Elijah

It's always been a touch ironic that the Christian right's abhorrence of sex (primarily) and violence (secondarily) in media is held in check when it comes to depicting events from the Bible. Case in point: this handsomely animated story of the Old Testament prophet Elijah, which threads Mendelssohn's titular oratorio through a tale that would set the American Saturday morning cartoon censors' heads spinning. The 9th century B.C. Hebrew prophet Elijah's most notable battle, as depicted in the Book of Kings, was against King Ahab and his wife Jezebel, the latter responsible for introducing the false god Baal to the people. In a bloody (and I do mean bloody) showdown between Jezebel's 400-plus prophets and Elijah, the latter--through the help of the Lord--displays the power and sovereignty of the one true God. The 400-plus prophets have little time to bemoan their loss since they are all slain; a coda which reminds viewers that, in Old Testament terms, "thou shalt not kill" is a very flexible commandment. Part of--what I can see from the previews--a beautifully animated series, other titles include: Abraham, Creation and the Flood, Daniel, Jonah, Moses, David and Saul, Joseph and Ruth. With the great popularity of Prince of Egypt, we would definitely recommend the more well-known stories from this sure to be popular, inexpensive, BBC-aired series. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)