Animation
The Chosen Adventures
The Chosen Adventures is not Scripture. But for those who don’t mind a little talking sheep with a lot of strong life lessons, this show might be a nice fit for your family.
What do you get when you combine Encyclopedia Brown with the magical mysteries of Jack & Annie and the tenacity of Laura Croft?
Well, you get a 14-year-old British archeologist named Theodosia, a girl with such a love for Egyptian mythology that her bedframe is covered in hieroglyphics.
It’s the early 1900s, and her family runs a museum in London where they show off all the ancient artifacts they’ve discovered on their archeological digs. And on one such dig, Theodosia comes across the Eye of Horus, a magical amulet meant to protect against evil.
That amulet’s causing more problems for her than she ever thought possible. For one thing, its magical curse means anyone who touches it slowly turns into a deadly snake. For another, she’s the only one who can see the magic, making everyone think she’s insane.
Oh, and then we have the worshipers of Aapep, the Egyptian god of chaos. They’ll stop at nothing to take it from her in order to unleash total anarchy upon the world.
Theodosia follows, well, Theodosia, as she grapples with her magical connection to the Eye of Horus and fights against the growing threat of cultists who seek to send the world into total chaos. Possessing the heart of a hero and the mind of a strategist, Theodosia teams up with her brother, Henry, as well as friends Will and Safiya, to control her magical abilities and to thwart those evil plans.
And as you might expect when fighting against the forces of darkness, this often puts them in dangerous situations. Deadly snakes, corrupted people and ominous curses are only the beginning of what Theodosia and her posse will have to avoid. And if they’re not careful, they may even find themselves thrown into the Duat, the Egyptian underworld.
But even though these cultists aren’t afraid of collapsing governments or vaporizing one another, their language itself is quite free from vulgarity. And parents won’t have to worry about any sexual content, either.
Then again, the show is built on the idea that ancient Egyptians were able to use magic given to them by the Egyptian gods. Thus, it is common for protagonists and antagonists alike to wield the colorful bursts of energy, turning others into objects, cloning themselves and more. It’s also common to hear both parties praying to these gods and receiving blessings as a result.
“Hear me, ancients,” Theodosia begins in a magical prayer. “Ra, god of all that is light, may the world be witness to your infinite wisdom.”
Many movies and TV shows have been built on the foundation of pagan mythology, of course. That said, earnest prayers like the one above may well have Christian families—whose faith is in Jesus, not Ra—asking whether a show that so strongly emphasizes a pagan belief system is appropriate for them.
When Theodosia discovers the mystical Eye of Horus amulet in an ancient tomb, she realizes that magic exists—and an ominous secret society soon comes looking for her.
In the title sequence, Theodosia uses a magical staff, and a massive black snake (in Egyptian mythology, Aapep, the Lord of Chaos) crawls towards her. Later, a man pledges to ominous men in black robes who say, “All hail Aapep,” to which the man replies, “Chaos is coming.”
While exploring a tomb, Theodosia and her brother, Henry, fall down a hole as the floor collapses below them. In the tomb, they find a mummy, and they discover the Eye of Horus amulet, which glows with green magical hieroglyphs. When Theodosia touches the amulet, she has a vision and hears a woman’s voice speaking to her. While holding the Eye of Horus, Theodosia wards off a snake.
Later, a man tries to steal the Eye of Horus on two occasions; but he is imbued by green magic when he touches it both times, and he runs away. An Egyptian cat statue’s eyes briefly flash with the same green magic before turning into a real cat. Theodosia names the cat Ra, after the Egyptian deity of the sun.
A man is called a “cheeky blighter.”
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
The Chosen Adventures is not Scripture. But for those who don’t mind a little talking sheep with a lot of strong life lessons, this show might be a nice fit for your family.
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