The Best Episodes Written By Bill Taub

Handyman Willie Loomis accidentally releases vampire Barnabas Collins from his chained coffin. Barnabas introduces himself to the Collins family as a distant relative from England and begins to romance beautiful new governess Victoria Winters. The town of Collinsport is soon terrorized by a series of deadly attacks.

When Robin Master's latest book is made into a motion picture, the author donates the use of Robin's Nest as a location and Magnum is quickly enmeshed in the temperaments and politics of the film world.

In the opening segment (to be repeated throughout the first two years), we see Lewis Vendredi try to recover the cursed antiques, and end up condemned to hell. Distant cousins Ryan Dallion and Micki Foster find out they have inherited an antique shop from Uncle Lewis. Micki wants to simply sell off the place, and Ryan reluctantly agrees. They sell off the antiques in the store, but then are greeted by Jack Marshak, Vendredi's partner and procurer. They find out about Vendredi's deal with the devil, and realize that some of the antiques they sold were also cursed. The first antique they recover, a toy doll, comes to life and kills for its owner, a young girl. They recover the doll, and vow to recover the other antiques as well.

Event: NEPAL 523 B.C. Sydney and Nigel go to Nepal searching Buddha's bowl for villagers building a shrine to Siddhartha, the original Buddha. But Sydney's rival, Stewie Harper, is also searching for the artifact. Hired by a banker, Michael Chan, who needs the bowl to save his family's bank from financial ruin, Stewie will stop at nothing to beat Sydney, and it takes all her resources to make sure the bowl ends up in its place.

Event: SALZBURG, AUSTRIA 1946 A military officer persuades Sydney and Nigel to join him on an undercover mission to locate the Paracelsus scrolls, fabled to contain the formula to turn lead into gold, in Peruvian jungle. With minimal information, Sydney and Nigel find themselves caught in the crossfire between two government spies, claiming that the other is a rogue agent. Sydney must make a decision that could get her and Nigel killed and allow the alchemist's secret to fall into unsavory hands.

Event: EGYPT 1425 B.C. Sydney and Nigel go to Cairo to chase down the real tomb raider, when Sydney's old friend Bruce Farrow is framed for plundering the tomb of Thutmose III and pocketing the Pharaoh's diamond. The theft of the gem, believed to have fallen from the sky inside a meteor, lures mercenary Avery Ko, a rival Relic Hunter, from the shadows. The trail leads to Amsterdam, where the stone is to be cut and sold. Sydney, Nigel and Bruce discover that the rock is not a diamond, and if cut by laser, will unleash a force that could cause major destruction like the tomb's hieroglyphs described.

Event: THE BARBARY COAST 1534 Sydney's former mentor, Professor Chandler, passes away before finishing recovering the Ruby Chalice of Truth, his life's work, a long-fabled relic imbued with truth-inducing powers. The chalice eventually fell into the hands of a French diplomat. Sydney, Nigel and Stewie Harper, track the goblet to a cooking academy in Paris, with a parchment written in Berber and the professor's notes. As students, the three chef it up during the day and scourge the school by night. A masquerading rival and students at every turn, the threesome must fulfill Professor Chandler's life mission.

Sydney's grandmother Isabelle's trunk of things sparks a trip into the past for Sydney, who's been fascinated with Isabelle who once sang at Paris' Moulin Rouge. Falsely accused of stealing a locket actually given to her by her lover, Isabelle lost everything. Her paramour, Philip Ashcroft, believed to be an English secret agent, smuggled a tiara, the Heart of Europe, out of Russia, but was murdered in Paris before it could be delivered. It was never recovered. Setting out to find the locket and clear Isabelle's name, mission uncovers clues to an international intrigue, turning into a dangerous hunt for a relic.

Event: ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 1886 Sydney knows she's putting her life on the line, when she agrees to a sting operation orchestrated by Interpol agent Cate Hemphill. But before the sting begins, she's snatched by an unseen assailant, and it's up to Cate, Nigel and Claudia to pinpoint a suspect. Between rival Relic Hunters and enemies made on Sydney's adventures, the three have to rescue her before it's too late.

Event: CENTRAL AMERICA 1488 A.D. Sydney and Nigel are in Central America with a guide, Carlos, tyring to get into an Aztec pyramid. They succeed and recover a ruby-eyed statue. Carlos betrays them, tying them up and taking the statue. They manage to get free and go after him, only to find him dead, and the opened box nearby. They take the box and try to escape by train, but Carlos was working with mercenaries who also want the statue. A thief on the train tries to steal the statue and also ends up dead. Sydney belives the statue has a curse and vows to take it back to the pyramid. With the aid of the NSA man who gave her the coordinates, she and Nigel get back. The head of the mercenaries tries to take the devil doll but ends up dead as well, as a ghostly image of an Aztec priest rears up. Sydney seals the doll within the pyramid once more.

Event: NORTHUMBRIAN COAST 935 A.D. Stewie Harper shows up at the university posing as a visiting professor. He's got a lead on an ancient fortune but needs Sydney's expertise. Sydney, Nigel and Stewie head off to Sweden to find the pillaged booty of legendary Viking marauder Jann the Bold. But Stewie's not telling the whole truth, which becomes clear after an encounter with the Swedish Society of Vikings, determined to stop them.