The Librarians - Ep. 1 and 2
It’s not often that you come across a TV show that seems equal parts National Treasure, Sherlock and Power Rangers. Actually, scrap that – The Librarians is more like a teenage boy raised on only National Treasure movies, Power Rangers episodes and fizzy cola has decided to get together with Carter from ER and make a TV show. It is like one of those really cheap sweets that feel synthetic, leave a bad taste in your mouth and yet you reach for another one. You may weep gently as you eat the second one, but you eat it nonetheless. Yes, all the things above are exactly like The Librarians.
The Librarians is an off shoot of The Librarian series of films – a trilogy of made for TV movies that starred Noah Wyle as a librarian adventurer… man, those words feel synthetic and leave a bad taste in my mouth. Flynn Carsen is a librarian that must go round the world, collecting all the magical artefacts (like Excalibur, for example) and making sure that magic never falls in to the hands of the bad people. His lone wolf days (of the film, I guess) are behind him as the library (a sentient being, apparently) contacts a police officer type woman (Rebecca Romijn) to become his guardian. As the plot progresses, some youngsters are brought on board and The Librarians are born. I imagine this is because Noah Wyle has little intention to be in the series after the first couple of episodes and needed to pass the date stampy thing on to someone else.
The writing is truly horrific, the action is laughable and the general feel of the show made me physically hurt. There is a bit where they are being guided through the streets of London (Portland, Oregon) by a jewel on the end of a string. It felt very much like the shows I grew up with in the 80s and 90s, but not in the style of homage… more in the style of just having no budget. The lack of budget is evident throughout, especially when they are in Munich (Portland, Oregon) and an explosion happens that looks as if it could have been in Garth Merenghi’s Darkplace. The fact that they very quickly drive from Munich to the Black Forest is a nice little geographical retardation aside. I am not the type of person that needs to have amazing effects in my visual culture, but the fact remains that they are the rancid cherry on top of a hackneyed script and ham acting cake. I will probably check it out next week, perhaps with clothes pegs on my nipples… just to add to the experience.
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