Paradise Lost: The Bible videogame that never was
Retronator Random Bits
Literal interpretation of the Bible has always been the source of epic art. Epic metaphorically as in glorious scenes with scantily clad people painted in the Renaissance, but sometimes also literally, as in John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost from the 17th century.
The British drum ’n’ bass duo Delta Heavy (Ben Hall and Simon James) took the title of the work to name their debut LP, but I’m sure they didn’t imagine it would lead to a biblical SNES-que music video when put into the hands of Najeeb Tarazi (ex-Pixar technical director on Toy Story 3 and Monsters University).
Following the two previous animated music videos from Delta Heavy’s album, Najeeb took the chance of working on the song White Flag to bring together a team of artists and create a pixel art reimagining of Paradise Lost’s narrative about war in heaven from Book of Revelation (you know, the part with the battle scene where Archangel Michael’s armies defeat Satan’s forces and kicks out a third of the angels from heaven, a.k.a. the fallen angels).
Explaining the inspiration for the theme, Tarazi says:
“White Flag is about letting your guard down in love. I wanted to try turning the myth of Paradise Lost on its head and tell a story where Satan apologizes after his defeat and seeks a path of love.”
Looking at the art, you will find a familiar style, in particular a deep Paul Robertson influence since, well, Paul himself drew the main characters (including the mighty Lord of the Flies Beelzebub).
Tim Rauch of Rauch Bros and Najeeb himself also worked on sprites, while Bradford D Smith II did most of the backgrounds, joined by Daniel Reis, pretty-transparents and Najeeb on the space scenes.
And if that’s not enough, master animator Alexis “Mr_Hk_” Morille handled special effects. What a team.
All there’s left to do is see the epicness for yourself:
You can enjoy Delta Heavy’s full Paradise Lost album here.
Thanks again for sticking around Retronator Magazine! It’s good to be back featuring things. I realized I didn’t have a place for random things that don’t fit into other categories (artists, games, communities) so I’m starting Random Bits to get the odd things out covered. Music videos sounds like a good place to start. Cheers!
—Retro
