A Veggie Post

If you like to talk to tomatoes,

If a squash can make you smile,

If you like to waltz with potatoes

Up and down the produce isle,

Have I got a post for you.

Despite now being 19 years old, I still live in my childhood. I still watch and thoroughly enjoy anything I did when I was a kid. You probably know all about my love for Disney, but few people know about my love for VeggieTales. I wouldn't exactly say it was a HUGE part of my childhood, but it was a part of it nonetheless.

I do actually remember how I was introduced to it, but I don't remember when exactly. I just remember being very little, maybe 5 or 6. I was visiting my Aunt Karen with my sister and a couple of my cousins and she turned on a VeggieTales VHS tape. It was a compilation of some of the songs. I remember there were some kind of more obscure ones, not just silly songs. Obviously they didn't have much of an impact on me since I can't remember any of them. However, Karen then fast forwarded to a particular one, saying it was a good one. This was the one that would forever shape my love for the veggies. I remember, "A curtain opens as Larry, having just finished his morning bath, is searching for his hairbrush. Having no success, Larry cries out..." Yes, it was The Hairbrush Song (aka Oh Where is My Hairbrush?). I thought it was the most hilarious thing I had ever seen. I think I must have told my parents all about it when I saw them again because for our next Happy Day (the explanation for that is for a different post) we got 'Josh and the Big Wall'. This was the only VeggieTales movie I ever saw for a long, long time. Sometime later, we also got 'The Silly Song Countdown', where I became acquainted with most of the Silly Songs. We also owned a CD of some of the Silly Songs. I had them all memorized soon enough.

So there's the backstory. I eventually forgot all about VeggieTales for several years until one day, I came across the Silly Songs CD when I was about 13 or 14. That same summer, for a week, I was alone for hours at a time while everyone was away at Day Camp, so I set to work on my first music video. My first music video to the song that started it all, The Hairbrush Song. I still had it memorized, even after all those years. Throughout the rest of that week and beyond, I made more music videos to other VeggieTales songs. This is what rekindled my appreciation for the series. I also had a seminary teacher who constantly referred to them in her lessons (that year we were learning about the Old Testament, which a lot of the VeggieTales stories are based on). I eventually started seeing a few more VeggieTales movies on my own, if I could find them, or at seminary.

Anyways, I'm just going to talk a little about it, since it's so under-appreciated by so many. There aren't a whole lot of decent kid shows that teach good morals with out being too cheesy and over-the-top with the down-talking to kids. The writing can also be very clever and witty. The stories that base themselves off of classic tales like The Wizard of Oz or Hamlet or Indiana Jones or Robin Hood or Sherlock Holmes can be quite funny because of all the references and/or play on words they make to the original tale. A lot of them are based on Bible stories and/or teach a moral lesson like sharing or being content or being brave or something. Most of the shows open on the countertop and begin with a problem that is presented through a letter received from viewers or one of the characters.

CHARACTERS:

BOB THE TOMATO:

Bob is one of the two main hosts of the show. He usually plays the straight man of the duo. Also, a lot of the characters he plays in the stories are in league with his more mature persona, although sometimes he gets a more goofy role. A running gag in the show is that he hates the 'What We Have Learned' song for some unexplained reason.

LARRY THE CUCUMBER:

Probably the most popular character on the show and Bob's co-host. He's the "Costello" to Bob's "Abbott". He stars as the hero in most of the stories, no matter what the role, although he's usually pretty goofy. He's also the star of 'Silly Songs With Larry' "the part of the show where Larry comes out and sings a silly song". The silly songs are usually placed in the middle of an episode in between stories or in the middle of an intense moment in the story if there's only one.

JUNIOR ASPARAGUS:

Junior is one of the most active minor characters. He's starred in several stories as the main character. He's basically your typical kid, but also wise beyond his years (good for teaching kids lessons). He's even substituted for Larry hosting on occasion.

ARCHIBALD ASPARAGUS:

No relation to Junior (I used to think he was his uncle or something). The British asparagus. Everyone mostly calls him "Archie". He serves as the stuffy "educated" adult, reprimanding Larry for being too silly or claiming that the show has been lacking in class lately. He mostly serves as lesser roles in the stories, although has taken on some main roles on occasion. A recent gag was that he and Larry were surprised to hear someone announcing the silly song when Archie was standing right there ("I always thought you were the announcer." "So did I.")

MR. LUNT

The Italian gourd. He often portrays the bad guy in the stories (usually Mr. Nezzer's assistant, who is the main villain). He is also one of the members of the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything (along with Larry and Pa Grape) and The Boyz in the Sink (the veggie boy-band with Larry, Junior, and Jimmy). His notable feature is his lack of eyes.

PA GRAPE:

The elderly grape. One of the few fruits in VeggieTales. He was invented for 'The Grapes of Wrath'. He's a member of The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, in fact he's the captain. His characters in the stories tend to be the wiseman or the storyteller or something along those lines.

PETUNIA RHUBARB:

One of the newest additions to the veggie cast. She doesn't look much like rhubarb, but I don't really care. She serves majorly as a love-interest to Larry's characters.  Her first appearance was as herself in their version of the Ruth story from the Bible, playing opposite Larry's Boaz character.

JIMMY AND JERRY GOURD

They're brothers and are often seen together. They're another comic duo like Bob and Larry. They took over hosting the show once (and it was a disaster). They play very different characters all the time in the stories.

THE FRENCH PEAS:

Mainly Phillipe and Jean-Claude, although there are several more of them. I found out that they are based off of the French guards from Monty Python's Holy Grail, making ridiculous taunting threats and such. They often serve as bad guys in the stories, but more of irritants rather than flat out evil villains.

TOP 5 FAVORITE SILLY SONGS (in order from favorite to least):

1) The Hairbrush Song

2) Pizza Angel

3) Sippy Cup

4) The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

5) The Bellybutton Song

TOP 5 FAVORITE FAVORITE EPISODES (in order from favorite to least):

1) It's a Meaningful Life- (based on 'It's a Wonderful Life'. A story about being content.)

2) Lyle the Kindly Viking- (A story about sharing)

3) The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's- (based on 'The Wizard of Oz'. The story of the Prodigal Son.)

4) Sweet Pea Beauty- (based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. A story about inner beauty)

5) Moe and the Big Exit- (The story of Moses)