Plot Summary
Rafael is a lighthouse keeper in Wales who has an unexplained magical ability to let local kids cross back and forth between the present timeline and the historical timeline of the Bible. When the secret portals open up, the kids can interact with the biblical accounts as they appear to take place on top of the modern world but also in the past at the same time. It’s amazing what a little time travel convenience can do!
Production Quality (0 points)
This Byzantine production has some of the worst Bible props ever, coupled with cheap sets and locations. What’s more, these elements lack cultural and historical authenticity. Elsewhere, grainy video quality and wild camera work make for an unpleasant viewing experience. Audio quality is very poor, and the soundtrack is quite loud. The editing is all over the map, creating a dizzying presentation that confuses the audience. Because of these obvious problems, no points can be awarded here.
Plot and Storyline Quality (-1 points)
Whose idea was this anyway? The very unusual time travel premise of Jacob’s Ladder makes no sense at all. How are the biblical accounts happening on top of modern-day Wales? How do the characters randomly cross back and forth in time, seemingly forming an alternate timeline? Are they just imaging that this is happening, or is it really occurring? How are they able to sometimes become characters in the historical accounts and actually influence the Bible events? This series was basically doing Assassin 33 AD before their time. In other aspects of this section, live narration is extremely annoying since it leaves nothing to chance. The stories that are chosen for this season are different from usual biblical entertainment, but they are crammed into tine timeframes that leave little room for anything interesting. Both the narration and the rapid-fire narrative presentation short-circuit character development, not to mention that the dialogue is totally bland. In the end, there is too much negative here due to the outrageous and unexplained alterations of historical events, making this section negative.
Acting Quality (0 points)
Mixing terrible homemade Bible-play-caliber costuming with modern-day dress is never a good recipe for historical entertainment success, but Jacob’s Ladder does just this. Makeup work also leaves a lot to be desired. Like many projects before it, this series lacks historical and cultural authenticity in casting and even reuses cast members for different stories. The actual performances are covered up with this nonsense, but they still aren’t very good. Emotional and line delivery are very staged and robotic. Hence, no points can be justified here.
Continuity Quality (0 points)
After enduring an annoying opening sequence, viewers are forced to see one thing happen after the next without any significant arcs or themes. There are little to no subplots that are followed throughout the season, and the characters remain static throughout the series. This project might as well have been an anthology with how little continuity there was between episodes, so once again, no points can be given here.
Conclusion
If watchers aren’t thoroughly confused about the Bible after seeing Jacob’s Ladder, they’ll be turned off to its very low-quality presentation. This absolute train wreck should have never existed and now only serves as yet another example of how not to do it. Hopefully, in our current entertainment market, we’re past seeing utter nonsense like this come out.
Final Rating: -1 out of 14 points
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