Line #1 Series/TheBible2013


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_bible_2013.jpg]]
2
3	''The Bible'' was a live-action miniseries presented in 2013 by Creator/TheHistoryChannel. Two of the executive producers are Creator/MarkBurnett (''Series/{{Survivor}}'', ''Series/TheApprentice'') and his wife Roma Downey (''Series/TouchedByAnAngel''). It's a dramatization of some key stories from, well, Literature/TheBible, both the [[UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} Jewish]] and [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} Christian]] parts. It doesn't try to cover everything, just aiming for the broad sweep and a few key stories.
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5	The series had five episodes:
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7	* "Beginnings": Opens with a brief sequence of Noah and his family on the Ark (with Noah telling his family about the creation of the universe). The main stories are:
8	** Abraham's call, his two children, and the sacrifice of Isaac
9	** The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
10	** Moses bringing the Jews out of Egypt
11	* "Homeland": Israel's conquest of the Holy Land. The main stories are:
12	** The destruction of Jericho
13	** Samson and Delilah
14	** Saul's rise and fall, and David's rise
15	** David's affair with Bathsheba and the consequences
16	* "Hope": Bridges the Old and New Testaments. The main stories are:
17	** Judea's fall to Babylon, and events in exile (Daniel in the lions' den, the three Israelites in the "fiery furnace")
18	** UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}'s conception and birth
19	** The beginnings of Jesus's ministry, and John the Baptist's arrest and execution
20	* "Mission": The life and ministry of Jesus. Covers:
21	** Jesus's preaching and miracles
22	** The Last Supper, Judas iscariot's betrayal, Jesus's arrest
23	** Jesus tried and condemned to death
24	* "Passion": Wraps it all up in a bow. Covers:
25	** Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection
26	** The early church, and Paul's conversion and mission
27	** The Revelation to the Apostle John of the end of the world
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29	Thanks to the success of the TV series, a CompilationMovie was released in 2014: ''Film/SonOfGod'', focusing on the Jesus bits of the TV show expanded to include deleted scenes that never made it to broadcast. A follow-up series, ''Series/ADTheBibleContinues'', premiered in 2015.
30	----
31	!!This show provides examples of:
32	%% I assume we should just go for tropes that are specific to this TV adaptation. A trope that's in the original, which just happens to be depicted on the show (e.g. UriahGambit), would be entered on Literature/TheBible.
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34	* AGodAmI: Pharaoh fancies himself as such (which is TruthInTelevision as the Ancient Egyptians believed those of royal blood were descended from their gods). Moses says otherwise [[PretenderDiss and God proves it]].
35	-->'''Moses:''' You are no God. You are just a man.
36	* AdaptationDistillation: The Bible is a long book. The show is done in 10 hours, with commercials. Do the math.
37	* AdaptationalVillainy: Saul (Paul) incites a crowd to stone Stephen to death and throws the first stones, instead of just watching and guarding the cloaks of the people doing the stoning.
38	* AdiposeRex: Herod Antipas is hugely fat and beardless, not the way he's usually shown. It makes him come across as something like a eunuch. It's similar to the Herod in the 1973 film of ''Music/JesusChristSuperstar'' and ''Film/ThePassionOfTheChrist''.
39	* AlwaysABiggerFish: The plight of Israel under the brutal, conquering Babylon is solved when Babylon is itself conquered by the even more powerful, but more lenient, Persian Empire.
40	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Nathan's condemnation of David's secret betrayal of Uriah only gets the king angry and defensive until Nathan confronts him with who really has the power in this kingdom. David's arrogance immediately melts into dread.
41	-->'''Nathan:''' You think God doesn't see ''everything?''
42	* BadassCape: The angels rock red cloaks whenever they show up.
43	* BaldOfEvil: The Pharoah. There is a degree of TruthInTelevision; males in Ancient Egypt often shaved their heads except for a single plait of hair.
44	* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Pontius Pilate, the Roman who oversees the trial and sentencing of Jesus to be crucified, notes "he's hardly the first Jew we've killed. He'll be forgotten in a week."
45	* DiesWideOpen: When Stephen died from being stoned, he died with his eyes open.
46	* DreadlockRasta:
47	** John the Baptist has dreads, appropriate as he is a wild mystic who lives off in the desert.
48	** Samson, unusually, combines this with DreadlockWarrior. As a Nazirite, he has untrimmed, matted hair as a symbol of devotion to God. But he also kicks Philistine butt. When he loses the dreads, he can't fight.
49	* DualWielding: One of the angels who visits Sodom pulls out two swords from his holsters and uses them to cut down the men of Sodom in order to provide Lot and his family a means of escape.
50	* EvilIsHammy:
51	** The Pharaoh of Exodus.
52	-->'''Moses:''' Let my people go!
53	-->'''Pharaoh: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'''
54	** Herod the Great doesn't hold back much, either.
55	** When Saul/Paul is still a bad guy, he leaves no scenery unchewed.
56	-->'''Saul:''' (''to Jesus'') '''IT CAN'T BE! YOU'RE DEEEEAAAAD!'''
57	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: The Pharaoh of Exodus is shown to be a loving father to his son. When his son is killed the episode heavily implies that his attempt to recapture the Hebrews is to avenge him.
58	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Several examples. One example is the continual sparring fights between Moses and Pharaoh's biological son, which represents [[spoiler:Moses' later struggle against Pharaoh to see his people freed. As further foreshadowing, Moses has been winning the sparring matches]].
59	* GetOut: Ramses to Moses after his son dies: "GO! AND LEAVE MY LAND! AND TAKE YOUR WRETCHED GOD WITH YOU!"
60	* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: Averted with Pilate, who is portrayed being as tyrannical as Josephus (who didn't like him very much) and Philo (who hated his guts) described him in their memoirs, in an aversion of the usual somewhat more sympathetic Gospel portrayal. However, he's still a bit of a PunchClockVillain who sees Jesus as just another delusional worshiper, and he only goes to the extent of crucifying Jesus on the pressure of the priests, who obviously annoy him as they do so.
61	* {{Irony}}: When Pilate's wife is upset about the death of Jesus, Pilate mutters, "[[ItWillNeverCatchOn He'll be forgotten in a week.]]"
62	* IronicName: Acknowledged when Babylon sends its army to sack and burn Jerusalem.
63	-->'''Nebuchadnezzar:''' ''(to his charioteer)'' You know what "Jerusalem" means? "City of peace!" ''(both laugh)''
64	* IWarnedYou: The kings of Israel tend not to listen to the warnings of God's prophets, and boy, does it cost them. Pharaoh gets the same.
65	** King Saul disobeys God by not following His orders as given to him by Samuel, thus paving the way for David to take over as king.
66	** Jeremiah tells Zedekiah that surrendering to the Babylonians is the best course of action, as it would spare his life and those of his children and of Jerusalem. Of course, Zedekiah does not listen and Jerusalem is burned to the ground, its people enslaved, and Zedekiah is blinded in both eyes; the last thing he sees is his children being executed.
67	* KilledMidSentence: John the Baptist is beheaded while haranguing Herod Antipas about the Messiah.
68	* KnowWhenToFoldEm: Once the Babylonians find out that Cyrus and the Persians are at their doorstep, they do the smart thing and surrender without a fight.
69	* LargeHam: Pharaoh does a ''lot'' of shouting.
70	* TheLastThingYouEverSee: Played straight with both Samson (the last thing he sees is a bribe dumped into Delilah's lap) and King Zedekiah (the last thing he sees is his sons' throats being cut). Then, in both cases, the man who says it puts out the prisoner's eyes [[EyeScream with his thumbs]]. (The blinding comes from Literature/TheBible. The taunt, and doing it with thumbs, comes straight from this show.)
71	* OneSteveLimit: Some names were very popular among first-century Jews (and, thus, in the New Testament). The show avoids this as much as possible:
72	** Of the 12 Apostles, there were two named Judas, two James, and two Simon (In each case, one was much more famous than the other). The show never mentions the less-famous ones by name.
73	** Besides his mother, Jesus had several friends or disciples named Mary: Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany (possibly the same as the Magdalene), Mary the mother of James. Only Mary Magdalene is named (she also functions as a CompositeCharacter for all of Jesus's female disciples).
74	** Joseph of Arimathea is rarely referred to by name, perhaps to avoid confusion with Joseph the husband of Mary.
75	** Several different Herods played roles in the life of Jesus; the show depicts only two, non-overlapping ones (Herod the Great at Jesus's birth, Herod Antipas ordering the death of John the Baptist).
76	* PietaPlagiarism: When Jesus is brought down from the cross, the scene is staged to match the classic depictions.
77	* RaceLift:
78	** While most Israelites look stereotypically middle-eastern (brown hair, olive skin), Samson and his mother are black.
79	** Angels are presented in a variety of races. This is justified in that [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels don't really have bodies in the Bible]], and they look however they want to look for the job at hand.
80	** Jesus, however, looks incredibly Caucasian, thought He [[ButNotTooWhite may have a tan]]. It's hard to tell with the lighting.
81	* RankScalesWithAsskicking: The two angels who are sent to rescue Lot and his family are addressed as "lords" by Abraham and they are quite proficient with swords.
82	* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Most of the kings (Israelite and otherwise) lead their nations in battle. In many cases this comes straight from the source material (Saul, David, Pharaoh, Agag of the Amalekites), but sometimes the show plays it up (Nebuchadnezzar riding a chariot at the head of his army to attack Jerusalem).
83	* SayMyName: Ramses shouts "MOSES!" twice on two separate occasions.
84	* ScaryBlackMan: Samson, played by Creator/NonsoAnozie, is an enormous black man who effortlessly annihilates any Philistine that comes at him.
85	* TimePassageBeard: Moses gets one between the time he flees Egypt into the wilderness (at 40) to the time when God calls him to His presence with the burning bush (at 80).

Context Series / TheBible2013