Ever since I saw that they were going to make a TV series out of The Librarian, I have been so excited. I cannot remember when exactly the first movie came out (oh, wait, that’s what IMDB is for – turns out the first one, The Librarian: Quest for the Spear, came out in 2004), but I do remember watching it and absolutely loving it. Noah Wyle as a reluctant action hero! Bob Newhart in his very first (and only) fight scene! Jane Curtin as the always exasperated coordinator! It was awesome.
There were two more movies after that – Quest for Solomon’s Mines in 2006, and The Curse of the Judas Chalice in 2008. After that, however, there’s been nothing, and it looked like maybe that was going to be the end of Noah Wylie’s action hero franchise.
Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. Oh, the first episode of the new series was fantastically cheesy, and the special effects were not always the best. But it had everything I hoped it would have: Noah Wylie being an action hero again! John Laroquette as a suitably crotchety replacement for Jane Curtin! Guest appearance by Bob Newhart! Oh, and a quartet of new characters and a plot right out of a D&D game.
In fact, the whole thing felt a lot like a brand new group of people all sitting down together to play their first D&D game. Here is a disparate cast of characters who are drawn together on the flimsiest of excuses, who all cheerfully jump on board with the crazy in a way that people in real life would never do, because that’s the only way that they’ll get to the fun part later on – which is exactly how any new D&D game starts. You roll up your characters, you all collectively decide on how your characters are to be brought together and then you take a bunch of perfect strangers, throw in some magic, and poof, you have a band of plucky adventurers, off to save the world.
Yes, I suppose I could step back and roll my eyes at the fact that the plot was rushed, and more than a bit disjointed; that I really wish they hadn’t thrown in the romantic subplot near the end; that sometimes the cheese made me cringe, ever so slightly. But right now I can’t bring myself to care about any of that. It was exactly what I expected, and I am looking forward to seeing what happens next.
‘Tis the season for Holidailies!
RT @Jenipurr: New post: And next for our plucky party of adventurers: http://t.co/YAbaibGQDH #fb
It lacked something I’d enjoyed so much in the movies, though I’m not sure I can put my finger on it. It did seemed rushed. One aspect of a good fiction tale is its ability to make your accept the premise & forget it’s not possible, just enjoy. I couldn’t quite get there last night, but we’ll stick with it for a while.