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Are we alone out here in space?
What are we doing in this place?
Is there a god, and if there is, what difference does it make?
How should we live?
What should we do?
And why should I be nice to you?
Is there a way to know what's right and what's a big mistake?—Theme song After the success of Veggie Tales, it was questionable among fans and families if another Religious Edutainment could possibly be created to rival it in terms of both humor and religious substance for children. In 2011, a possible contendor, What's in the Bible was born, which happened to also be created by Phil Vischer. Instead of anthropomorphic vegetables, however, this show is hosted by a cast of puppets, along with Phil as a live action co host and many an animated character to play the parts of Bible characters. It is shown at a rapid, but thorough pace, usually going quickly over the Bible stories that children will probably already know and instead digging into the moral, spiritual, and ethical substance that most chilrden's bible stories wouldn't even touch. Despite this bold move, the show is still is still very child-friendly and very easy to understand, and it can make the experience educational to even the older members of the audience. Whats In The Bible was definitely groundbreaking, both as a Spiritual Successor to VeggieTales and as it's own series. Like the former, it's goal was to teach children about the bible in a fun, and humerous way. But unlike the veggies, this show dug a bit deeper and set out to do what no other kids cartoon has ever done: Teach kids about the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, and help them understand concepts that other educational means have failed to explain, and answer questions that kids would probably be asking themselves when learning about the Bible. And boy, did they succeed. The show was an instant hit, scoring high with parents and Christian children programs, and is quickly developing what will probably become a Periphery Demographic. The show is distributed in DVD sets, with two 25-minute episodes per DVD. It is currently on it's 8th volume.
- Adorably Precocious Child: Oh my word, Michael.
- Adorkable: Ian and Michael.
- Affirmative Action Girl: Marcie, the stage manager.
- Always Chaotic Evil: Though they are explained in more detail than most kids stories, the Philistines still follow the trend of being depicted this way.
- Anachronism Stew: Not very often, but when it does show up, it's either corrected, or used to help better explain the situation, and still pointed out.
- Animated Actors
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Ian, to his brother, Clive.
- Art Shift: Often. The main characters are live action puppetry, but the bible stories are told in various forms of animation.
- As Himself: Phil Vischer
- Audience Surrogate: Michael, literally. He's watching the show while on a car trip to his grandmum's house.
- Bamboo Technology: Captain Pete managed to make a submarine out of wood. It eventually sprung a leak.
- Berserk Button: Sunday School Lady really doesn't like The Da Vinci Code.
- Better than a Bare Bulb
- Black Bead Eyes: Literally, since they're puppets.
- Black Comedy: No, we are not kidding, they did make a death joke once.
Phil: ...Buck? Ian: (Very flatly) He's dead. Phil: No, he's not dead. Puppets don't die. - Bowdlerized: Averted as much as it is possible to do while still keeping the stories kid-friendly.
- This was even lampshaded in episode 1, with the fact that they had to keep Adam and Eve behind the bushes because they were unclothed.
- Big Brother Instinct: Michael has early signs of this with his little brother, Pierre.
(Referring to the fact that he's in a car seat). He can't move, but he's safe. And that's what matters. - Big "NO!": Everybody's reaction to finding out that the golden calf scenario in Exodus got repeated in 1 Kings.
- Caffeine Bullet Time: Not "Bullet time", but Buck does get extremely hyper when he drinks too much coffee in episode 13.
- Calling Your Bathroom Breaks: Agnes in episode 3.
- Christmas Episode: "Why Do We Call it Christmas"?
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Ian, seriously.
- Michael too, as well as his little brother, though we only know this from what Michael has told us.
- Completely Missing the Point: So there you have it. The bible is wood, black oil, and cow.
- Cool Old Lady: Sunday School Lady
- Cross-Dressing Voices: All of the characters are voiced by men, even the ladies. And you can tell.
- Deadpan Snarker: A lot of characters, but especially Sunday School Lady.
- Depending on the Artist: Queen Jezebell's design noticably changes from her first animated clip to her second one.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Lampshaded in the story of Moses. According to Sunday School Lady, him killing the Egyptian was "kinda [an] overreaction".
- Also, when Phil ends the episode sooner than Ian wanted, he threatens to fly his bi-plane into him.
- Double Standard: Sunday School Lady is extremely sensitive to these.
- Everyone Calls Him Barkeep: Sunday School Lady
- Eyeless Face: Sunday School Lady, Agnes and Captain Pete, though the follow the VeggieTales standard and make them funny instead of creepy.
- Just barely averted by Michael, who's eyes are peeking out from under his hat.
- Expy: Agnes and Winnifred are basically female versions of Statler and Wardolf.
- Frothy Mugs of Water: Captain Pete was once shown with a foamy tankard of Root Beer.
- Also, in the story of Esther, when Chester says that Xerxes and his men have been drinking a lot at their party, he said that they had been drinking coffee.
- Genius Ditz: Ian is definitely not very bright, but he has a knack for coming up with very good questions.
- Herr Doktor: Hallo, theese is dochktor Schiffenhousen.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: Agnes and Winnifred.
- And, despite their differences, Clive and Ian.
- He Who Must Not Be Seen: Michael's little brother, Pierre, simply because he's strapped to firmly in his car seat to move and the camera won't pan over far enough to make him visible.
- Chester Wiggit. We hear his voice, but we only see the popsicle stick puppets that he controls.
- Hypocritical Humor: Michael thinks that the he should be King of the minivan since he is down-to-earth man with a mind firmly set on reality...Mother, can we take a thousand mile detour to Dinosaur Villiage? I've always wanted to ride a real T. Rex!
- Insistent Terminology: It's "What's in the Bible: With Buck Denver!"
- Mr. Imagination: Michael, and, to a lesser extent, Ian.
- Muppet: All of the main characters except for Phil.
- Must Have Caffeine: Buck, during episodes 13 and 14. It eventually caused him to be required by law to not drink caffeinated beverages.
- Never Say "Die": Completely, totally, and utterly averted. Saying "He died" or "He killed him" is said almost perfectly casually if it's not an important Bible character.
- Obviously Evil: All the animated character's physical appearances clearly reflect their morallity, but the most noteworthy case would have to be Queen Jezebell.
- Parental Bonus: Where do we begin...
- Pirate Parrot: Captain Pete owns one named Reginald.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Buck is supposed to be a "man of news", but he doesn't really seem to do any actual news reporting
- Religious Edutainment
- Shown Their Work: AND HOW. Seriously, this show is more informed and accurate about the Bible than most adult Bible studies. And it's not just the lessons, it's everything, be it religious, historical, ethical, technical, cultural, or even scientific.
- Show Within a Show: What's In the Bible, actually. It's being watched by three other characters in-universe.
- Simpleton Voice: Ian
- The Smurfette Principle: Until Marcie came along, Sunday School Lady was the only female character actually in the show.
- Spiritual Successor: To VeggieTales.
- Stuffy Brit: Agnes and Winnifred.
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