The Librarian: and so it begins

- Flynn Carson translates a book in the language of the birds

Tonight I watched a movie on tv that cheered me up - The Librarian. Last year I think I posted something on this series - part 2 - but I'd never seen the first episode before ... I liked it better than the second, and how could I not, when it dealt with the spear of destiny, the lance used on Jesus when he was crucified, and the language of the birds, the common language spoken by all of mankind before the linguistic mishap with the Tower of Babel.

The Librarian: Quest for the Spear, a made for tv movie from 2004, stars Noah Wyle, Bob Newhart, Jane Curtin, Olympia Dukakis, and Kyle MacLachlan (remember Dune?).

Wylie plays the character of Flynn Carson, a brilliant but perpetual college student in his 30's who still lives with his mom (Olympia Dukakis), has no girlfriend, and no job. As the movie begins, he's forced to find employment and does so at the NY Metropolitan Library. He soon learns there's more to being a librarian than he could ever have suspected - he must, by whatever means necessary, guard the collection of relics kept within a secret vault, which include the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, King Midas, Excalibur, the Golden Fleece, Pandora's Box, the Spear of Destiny, Aladdin's flying carpet, Tesla's Death Ray, Little Boy, H.G. Wells' Time Machine, The Shroud of Turin, Pan's Flute, Medusa's Head, and a crystal skull.

Here's a little of what Wikipedia says of this first episode ...

Carsen finds that the job is a little more than he bargained for when one of three parts of the Spear of Destiny is stolen by the evil Serpent Brotherhood (members played by Kyle MacLachlan, David Dayan Fisher, and Kelly Hu). Whoever has the complete Spear of Destiny will control the destiny of the entire world (it is said in the film that "Hitler had only one" piece of the Spear). Carsen must now track down the remaining two pieces of the Spear of Destiny to prevent the Serpent Brotherhood from possessing all three pieces and gaining control of the world. His only tools are his mind and a book written in a previously untranslated language called the "Language of the birds".

Carsen heads through the Amazon rainforest and the Himalayas, ending up in Shangri-La with the help of adventurer Nicole Noone, (Sonya Walger), a Library employee who blames herself for the death of the last librarian but who resists any friendly feelings for Carsen. They encounter waterfalls, headhunters, bridge collapses, and Mayan death traps, all with often tongue-in-cheek comedy and a touch of romance, all the time proving that the years of Carsen’s book learning have paid off.

It was too much fun! :-)