The Fourth Wise Man - Michael Ray Rhodes

Yesterday was Easter Sunday. I grew up in a Conservative Baptist Missionary family and so this was a day that we celebrated annually. Often times it was celebrated by going to a sunrise church service, which was sometimes followed by a full day at church. Most churches I remember going to included lunch after the service (usually in the same space that was just used so time was spent cleaning, setting up, etc), then a business meeting of sorts. Being a kid, I usually just sat and quietly read in the corner, or tried to do homework. One aspect of the ministry our family did was using puppets. The muppets had just started taking off here in the US and puppets were becoming more popular. So my family invested in them and taught ourselves how to use them, developed scripts in Japanese, along with sound effects, etc. One of my favorite shows that we did with puppets was named The Fourth Wise Man.

Now, I had never heard of this story until we started working on this show. It was based on the 1896 story by Henry van Dkye Jr. named "The Other Wise Man." The story is of Artaban, a Magi who sees the star above Bethlehem and heads to Jerusalem to meet up with the other three so they can travel together to see the newborn King. On his travels, he comes across a man who was beaten and having medical knowledge, he stops for a day or two to help him. By helping this man Artaban also finds out that the Magi are headed to Bethlehem and so he changes his route. Throughout the story Artaban consistently misses seeing Jesus because he is helping others. The last scene takes place at the Crucifixion but I won't give it away.

While I didn't get a chance to do much puppeting because I was the youngest, I was in charge of sound, as well as lighting effects, and a thunder effect. I also helped with some quick puppet changes but nothing major. Now, having heard this story numerous times in Japanese, I finally had the chance to watch the DVD of a TV production staring Martin Sheen, Alan Arkin, and Eileen Brennan. The film was produced and directed by Michael Ray Rhodes (who did some Little House on the Prairie, as well as Christy episodes), and it was the first writing job for Tom Fontana who went on to write for St. Elsewhere, Homicide, and OZ.

The film came out in 1985, so you can expect the majority of the folx to be on the lighter side of skin tones. Costuming is good, and the script is decent - though Alan Arkin is clearly there for comedy relief. It is an interesting premise for a story, and though not as good as I hoped, it was still a decent movie.