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Veritas: The Quest (2003)
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Movie Review by The Gravedigger
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09.03.10
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This short-lived television series begins with seventeen-year-old genius Nikko Zond (Ryan Merriman of FINAL DESTINATION 3), being kicked out of a prestigious school after he blows up a toilet. His father, Solomon (Alex Carter), comes to pick him up, not at all happy that his son has gotten expelled from yet another school. On the drive back to the airport they are chased by some sinister guys and the father, with the help of some roadside assistance from his home office, manages to elude them. These bad guys belong to a group called Dorna, who wants these secrets for themselves. Solomon takes Nikko to where he works, which is a high tech place that seems to deal with archeology. His father runs an organization called Veritas, which is after the truth--and this has much to do with the research of Nikko's mother, Haley Cayce, who proposed that civilization began much earlier than history teaches. Other members of the Veritas group are Juliet Droil (Cobie Smulders), who is a research assistant and Nikko's tutor, Calvin Banks. who treats Nikko like a kid brother, Maggie, and Vincent (Arnold Vosloo), who used to work for the other side.
They find a hidden tomb in the middle of a Paris graveyard and recover an ancient map that shows Antarctica, not covered by ice. They match this to a recent satellite picture and it matches exactly. In the next episode they are off to Antarctica to find this new power source, which turns out to be a huge pyramid hidden beneath the ice. Of course, the secret organization that is after them. Then, it's off to Germany to retrieve a crystal skull that's hidden in one of Hitler's bunkers. Nikko is visited by a strange guy, who knows his every movie and gives hints to the location of the object. When they finally do retrieve it and do a facial reconstruction it looks just like the crazy guy who was helping Nikko, which means these beings still exist.
In MUMMY VIRUS, one of the members of the group, Maggie, is contaminated and starts transforming into a living mummy, just like the ones found at the South American archeological dig. She also gains knowledge that's spread along with it and is able to translate some of that ancient language. It turns out the virus was genetically engineered thousands of years ago. In another episode they rescue a ten year old Russian kid named Alexi from his government because he can speak all known languages and may be able to translate the hieroglyphics from the Antarctic expedition. However, there is a religious sect that wants to stop him from doing this since they believe the language he knows is the devil's tongue and if spoken will begin the Apocalypse. In the episode AVALON, they find a druidic coffin in the Midwest and trace its origins to a small town in Michigan where the inhabitants all follow the same druidic religion. However, they are practicing a sort of human sacrifice and it looks like Nikko is one of the ones selected for this particular honor. Then, it's off to Italy to find a lost diary of Leonardo DaVinci. Learn that the benefactor of the Veritas Organization is actually a high ranking member of Dorna and that he sent Vincent to work with them...
In ETERNAL, they find a journal of Hayley Cayce that she wrote when she was 13 after being lost in the Siberian wilderness for a month. She tells how she was rescued by a Native American and taken to an underground Spring where she was healed. The group manages to find the place and it definitely has longevity properties and alludes that because of what happened to his mother Niko may be special. This is confirmed in THE HEMHOLTZ RESONANCE, in which they go to the mountains in France and find a hidden castle in search of a piece of "The Ring of Truth" which when put together will show the power of God. At the end of the episode Nikko demonstrates telekinetic abilities, which would have opened up the series in a new direction.
I really dug this series when it originally aired and I enjoyed it more on the second viewing. It has a great ensemble cast and is definitely not your typical television series.
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Rating: nan out of 10.0 - 0 votes cast total
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