No More Mr. Nice Guy!

Now, that's my kind of Easter legend...

Apparently, the BBC is in trouble with English fundamentalists for airing an Easter miniseries that portrays Judas and Pontius Pilate in a sympathetic light. A spokesman for some outfit calling itself "Christian Voice" complains about the Beeb's "revisionist slant". That's pretty funny, though a sad commentary on the ignorance of the theocrats who seek absolute power over us all. Does this guy have any idea how many versions of the Easter story there are, how they have changed over the centuries, or how many irreconcilable discrepancies there are between them?

Anyway, here's a review of the same TV program, plus some suggestions for how it should have turned out. I'll drink to that!

Commando revolutionary enters capital to stir up patriotic fervour with hardcore buddies. Whacks moneylenders. Chats up good-time girl. Wins argument with quisling. So far, so good. Then, he gets captured, humiliated, tortured and nailed to a tree. The bankers go back to the temple, the Romans back to government and the quisling's still in charge.

Dramatically, that's all wrong. What they need is a rescue after the humiliation bit. Peter and the SAS apostles swoop in. Then it's no more Mr Nice Guy, a bit less gospel, a bit more Rambo. Finally, Jesus and Mary Magdalene ride a donkey into the desert. She wisecracks: "So, Son of Man, you gonna make a girl wait three days before you rise again?"

Of course, the Hillary Clinton version is a little different...