Nickelodeon has been working to put together throwback programming for some time now. One of these programs is the Legends of the Hidden Temple movie, which will take the original game show and turn it into a live-action TV film. While the game show component won't be there, a lot of familiar faces will still be around, and this week we learned that Dee Bradley Baker will be returning for the Legends of The Hidden Temple movie. Dee Bradley Baker will be reprising the role of Olmec for the TV flick.
Nickelodeon made the announcement on Wednesday, noting that Dee Bradley Baker will be back playing the legendary talking head. In the upcoming movie, Olmec is set to help guide the leads in the film. The basic premise of Legends of the Hidden Temple will follow three siblings who are part of a jungle tour and who wander off the beaten path. Unfortunately, they end up facing obstacles similar to the ones in the original Nickelodeon TV show that they must complete in order to stay alive. During the film's run, we will meet Olmec and Kirk Fogg (who hosted the original game show); the latter will make a cameo in the new movie. In addition, fans will see familiar stuff, including silver snakes, red jaguars, the Steps of Knowledge and more. Nickelodeon's announcement makes no mention of the pit of despair, much to our deep chagrin.
In the original show, Olmec acted as a guide for the contestants and basically told the legends and stories relating to each of the obstacles and challenges during each episode. Presumably, the Olmec in the movie will be fulfilling the same sort of role, although the announcement only mentions Olmec acting as a guide.
During its original run, Legends of the Hidden Temple had a relatively short shelf life as far as game shows go, only producing new episodes between 1993 and 1995 (although quite a few episodes were put together during that time). It didn't last for a really long time, but kids loved the series despite its flaws and it did well in syndication. It was even a popular Halloween costume when I was in college.
Because of nostalgia for its nineties programming, Nickelodeon ultimately opted to put together a slew of throwback nineties programming, which included a new block called the Splat and revivals of stuff like Hey Arnold! and Legends of the Hidden Temple. We'll let you know if any other classic shows come together in the coming months. In the meantime, you can check out what TV has coming up with our summer TV premiere schedule. Plus, you can check out more about the the Splat lineup, here.
