Legends of the Hidden Temple

Legends Of The Hidden Temple is a classic kids game show from my childhood, and I was shocked when I heard they brought it back on The CW. And while it's okay, it does some changes that make it a shadow its former self.

Hosted by Cristela Alonzo (although I have heard Kirk Fogg may be taking over later on), the teams are now made up of two adults (be it siblings or best friends), and the starting roster is trimmed down to four (meaning two of the six teams are unused in an episode), and the set is outdoors with no crowd (no doubt due to COVID restrictions), which makes the reboot feel like it has an element of long-running realty competition Survivor mixed in. You can tell this reboot is aimed more at adults as the legends do get dark (the first episode's treasure, the lucky losing ball of the hero twins, is a story of twin Mayan brothers seeking revenge on two underworld demons who murdered their father), but it keeps the core gameplay, only changed to accommodate the adult contestants and reduced teams (as only three go to the Steps of Knowledge, and the grand prize is $25,000 instead of a trip to Space Camp).

However, the way it's done is a major problem. During the competition, the show sometimes adds in interviews with the team in the middle of them, which gets in the way of the action and adds to the Survivor feel this reboot seems to be aiming for. Also, the Temple Games offers full pendants of life, with the first team getting two moving on to the Temple Run, which can make the run boring as it eliminates instant losses (that, and the Temple Run are interrupted by a commercial break). However, it has some pluses. Dee Bradley Baker returns as the voice of Olmec, Cristela does a good job hosting (as she does not rely on sass and being stereotypical to do her job), and the set is greater and grander given its outdoor setting. Basically, this show is meant to be nothing more than to appeal to nostalgia, and hopefully, when the pandemic ends, the show can fix and improve its problems.

I think I'm in the rare minority of the (already sadly quite small) viewership of this show that had no knowledge or affection for the original 90s show - so this hilariously cheap and baffling mythology-themed game show flew completely over my head. I rather warmed to it though, with the clonevoice of Bradley Baker having a whale of a time and the likeable Cristela Alonzo holding court over the cheapest thing I've ever seen. The weird overdubs. The strange photoshopping of the swag prizes. The clunky wobbly sets. The earnest retellings of world mythologies. It was wonderful. In context, I can see why it got cancelled and why it offended viewers of the original but honestly, I loved watching it.

I've watched all three seasons of the original show on Nickelodeon and was psyched to hear about this reboot for adults on the CW. It's got some of the elements of the original show and I'll still watch it for the sake of nostalgia, but the editing for the program is absolutely cringe.

Positives:

• They got the same voice actor to voice Olmec
• It has the familiar progression of going across the moat, the steps of knowledge, the temple games, and then the temple run
• They added comic book-style graphics to explain the story
• $25,000 cash prize is sweet
• I liked the first-person camera bits; I think they could have made it easier to view the entire temple from the side though
• I didn't mind that they cut the number of teams from six to four; I also didn't mind that they turned the third temple game into a steps of knowledge tiebreaker to save time, although having a more physical, head-to-head tiebreaker would have been more exciting

Negatives:

• The lethargic music sucks a lot of energy out of the reboot. The whole point of this show is to the ride on our nostalgia, so it would have been far better if they could have remixed the classic tunes -- especially the temple run music -- and added them in.

• Because of COVID restrictions, there's no live audience. Not really their fault, but it just contributes to the lack of energy.

• There are far too many edit inserts of commentary from the host and the contestants. I want to watch the challenges from start to finish. If you want to splice in what the contestants are thinking, do it after they're over. The constant edits just make it feel like it's not live, which is one of the strengths of the original show.

• Worst of all, they cut the temple run IN HALF with a commercial break, destroying the momentum and intensity of the most important part of the show. I would rather watch longer commercials before the temple run than break it up like that. Just WHY?!

• The temple is actually sort of small. Since it only has about ten rooms or so, it's clear that there's really just one path through the temple where the contestants have to hit every room to get to the treasure. (Which means they will likely hit all three temple guards.) At least on the original show there was the illusion that you could go in multiple directions and there were times were shortcut doors did exist.

• By default, the final contestants are given two pendants of life, so the temple guards are not really that much of a threat, just more of a nuisance. One of the dangers of the temple games in the original was that if you only had 1 or 1.5 pendants of life at the end, you could be unlucky with the temple guard placement (tho you could the find the missing half pendant in the temple itself). I suppose that they wanted to make sure that the contestants always had a shot at the prize money, but it defeats the point of the guards.

It is directed like a mediocre episode of that show with non-stop narration. And so much bokeh effect that only the absolute middle of the screen is in focus.

The contestants themselves were selected by a nefarious algorithm who's sole intention was to encourage social media trolls and to cancel this reboot after a single season.

I miss the days of focus groups and of producers who actually tried to find who their audience is.

I know I'm happy that the online petition I had to get Legends rebooted actually made change, but here are some ways the reboot can improve:

1. Rather than thirteen episodes per season, maybe there can be 26 or 39 per season.

2. We need to see the Orange Iguanas and Silver Snakes go to the temple in LOTHT 2.0.

3. Instead of having every team bringing two full pendants to the temple, half pendants need to return. If a team brings only one full pendant to the temple, there should be two half pendants in two different rooms.

4. Here would be good prizes for taking steps towards making it to Olmec's temple: a. Crossing the moat: A fancy new addition to their homes.

B. Descending the Steps of Knowledge: A set of smart technology products.

C. Winning the Temple Games or breaking the tie: Products for outdoor recreation.

5. All six teams need to be present in each episode, with four teams at the Steps of Knowledge.

6. There also needs to be a "Legends of the Hidden Temple at Super Bowl" special as there already was a Super Bowl special for the Double Dare reboot.

Please let me know what your thoughts are on my review.