As many of you know, I am not just an author but also serve as a pastor. I have been a Christian for the last 25 or so years. I also love movies and science fiction. Unfortunately, most movies, especially science fiction, are filled with gratuitous sex, nudity, and foul language, which was the motivation for me writing The Pandemic Dawn Series, to show that you could tell a great story that still addressed adult themes, such as slavery, abuse, killing, etc., without being overly descriptive or gratuitous about it. My wife and I have six kids, so family movie night was more of a nightmare. Between the age differences and their different tastes, it was nearly impossible for us to find something we could enjoy together as a family.
I found a service online years ago that would edit the nudity, sex scenes, and foul language out of the movie, and you could rent the "cleaned" version for a couple of bucks per movie through the mail. I loved this service, allowing us to watch whatever we wanted together. Then one day, they were gone, sued by the industry for some reason or another.
A few years later
I discovered another service, which allowed you to download filters for DVDs and play them through a special DVD player. It was great, but as the years passed, they were editing fewer movies and stopped filtering TV series, which was sad because my wife and I love to binge-watch episodes before bed.
Then I discovered VidAngel! Full disclosure before I go any further. I love them so much and have been using them for years; I became an affiliate. So the links in this blog are paid. I wanted to do this to offer specials and discounts because I was constantly referring people to their service. I was so excited when I learned about VidAngel and gave them a try; they did not disappoint!
The day I started my membership
There was a new movie coming out the same day on Netflix, so I couldn't wait until they had filters for it so I could watch it. I couldn't believe that the next day, and when I got up, they already had filters. I was super excited!
I have been using their service for a few years now and cannot imagine not having it. Of course, now our kids are grown, and only the youngest of our six children still lives at home, but my wife and I still use the service for everything. It has allowed me to go back and watch all the big movies I had to pass on over the years and catch up on many of my science fiction shows.
It's also nice that I didn't have to purchase a special DVD player or download filters whenever I wanted to watch something. Instead, the service works with streaming services; you only need a computer or Amazon Firestick for the VidAngel App.
It will filter shows and movies from Amazon Showtime, Starz, Paramount +, PBS, BritBox, AMC+, AppleTV+, Netflix, Amazon Video, and Amazon Prime.
So there are a lot of options.
There are other channels that VidAngel offers
Like Dry Bar Comedy, which is hilarious clean stand-up comics, and they have other movies and shows they produce.
I pay yearly for the service, and I think it comes out to $9 a month or something, but honestly, I would pay twice that. I cannot say enough great things about this service.
The great thing is you can set the filters yourself. So you can be as strict as you like. There are many filters to choose from, and each set breaks down into smaller categories. You can even filter "bodily functions" or "childish language."
They usually run specials and offers when you use the links in this blog, such as a couple of weeks free to try it.
I highly recommend their service and know if you are opposed to sexual content, nudity, or foul language, this is the service you want. I seriously couldn't be happier.
So give them a try!