The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog

Sadly, they do not come together and form a Dark Ages Voltron

Today at work I got a blast from the past. I shelve in the children's section and came across an old chapter book based on a Saturday morning kids show, The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog. I loved that series; as an 11-year-old I thought it was so cool. There was magic, and dragons, and magic armor, and a kindly old druid, and they had to go to a magic well where they got sucked into the land of fairies and got magic weapons...did I mention there was magic? And it was set in Ireland, which in my mind was the land of awesome (I really liked Irish mythology...still do actually).

Anyways, it lasted one season and I was so bummed when it got cancelled. I hadn't thought about that show in years...until today. And of course, I came home and Googled it (thank you, Wikipedia, for helping me to recall when it was even on the air)...and was subsequently semi-disappointed. It's Power Rangers, Lord of the Rings style. They even have a Gandalf and Smaug. The vague half-memory I had of this show was way cooler than the clips I just browsed through on Youtube. (My sister, Hannah, just peeked over my shoulder and was like, "Of course you'd like something like that. It's magical Ireland type stuff. That's totally you.") However, I will most likely watch at least one episode of this, since some similarly nerdy person was kind enough to post them on Youtube.

We are so cool. We know you're jealous.

Look, it's our orphaned hero raised by the aforementioned kindly druid, the plucky independent princess, the "bad boy" friend, and the token minority, all dressed like ye old times! (mind you, this is supposed to be set in ancient Ireland--not really a place known for its ethnic diversity, but ya gotta be PC for the kiddies.) I see better costumes than this at the Ren Fest. Seriously, my Ren Fest costumes look better than her outfit (what is that on her head anyway?) *end nerd rant*
And, of course, their personalities match the elements they're the knights of. Grumpy, blunt bad boy can cause earthquakes and throw giant boulders; moody female character can control the wind, etc, etc. However they did not dress in the respective colors of their armor, which it makes it hard to remember who is who when they're all powered up. How am I supposed to remember who the green guy is if he doesn't wear green all the time?!  I just love how awful and clunky their armor was (shoulder pads were big back then apparently), and their weapons were just ridiculously huge. I was going to post a clip here, but it's being stupid and won't let me, so just watch this to see what I'm talking about.

Man, the nineties were awesome.