Blood & Honey: Ancient Tales From A Promised Land

Every so often something comes along that defies easy categorization. Blood and Honey is such a something. Written and performed by British actor and author Tony Robinson, and shot on location in the Holy Land, each of the seven volumes is comprised of two stories adapted from the Old Testament (the Books of Joshua, Judges, and First and Second Samuel, specifically). Each episode's format is basically this: Robinson comes bursting onscreen with more enthusiasm and kinetic energy than a roomful of kindergartners, runs at breakneck speed from one point to another, and delivers his story, occasionally stopping to rest and reflect on the larger meaning of it all. So, in Volume 2, for example ("Deborah and the Headbanger/Gideon Gets His Woolly Wet"), Robinson tells, in his own hilariously unique way, the tale of how Deborah and Barak kicked major Canaanite butt, and the story of Gideon, who laid a woolen fleece on the ground the night before an attack looking for a sign from God (and the following morning the "woolly" was wet-but not the surrounding ground). A bit different from the standard Sunday School interpretations, Blood and Honey is a rousing good entertainment-quite unlike anything you've seen before. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (Available from most distributors.)