“This program is an adaptation of bible stories that changed our world. It endeavors to stay true to the spirit of the book.”

The Bible takes on the monumental task of trying to cover Genesis through Revelations in just ten hours. The first five hours cover the stories of the Old Testament while the second half covers of the New Testament. It is certainly not a comprehensive look at The Bible—with just five hours for each Testament, there’s only so much they could fit in. It is more of a CliffsNotes version of The Bible, meant to get people more interested in the stories, and want to actually pick up the book and read more.

I am not a bible scholar, and can’t really speak to whatever liberties were taken with the source material. But I do have a general knowledge of the characters and stories mentioned in the miniseries and think they were able to capture the spirit of the book.

The episodes are broken down as follows:

• Episode 1 – In The Beginning
  We start off with the book of Genesis, with brief mentions of the creation, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel and Noah. The crux of the episode covers the story of Abraham, Sarah and Lot.
• Episode 2 – Exodus
  Covers the book of Exodus, with Moses challenging Pharaoh and freeing the Israelites.
• Episode 3 – Homeland
  It is 140 years later and the 12 tribes of Israel have spread out across the promised land. The Philistines pose the greatest threat to the Israelites, and they rely on local heroes, called Judges, to protect them. This episode tells the story of one of those judges, Samson.
• Episode 4 – Kingdom
  It is a new era—the time of prophets and kings. This episode tells the story of the first king of Israel, Saul, his prophet Samuel, and the future king David.
• Episode 5 – Survival
  The 21st king of Israel, Zedekiah, has betrayed the Babalonian King Nebuchanezzar. His prophet Jeremiah says that God wants him to surrender, but Zedekiah refuses and the temple is destroyed. There is new hope for the Israelites in Daniel, but as with the kings before him, he falls prey to sin and corruption.
• Episode 6 – Hope
  This episode covers the Nativity, Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist, Christ’s temptation in the desert, and the start of Jesus’ ministry with him teaching Peter how to fish.
• Episode 7 – Mission
  Jesus travels across the land teaching about God’s kingdom and performing miracles. However, this doesn’t sit well with the Pharisees, the guardians of the Jewish faith.
• Episode 8 – Betrayal
  The Pharisees are afraid Jesus and his increasing number of followers will disrupt their Passover celebration. Jesus holds his last supper and, sensing his upcoming fate, experiences agony in the garden. The Pharisees have Jesus arrested and put on trial for blasphemy and threatening to destroy the temple.
• Episode 9 – Passion
  The Pharisees want Pilate to order Jesus’ execution since their laws prohibit it. The public has a chance to decide Jesus’ fate but ultimately call for his crucifixion in favor of pardoning murderer Barabbas.
• Episode 10 – Courage
  Jesus rises from the dead, giving new hope to his disciples. While the disciples are hunted down, they continue to spread Jesus’ ministry, and one-time non-believer Paul of Tarsus is baptized and joins their ranks.

In the first half of the series, we are introduced to new characters every episode. The series is tries to bridge the gaps between these characters via the narration, but the time period between each episode can be hundreds of years. Sometimes it felt like there was a lot that happened in that missing gap and it played out more like a series of sequels rather than one continuous story. Also, since these early episodes squeeze one or more character’s entire life story into a single episode, they often move very quickly. There is a lot of information that is implied, or the viewer is expected to already have knowledge of. It left me wondering how easily someone who has never heard of these characters/stories would be able to follow these episodes.

The second half of the series concentrated on Jesus, so it had more of a single-story miniseries feel to it, giving us one long narrative. While it does still move quickly, I found the implied knowledge issue to be less evident since four episodes are devoted to the life of Jesus, where in the first half folks like Abraham, Moses, Saul and David got less than one each.

That said, I did enjoy the entire series. It looks beautiful and the score by Hans Zimmer is amazing. The first half of the series is more action-packed, with a spectacular battle scene every episode. These sequences held nothing back, and get quite gruesome at times—probably a benefit of being developed for History rather than a network television channel. So parents who were thinking this would be a good way to introduce some bible stories to their children may want to watch the series first to see if it may be too violent.

I found many of the stories in the first half of the season to be really interesting—I just wish they had had more time to explore those characters. (After seeing episode 4, I had the sudden urge to do a re-watch of the short-lived NBC series Kings.) Perhaps if they had split this series into two longer miniseries, one for each Testament, it would have worked better.

The second half was equally as gruesome and violent at times, but had more time to develop the characters of Jesus and his disciples. So it had more of a dramatic feel to it, and I felt more invested in these characters. My only complaint is that the final episode felt quite rushed as it tried to squeeze in everything from Jesus’ resurrection through Revelations.

Overall, I think it’s definitely worth checking out this miniseries—especially if you already have some knowledge of the biblical stories it references. While I didn’t see any faces I recognized, I though the cast was exceptional, giving solid performances throughout the series. Add to that the high production value, and it is a satisfying viewing experience.

What’s Included:

Film (561 minutes)

• Widescreen 1.78:1 Color
• Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1
• English SDH, Spanish, French subtitles

Extras:

• The Bible: Genesis (9:35)
  Executive Producers Roma Downey and Mark Burnett talk about how the miniseries came about and how they tackled the daunting task of covering the entire bible in just 10 hours.
• The Cast of The Bible (13:36)
  The creators talk about the casting process. Many of the cast members briefly introduce themselves and the characters they play.
• The Bible: Creation (42:09)
  Three-part journey through the making of The Bible featuring lots of behind the scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew.
  • Creation I: The Vision, The Look (11:38)
    Looks at the production design, costume and sets used in the miniseries.
  • Creation II: Production Stories (16:04)
    Looks at the challenges faced during the production.
  • Creation III: Crucified & Resurrected (14:41)
    Looks deeper into the filming of the crucifixion and resurrection
• Scoring The Bible (8:54)
  Composer Hans Zimmer and award-winning soloist Lisa Gerrard talk about working on the music for The Bible.
• Believing in Miracles (7:59)
  The cast and crew talk about the miracles they experienced on the set.
• The Bible: Visual Effects (3:05)
  Montage of some scenes from the film with and without their visual effects.
• “Mary, Did You Know?” Music Video (3:41)
  Music video for “Mary, Did You Know?” using clips from the series. Performed by Kenny Rogers and Wynonna.

Final Thoughts:

The Bible takes on a massive amount of source material, and is for the most part successful. The first half covers stories from the Old Testament. However, with new characters in each episode, it doesn’t flow as well as the second half, which concentrates only on the life of Jesus and his followers. At times, the episodes seem a bit rushed and rely on the viewer to fill in the gaps in the stories. So viewers who are unfamiliar with the source material may find themselves a bit confused.

This miniseries looks and sounds great on Blu-ray. The picture befittingly looks immaculate, with no trace of grain. The audio is equally impressive, utilizing the surround channel to envelop the viewer in a soundscape of the environment and a beautiful score. The Blu-ray extras are loaded with a lot of of behind the scenes footage.

Overall, the miniseries is filled with lots of action and drama and kept my attention. Along with the extensive behind the scenes footage, I think it’s worth checking out.