# ABC's The Ten Commandments **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 11, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171 "2006-04-11T01:18:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/1 "2006-04-11T01:18:10Z")
Anyone watching this? I’ve no clue why they want to redo a classic film. I predict a stinker. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/2 "2006-04-11T01:27:56Z")
I heard a couple guys talking about this on the radio today. It can be summed up as: “Paramont Pictures should sue ABC to get their rights back!” and “I thought one of the commandments was to _not remake the Ten Commandments_.” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/3 "2006-04-11T03:04:02Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > I heard a couple guys talking about this on the radio today. It can be summed up as: “Paramont Pictures should sue ABC to get their rights back!” and “I thought one of the commandments was to _not remake the Ten Commandments_.” Thou shalt have no Moseses before Charlton Heston. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/4 "2006-04-11T03:06:21Z")
Just my opinion…it’s pretty terrible. Even my beloved Naveen can’t save it. As a matter of fact, his acting is horrible too. Blinking the eyes two dozen times does not convey the grief over losing his child…it just makes him look like he’s got a blinking problem. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/5 "2006-04-11T03:26:57Z")
I have been told by both heterosexual women and homosexual men that the best part of watching the 1956 version is all the beefcake. Being neither, I can’t comment on that or how the new version measures up. What I don’t get is, it’s the 50th anniversary. Why are they showing a new version? And where is that great Doper wit, in which The Ten Commandments is combined with Planet of the Apes and the NRA? ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/6 "2006-04-11T03:31:43Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > Thou shalt have no Moseses before Charlton Heston. Moseses? Mosii? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/7 "2006-04-11T05:33:53Z")
> [@brianjedi](#): > > Moseses? Mosii? Moishim? ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/8 "2006-04-11T16:21:18Z")
I saw 10 minutes of it. What’s the deal with the kid’s haircut? Just a patch of hair over the right ear was allowed to grow, the rest of his head was shaved. And his melon was HUGE! Was it symbolic of something? ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/9 "2006-04-11T16:47:23Z")
I actually managed a little over an hour of it before I gave up. This is terrible beyond words. I’m reminded of old school videos by Encyclopedia Britanica [Solemn\_announcer]And then Moses and Aaron went to the river Nile to begin the work of their God[/Solemn\_announcer] Blech! Slow, ponderous, dull, and makes “The Greatest Story Ever Told” look like a cinematic tour de force. Just say “No!” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/10 "2006-04-11T16:54:37Z")
Hm. There have been plenty of remakes of this story. I don’t see what this one adds. There are some CGI effects, but they’re eking out non-CGI setups. All in all, if you took out the few effects shots, what you have is pretty similar to the Burt Lancaster **moses** from the 1970s, without any improvement. We already have the 1956 Spectacle (which is itself kinda a remake of the OT parts of deMille’s own silent version of **The Ten Commandments**. If you want a good CGI Splitting of the Red Sea, I honestly think the Spielberg cartoon version **Prince of Egypt** already handled it earlier, and better. Me, I just think ABC got tired of paying Paramount to rent the de Mille version. And they were afraid of losing audience share to “same old same old”. But, heck, I’ll take colorful effects, Chuck Heston, Yul Brynner, Edward G., and Vincent Price over this nondescript version any day. By the way, the Pharaoh’s son’s unilock of hair is the same that Yul Brynner wears at the beginningh of The 1956 film, and was copied from ancient carvings. They used it in the Spielberg cartoon, too. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/11 "2006-04-11T16:59:59Z")
I watched about an hour before I had to head to bed. I thought it was ok (very stuff acting at parts), but not awful. I’d watch it again if they showed it-- mostly so I could watch the rest. And is it me or was (the YOUNG) version of Moses’ adopted mom totally smokin? ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/12 "2006-04-11T19:17:18Z")
I think the editors were making a drinking game out of the “parting of the seas” scene. _Okay… drink every time you see stock footage!_ You’ll be vomiting within ninety seconds. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/13 "2006-04-11T20:18:06Z")
I can’t imagine how anyone thought this would be a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/14 "2006-04-11T20:44:45Z")
I watched it for a few minutes, but then I popped _Prince of Egypt_ into the DVD player instead. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/15 "2006-04-11T21:39:16Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > What I don’t get is, it’s the 50th anniversary. Why are they showing a new version? And where is that great Doper wit, in which The Ten Commandments is combined with Planet of the Apes and the NRA? Let my stinkin’ guns go, you damn dirty pharoah? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/16 "2006-04-12T01:35:30Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Me, I just think ABC got tired of paying Paramount to rent the de Mille version. Exactly. ABC bought the rights from them, which is why one of those radio guys said Paramount should get 'em back. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/17 "2006-04-12T02:05:27Z")
> [@kelly5078](#): > > I can’t imagine how anyone thought this would be a good idea. Me neither. Ignoring for a moment that we pretty much know for sure that the Hebrews were never in Egypt, this just isn’t one of the more compelling stories in the Bible. How about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? AFAIK, that’s never been done, and it’s a lot more interesting. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/18 "2006-04-12T02:14:08Z")
Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden story were covered in the John Houston film “The Bible”. ---
**Author:** ![IGJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/igjoe/32/5420_2.png) [@IGJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IGJoe)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/19 "2006-04-12T02:37:01Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Ignoring for a moment that we pretty much know for sure that the Hebrews were never in Egypt… Not asking for a cite exactly, but this kind of stuff interests me, and I can’t seem to find much on the web about it. Got any suggestions on where to find more information? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171/20 "2006-04-12T05:17:28Z")
I watched about 20 minutes of this tonight - it was all I could stand. Holy Smokes, what a load of crap. And not even TV-quality special effects. Very amateurish. > [@](#): > > **Originally Posted by kelly5078** > I can’t imagine how anyone thought this would be a good idea. Exec #1: Hey, didn’t that Jesus movie make a ton of money? The Happiness of the Christ, or something like that? Exec #2: Yeah! Let’s make a Jesus movie! How about the 10 Commandments? I’ll bet we can even scarf up some of the old sets. Exec #1: Does it have Jesus in it? Exec #2: It must. It’s about the Bible. Exec #1: Green light it! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abcs-the-ten-commandments/352171.md?page=2)