Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft managed to not solely win followers of the current Tomb Raider sport over, but in addition proved to be common sufficient to warrant a second season. A big a part of this was as a consequence of how the sequence explores Lara’s response to a tragic occasion, but in addition due to the way it completely captures the globetrotting components that make Lara’s adventures so participating. Whereas Tomb Raider followers await The Legend of Lara Croft‘s sophomore season, there’s one other tv sequence with a feminine archeologist that they need to take a look at: Relic Hunter. Relic Hunter stands out from the pack of ’90s-era syndicated exhibits, each in the way it approaches the idea of a “treasure hunter” and for the way it was constructed round its star.

What Is ‘Relic Hunter’ About?

Relic Hunter chronicles the adventures of archeology professor Sydney Fox (Tia Carrere from Wayne’s World). When she’s not educating archeology or anthropology lessons at Trinity Faculty, Sydney is touring the world to find uncommon artifacts – normally accompanied by her timid educating assistant, Nigel Bailey (Christien Anholt). Sydney’s quests carry her into battle with rival hunters, and even supernatural forces like vampires and the precise Fountain of Youth; however in a uncommon twist from adventurers like Indiana Jones or Lara Croft, she seeks to return the relics to their rightful resting locations. This helped endear Sydney to the viewers; in spite of everything, who would not need to root for a protagonist who needs to do the suitable factor?

The opposite main draw – and one other departure from treasure hunter tales – is the dynamic between Sydney and Nigel. Often it is the dashing Brit who tends to be the hero, whereas the principle feminine character is normally his love curiosity or the damsel in misery. In Relic Hunter, that state of affairs is reversed: Nigel is normally the one who finds himself at risk, whereas Sydney saves him. Anholt would broaden upon this throughout an interview:

“Poor Nigel is out of his component…When he arrives within the States he finds issues fairly totally different from what he anticipated. In fact, he’s not all that good at ‘the hunt’ and doesn’t cope terribly properly with all of the hazard that goes together with it. Having stated that, I believe Nigel has gotten a bit higher at dealing with himself.”

In a behind-the-scenes video, the producers and Anholt additionally discuss how a lot of Sydney’s character was tailor-made to suit Carrere’s private pursuits, together with singing and martial arts. Sydney has not less than one battle per episode, with Carrere doing her personal stunts. Although it was uncommon for a personality and an actor to be that a lot in sync, it really works – Carrere completely embodies the daring, stunning and brainy treasure hunter that Sydney is supposed to be.

‘Relic Hunter’ Marked the Finish of an Period in Tv

Along with flipping the script on archeologist adventures, Relic Hunter was additionally one of many final style exhibits that grew to become distinguished throughout the ’90s. Most of those exhibits had been constructed for syndication, and lined a variety of genres – although they largely landed within the science fiction, fantasy, or superhero style. It was an period that gave rise to iconic exhibits, together with Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and its spin-off Xena: Warrior Princess, together with Babylon 5. Although the period of streaming had but to take off, tv was altering extra in direction of long-form storytelling – particularly as soon as Misplaced aired. Relic Hunter truly bought to finish by itself phrases as a substitute of being canceled, because the present was initially constructed for under three seasons.

One Relic Hunter alum would truly find yourself on one other sequence that shared an identical premise. Lindy Sales space portrayed Sydney’s bubby workplace supervisor Claudia in Seasons 1 and a pair of, generally becoming a member of Sydney and Nigel on their adventures. Years later, Sales space would be a part of The Librarians, one other globetrotting sequence centering round a bunch of extremely expert individuals. Her character in that sequence, Cassandra Cillian, is the exact opposite of her Relic Hunter character; whereas Claudia crammed the position of the “bubbly blonde,” Cassandra is a superb musician fighting a mind tumor that would kill her.

Even when it was short-lived, Relic Hunter will certainly fill the Tomb Raider-shaped hole in your viewing schedule with its badass feminine lead, whereas additionally serving as a throwback to the times of tacky style tv.

Relic Hunter is out there to stream on Prime Video within the U.S.

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