Relic Hunter (1999–2002)

The series is made by a Canadian company, and has a different look and feel from its Hollywood adventure / action counterparts.

The series may have been inspired by Eidos' "Tomb Raider" game that was popular around the time this series was made.

Professor Sydney Fox works for the archeology department at Trinity College - a fictitious school in "north east" area of Americas (which can be either in Canada, or the US). She spends most of her time relic hunting that takes her to many exotic locations around the world. She's an expert in ancient cultures, and martial arts. She's accompanied by her assistant Nigel Baley who's intelligent, but aren't nearly as tough as she is. In most episodes she goes into a somewhat scary situation where she and Nigel has to fend for their lives using their charm, intelligence, and martial arts skills. The episodes are much more story driven compared to American made TV series of this type. Ethnic mixture of part Hawaiian Tia Cerrerie, British Christien Anholt, and Canadian Lindy Booth (Tanja Reichert in the third season) is also unique in TV series.

What's stellar about this series is it's production. The producers of this series knew what they were doing. The characters, the stories, and the location are all superbly in good taste that holds up to repeat viewing. One very honorable mention goes to the series' cinematographer. You can freeze frame any part of the episode, and they all look like a perfectly framed, and exposed Kodachrome shot. No messed up computer graphics, or effects to kill the atmosphere of the story, and this in my opinion is one of the attraction of this series.

Stories are great, acting is great, so no wonder there's still a fan base to this series that's requesting more episodes to be made. If they are going to make another series, I'd like to request the original team that made these episodes come back, because the look and feel of the series was superb.

This is one of the best television series, and deserves further development in the future.