Dude! When I was in elementary school, we watched an educational series called Tomes and Talismans. It never occurred to me to look it up on YouTube until today, but here it is! I had forgotten what it was about, exactly, but according to the blurb by the person who posted it to YouTube:
Post-apocalyptic library science educational show from the mid-eighties. Learn all about the Dewey decimal system, card catalogues, and microfiche! And the fate of the Earth, of course.
Basically, between overpopulation, pollution, and the invasion of aliens called Wipers, Earth is pretty much screwed by the mid-22nd century. Humanity decides to evacuate the planet and leave an official archive behind (which uses Dewey, microfiche, and a card catalog — wudda!).
All 13 episodes (!) are on YouTube, but I do have other things I need to do today. As I recall, though, humans show up from the future and have to figure out how to use the archive in order to Save the Planet. I vaguely remembered the science fiction element of the show, and the mystery/adventure element, but I had somehow completely forgotten that the educational component was library skills!
It’s a little creepy when someone reaches inside your brain and makes a TV show about it.
0 responses so far ↓
1 ruthling // Feb 22, 2008 at 4:54 pm
maybe you came back from the future to make it!
2 Jessie // Feb 22, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Oooh, this sounds fascinating and yet ridiculously 80s.
3 jfpbookworm // Feb 23, 2008 at 12:14 am
Wow. I *so* need to find a way to drop a reference to that (as well as the later Noah Wyle series) into my application statement.
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