BBC One: The Passion

I'm very much looking forward to this year's coverage of the Easter story by the BBC.

I managed to catch the trailer on the Beeb the other night...and I've been searching everywhere for a version I can embed here. I haven't succeeded yet, but rest assured should a copy surface I'll have it up and running in no time. In the meantime however, you can watch the trailer on the homepage for the drama. There's a lot of information on it, it's worth taking a look at.

The most prominent member of the cast (at, least in terms of audience awareness/pop culture)is probably James Nesbitt (Cold Feet, Jekyll, Murphy's Law, and if you are really desperate... the very funny yellow pages adverts). Nesbitt is portraying Pontius Pilate; he describes his interpretation of the character as "a weary warrior dealing with something he doesn't want to".

Jesus - the man himself, is being portrayed by highly acclaimed relative newcomer, Joseph Mawle. He describes the responsibility of playing the role of Christianity's central figure as an awesome one that is full of depth, and he thinks of Jesus' journey as a character as a lonely one. Mawle suffered from a viral infection that left him partially deaf in both ears, requiring him to use hearing aids a lot of the time. One random and completely irrelevant fact is that he was born exactly 8 months before me.

From what the trailer is suggesting, it'll very much be done in the same style as the BBC's recent Roman History productions (Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire, Attila, Hannibal). This will be a good thing as it re-establishes the historicity of the Gospel story. I'm really looking forward to seeing how they realise ancient Judaea at the time of Christ.

If you want to catch The Passion, the schedule is as follows:

Episode 1: Sunday 16 March, at 20:00 on BBC ONE
Episode 2: Monday 17 March, at 20:30 on BBC ONE
Episode 3: Friday 21 March, at 21:00 on BBC ONE
Episode 4: Sunday 23 March, time TBA, on BBC ONE

Here is a link to a page giving a brief synopsis of each episode.

I for one am getting quite excited... I hope to review each episode and share my thoughts with you.

Are any of you planning to watch this? Do you have any pre-emptive thoughts you'd care to share?

Update as of 17th March:

For those of you who missed the first episode, I've managed to source a copy of the trailer for youto see what you are missing:

Remove the Spleen!

What is it with scriptwriters?

Whenever someone needs a serious sounding injury in a soap opera or drama... they always opt for the same one... the poor old spleen:

What is so special about it... and why does it receive such abuse in the world of film and far more often in television?

Spleen: a highly vascular ductless abdominal organ of vertebrates that resembles a gland in organization but is closely associated with the circulatory system, that plays a role in the final destruction of red blood cells, filtration and storage of blood, and production of lymphocytes, and that in humans is a dark purplish flattened oblong object of a soft fragile consistency lying near the cardiac end of the stomach and consisting largely of blood and lymphoid tissue enclosed in a fibroelastic capsule from which trabeculae ramify through the tissue of the organ which is divisible into a loose friable red pulp in intimate connection with the blood supply and with red blood cells free in its interstices and a denser white pulp chiefly of lymphoid tissue condensed in masses about the small arteries.

Apparently the lack of a spleen can make people vulnerable to certain infections like septicemia. This is all very interesting but all the same... why is this organ so readily butchered by writers?

During my student days it was a source of constant mirth. It even became a bit of a game... the winner was the person who could quote the most programmes that had featured splenectomies in their plots.... a bit like counting Christian fish symbols on cars... or seeing how many nice ladies wave back at you when you wave at them.

My guess is that spleens are organs of some significance (but not completely vital), that are probably also kind of vague for mainstream audiences to truly understand. If you removed the appendix... no one would care.... it lacks gravitas. Therefore when a spleen is removed... the audience can be lulled into thinking the injured character's situation may be graver than it actually is.

I'd be intrigued to know other peoples thoughts on this utterly random subject.

If you want to read up on the spleen, you can follow this link to the wiki entry.

Finally as an act of defence for the humble spleen, I am going to quote the apostle Paul:

"On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it."

1 Corinthians 12:22-26

Babylon 5 is Coming Back

I've just managed to lay my hands on a copy of the latest trailer for the new Babylon 5: The Lost Tales DVD.

I'm completely blown away by the improved CGI. One can only wonder how much more popular B5 would be today... if the technology and budget afforded to more established science fiction franchises was readily available at the time the original series was made. Here's another brief clip which shows one of the climactic scenes from the final series updated with modern CGI:

I should point out that the man doing the narration is the gifted and sadly departed Andreas Katsulas, who played the part of G'Kar... one of the series most important characters.

Babylon 5 fans are some of the most hardcore science fiction disciples you will find. There are a lot of parallels between being a Babylon 5 fan and being a Christian... you get a lot of stick from people who don't understand and think you are just an idiot on both counts... guess I'm just a masochist!.

The simple truth is that B5 is arguably one of the most political science fiction television series in existence. In fact there is a lot in its storyline which is highly relevant to the world we live in today.

It was often described as "space opera" (although there isn't really that much singing). It has a definite beginning, middle and conclusion... and draws on rich literary and historical sources. It taught the science fiction "old guard" a trick or two. Why do you think it is that about 10 years ago, many dramas suddenly shifted emphasis from merely being episodic... to having a defined story arc?

I would argue that inheritors of Babylon 5 in the modern world would include the modern incarnation of Battlestar Galactica... and in some ways Lost.

If you aren't already a fan, check Babylon 5 out.