Superman will not fade away. He keeps reappearing in television and comics for kids-and now adults-to enjoy. Modeling on the good qualities of Clark Kent, Sparrow and Pamplin Entertainment have joined efforts to bring kids a new series of products called The Bibleman Show.
Bibleman is a super hero who defeats villains such as Dr. Decepto and Madame Glitz with prayer and the sword of truth. To date, this latest venture into Christian children's programming includes two titles, Big Big Book and Back to School. Each contains a video, a cassette or a CD, and an activity book. Action, music, lighthearted humor, and adventure make up the episodes.
The stories involve seven middle-grade kids (8-to 12-year-olds) who rehearse musicals in their garage and perform them at school. They confide their difficulties to their friend, Miles Peterson, who becomes Bibleman. He in turn is enabled to give inspiration and help through sharing some bad experience that he has overcome with prayer.
Willie Aames, known for his portrayal of middle-son Tommy on the 1970s TV series Eight Is Enough, plays Bibleman and his alter-ego, Miles Peterson. Aames, now in his mid-thirties, has produced and directed hundreds of commercials and television shows-and earned a reputation as one of the worst guys in Hollywood. In 1991, he, his wife, and new daughter moved to Kansas and live in a ranch house with a large vegetable garden just outside.
That was just part of a radical change for Aames who had kicked a cocaine habit after reading Wired, the John Belushi biography. He credits his salvation to a radio preaching ministry in Los Angeles. He and his girlfriend began attending church and he shortly thereafter accepted Christ. "We got married and baptized on the same day," says Willie. They have been believers for ten years now.
Aames was interested in doing something in the Christian arena and had turned down several TV series and a movie, waiting for just the right project to come along. He views the opportunity to play Bibleman as "all in God's timing" and feels strongly that Christians must compete with what the world is sending to our kids. Aames has had to prove his faithfulness, and he is happy to be showing kids there is a way to handle their problems through the power of God, not some secular-humanist-Zen claptrap.
The talent collaborators have excellent records on Bibleman. The team is headed by producer and creator Tony Salerno, known best for The Music Machine and Bullfrogs and Butterflies. He is also a four-time Dove Award winner with gold and platinum certified albums for children's projects. Director for the proect is C. Scott Votaw who worked on the mega-hit Power Ranger series and the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.
The music on Bibleman is really good. The songs are catchy, memorable, and theme-centered. There are ten songs, nearly all top-rate, on each CD, and all focused on the Bible. But they are lively and have very different beats, showing some influence of MTV.
The Activity Books for each title appear to be aimed at fourth and fifth graders with mazes, word puzzles, coloring, codes, dot-to-dots, etc. Some activities offer special instructions for adult leaders, which suggests the Bibleman materials could be used well with groups as well as individuals. Answer keys and a Bibleman Award certificate are included in the back of the book.
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