Why Relic Hunter was a fun and interesting series

I sense that a few viewers here evidently lack a sense of humour and intensely dislike the Relic Hunter miniseries for various reasons. They criticise it for its lack of historicity or its close imitation of either Indiana Jones or Lara Croft (ie. lack of originality among other things).

While I agree that Relic Hunter was a blend between Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider, they forget that while Tia Carrere was the "Dr Jones" character of the series who had to find ancient relics, fight of unscrupulous rival relic hunter and extricate her party from dangerous situations, she had Nigel who was almost her equal. Without Nigel to translate the ancient texts, she had little hope of finding the ancient relics in the first place. That's why even the villains in Relic Hunter were willing to avail themselves of Nigel's services--if they could. If you don't believe me, see 'All Choked Up' or 'Faux Fox' for instance. Nigel and Sydney were a team in Relic Hunter and in this series we were privileged to see 66 episodes in total. Certainly while many of the episodes were extremely good or funny and a few were bad, most of them were creditable for the most part. In contrast, we only got 4 episodes with Indiana Jones and less than that with Lara Croft. (and the final Indiana Jones production was not a hit with fans) Other than 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade--and Indy's close relationship with his father here where both characters worked closely with one another to find the holy grail--in the other 3 episodes, Indy was basically working alone with some occasional aid and tips from John Rhys-Davies. Yes, Karen Allen appears in Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull but she was more of a burden on Indy really than a help.

In contrast, Nigel and Sydney truly needed one another. They worked off each other's strengths to find the relic that they were hunting as a team. There was, of course, those interesting sub-plots of frustrated sexual tension between Sydney and Nigel but these 2 individuals were both professionals in the end. It is interesting was it not to witness how relevant the season 3 episode, The Star of Nadir, first aired on October 22, 2001 just after September 11, 2001--with its themes of how a group of Islamic traditionalists or reactionaries wanted to reverse women's rights in the Arab state of Endostan, force its Sultan to marry off one of his daughters to one of their sons and threaten its Sultan with a call for a holy jihad against Sydney when they hear that she is searching for a relic with important religious and political powers which last appears in 1423 at the 'Palace of the Talibs' (so there was some minor script rewriting here)--became in 2001/2002 during the crisis caused by 9/11. It also fittingly explains all the angry glares which Sydney received in Endostan since she was a succesful albeit female Westerner in a conservative Arab country. Would this have happened if Sydney was a man, I wonder? But then Relic Hunter worked on several interesting themes and was not a generic Indy themed program with few fresh ideas of its own although it functioned on a small budget. Who could have guessed that Caesar's seemingly invincible breast plate could not protect its wearer from the spear of a dead Roman soldier in the season 2 episode 'Roman Holiday'? Not me. That's why I see Relic Hunter as more of an Indy episode with some original and fresh ideas than merely a cheap Indiana Jones or Lara Croft imitation. Perhaps this explains why Relic Hunter has been shown in many countries, according to its wikipedia entry, around the world. I definitely hope that Canadian TV continues to play it here to show Canadians what kind of miniseries was made in Canada for 3 straight years from 1999-2002. Its a credible show in my book. Regards.