker pulled a wire and Olmec's eyes were sound activated (the louder Baker spoke, the brighter the lights glowed). Baker went on to provide voices in many Nickelodeon cartoons, most notably SpongeBob SquarePants , The Fairly OddParents, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
In Season 1, the temple gate (not actually a gate, but two columns) was placed in front of Olmec, but in the later seasons it was an actual gate on the temple stairs, next to Olmec. As such, in seasons 2 and 3, Kirk would ask Olmec to lower the gate before the start of the temple run.
The Nick GaS tagline for this show is That Giant Talking Stone Head, which was obviously a reference to Olmec.
posted by Vecna814 at 5:34 AM
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