Legends of Tomorrow - Raiders of the Lost Art Television 

Five Thoughts on Legends of Tomorrow‘s “Raiders of the Lost Art”

By | January 25th, 2017
Posted in Television | % Comments

Rip is an American, George Lucas is a cameraman, and Legends of Tomorrow is back. Let’s get right to it.

Note: I will do my best to make sure that these reviews don’t get short shrift, given that I have to write them directly after writing The Flash reviews. If it is a problem, I’ll contemplate moving these back to Fridays.

1. Rip’s return

We’ve been waiting for this for a half season now, but it is nice to see Rip return, even if he has no idea who he is. Arthur Darvill doesn’t exactly pull off an American accent, but overall, it was fun to see Rip back in the saddle, especially putting together a campy, sci-fi movie for his film school project. My main critique of this episode is that we didn’t get a full 5-10 minute scene from his student film. Please – please – make that an online featurette or something. We need to see this.

Amnesia is, of course, one of the most overused film/TV tropes, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t work well. The reason it worked well is because the show gave us a clear reason for it happening; it wasn’t just a bump on the head, a la The Muppets Take Manhattann (not to in any way deride that classic bit of American cinema). The fact that Rip knowingly changed reality to protect the Spear of Destiny and his crew was both believable and really interesting. Of course, it introduces the whole idea of changing reality vs changing history, which seems to be a bit of a stretch, but we’ll take it with a grain of salt. This is Legends after all, not quite the paragon of believability.

2. Spear of Destiny

Bringing the Spear of Destiny – a longtime DC relic – was perfect for this episode for two reasons: first off, it made the Legion of Doom (officially coined this week) have a real goal that made sense, and it fit right into the Raiders of the Lost Ark feel of the episode. A relic with religious overtones, sought after by evil men who want to change the world is sort of Indy’s thing, and it helped make this episode feel like the classic films that get mentioned here. Speaking of Lucas…

3. George Lucas?!?!

So, those reports weren’t bullshit, they cast an actor to play a UCLA-era George Lucas. They also outfitted him with the worst fake beard since Jack said “We have to go back!” to Kate on LOST, but they cast someone to play him. This, to me, was a missed opportunity – they could have done so many insider-y jokes! Have him build something, and then rebuild it again, making it much, much shittier the second time.

I also respect that they are committed to Lucas’s career whole hog, not just the stuff he wrote/directed, as Raiders of the Lost Ark just gave Lucas a story by and producer’s credit. Plus, that way, they could make a Howard the Duck joke, and who can resist one of those??

4. Inspiration

My favorite part of the episode was the idea that Ray and Nate were so inspired by Star Wars and Raiders that it set them on their career paths. This is a surprisingly reverent view of art for a popcorn TV show, but I love it. I am one of those kids who was incredibly inspired by things I read/heard/saw, so to see that played out on screen was really great. It also helps make those two goofball characters a little more relatable, because who didn’t pretend to be a Jedi or a swashbuckling archaeologist after seeing those films?

5. Trash compactor

The scene in the trash compactor was clearly the biggest homage to one of Lucas’s actual films in the episode, and I’ll admit it made me chuckle quite a bit. It was a fun way to both move the plot forward and allow some humor into the episode.

Especially being back to back with The Flash, it is clear just how light this show is compared to its CW-verse compatriots, but it is a hell of a lot of fun. I’ll gladly sign up for more episodes like this one, that didn’t take itself too seriously, did some nice character development, and had some fun action versus some of the more intense/holier than thou Arrow episodes of prior seasons.

So, what did you think of the first show back? Let me know in the comments!


//TAGS | Legends of Tomorrow

Brian Salvatore

Brian Salvatore is an editor, podcaster, reviewer, writer at large, and general task master at Multiversity. When not writing, he can be found playing music, hanging out with his kids, or playing music with his kids. He also has a dog named Lola, a rowboat, and once met Jimmy Carter. Feel free to email him about good beer, the New York Mets, or the best way to make Chicken Parmagiana (add a thin slice of prosciutto under the cheese).

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