SyFy's new reality series Legend Quest has a premise that is almost too good to resist: Indiana Jones meets Man Vs. Wild. Legend Quest follows Scottish historian Ashley Cowie as he traverses the globe in the search for ancient artifacts thought only to exist in myth and legend. The first episode finds the permanently unshaven Ashley and his female sidekick/producer Kinga Phillips on the hunt for the Ark Of The Covenant and later the Mayan Talking Cross. Legend Quest quickly establishes what sort of show it's going to be when Ashley says "you may know the Ark of the Covenant from Raiders Of The Lost Ark" – or the Bible, right, Ashley? You do remember the Ark of the Covenant was in the Bible first?
There are two ways to look at a show like Legend Quest; you can either switch your brain off completely and enjoy the pulse-pounding Da Vinci Code style action adventure, or you can spend more than a moment thinking about what's happening and be insulted by the daftness of it all. Legend Quest is so incredibly stupid and misleading that it's almost impossible to just go along for the ride. Don't get me wrong, twelve year old me would have eaten this crap up. Ancient symbols, globe trotting adventurers and the idea that archeology was all about carrying flaming torches whilst diving into caves; I couldn't get enough of that stuff as a kid. If Legend Quest was a scripted series I could probably get behind it but by presenting all of this nonsense as "fact" it's yet another irresponsible reality offering from SyFy after their flagrantly dishonest Haunted Collector.
In the first half of the episode our heroic lead Ashley zips around with the world with his crew by his side uncovering all sorts of amazing clues that will lead him to the final resting place of the Ark of the Covenant. As intelligent human beings we know that Ashley is not going to find the Ark of the Covenant because that's the sort of discovery that would have made the news at some point. Despite this Legend Quest goes to great lengths to convince us that Ashley actually discovers the Ark without, you know, actually discovering the Ark. He first visits a village in Ethiopia where the symbols of a two headed eagle and of a Knights Templar cross lead him to Tuscany, Italy. In Italy he speaks with an actual Knights Templar which he's allowed to do because Ashley is also a Knights Templar, because why wouldn't he be. A knowing look from this wise old man sends Ashley to a church in France where he definitely one hundred percent comes across an Ark sized tomb that most probably has the Ark hidden inside it.
As part of the order of the Knights Templar Ashley chooses not to go any further because the Knights Templar obviously buried it for a reason. As Ashley crouches in front of a stone wall he intones "I may have come as close as anyone to the Ark of the Covenant." The key word being 'may'. In fact, most of what Ashley says is filled with words like that. On his Mayan adventure he says things like "This could be evidence they were here" and "It makes total sense that's where they would have taken the cross next" and "This could be the alter". Nothing is a definite, obviously, because Ashley is just making half of this crap up. There are a lot of theories and guess work on display here, and the second quest comes to a halt a stone or two away from that elusive talking cross. "The rock was too unstable to move safely" he laments.
Each week you can guarantee that Ashley will get closer than anyone ever has to these lost artifacts but something will stop him from moving that one last rock, or opening that one final door, or pushing aside that one remaining shrub. That would be fine if Legend Quest didn't take everything so damn seriously. Ashley Cowie is a hyperactive dimwit who bounces around the world making wild accusations and taking giants leaps of faith. You could pass this off as a bit of fun if the show was willing to acknowledge that 90% of what it delivers is complete bullshit. Ashley is apparently an actual historian, and you can't imagine he's taken terribly seriously by his colleagues if he really thought he came within inches of the Ark of the Covenant and didn't knock down the wall just to check. Legend Quest's ability to pass off completely fictional situations with a straight face would make even Bear Grylls blush. This is fraudulent nonsense that continues SyFy's recent run of blatantly lying to its audience in the name of 'reality' TV.
There are two ways to look at a show like Legend Quest; you can either switch your brain off completely and enjoy the pulse-pounding Da Vinci Code style action adventure, or you can spend more than a moment thinking about what's happening and be insulted by the daftness of it all. Legend Quest is so incredibly stupid and misleading that it's almost impossible to just go along for the ride. Don't get me wrong, twelve year old me would have eaten this crap up. Ancient symbols, globe trotting adventurers and the idea that archeology was all about carrying flaming torches whilst diving into caves; I couldn't get enough of that stuff as a kid. If Legend Quest was a scripted series I could probably get behind it but by presenting all of this nonsense as "fact" it's yet another irresponsible reality offering from SyFy after their flagrantly dishonest Haunted Collector.
In the first half of the episode our heroic lead Ashley zips around with the world with his crew by his side uncovering all sorts of amazing clues that will lead him to the final resting place of the Ark of the Covenant. As intelligent human beings we know that Ashley is not going to find the Ark of the Covenant because that's the sort of discovery that would have made the news at some point. Despite this Legend Quest goes to great lengths to convince us that Ashley actually discovers the Ark without, you know, actually discovering the Ark. He first visits a village in Ethiopia where the symbols of a two headed eagle and of a Knights Templar cross lead him to Tuscany, Italy. In Italy he speaks with an actual Knights Templar which he's allowed to do because Ashley is also a Knights Templar, because why wouldn't he be. A knowing look from this wise old man sends Ashley to a church in France where he definitely one hundred percent comes across an Ark sized tomb that most probably has the Ark hidden inside it.
As part of the order of the Knights Templar Ashley chooses not to go any further because the Knights Templar obviously buried it for a reason. As Ashley crouches in front of a stone wall he intones "I may have come as close as anyone to the Ark of the Covenant." The key word being 'may'. In fact, most of what Ashley says is filled with words like that. On his Mayan adventure he says things like "This could be evidence they were here" and "It makes total sense that's where they would have taken the cross next" and "This could be the alter". Nothing is a definite, obviously, because Ashley is just making half of this crap up. There are a lot of theories and guess work on display here, and the second quest comes to a halt a stone or two away from that elusive talking cross. "The rock was too unstable to move safely" he laments.
Each week you can guarantee that Ashley will get closer than anyone ever has to these lost artifacts but something will stop him from moving that one last rock, or opening that one final door, or pushing aside that one remaining shrub. That would be fine if Legend Quest didn't take everything so damn seriously. Ashley Cowie is a hyperactive dimwit who bounces around the world making wild accusations and taking giants leaps of faith. You could pass this off as a bit of fun if the show was willing to acknowledge that 90% of what it delivers is complete bullshit. Ashley is apparently an actual historian, and you can't imagine he's taken terribly seriously by his colleagues if he really thought he came within inches of the Ark of the Covenant and didn't knock down the wall just to check. Legend Quest's ability to pass off completely fictional situations with a straight face would make even Bear Grylls blush. This is fraudulent nonsense that continues SyFy's recent run of blatantly lying to its audience in the name of 'reality' TV.