Long ago, in the year 1993, a television network made for children premiered a game show in which children partook in physical challenges inside a mystical temple in the hope of fame, prizes, and pure enjoyment. Hosted by the one known as Kirk Fogg, this show held competitions until 1995, although it still managed to survive till the mid 2000's thanks to reruns. Afterwards, this show was lost to the shadows of time, with those who remembered it trying desperately to keep the legend alive through video recordings that they then posted onto the internet...
Then, in 2016, the legends were given new life in the form of a Made-for-TV Movie , which repurposes the elements found in the original game show into a cohesive narrative, one that tells of three siblings deserting a guided tour in order to restore a lost civilization. I, Olmec, stand before this creation, spouting my vast knowledge of the lore of the temple and guiding the children for their rewards.
Now this area where literary devices found in various media are recorded has chosen this film. It is up to you to find those devices that fit, using your memory and research skills. The choices are yours and yours alone!
This film provides examples of:
- Abdicate the Throne: Olmec was planning on stepping down as king and giving his title to Zuma, but Thak wanted to be king in his place. In the end, Zuma officially receives the title.
- Adapted Out: Most of the temple rooms that appeared on the show are not visited by the siblings but this is justified due to time constraints (seeing as the movie is an hour and fifteen minutes long).
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Each of the six original Color Animal Codenames from the show is represented by literal animal depictions (a green monkey, an orange iguana, a red jaguar, a purple parrot, a school of blue barracudas, and a den of silver snakes).
- Ambiguously Absent Parent: Olmec's wife/Thak and Zuma's mother is not seen or mentioned in the flashback or the present day, leaving the reason for her absence unstated.
- An Aesop: "Always look before you leap." This will prevent you from getting yourself and others in trouble, such as getting trapped in a Temple of Doom. Also, it's useful for when you need to make literal leaps.
- Ascended Meme: The supposed difficulty of the Shrine of the Silver Monkey from the show is taken up to eleven in this film, where it takes the three children over four hours to correctly assemble the damn thing. Even the local prince and Kirk Fogg have trouble with it.
- Big "NO!": Noah yells "No!" when Zuma gets shot by Thak's poison dart at the end of the film.
- Cain and Abel: Olmec's two sons Thak and Zuma, respectively.
- Canon Foreigner: The three kids, Sadie, Noah and Dudley, as well as Olmec's sons Zuma and Thak.
- Crazy-Prepared: Noah seemed to know a lot about the temple, and how to get past the rooms they run into.
- Darker and Edgier: Much more so than the original game show. While the kids are in the temple, they are in legitimate danger, and the temple guards are now aiming to kill them, for starters.
- Easter Egg: Galileo's Cannonball is seen when the siblings enter the Treasure Room, making it the only artifact from the show to appear in the film.
- Exit, Pursued by a Bear: Thak gets pushed off into the pit by Noah in the climax; he's implied to have been mauled and/or eaten by the Red Jaguar.
- Extremely Short Timespan: The whole movie is set over a period of about 24 hours.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Olmec sacrificed his bodily form to turn his people into stone and prevent Thak's takeover - and even after he's defeated and the kingdom is restored, he's still stuck as a giant talking stone head.
- Hostage for MacGuffin: When Thak appears for the full pendant, Noah threatens to drop it down a pit. Thak responds by grabbing Sadie and threatens to drop her in the same pit if he does.
- I'm Going to Disney World!: Or, rather, Space Camp. The only reward worthy enough for defeating Thak and saving Olmec's kingdom.
- Incoming Ham: Upon first encountering the kids, Olmec shouts, "WHO DARES TO ENTER THE TEMPLE?!"
- Living Statue: Olmec still fills this role, although in this incarnation he was originally a human king.
- MacGuffin: The Pendant of Life is the object of the Temple Run instead of some other treasure used to restore life to the people of the temple.
- Nice Mean And In Between: The Power Trio whom enter the temple: Dudley (nice), Sadie (mean), and Noah (in-between).
- Oh, Crap!: All Thak can do is watch in shock as he experiences a face-to-face encounter with the temple's Red Jaguar.
- Race Against the Clock: Once the two halves of the pendant are reassembled, it needs to be taken back to Olmec within three minutes in order to restore the temple and its people. Noah correctly surmises that this is a security fail safe to prevent anyone from stealing the pendant.
- Shown Their Work: The writers clearly are big fans of the game show. Almost everything is a Shout-Out of some sort to the source material.
- Taken for Granite: Olmec's failsafe when Thak threatened to kill Zuma and take over his position as successor as king.
- Temple of Doom: The titular Hidden Temple has many of the rooms featured in the show but now the rooms have real peril, such as real snakes in Medusa's lair.
- This Is Gonna Suck: When in Medusa's Lair, Noah is asked if he knows how to get through. Noah responds that he does, but they're not going to like it (They need to grab the living snakes and put them in the holes in Medusa's head).
- Translation Convention: While it's obvious from the flora and fauna, the existence of a Mayincatec temple, and the signs surrounding the amusement park that this film takes place somewhere in Latin America (most likely Mexico), Kirk Fogg does his presentation entirely in English, Olmec and everyone else inside the temple immediately speak perfect English, and even the local police are English-speaking white (and black) people.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Noah and Dudley don't seem to be fazed by the Amazing Technicolor Wildlife (at least the ones that are docile), and Sadie actually lampshades this until she finally learns to accept it
- World-Healing Wave: Once the Pendant of Life is placed on Olmec's heart, it unleashes a wave of gold magic which restores the temple to its former state and frees everyone from their stone prison.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Dudley mentions early on that he has a massive fear of snakes. Naturally, he doesn't take well to the silver snakes in Medusa's Lair.
