Sydney Fox is the title character on the Canadian adventure television series Relic Hunter, played by Tia Carrere. Fox is a university professor of ancient studies, teaching courses on archaeology and cultural anthropology. She also has a side-career as a relic hunter, searching for ancient treasures and artefacts which she intends to bring to her university's museum.
Relic Hunter
In the TV series Relic Hunter, Sydney Fox is a Professor of Ancient Studies, at a generic North American university. She most often teaches courses on what appear to be archaeology and cultural anthropology, though she is also shown teaching history and architecture as required by the plot. She frequently misses her own classes to work as a "relic hunter" who is constantly on the hunt for ancient treasures and artefacts so that she can bring them to their university’s museum. Inspired by an Indiana Jones style of adventure, Fox is often found battling rival hunters for artefacts. Her supervisors only rarely complain, since Fox usually stores the relics she finds in the university museum for safekeeping. Fox herself regards it as her duty to keep relics from falling into the wrong hands, either because they should be enjoyed by all mankind or because they are too dangerous to fall into the wrong hands.
Sydney's weapon of choice is a Persian hand-crossbow, which she usually uses to deal with traps, relying on hand-to-hand combat when actually fighting.
The series has attached a number of stereotypes onto her role as an Archaeologist throughout the series. Producers of Relic Hunter have utilized sex appeal to enhance Sydney Fox's character. Relic Hunter is an example of how a profession can be altered to fit public interests. Although Relic Hunter has faults in its portrayal of the profession, the overall concept of searching for relics and uncovering historical archives is relevant. While Fox is portrayed as a young professional to the field, her sex appeal is used to intrigue viewers and place a different spin on a female archaeologist/professor. Like real archaeologists, Fox does not hunt relics for glory or monetary gain, but so that they can be studied and learned from.
Setting
The show takes place in a variety of different settings across the globe; therefore its archaeological appeal can be interesting for a wide range of viewers.