Relic Hunter

Relic Hunter
Starring	Tia Carrere Christien Anholt
Country of origin	United States, Canada, France
Original language	English
No. of episodes	66
Production
Executive producer	Simon MacCorkindale
Producer	Simon MacCorkindale
Running time	45 mins
Original release
Release	25 September1999 – 20 May2002

Relic Hunter is an American/Canadian/French television series, starring Tia Carrere and Christien Anholt. Actress Lindy Booth also starred for the first two seasons, and Tanja Reichert replaced her for the third. It ran for three seasons in the U.S. between 1999 and 2002. In the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, it is aired on Sky One and subsidiary channels, while in Canada, it is aired on both Citytv and Space: The Imagination Station.

Overview and Themes

Relic Hunter follows the globe-trotting adventures of unorthodox American archaeologist Sydney Fox (Carrere) and her more reserved British assistant Nigel Bailey (Anholt). They are assisted at their 'home base,' a generic American university identified only as Trinity College, by ditzy student secretary Claudia (Booth), the spoiled and fashion-conscious daughter of one of the college's major donors. The character of Claudia was replaced in the third season by Karen Petrushky (Reichert), who is closer to the standard 'sexy secretary' stereotype but with an impressive facility for predicaments of a bureaucratic nature. Some fans have interpreted this as a network attempt to enhance the sex appeal of the series which instead contributed to its ultimate cancellation at the close of the third season.

At the start of each episode, we see a short flashback in which a relic or artifact is used or abused in its original time before being lost, stolen, or hidden. We then cut to Trinity College in the present day, where Sydney and Nigel are asked to find the relic by some person or agency such as a museum, private collector, or government. Most episodes feature the duo travelling around the globe, hunting for clues in order to find the artifact. Complications abound, often with rival relic hunters getting involved, generally giving Sydney a chance to show off her martial arts prowess. It is then up to Sydney and Nigel to seize the relic and ensure it ends up in the proper hands (such as the rightful owners or a suitable museum). Each episode ends with a scene at Trinity College explaining what has happened to the relic.

Nigel shows an artifact to Sydney.

The plots in Relic Hunter usually take a grain of historical information and are dramatised in order to fit in with the story. Sydney and Nigel are street-savvy scholars who travel the globe on dangerous missions. There are however historical errors on the show. For example, the episode "Devil Doll" mentioned Cuzco as an Aztec city, but Cuzco was an Inca city.

Many episodes feature comic moments interlaced with the action. Sydney also knows how to hold her own in a fight, and Carrere is often involved in many fights and stunts in the show. The shows also exploits the sexual tension between Sydney and Nigel, and Carrere is often seen in skimpy clothing. However, this is not a major aspect of the show.

Relic Hunter has many obvious similarities to the Tomb Raider franchise, not least the title, which is virtually a synonym of the latter. Critics frequently compared the series to the Indiana Jones franchise, to which it has greater actual similarities than to Tomb Raider.

Recurring Characters

• Avery Ko: Ho "Oyster" Chow - A mercenary, terrorist and rival relic hunter.
• Cate Hemphill: Nancy Anne Sakovich - An Interpol agent and occasional romantic interest of Nigel.
• Dallas Carter: John Schneider - An ex-partner of Sydney and now rival relic hunter.
• Kurt Reiner: Thomas Kretschmann - Another ex-partner of Sydney turned rival
• Stewie Harper: Tony Rosato - Relic Hunter who has a love-hate relationship with Sydney.
• Derek Lloyd: Louis Mandylor - A CIA agent who requires Sydney's help, more than once.
• Allan: Peter O'Brien - Sydney's "soul mate" and relic hunter.
• Andres De Viega: George Calil - Sydney's enemy who has been a hiccup in several hunts.
• Preston Bailey: Crispin Bonham-Carter - Nigel's brother and worst enemy.
• Bruce Farrow: Kevin Jubinville - Sydney's relic hunter friend who is framed for robbery in Egypt for "stealing" Thutmose III's diamond.

Relics featured in the series

The following table lists the relics featured in each episode, together with the time and location of the flashback sequence and any other locations used in the episode.

	Episode title	Relic	Flashback details	Other locations
1	Buddha's Bowl	Buddha's alms bowl	Nepal 523 B.C.
2	Smoking Gun	Al Capone's diamond-encrusted gun	Chicago 1930
3	The Headless Nun	Remains of Sister Evangeline	Nova Scotia 1600s
4	Flag Day	Pioneer's Bear Flag of California	California 1846
5	Thank You Very Much	Lost guitar of Elvis Presley	Germany 1960
6	Diamond in the Rough	Magical Glove of former baseball great Jimmy Jonesboro	Fenway Park, Boston 1946
7	Transformation	Paracelsus scrolls	Salzburg, Austria 1946	Peru
8	Etched in Stone	Treasure of legendary Viking Jann the Bold	Northumbrian Coast 935 A.D.	Sweden
9	The Book of Love	Casanova's Book of Love	Casanova's Hideaway, Italy 1749
10	The Myth of the Maze	Minotaur's Maze	Athens 3000 B.C.
11	Irish Crown Affair	Lost crown of the last King of Ireland	Ireland 1000 A.D.
12	The Emperor's Bride	Coffin of the bride of a Chinese Emperor	Huang River, China 1000 B.C.	Alaska
13	Afterlife and Death	Diamond of Thutmose III	Egypt 1425 B.C.	Amsterdam
14	Nine Lives	Statue of the cat goddess Mafdet	Egypt 1895	New York
15	Affaire de Coeur	Rings that belonged to lovers, Callum and Elena	Scotland 1430
16	A Vanishing Art	Jewel-encrusted staff that belonged to the Hungarian royal family	Budapest 1897	Atlantic City
17	A Good Year	Crown jewels of France	Paris 1792
18	The Last Knight	Templar Grand Master's sword	Paris, circa 1300
19	Love Letter	Records proving a secret marriage on the eve of the French Revolution	Village South of Paris 1789
20	Possessed	Zeus' sacred sundial	Libya 1300s	Brussels
21	Memories of Montmartre	A tiara known as the Heart of Europe	Paris Moulin Rouge 1930s
22	Nothing but the Truth	Ruby Chalice of Truth	The Barbary Coast 1534	Paris
23	The Put Back	Idol from the Temple of Woot	Kuba, Africa 100 AD
24	Dagger of Death	Dagger of Kali	Temple of Kali, India 500 AD
25	Last of the Mochicas	Vessel believed to contain the Great Warrior Spirit of the Mochicas	South America 662 AD
26	The Legend of the Lost	The Kai Nomata (lost tribe)	Vanuatu Islands 4800 B.C.	New Guinea
27	Fertile Ground	Idol of Lono	Hawaii 1779	Madagascar
28	Gypsy Jigsaw	Crown of the Roma people	Romania 1830
29	Three Rivers to Cross	Jade Empress	Three Rivers, China 1245 AD
30	Roman Holiday	Caesar's breastplate	Rome 44 BC
31	Cross of Voodoo	Haitian Cross of Utu	Haiti, late 18th Century	New Orleans
32	Lost Contact	Sacrificial bowl	Burma 1824
33	The Reel Thing	Relics of Egyptian Pharaoh Amun II	Egypt 1516 BC	England
34	M.I.A.	Faberge egg	St. Petersburg, Russia 1886	clip show
35	Out of the Past	Cleopatra's necklace	Egypt 30 B.C.
36	Eyes of Toklamanee	Eyes of Toklamanee	Mississippi Valley 1605	St Louis
37	Run Sydney Run	Sword of Ateas	Ural Steppes, Russia 339 B.C.
38	French Connection	Prophecy of Nostradamus	Church Of Cordiers Salon, France
39	Don't Go Into the Woods	Golden Falcon of Maribor	Carpathian Mountains 1711 A.D.
40	Midnight Flight	Ruby-encrusted scepter of Gunther the Brave	Germania Circa 400 A.D.	Luxembourg and Paris
41	The Executioner's Mask	Executioner's Mask	Bourg, France 1789
42	The Royal Ring	Ring of Henry VIII	Tower of London 1536
43	Set in Stone	Magical sword of St. Gabriel	Balaton, Hungary 1595
44	Deadline	First Christian Tau cross	Jerusalem 1099 A.D.	Paris
45	Wages of Sydney	Chinese dragon's egg	Quan Shu Fortress, Manchuria 1359
46	Mr. Right	Bowl of Parvati	Bali, Indonesia 1459 A.D.
47	Sydney at Ten	Egyptian necklace	St. Beatrice's School 20 years ago	Turkey
48	The Light of Truth	Light of Truth	Arabia 843 A.D.
49	Treasure Island	The treasure of Treasure Island	The Spanish Main 1790
50	Star of Nadir	Star of Nadir	Palace of the Talibs, Endostan 1423
51	Vampire's Kiss	Vampire Chalice	Czechoslovakia 1720 A.D.
52	Devil Doll	Cursed Aztec Devil Doll	Central America 1488 A.D.
53	Incognito	Lancet which causes anyone cut with it to gain incredible strength	New Guinea 1522 A.D.
54	All Choked Up	Statue of Athena	Greece 800 B.C.
55	Warlock of Nu Theta Phi	Wicca amulet	New England Colonies 1692 A.D.
56	Women Want to Know	Statue of Ganesha	Southeast Asia 1075 A.D.
57	Fire in the Sky	Extraterrestrial artifact	Pacific Northwest 1398 A.D.
58	Hunting with the Enemy	Ashes of Confucius	Cambodia 1952
59	Antianeiral	Belt of Hippolyte	Asia Minor 1200 B.C.	Istanbul
60	Under the Ice	Anasazi mummy	Arctic Circle 1355 A.D.
61	Arthur's Cross	Cross of King Arthur	England 455 A.D.
62	Faux Fox	Crown jewels of Charles IV of Spain	Royal Palace, Madrid 1808
63	Pandora's Box	Pandora's Box	An-Najaf, Persia 422 A.D.
64	The Warlord	Kahina's Saddle	Bekkastan, 1401 A.D.
65	Fountain of Youth	Water from the Fountain of Youth	Pascus Florida, West Indies 1521	Spain and England
66	So Shall it Be	Keys to Stonehenge	Stonehenge, England 121 A.D.

Trivia

The "Trinity College" campus scenes were filmed at the St. George campus at the University of Toronto in Canada. Campus landmarks prominently featured throughout the series include Victoria College and the Soldier's Tower (directly adjacent to the Hart House).

Sydney Fox, like the actress who portrayed her, was born and raised in Hawaii. She was portrayed as Asian on her mother's side. Her mother died when the character was eleven, as mentioned in the episode "So Shall It Be". Her father appeared in one episode, played by football player-turned-actor Fred Dryer.

Petition to Bring Back Relic Hunter

In 2004, Petition Online.com created a petition[1] to bring Relic Hunter back to television. People who signed the petition did so because, not only were/are they fans of the show, but because the last episode in Season 3 was a cliff hanger and fans were/are eager to find out what will happen next.

The main reason for Relic Hunter being cancelled was because Tia Carrere pulled out of the show because she said making Relic Hunter was like making a movie everyday, and also for the reason that her "biological clock" was ticking and that it was time to get married and start a family. However, the well rested actress said in an interview that she was willing to reprise her role of Sydney Fox.

The petition was also made because there were speculations that it was a situation where the funders of Relic Hunter had simply pulled out.

It was sent to Fireworks on the 4th November 2004 with 346 signatures. There has been no information on it since.

Broadcast

Relic Hunter in other languages and TV channels:

• Spain "Cazatesoros" (Telecinco)
• Brazil "Caçadora de Reliquias" (Rede Record)
• Germany "Relic Hunter - Die Schatzjägerin" (Pro7)(AXN)
• Austria "Relic Hunter - Die Schatzjägerin" (ATV+)
• Italy "Relic Hunter" (Italia1)
• France "Sydney Fox l'aventurière" (M6)
• Slovak "Lovkyňa Tajomstiev" (Markíza)(Joj)
• Hungary "Az elveszett ereklyék fosztogatói" (means: The Hunters Of The Lost Relics) (TV2 and now AXN)
• Sweden "Kultjägarna" (Kanal 5)
• Finland "Aarteenmetsästäjä" (Nelonen)
• Czech Republic "Lovci pokladů" (Nova)(Prima)(AXN)
• Turkey "Gizem Avcısı" (tv8)
• Bulgaria "Търсач на реликви" (AXN)
• Serbia "Ловац на благо" (FOX)
• Bosnia & Herzegovina "Lovac na blago" (FTV)
• Romania "Vanatorii de comori "(AXN , TVR 2)
• Norway "Skattejegerne" (The treasure hunters) (TV Norge)
• Poland "Łowcy skarbów"(The treasure hunters)(TV4)/"Zagadki z przeszłości" (The Mysteries of the Past)(AXN)

DVD Releases

The series has been released in various incarnations in Region 1, 2 & 4.

Region 1

A best-of collection entitled Relic Hunter - The Best of Seasons 1 & 2 was released in North America on November 11, 2003. (9 selected episodes from Season 1 and 13 selected episodes from Season 2)

Region 2

In Europe, Season 2 is available .

Region 4

In Australia the complete first and second seasons have been released.

External links

• Relic Hunter at IMDb
• Episode guide (TV.com)