VeggieTales

VeggieTales is an American-Canadian, Christian series of children's computer animated television shows, DVDs, Blu-rays, videos, feature films, web shows, books, and albums. Sarcastic, limbless, talking fruit and vegetable actors perform in full theatrical productions that retell Bible stories and parody mainstream pop culture. Each episode teaches a moral life lesson through a biblical world view, while also educating families on Judeo-Christian history and concepts. The lessons includes dealing with peer pressure, handling bullies, forgiving others, fighting temptation, handling fear, listening to parents, having self-esteem, being compassionate, etc. VeggieTales is an Emmy, Annie, Movieguide, Chicago Film Festival, Parents Choice Award, World Animation Celebration Award, and GMA Dove Award nominated series created by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki, who both perform many of the characters’ voices.

The series is hosted by Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber. Other cast members include Junior Asparagus, Archibald Asparagus, Mr. Lunt, Petunia Rubarb, Jimmy Gourd, Jerry Gourd, Mr. Nezzer, Pa Grape, Madame Blueberry, Laura Carrot, Jean Claude Pea, and Philipe Pea. The middle of each show features Silly Songs with Larry, the part of the show where Larry comes out to sing a silly song.

Originally released in direct-to-video format, the videos debuted on December 21, 1993. VeggieTales was the world's first half-hour CGI animated show. VeggieTales released three episodes a year for a total of over 60 episodes. Big Idea Entertainment has released two theatrical feature films: Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie (2002) in association with Lionsgate and The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie (2008) in association with Universal Studios. From 2002 to 2003, Big Idea created a short running spin-off called Larryboy: The Cartoon Adventures. For three seasons from September 9, 2006 to September 7, 2009, VeggieTales on TV appeared on NBC, Telemundo, and ION TV as part of the Qubo Friday afternoon, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning children's programming block. On November 3, 2012, the show began running on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) as well as its children's network Smile, where it currently continues to air episodes (in a repackaged and edited format).

VeggieTales was purchased by Classic Media in 2004. VeggieTales was then purchased by DreamWorks Animation in 2012. In 2016, Comcast's NBCUniversal bought DreamWorks Animation and since then, Universal Studios is currently owning the rights.

From 1993 to 2004, VeggieTales episodes were produced in Chicago, Illinois. When the franchise was purchased by Classic Media in 2004, new episodes were produced in Nashville, Tennessee. When DreamWorks launched production on the Netflix series VeggieTales in the House in 2013, production was done between studios in Nashville, Tennessee, Chicago, Illinois, and Glendale, California.

In 2009, Netflix made numerous VeggieTales videos (in their uncut, original formats) and the two feature films available via their video streaming service. In 2014, the original VeggieTales series spun off into the Netflix series VeggieTales in the House, produced by DreamWorks Animation Television. The series ran for four seasons from 2014 to 2016. In 2017, It was succeeded by VeggieTales in the City.

Big Idea has also published VeggieTales books and music CDs, as well as branded items such as toys, clothing, and garden seeds for vegetables and flowers.

History
VeggieTales was created by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki through their company Big Idea Productions. Their aim was to produce children's videos which conveyed Christian moral themes and taught Biblical values and lessons. The animated feature involved stories told by a group of recurring fruit and vegetable characters who lived on a kitchen countertop. The program was offered in the direct-to-video market, with the first 30-minute program, Where's God When I'm S-Scared?, released in December 1993. In all, Big Idea has released 56 VeggieTales episodes including 6 Silly Song episodes, 6 Christmas specials, 2 Easter specials, 4 LarryBoy episodes, 2 Minnesota Cuke episodes, 2 flashback episodes, and 1 drawing tutorial episode. In addition to these episodes, 2 feature-length movies, Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie and The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie, were released in theaters. Beginning in 2006, the VeggieTales videos were adapted as a regular television program through the Qubo multi-platform network and NBC network. On September 30, 2008, Big Idea announced that Mike Nawrocki would create an "original new VeggieTales TV series," though no further news has been revealed.

The idea for VeggieTales was conceived in the early 1990s when Vischer was testing animation software to use as a medium for children's videos. Due to the limitations of Softimage Creative Environment at the time, he decided to avoid the technical production hurdle of designing characters with arms, legs, hair, and clothes. His first animation model was an anthropomorphic candy bar. When his wife suggested that parents might prefer a hero who promoted healthier eating habits, he began designing the characters based on fruits and vegetables. The cast of voice actors of the early Veggietales videos predominantly came from friends of Phil Vischer such as Dan Anderson (Dad Asparagus) and Jim Poole (Scooter the Carrot) who collaborated with Vischer on dramas at their local church. Softimage 3D was used for further episodes until 1999 when it was replaced with Maya.

Format
The episodes generally follow a standard format where a moral issue is posited in the opening countertop sequence, either through a viewer question or an issue brought up by Bob or Larry, followed by one or more "films" that address the issue, with a Silly Song in the middle. The Silly Songs are generally introduced with a title card and a voiceover 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 (although the LarryBoy episodes, in particular, often lack this segment, with the exception of League of Incredible Vegetables). Each episode ends with this program's signature sign-off: "Remember kids, God made you special and He loves you very much."

VeggieTales on TV
"The Toy that Saved Christmas" was broadcast on Pax TV on December 19, 1998. Another Christmas video, "The Star of Christmas", aired on over 260 public television stations in December 2002.

NBC version
The NBC VeggieTales 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 a character making a random comment, such as Pa Grape commenting 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 Bob and Larry both find tedious. Similar to the opening counter-top sequence of the VeggieTales videos, Bob and Larry 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, Paco the Storytelling Mule, 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 thanking the kids for coming to his house. NBC episodes end with characters bidding the audience a simple "Good-bye". When NBC began airing VeggieTales episodes in September 2006, it edited the episodes to remove religious messages, including references to God. The original sign-off message--"Remember kids, God made you special and He loves you very much!"—became "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", saying that if NBC was concerned about references to God, they should not have taken the series. Bozell added "This just documents the disconnect between Hollywood and the real world."

NBC replied that the editing 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 said he was not informed that the religious content would be removed and said he would have declined to sign the contract had he known. "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," he said. Vischer added that he still understood NBC's wish to remain religiously neutral. "VeggieTales is religious, NBC is not. I want to focus people more on 'Isn't it cool that Bob and Larry are on television.'"

Netflix
A new series for preschool children, VeggieTales in the House, premiered on Netflix in Thanksgiving 2014. The series lead is Doug TenNapel and features a theme song by independent studio musician and frequent TenNapel collaborator Terry Scott Taylor. The deal between current VeggieTales owner DreamWorks and Netflix call for the release of 75 episodes over a three-year period with each episode featuring two 11-minute stories.

Mike Nawrocki and Phil Vischer continue to voice their characters, but the rest of the original video cast has been replaced by veteran voice actors Tress MacNeille and Rob Paulsen. The series is an expansion of the kitchen counter-top segments of the original videos to include a full city which the characters live in. Bob and Larry live as roommates in an apartment west of the kitchen counter. Several stories revolve around a general store built into the bottom-right corner of a kitchen counter which is run by Pa Grape. The cast from the original videos remains the same aside from the absence of Mr. Nezzer, who has been replaced by a similar looking character named Ichabeezer. Themes in each episode relate to Biblical principles such as forgiveness, compassion and generosity.

In 2017, VeggieTales in the House was replaced by the preschool series VeggieTales in the City.

Cancellation and revival
Following the release of the episode Noah's Ark on March 3, 2015, Big Idea did not announce any new plans for further VeggieTales home video releases, seemingly focusing solely on the Netflix series. In June 2017, Mike Nawrocki appeared on the Christian talk show Today's Life, and said "if there's ever an opportunity to do something VeggieTales-related again, I would love to do that." Furthermore, Nawrocki's LinkedIn profile states that he left his position at Big Idea in February 2016. The second and final season of VeggieTales in the City subsequently premiered on Netflix in late 2017.

At the 2018 Christian Worldview Film Festival, Mike Nawrocki confirmed that he was no longer working on VeggieTales, and there was nothing in production. Phil Vischer stated that he was not returning to work on new episodes, and on July 1, 2018, he explained on Twitter that the team who specifically produced home video releases was dismissed in 2015, while the Netflix series team wrapped up their work in summer 2017. Big Idea's offices in Nashville shut down shortly afterward. Vischer has confirmed that a small handful of Big Idea employees continued to work, handling social media accounts and keeping existing distribution deals intact.

In March 2019, it was announced that the Trinity Broadcasting Network was picking up the broadcasting rights to a new VeggieTales series to air on their networks. Vischer confirmed on Twitter that he and Nawrocki were both returning to Big Idea as full-time staff to work on the series, tentatively titled The VeggieTales Show.

At the National Religious Broadcast 2019 Convention in California, Vischer and Nawrocki announced that Universal studios has greenlit a VeggieTales movie that will see a theatrical release with an unknown release.

Characters
VeggieTales has a continuous back story that all of the cartoons are actually teleplays, performed by various vegetables and fruit that live together on the same kitchen countertop. Some of these characters have "real names," and take on various roles in the teleplays, although in the earlier adventures they appeared as themselves, showing some of their real-life situations. Most of these "regulars", such as Larry, Bob, Junior Asparagus, and Pa Grape, were established in the earliest videos.

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.


 * 1) Lyle the Kindly Viking Special Edition (also includes 3–2–1 Penguins! Trouble on Planet Wait-Your-Turn)
 * 2) King George and the Ducky Special Edition (also includes 3–2–1 Penguins! Runaway Pride at Lightstation Kilowatt)
 * 3) Where's God When I'm S-Scared? 15th Anniversary Collector's Edition (also includes 3–2–1 Penguins! Trouble on Planet Wait-Your-Turn)

Compilation videos
Various VeggieTales episodes were bundled into video collections ranging in size from double features all the way up to a boxed collection of the first 30 VeggieTales videos. In addition, compilation videos of only the Silly Songs were also released. These song collections included the songs in "Sing Along" format as well as countdowns of the most popular Silly Songs as voted on by fans.

Reception and awards
VeggieTales has been nominated for 3 Emmy Award, 4 Annie Award, 1 International World Animation Celebration Festival Award, 1 Movieguide Award, 2 Chicago Film Festival Awards, 6 Parents' Choice Awards, and 13 GMA Dove Awards.

The revenue for Big Idea grew between 1996 and 1999 from $1.3 million to over $44 million as the moral tales and off-beat humor proved popular with parents. The media group Common Sense Media commented on the TV series that VeggieTales "will probably be most amusing for younger kids, or, perhaps more accurately, less sophisticated viewers. It's not the lessons themselves that older kids might object to—more the fact that you can see them coming a mile away, and even the best songs can't make getting there any more exciting."

Not only has the video series and stage productions enjoyed more financial success than the films, the reception to the films has been lukewarm both among critics and at the box office. Jonah – A VeggieTales Movie currently holds a 65% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 55 reviews from critics, with an average score of 5.8 out of 10. The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything  received a 39% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 33 reviews, with an average rating of 4.7/10. Their summary of critical consensus was, "This Veggietale should please the youngest crowds, but the silly script will tire the more discerning viewer."

Feature-length films

 * Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie (2002): Archibald Asparagus stars as Jonah in this version of the Biblical story. The Veggies learn that God is a God of second chances, and that we need to give second chances too and be compassionate and merciful.
 * The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie (2008): In this second VeggieTales feature film, three lazy wannabe pirates go back in time to the 17th century, to fight real pirates and become heroes in a battle, to rescue a royal family from an evil tyrant. The three slackers learn that a hero doesn't have to be tall, strong, and handsome to be useful.
 * The Bob and Larry Movie (TBD): The origin story of VeggieTales host Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber reveals how they met, how they got their own show, and answers the question how vegetables and fruit talk. This will be the first film in the series to feature humans. According to Phil Vischer, "Since Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie was our The Ten Commandments, The Bob and Larry Movie would be our Toy Story." The Bob and Larry Movie was originally planned to be the second VeggieTales movie with a released date of fall of 2005. It was placed into production in early 2002, toward the end of production of Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie (2002). However, Big Idea Productions fell into bankruptcy in late 2002 and the film was placed on hiatus because it was deemed too expensive. As a result, Phil Vischer wrote The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie to replace this movie. In 2008, it was considered to be the sequel to The Pirates who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie, but talks had stalled after the 2008 recession had led to the bankruptcy of VeggieTales owner Entertainment Rights and Classic Media. According to Phil Vischer in 2018," I have a copy of The Bob and Larry script on my laptop, but probably won't release it because it is technically owned by Universal and DreamWorks". "It will hopefully be produced in the near future".
 * Untitled VeggieTales Movie (TBD): On March 28, 2019, Vischer announced on his Twitter page that Universal Studios greenlit the movie with an unknown release date.

Stage production
VeggieTales Live is a series of stage shows based on the VeggieTales videos. The first stage series was part of a two-year agreement with Clear Channel in 2002. Six versions of the shows have been staged. The shows have toured across the U.S. and at theme parks including Dollywood and Silver Dollar City.

Video games
Big Idea, and its successors, have released VeggieTales themed games on various platforms including PC, Macintosh, iOS, and Android. Applications include games revolving around specific VeggieTales episodes (such as the PlayStation 2 release of LarryBoy and the Bad Apple) to new content revolving around various VeggieTales characters.