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WALKER, TEXAS RANGER, GOES MEDIEVAL
by Willa, ATF Staff Writer

I can't say that I've ever before sat through an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger, which is a one-hour drama on CBS. But since our TiVo's system got upgraded, you can do this nifty thing that lets you search shows by keyword. Of course, my top two keywords are "renaissance" and "medieval". The other night when I did the search, I came up with good ol' Walker. So, of course, I recorded it!

The synopsis is that bank robbers disguise themselves as medieval knights. But it turns out that they're not dressing as knights...they are knights. They're performers with Medieval Times! I know...I couldn't believe it, either. They travel from "castle" (as they refer to the restaurants in the show) to "castle" and rob banks and museums and jewelry stores after hours.

They showed the guys practicing sword combat (with real swords) and practicing lancing rings on horseback. Of course, during their "shows", they are all wearing black glittery material instead of real armour...but their tabards look pretty good! I've never actually been to a Medieval Times restaurant to eat, but I've driven by a couple...so this is as close as I have gotten yet!

I was rather impressed with their camera angles...they showed the jousts at showtime sometimes via the jouster's helm, which was quite cool. The swordfighting is even decent...and it honestly takes quite a bit to impress me with on-air swordfights.

But the kicker was when one of the rangers goes undercover at Medieval Times as a waitress and the person training her says, "So...have you ever been a wench before?" Oh yeah, baby.

Watching the show didn't really make me want to watch it again, but the jousting sure made me miss Hanlon-Lees. Now that's some kinda jousting...Only a few more weeks 'til Salisbury! Huzzah!