Review: Veritas the Quest and Miracles

New TV series with fantasy elements have been scant this year. Since the Fall 2002 season began many series have been canceled such as the short lived "Dinotopia" and some of those with supernatural themes. It is now the midseason and replacement series are debuting. Two new series of interest to viewers that have fantasy elements are "Veritas: the Quest" and "Miracles." They currently come out Monday nights on the ABC network.

"Veritas: the Quest" is about an archaeologist and his estranged son searching for clues to an ancient city. The concept of the is along the lines of the "Indiana Jones" movies. In the first episode, Nico is expelled from a private school. His father picks him up and they end up in a car chase. Nico tries to find out what his father is caught up in and discovers that his father is a member of Veritas, pursuing clues to an ancient city that would change everything humanity knows about history.

The second episode takes father and son to Antarctica to find an ancient power source. Nico resents his father treating him like a child. His father makes an effort to bond with his son by bringing him with the team. While the team travels to Antarctica, their plane crashes and they try to survive by finding the power source to keep them warm until rescued. A mysterious group sends people after them.

This series begins with action and a bit of a confusing plot. Viewers are introduced to an angry young man getting back at his father and a father who is alienated from his son because of his mysterious quest. Both suffer from the death of the mother years before while she looked for the same ancient city. The second episode had a plot that made more sense with better character development. This series uses the premise of a secret society seeking truth. Fantasy elements of the series rely on mysterious ancient relics and the theory of human civilization being older than historians believe. This episode's plot was convoluted, which slowed it down. In time the series might prove more interesting if allowed to grow with more development of the characters though "Indiana Jones" it will never be.

Another new series debuting in midseason is "Miracles." The first episode introduces Paul Callan, a young, jaded priest who takes a leave of absence because of his doubts about God. This stems from investigating miracles for the Catholic church that always turn out to have mundane explainations. Working as a construction worker, he receives a call from his mentor to investigate the purported miracle of a boy who can heal people. When Paul arrives at the boy's home, he realizes the boy is the same one in a dream from years before. Tom, the boy, gets sicker every time he uses the gift. The first episode has a dark edge ending with a cryptic message.

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