Bibleman

Bibleman
Genre Action, comedy
Created by Willie Aames
Starring Willie Aames, Brady Williams, Brian Lemmons
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of episodes 23
Production
Running time approx. 40 minutes
Production company(s) Pamplin Entertainment
Tommy Nelson
B&H Kids
Release
Audio format Stereo

Bibleman is an American, Christian direct-to-video children's series created by Willie Aames that ran from 1995 to 2011 with the goal of influencing young children into practicing Christianity (with emphasis on Catholicism). The series centers around an evangelical superhero who fights evil and quotes scripture. The show had three incarnations: The Bibleman Show, The Bibleman Adventure, and Bibleman: Powersource. The series' titular character is played by Willie Aames (from 1995 to 2003) and then by Robert T. Schlipp (from 2003 to 2011).[1] Originally owned by Pamplin Entertainment then sold to Tommy Nelson, the series is currently owned by B&H Kids.[2]

Plot

Miles Peterson, a wealthy man with the best the world had to offer, turned to God and the Bible in his most desperate hour and from then on pledged to fight evil with the word of God. Disguised in the full armor of God as Bibleman, Miles fights against enemies using scripture.

Characters

Main Characters

Miles Peterson (played by Willie Aames): The first Bibleman. As depicted in the show's intro, Miles was described as a man who had success, fame, wealth, but was a frustrated and miserable man. After giving up and throwing himself to the ground in anguish he discovers a Bible covered in mud. Upon finding it, he experiences a "burning desire to know God" and becomes a Christian. He then decides to fight evil in the name of God as Bibleman.

Coats (played by Marc Waynes): Miles Peterson's best friend and first sidekick. Coats left the team (as stated in Conquering the Wrath of Rage) for unknown reasons.

U.N.I.C.E (voiced by Maylo McCaslin): The female computer in the BibleCave and Mobile Mission Command Center.

Cypher (played by Brady Williams): Bibleman's second sidekick.

Biblegirl (played by Tracy Henao and Heather McSmith): The first female human sidekick.

Josh Carpenter (played by Robert T. Schlipp): The second Bibleman character after Miles retires. He is depicted as someone who never understood the Bible until his darkest day (when his parents were arguing) where he read his Bible and accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

Melody. Biblegirl's cousin. She is the only sidekick to have never served alongside Miles Peterson.

Villains

Dr. Decepto A scientist villain with green skin. He only appeared in a flashback in Big Big Book, where he defeated Bibleman, but he (Decepto) was later seen behind bars.

Madam Glitz A self-centred woman in Back to School. She captured Miles Peterson (Bibleman) because she wanted the fame Bibleman had. However, Bibleman tells her that it is the Word of God that everyone desires and needs to hear. She was placed inside a T.V. set by God.

The Fibbler A green-haired evil clown (resembling the Cesar Romero Joker from the Batman) who influenced one of the Church singing group children into lying. After she asks her friends for forgiveness, he and Bibleman fight. The Fibbler was defeated and destroyed by his own sword of darkness.

The Gossip Queen A villainess queen whose character design was later widely criticized[3] for sharing many characteristics with traditional Jewish stereotypes (e.g., possessing dark skin, curly black hair, a large hook-nose, thick lips, and dark-colored beady eyes).[4] She tried to rip the Church singing group apart. She has two henchmen named Loose Lips and Blabbermouth and could fire Beams of Bitterness from her fingers. She was destroyed by her beams getting deflected back at her by Bibleman's sword.

Luxor Spawndroth (Brian Lemmons) A villain who takes on different personas after defeat. These incarnations include: The Shadow of Doubt, Master of Misery, Dr. Fear, El Furioso, The Prince of Pride, Himself, and lastly Temptation.

Ludicrous The evil sidekick of Luxor Spawndroth.

L.U.C.I. (The Link to Underhanded Computer Influences) is the evil counterpart to U.N.I.C.E and computer to all the villains starting with Dr. Fear.

Primordius Drool/The Wacky Protestor (Jef Scott) was a goofy, blue-skinned demon scientist who was formerly a green skinned demon with greater powers before he got demoted. His abilities include plasma balls and, as Primordius Drool, lightning. During his final scheme, he created a special portal to another realm to trap Christian students and turn them to atheism. However, he got caught in his own trap and was stuck there forever. He was the first villain fought by the second Bibleman, Josh Carpenter.

Rapscallion P. Sinister was the villain fought by Bibleman in the 2005 live show, hired by the Wacky Protestor to take out the source of Bibleman's power. He spoke with a British accent and, according to him, the "P" in his name stands for polite. He was defeated when placed inside a cage that sucked out his power.

Professor E. Meritus Snortinskoff A green-skinned mad scientist who's in charge of Snortinskoff Industries and makes kids disrespect their authorities. His henchman is Stench. This mad scientist is played by Steven Sandsford.

2Kul 4Skul A gray-skinned villain who devised a plan to establish a T.V. station with the call letters W.B.I.G. (which stand for What's Bad is Good) to block the gospel from reaching youth. He is played by Jeff Durham.

I.M. Wonderful A vain woman who wears a gold mask and a cape. She was played by two actors, one of whom was Lisa Kent.

The Cheater The Cheater, played by Peter Vann, is a villain who influences kids to cheat. His tools are his "belittle r" and his flying cards.

The Slacker This senior villain, played by Josh Childs, makes kids lazy with his Lasers of Laziness. He carries a staff and goons to support him in battle.

Super Pro Gamemaster 2 This villain was a cyborg who could control machines. He appeared in "Lambasting the Legions of Laziness". He is played by Henry Haggard.

Super Pro Gamemaster 3 This robotic leader of the Evildoers Club, played by Eric Pasto-Crosby, was Super Pro Gamemaster 2's successor. He has powers similar to his predecessor and developed the video game Big Bad Bully.

Baron Ulysses Tantamont von Braggart A sheriff-like pig villain with a golden head cap who lives in a castle. His weapons are his electric staff that he uses to battle Bibleman, and his electric chair that he uses to shoot at Bibleman and Cypher.

The Commandant of Confusion A gold skinned heavyweight villain who is very technical and has an evil sidekick named Chaos, who is dressed up in a black and red jumpsuit.

Chaos Man in a black and red suit and mask. Sidekick to many villains, but only seen with The Commandant of Confusion.

Reception

The program has been pilloried for its format and production values, including in an August 2009 episode of the UK topical show You Have Been Watching,[5] with panelist David Mitchell saying "The thing that struck me most about it is quite how badly it is made, to the extent that you must think it's been made by anti-Christian people to make Christianity look as naff and discouraging and artless as possible." The series has been described as dogmatically evangelical.[6] In 1998, sales made up less than one percent of the Christian children's video market. Three years later, sales climbed to eleven percent of that market. It held third place behind first place Veggietales and second place 3-2-1 Penguins![7] The Dove Foundation gave the series its "Family-Approved" Seal for "this energetic battle against evil."[8]

However, several adults have criticized the show's fight scenes as promoting violence, despite the fact one show ("Conquering The Wrath Of Rage"), and its live counterpart, addressed the violence issue. Others criticized the franchise's drift toward secular content.

Of Bibleman, Marc Peyser of Newsweek writes,

Much of Christian entertainment, like the "Bibleman" videos featuring a Scripture-quoting superhero, is designed as a kinder, gentler yet more searching alternative for an audience that has long felt overlooked by the prevailing media and entertainment culture. But as those products have become more successful-and the people in those industries have become savvier-the category has edged closer to the mainstream. Pop music that never mentions the word Jesus. Movies that spend as much time blowing up buildings as saving souls. As with other groups that have created their own subcultures-women, African-Americans, gays and lesbians-Christian entertainment has emerged from its sheltered infancy and has begun to straddle two worlds: the religious one that created it and the secular one it was designed to avoid.[9]

Bibleman Live Performances

The live show has been described as falling between "a high budget Sunday school pageant, a Batman movie, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to even Power Rangers in how it comes across."[10] The production borrows heavily from popular culture, including films, popular music and video games.[11]

Merchandise

Action figures

The Bibleman action figure line, from left to right: El Furioso, Cypher, Bibleman, Biblegirl, Luxor Spawndroth.

In October of 2000, Tommy Nelson released the first series of 5" Bibleman action figures starting with Bibleman and villain El Furioso. The series later included figures of Cypher, Biblegirl, and Temptation. The final figure in the series was a platinum version of Bibleman.

Board game

The Bibleman Adventure board game was released by Talicor in 2001. Players select a hero card and matching token to battle the "Bad Guys" while traveling quickly through the town of Shatzville in an attempt to "save the children." The first player to rescue six kids, deliver them safely to the town church and race back to the BibleMan Cave is the winner! The BibleMan board game is actually two games in one. Instructions are included for both a Basic Game (Ages 3-6), and an Advanced Game (Ages 7 & up) and allows for both age groups to play at the same time.[12]

Video game

A Bibleman computer game was released in 2005 by Covenant Studios titled The Bibleman Video Game Adventure: A Fight for Faith. It received generally mixed reviews. Although it did receive some negative reviews, it was praised by some evangelical Christian gaming sites for "family-friendly" and "Christ-centered" gameplay.[13][14][15][16]

Books

In 2000 Tommy Nelson published The Bibleman Bible, using the ICB translation text and featured 32 full color images from the show and mini-comic sections. Tommy Nelson then published The Official Bibleman Collector's Edition book the same year, then in 2001 published Bibleman Combat Manual, a book intended to aid in memorizing bible verses.

Episodes

References

  1. ↑ "Times Daily - Google News Archive". News.google.com. 2003-12-29. Retrieved 2012-08-11.
  2. ↑ "BibleMan Videos". B&H Publishing Group.
  3. ↑ Radosh, Daniel. Rapture Ready! Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture. Soft Skull Press. ISBN 159376281X. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  4. ↑ Rowe, Nina. The Jew, the Cathedral and the Medieval City: Synagoga and Ecclesia in the Thirteenth Century. Cambridge University Press. p. 7. ISBN 0521197449.
  5. ↑ You Have Been Watching! Religion. YouTube. 13 October 2013.
  6. ↑ Hendershot, Heather (2004). Shaking the world for Jesus: media and conservative evangelical culture. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. p. 7. ISBN 0-226-32679-9.
  7. ↑ Ashdown, Simon (July 1, 2001), Christian kidvid converts more consumers, retrieved 2011-11-21
  8. ↑ Christian Cinema: The Dove Foundation, Bibleman: Lambasting the Legions of Laziness, 2010, retrieved 2011-11-21
  9. ↑ Peyser, Marc (July 16, 2001). "God, Mammon and 'Bibleman'". Newsweek 138 (3): 44–48. ISSN 0028-9604. Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  10. ↑ Santana, Richard W.; Erickson, Gregory (2008). Religion and popular culture: rescripting the sacred. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-7864-3553-1.
  11. ↑ Bibleman: Live 2000. YouTube. 25 December 2013.
  12. ↑ http://talicor.com/
  13. ↑ "Saturday Crapshoot: Bibleman". PC Gamer.
  14. ↑ "Bibleman: A Fight For Faith - The Free Information Society". freeinfosociety.com.
  15. ↑ "Bibleman: A Fight for Faith". christcenteredgamer.com.
  16. ↑ "Family Friendly Gaming Bibleman A Fight For Faith - Bibleman A Fight For Faith PC Bibleman A Fight For Faith Personal Computer". familyfriendlygaming.com.

External links

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