The Problem With Legends of the Hidden Temple (2021): Reaction & Review

Legends of the Hidden Temple Revival - Reaction and Review. Today’s podcast discusses the new series of Legends of the Hidden Temple: What works, what doesn’t, and whether or not it’s a worthy successor to the original. Includes a description of both shows, similarities and differences, and aspects and kinks that definitely need to be ironed out.

SOURCES

CW Trailers:

Clips:
LOTHT Opening and Moat Crossing
Green Monkeys Temple Run Win
Aggressive Temple Guard in Throne Room
Kid Jumps Out The Temple

Screen Grabs from the CW app.

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“Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for ‘fair use’ for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.”

[snowboarder]

I miss the music with the countdown clock that they used to use! That was so intense!

[MSTKRewatch]

Congratulations, You took the best kids game show of all time and turned it into every other F-ing reality show in the history of television. I have no desire to watch Big Brother with a Silver Monkey.

[snowboarder]

I miss having kirk was the host. He was such a great host and an awesome way of making everyone feel like they’re apart of the show.

[righteatsrightpolitics]

I was born in the mid 80's. I remember watching the original episodes when they first premiered on Nick in 1993. The 2021 edition is ok. My biggest likes are how they upgraded the moat crossing and temple games. Biggest dislikes are the host, not using the original music and the fact that I can see the desert and mountains of Southern California in every shot of this show. They need to plant more trees and make it look more like a jungle and not another studio backlot of Los Angeles. My grade is a B minus.

[jolfer]

I watched the first episode and I can't bring myself to watch more. I loved the og as a kid. I completely agree with u

[rusnakcreative]

I was really excited to hear about the reboot, and how this time it's made for adults who grew up with the original. It promised to be similar but more challenging since it's not for kids anymore, and that it won't be confined in a studio setting. With all that said, I was anticipating them making a survivor-like temple in a dense jungle setting. I was expecting them to take what the original sets were like with all that theming and bring that outside and make it feel more authentic and less artificial. Instead, we see lots of open space with the temple that sticks out like a sore thumb, kinda like the sets of Wipeout. This was nothing near what I had anticipated. I don't think there's any way for them to save this version of the show, other than scrap everything and start over from scratch.

[CrimsonThunderSB]

8:47 the contestant who was known for jumping out of the temple from that temple guard actually came back in episode 5, and Kirk Fogg did actually make an appearance.

[SRP]

As soon as I saw it was gonna be on the CW, aka the IP Killer, I knew that it was gonna be trouble. It took two episodes to know my initial thoughts turned out to be true.

[flamingmonkays]

It's not a bad show, but it doesn't have the charm that the original had. The Temple Run is good, but otherwise, it's a shadow of its former self. No Kirk Fogg hosting, and even Olmec (despite being voices by the same man) sounds off.

[horrormoviefan]

I agree with everything you said in this video, they need to make it a kids game show again. with kids not these grown adults. and maybe shoot the show at night with some cool lighting and fog or something. also bring back the original music, that was the heart of the show.

[DougUnfunny]

should not be a bunch of grown ass adults, the people who watched this as kids have kids and should have able to watch show with their parents.

[jfeathe]

The problem is they turned a 30 minute game show into a 60 minute reality show. The original show was perfectly paced and flawlessly executed. It was 4 jam packed rounds with zero filler.

The new series took the same 4 rounds and in order to fill an hour, painfully dragged every round out, added unnecessary, laborious complexity, and absurd interview cutaways.

And the editing was dreadful. Cutting away to commercials in the middle of a temple game or the temple run doesn’t work for this game.

And in top of it all, the temple itself was a mess. The design was a mess, cheaply assembled, and didn’t have that sense of decision making that the original show had.

Absolutely nothing about this revival was good. All they needed to do was copy the format of the original show and they’d have an instant winner.

[casedinlight]

Speaking of bad background music... this cookie-cutter Youtube music is extremely annoying. EXTREMELY annoying.

But yes, the pendants make no sense now... just put one temple guard in there somewhere that grabs the first contestant so that the second one can go in. Didn't they have actual choices in where to go originally. Now there is just one path. The pendants are useless.

The moat is also meaningless. Now it's just a Survivor challenge and not "I'm trekking through the jungle trying to find the temple and I come across a moat to cross." What's the point of it even being a moat now; it has no theme value.

[venkiemama]

I'm from India, I remember this show used telecast in early 2000s and I always want to be in the show. Nostalgia

[snowboarder]

They should have used a gimble styles camera to film. That way it would eliminate the shaking of the camera

[arrowghost]

The reboot is a nice big upgrade, but of course we all know that it's not perfect. Other than the storytelling & the games like the moat were large scale than last time. The negatives are :
1. New host (No offense to Cristela), we'll miss Kirk Fogg (Though he did appear in a cameo)
2. Olmec's new head (It took a while for me to get used to his new design)
3. Temple Games format is a bit altered and no longer have Half Pendants. The clock design felt off as well.
4. The Temple Run, it's simple, DO NOT play commercials during the run. And we'll miss the original soundtrack that is very iconic, until someone remix it for 4 minutes and then insert as edited versions.
5. Just like the host, as it took place outside, there's no large audiences. During Temple Runs, I usually say 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and time's up, but the lack of an audience just made it felt dull.

Anyway, don't get me wrong, I still love the CW version and Baker still continued to impress us with his Olmec voice.

[crondawg]

Why did they cut to commercials in the middle of the temple runs?

[connorlayman]

The revival has been cancelled, and won't be renewed for a second season. Quite honestly, I'm not surprised. I was also disappointed in this reboot, not just because of the new guide, or the fact that each show started off with four teams instead of six, or the fact the winning teams always got two pendants regardless, etc. The biggest reason I was disappointed was that it just didn't look at all like a game show, but more of a competitive reality show in disguise. Ever since I was a little kid, I've always been horrified of the second to last step of knowledge lit up. The only good thing I could say about this reboot was that the steps of knowledge didn't terrify me, but that doesn't come anywhere near close to making up for all the cons. This show should never have been revived by CW.

[loriwright-qurw]

I would love 2 kno which writer wuz which temple guard

[avalasialove]

I had hope for this show and I was disappointed. I’ll admit that I’m happy they got Dee Bradley Baker to voice Olmec again, but I’m disappointed that Kirk isn’t the host anymore. I love the new design of the temple but it’s the temple run has been overly simplified. Since teams are competing for two full pendants instead of half pendants and there’s only one pathway through the temple, the only real obstacle is the clock.
I love how they’re covering new legends (my inner Greek mythology nerd was hyped for the myth of Atalanta!) but the use of modern slang and pop culture references sound so cringeworthy coming from Olmec.
Honestly, this show is a mixed bag. I think I’ll stick with the original show.