VeggieTales
VeggieTales is an American Christian CGI-animated series and multimedia franchise created by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki under Big Idea Entertainment. The series stars Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber leading a variety of anthropomorphic vegetables as they retell stories from the Bible and parody pop culture while also teaching life lessons according to a biblical world view.
One of the earliest computer animated franchises, it was first released in 1993 on VHS, as a direct-to-video series, and later on DVD and Blu-ray through to 2015. The success of the videos led to multiple spin-off television series, such as VeggieTales on TV!, which ran on NBC from 2006 to 2009, two Netflix series that debuted in 2014 and 2017, and a series produced by Trinity Broadcasting Network in 2019. Two films were released: Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie and The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie. The success of the animations helped establish a franchise of related media, including books, music, stage productions, and video games.
The series has sold over 16 million books, 7 million music CDs, and 235 million music streams.
History
VeggieTales was created by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki through the production company Big Idea Entertainment with an overall aim to convey Christian moral themes and teach Biblical values and lessons for a child-based audience. Vischer developed the idea for VeggieTales in the early 1990s while testing animation software as a medium for children's videos. Due to limitations in the Softimage 3D at the time, Vischer opted to avoid the technical production hurdle of designing characters with arms, legs, hair, and clothes. The first animation model for VeggieTales was an anthropomorphic candy bar. Further inspiration derived from Vischer's wife, Lisa, who suggested parents of the target audience might prefer a character who promoted healthier eating habits. Vischer then began to design the characters based on fruits and vegetables.While most of the VeggieTales characters ended up being voiced by Vischer and Nawrocki, they also cast their friends and family to do voices in the early episodes. Dan Anderson and Jim Poole who collaborated with Vischer on dramas at their local church, were recruited for the cast. Vischer's wife also joined the cast as Junior Asparagus, which he was averse to, initially. For the series' music, Vischer brought in Kurt Heinecke, who was the music director of his church at the time. The series' earlier animators included young college graduates Chris Olsen and Robert Ellis alongside Vischer. First offered in the direct-to-video market, the first release was the 30-minute video, Where's God When I'm S-Scared?, in December 1993. Softimage 3D was used to animate the characters for episodes until 1999 when it was replaced with the new animation software, Maya.
In January 2002, HIT Entertainment sued Big Idea, claiming Big Idea "abruptly walked away" from a 1997 deal with Lyrick Studios, which HIT acquired in 2001. The deal intended for HIT to manufacture and distribute VeggieTales merchandise. Having had no written contract with either Lyrick or HIT, Big Idea arranged a distribution deal with Warner Home Video, triggering the suit. In April 2003, a jury in Texas ruled Big Idea must pay $11 million to HIT—a decision which was overturned on appeal in 2005. Due to bankruptcy concerns from the jury decision, Vischer lost control over VeggieTales in 2004. Big Idea continued to produce the VeggieTales home video series until 2015.
On June 29, 2021, Vischer stated in a series of posts on his Twitter account that his wife, Nawrocki and Heinecke had left Big Idea, who intended to recast the voices for their respective characters. He also stated that Nawrocki and Heinecke had been let go from the series several years beforehand for budgetary reasons, being demoted solely to freelance work. They had asked to have a bigger role in the franchise following their involvement in The VeggieTales Show and the company refused, resulting in their complete departure.
Characters
The VeggieTales episodes are teleplays performed by the various vegetables and produce that reside on a kitchen countertop. Most of these characters have "real names", and take on various roles in the teleplays. Most of these "series regulars", such as Bob, Larry, Junior Asparagus, Laura Carrot, Archibald Asparagus, Pa Grape, and Jimmy and Jerry Gourd were established in the earliest videos.Video series
Show format
The videos generally present a moral idea or ethical issue in the opening countertop segment, either through a viewer question or a conflict brought up by Bob or Larry. Usually this is followed by one or more "films" performed by the VeggieTales characters that teach a lesson addressing said issue, with Silly Songs with Larry in the middle.Silly Songs are generally introduced with a title card and a voice-over saying, "And now it's time for Silly Songs with Larry, the part of the show where Larry comes out and sings a silly song." Some Silly Songs have alternate titles, such as "Love Songs with Mr. Lunt", or "Ukulele Karaoke with Bob", where another character sings the song instead. The Silly Song, if one appears, is usually in the middle of the program, often at a cliffhanger moment or in between two stories.
At the end, there is a closing countertop segment where Bob and Larry discuss the lesson and receive a Bible verse from Qwerty the Computer to provide a biblical reference for the viewer. This is concluded with the program's signature sign-off: "Remember kids, God made you special and He loves you very much."
Re-issues and re-releases
Big Idea has released a few "special edition" DVDs which consist of remastered videos and additional features not on the original DVD.- Lyle the Kindly Viking Special Edition
- King George and the Ducky Special Edition
- ''Where's God When I'm S-Scared? 15th Anniversary Collector's Edition ''
Compilation videos
Television
''VeggieTales on TV!'' (2006–2009)
For three seasons, VeggieTales on TV! ran on NBC, Telemundo, and Ion Television as part of the Qubo children's programming block from 2006 to 2009. The television show altered the general format by opening at the front gate of Bob the Tomato's house. Bob, Larry the Cucumber, and other Veggie characters then sing the show's theme song as they hop to Bob's front door. The theme song ends with Pa Grape making a random comment on Archibald's new sweater. Bob and Larry then wait for the mailman, Jimmy Gourd, to deliver a letter. When Jimmy comes, he happily sings his Mail Song, which either Bob, Larry or both find tedious at times. Similar to the opening countertop sequence of the VeggieTales videos, either Bob, Larry or both read the letter and the cast tries to decide how to solve the viewer's problem through one of three regular segments: Archibald reads a story from his Big Book of Oddities, Pa Grape shows an old film, or Mr. Lunt appears with his stick puppet and tells a story. The result always proves disastrous, as the story or film makes no sense. Bob and Larry then intervene with a story from a VeggieTales video. The show ends with Bob and Larry wrapping things up by reiterating the story's lesson and Bob thanking the kids for coming over to his house. NBC episodes end with characters bidding the audience a simple "Good-bye".According to the Los Angeles Times, "VeggieTales has been very successful for NBC in a Saturday morning time slot that has traditionally been difficult for the networks". NBC saw its biggest ratings jump in Saturday morning children's programming since 2003." As a result, ratings on NBC's Saturday morning program had grown from an average Nielsen Rating of 0.5 between 2003 and 2005 to an average of 0.95 between 2006 and 2008, with an average of 430,000 children watching each weekend.
After NBC aired the first few episodes of the first season in September 2006, the company chose to edit the episodes to remove religious messages, including references to God. The original sign-off message—"And remember kids, God made you special and He loves you very much! Good-bye!"—was replaced by "Thanks for coming to my house today, kids. See you next week! Good-bye!". The changes were made at the request of the network's standards and practices department to enforce compliance with network policies regarding religious neutrality. The original dialogue remained viewable by users of the network's closed-caption feature.
The conservative watch group Parents Television Council complained to NBC about the changes. L. Brent Bozell, president of the group, complained of the network "ripping the heart and soul out of a successful product". His argument was that if NBC was concerned about references to God, they should not have taken the series. Bozell stated "This just documents the disconnect between Hollywood and the real world."
The response from NBC stated the editing now conformed to the network's broadcast standards, which direct producers "not to advocate any one religious point of view." NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks said "Our goal is to reach as broad an audience as possible with these positive messages while being careful not to advocate any one religious point of view."
Vischer expressed disappointment with these edits, stating that he was not informed that religious content would be removed from the series, and that he could have refused to sign a contract with Qubo if he had known of the decision beforehand. He said, "I would have declined partly because I knew a lot of fans would feel like it was a sellout or it was done for money." Still, Vischer said he understood NBC's wish to remain religiously neutral, and he said, "VeggieTales is religious, NBC is not. I want to focus people more on 'Isn't it cool that Bob and Larry are on television."