The Librarians: The Next Chapter

Whenever there is a reboot or "next chapter" of any show it's difficult not to compare it to the original as you watch. Especially when you're a big fan of the original series. But I tried, sometimes unsuccessfully, to keep that to a minimum.

The feel of the show is true to the original, the storylines have been good with all the humour & fun whimsy you would expect.

Vickram, the new Librarian is wonderful; he's quirky, funny, & at times as chaotic as Flynn. I want to learn more about him.

Lysa & Connor are I guess meant to be the new Cassandra & Ezekiel. I find them different enough so they kind of hold their own as new characters. They're not true "Librarians", more like a couple of folks just along for the ride, which is a bit odd. I get more of a poor man's Mulder & Scully vibe from them - he says "magic" she says "not magic, it's science" and so on.

The weakest part for me is Charlie, the new Guardian. I can't help compare her to Eve, because she is an inferior version. The character is uninteresting, the acting isn't that strong, and she doesn't have that blend of strength & vulnerability, the enormous Kick-ass potential that Rebecca Romijn brought to Eve. Maybe she will grow on me.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the season, I really want to love this one as much as the original.

Having enjoyed the past incarnations of this series, I was looking forward to "the Next Chapter", but, sadly, it does not deliver. The acting is so bad I'm actually not sure that they weren't intentionally trying to be camp and just missed the mark. The writing is equally inept. There are so many plot holes that the writers actually have to explain why they aren't really plot holes during the story. The nice thing about shows about magic is that you can always write something off to some obscure lore that nobody knew about until it suddenly becomes a brick wall to the story. I call it the "ah, well it doesn't work that way... unless there's a full moon" effect. 4 episodes in and so far.. a disappointment.

Hard to tell if Callum McGowan is a bad actor or his character is just very poorly written. The overall writing is not even close to the original and it feels as if the episodes were rushed to completion.

In addition, the network has done the shows no favors by inserting the commercial breaks in what seems like odd places.

The rest of the cast may grow into their roles, but they need to rewrite the Vikram character if this show is to continue. Some better writing of his character or a change of characters would be a good start, but better overall writing is needed if this show is going to receive a 2nd season.

I really liked the original but this is a poor imitation. In the original the "Librarian" was not around for most of the series and the "team" had to solve problems with each member bringing their unique talents to the effort. Each of them was also part of the library.

In this version we have a Librarian from another time (why?) and his team is made up of more or less ordinary people (none of whom were invited) who would be best classified as just sidekicks. It seems like any one of them, except perhaps Charlie, could be replaced with no impact to the show. Even Charlie, who is supposed to be the protector, is not really doing much. Eve from the original series was kicking ass early on.

I assume that as the show continues we will see more character development and the cast acting more like a team, but for now I have seen enough.

The story is a bit all over the place. While it was some years ago, I have fond memories of the original series and I was hoping for the same level of quality. The way the characters were introduced or more importantly - NOT introduced leaves gaps in information and instead of enjoying the story unfold, I am left wondering how and why.

In one episode there was a scene where ballet slippers had char on them from being burned, in the next scene no char, then char again when they were being examined in the scene following.

I don't mind corny when it is done well and sadly, this falls a little short in my opinion.

I'm going to keep watching in the hopes that it will improve and we get some of the holes in the story filled in.