Jack Hunter

Greetings, you Treasure and Antiquity Seekers! 

Good to have you back!  I hope you're ready for adventure because this time we're talking about the Jack Hunter miniseries.  I believe this debuted on the Syfy Channel (but don't quote me on that) around New Year 2008-2009.  

These three episodes run about an hour and a half each, forming a single, all-encompassing story arc.  First is "Jack Hunter and the Lost Treasure of Ugarit".."  Here we meet Jack Hunter, jaded and cynical archaeologist, on a mission to photograph a tablet in a private collection in Paris.  A bad run-in with a security guard smashes his camera, so he takes the entire tablet.

His friend and mentor believe this tablet holds a riddle that leads to a long-lost Ugaritic treasure.  Jack thinks it's a bunch of hooey and refuses to get involved until someone kills his mentor.  Before his death, the mentor marked a spot on a map, and this leads Jack to Syria, where he is joined by Nadia Ramadan from a local antiquities institute (she and Jack hate each other right away, so you know they end up together by the end of the series) and Tariq, a driver/tour/guide provided by some tourism bureau.

The main opposition is a rival archaeologist named Littman, who is working for the Russian Mafia.  There are other bad guys, too...but I don't even remember who they were supposed to be.  Some weird secret society that's still around from ancient times...they worship the magical staff that is part of the Treasure.

There were foot chases, car chases (Tariq is supposed to be their driver, but somehow every time Jack drives, there turns out to be a car chase...go figure!).   There are some caves and ancient ruins and weird ancien traps.  Anyway, all this leads to the staff.

What staff?  Oh yeah, there's this magic staff.  It's the first of a two-part ancient superweapon.  The weapon is called the Eye, and the Staff is the Iris.  It's a solar-powered magic staff that shoots a laser beam.  The secret society is trying to keep everyone away from it.

But they blew it.  Everyone gets to the temple where it's kept, and--of course--Littman gets it by the end of the first movie!  

But that's ok because we're not done yet!  We move to part two, "Jack Hunter and the Quest for Akhenaten's Tomb."  See, there's a second part to the superweapon.  It's called the Star of Heaven, and it attaches to the orb at the top of the staff, and...no one's quite sure what it does.  But Littman is after it, so we have to stop him!

Our heroes believe that the Star of Heaven was captured by the forces of the Pharaoh Akhenaten and hidden away in Egypt, so that's we they go next.  

More political intrigue, more ancient mysteries, another secret society.  But it turns out that the Star of Heaven is not here because thousands of years ago, the Romans looted the place and moved the entire treasure, but left a pair of Roman coins on the eyes of the Pharaoh.  Oh yeah, and we fail to get the Staff away from Littman!

But we're not through yet; we still have "Jack Hunter and the Star of Heaven."  This time there's a trail of private collectors that our heroes must follow to eventually find the Star.  And of course, Littman gets it, and we have to get it back before he can turn it over to the Russian Mafia...or is that even his true intention?  I won't spoil it, just in case you want to check it out for yourself.

So, how was it?  Well...it was okay.  The mystery and intrigue really weren't so bad.  They make the mistake of dressing the hero up in a way that reminds you of Indiana Jones, and I think that was a bad idea.  Jack Hunter is NO Indiana Jones.  

As I said, the plot is okay.  It has all the necessary parts to be something great, and it takes place in the modern world, which helps set it apart from period pieces like Indiana Jones.  However, in my opinion, none of the characters were very likable.  And the story just isn't told in the fun style of Indiana Jones or "The Mummy" with Brendan Fraser.  It's like they wanted all the corny adventure stuff but were hoping to inject verisimilitude and believability...or something.

It was good in its way, it was watchable, and I'm not sorry I watched it.  On the other hand, I'm in no hurry to watch it again.  It just wasn't as much fun as Indy or O'Connell.

But if you want to watch it, I'm sure you can find it on some streaming channel or other; I watched it on YouTube.

Have you seen "Jack Hunter and Lost Treasure of Ugarit"?  If so, tell us what you thought about it in the comments below!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell

The Star Kings

Howdy-do to all you Travelers Among the Stars! 

Welcome back to another fun-filled thrill-a-minute report here at Squadron HQ!  This time, we're talking about a rollicking space opera adventure that encapsulates the sort of entertainment we strive for here at TAS.  It has everything!  It has telepathy, time-travel, planet-hopping, imposter royalty, romance with a space princess, mutant blob monsters, a massive space war, and a weapon that could destroy the entire galaxy!

What is it?  It's "The Star Kings" by Edmond Hamilton! 

Edmond Hamilton was, of course, a popular, prolific pulp writer whose stories filled the pages of many a sci-fi and horror magazine.  Later, he moved on to write stories for comic books like Batman, Superman, and Green Lantern.  He wrote several space opera stories, including the Captain Future and Starwolf series.

John Gordon is a pilot who survived World War II and returned to his everyday life as an accountant, which he now finds very dull.  At night when he drifts off to sleep, he begins to hear a voice in his head.  It is Zarth Arn, a prince of the Mid-Galactic Empire calling from 200 centuries in the future.  He wants to study history first-hand by switching bodies with John Gordon, kinda like in Quantum Leap.

Gordon--craving adventure, excitement, and really wild things--jumps at this opportunity.  His consciousness is transported through Time And Space into the body of Zarth Arn in his Earth laboratory 200,000 years in the future.  Zarth Arn is not only a prince (second-son of the Imperial Emperor) but also a scientist.  Apparently, he does this mind-swap thing with various persons throughout history, and his trusted associate is present to help Gordon get oriented and updated with simple things like language.

But then Gordon gets pulled into a much more exciting adventure than he planned.  The laboratory where the mind transfer took place is attacked by a group of political dissidents; they are troops of "the Cloud," headquarters of the League of Dark Worlds.  They want to kidnap Zarth Arn, who--as a member of the royal family--knows the secret of the Empire's super-weapon.  They have come for John Gordon!

They conveniently kill the assistant guy, the only guy who knows that Gordon is NOT Prince Zarth Arn.  Then, by luck and happenstance, these troops are in turn conquered by a passing patrol of the Imperial navy, and Gordon is saved!  Sort of!  They insist on reporting the incident to Zarth's father--the Emperor!--who orders his son return home to the safety of the Imperial capital city of Throon!  They take Gordon away from the lab and the precious mind-swapping device!

From here on out, Gordon's sole objective is to return to Earth and bring the real Zarth Arn back to deal with his own problems.  But Gordon just keeps getting farther and farther from this goal as he is bombarded with one setback after another!  

He is accused of treason, framed for the assassination of the Emporer, kidnapped by agents of the Cloud, tortured with a mind-reading ray, crash lands on a planetoid filled with monsters, causes a mutiny, and pressured to use a secret weapon that-if used incorrectly-could destroy the entire galaxy!  Wow!

This is a nonstop thrill ride!  Like, no kidding, EVERY chapter ends with a little cliffhanger that makes you want to keep going!  It is a little episodic, and, as others on the internet have pointed out, it is corny and cheesy--but these are just plusses, in my opinion!  

I WILL be reading this again sometime!  I've read some other Edmond Hamilton stories, but this just makes me want to find some more!  So if you like super-cheesy, action-packed space operas, I highly recommend that you read "The Star Kings"!  You won't go wrong!

Apparently, there are more stories in this series, but I haven't found them...yet!  Have you read this one?  Or any Edmond Hamilton stories?  Drop a comment below to tell us what you read and what you thought about it!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell