The Librarian (franchise)

The Librarian is a series of made-for-TV original movies from Turner Network Television, starring Noah Wyle as a librarian who protects a secret collection of artifacts.

Movies

Origin

Dean Devlin, through his production company Electric Entertainment, originated the series.^[1] The director of the first film was Peter Winther and the writer was David Titcher who also co-produced with Marc Roskin and Kearie Peak. In 2004, they planned to produce three Librarian films with ER star Wyle.

"Dean's pitch was a refreshing take on the hero story", TNT Senior Vice President of Original Programming Michael Wright said. "Instead of a muscle-bound, spandex-clad superman, we get an insecure but brilliant guy who thinks he's taking a safe job as a librarian, but instead gets taken on a ride in a world we'd like to believe exists."^[1]

The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (2004)

Quest for the Spear introduces Flynn Carsen (Noah Wyle), who is hired by the Metropolitan Public Library as a librarian. What Flynn doesn't realize is the library has existed for centuries and protects a range of historical and often magical items in a secret section of the library, including The Ark of the Covenant, Pandora's box, and Excalibur. When part of the Spear of Destiny is stolen from the library, Flynn must recover it with the help of Nicole Noone.

The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines (2006)

Return to King Solomon's Mines begins with Flynn's attending a party at his mother's house, where he meets up with his "Uncle" Jerry, a close friend of his late father. Soon Flynn is on a quest to locate King Solomon's Mines, and along the way he teams up with Emily Davenport, an archaeologist who helps Flynn translate the Akon (aklo algolis) language. When they meet up with Jerry in Kenya, all is not what it seems...

The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice (2008)

Curse of the Judas Chalice finds Flynn suffering from a series of strange dreams which led him to New Orleans, where he finds himself in the midst of uncovering a conspiracy that involves the notorious vampire Prince Vlad Dracul. Once again, Flynn must overcome his fears and protect one of the world's most sacred artifacts, the Judas Chalice, or face the consequences of it falling into the wrong hands.

Upcoming films

Producer Dean Devlin had indicated that the next film in the Librarian series would be a theatrical release. Shooting was planned for some time in 2009.^[2] However, actor Noah Wyle later said in an interview at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con that shooting had not begun and there were no immediate plans for a theatrical release of the next film in the series.^[3]

In other media

Comic books

The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines

Released in November 2006, Electric Entertainment and Atlantis Studios produced a graphic novel adaptation of Return to King Solomon's Mines. The adaptation was written by James Watson and illustrated by Nate Pride. Atlantis Studios has a website for the adaptation.

Original stories

Electric Entertainment and Atlantis Studios additionally signed an exclusive worldwide agreement to produce an original comic book series based on The Librarian characters. “Comics are great opportunities to explore mythology, history, and each character in a way we could never do on film”, said Executive Producer Dean Devlin. “There are thousands of artifacts in the Library – each one a new adventure. Based on the response we’ve had from the first film, fans of all ages loved the characters and want to see more. This series will give it to them.”^[4]

Books

The Adventures of the Librarian: Quest For The Spear

A novelization of the first movie was adapted by Christopher Tracy as The Adventures of the Librarian: Quest For The Spear, which was published in 2004.^[5]

Characters

The Librarians

The Librarians are the guardians of powerful and magical relics, and have been for centuries, and often undertake global-spanning adventures to recover items and store them in the Library. Some of the relics in the library include: The Mona Lisa, Excalibur, the Ark of the Covenant, the Fountain of Youth, the Nautilus, Noah's Ark, Pan's Flute, Pandora's box, Poseidon's trident, the Shroud of Turin. There are also living assets within the Library, for example, the Loch Ness Monster can be seen in the water around the "tree" made of walkways at the end of the Judas Chalice adventure.

Awards

The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines

Won

• Saturn Award (2007): Best Presentation on Television.

Nominated

• Saturn Award (2007): Best Actor on Television (Noah Wyle), and Best Supporting Actress on Television (Gabrielle Anwar).
• American Society of Cinematographers (2007): ASC Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Movies of the Week/Mini-Series/Pilot (Walt Lloyd)
• Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards (2007): Critics Choice Award for Best Picture Made for Television
• Emmy Awards (2007): Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Joseph LoDuca), and Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special

The Librarian: Quest for the Spear

Nominated

• Saturn Award (2005): Best Actor on Television (Noah Wyle), Best Supporting Actor on Television (Kyle MacLachlan), Best Supporting Actress on Television (Sonya Walger), and Best Television Presentation
• Motion Picture Sound Editors (2005): Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing in Television Long Form - Sound Effects & Foley.
• Visual Effects Society Awards (2005): VES Award for Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program
• Writers Guild of America (2006): WGA Award for Long Form - Original (David N. Titcher)

References

External links

• The Librarian: Quest for the Spear at the Internet Movie Database
• TNT homepage for The Librarian: Quest for the Spear
• TNT homepage for The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines