Following the smash success of Double Dare, children's cable network Nickelodeon produced a flurry of game shows over the course of the next decade and a half. Legends of the Hidden Temple, like most of these programs, imitated Double Dare's blend of trivia questions and obstacle course challenges. However, as one would likely infer based on the title of the program, Legends of the Hidden Temple framed itself in the aesthetic of "lost world" adventure romances like King Solomon's Mines, The Man Who Would Be King, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Included among the show's elaborate set pieces were a complex temple maze, terrifying hidden guards, and a lovable talking stone head named Olmec.
Ryan is joined by Sylvan and Cheryl for a discussion of this idiosyncratic example of early-90's children's programming. Thematic talking points touch upon the endurance of game shows across the history of television, the cultural subtext and questionable historicity inherent in the genre that Legends of the Hidden Temple lifts its general vibe from, why the physical challenges on the show were so difficult, which teams on Legends of the Hidden Temple performed the best, and how frustrating it is to watch children struggle with The Shrine of the Silver Monkey.
Naturally, Ryan, Sylvan, and Cheryl also talk about their favorite teams (Ryan is partial to the Green Monkeys).