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Archive for August, 2006

Why Do I Keep Hearing About Moose Lake?

One of the running gags in VeggieTales is a place called Moose Lake. It’s mentioned countless times from Jonah to Minnesota Cuke and Search for Sampson’s Hairbrush to the Worship Songs CD.

Basically, the story goes that Big Idea– when it was still in Chicago– got some mail from Moose Lake that was critical of VeggieTales and the creators liked the name. So, they started using it in various places, the first one being Jonah. Mr. Lunt says that his uncle from Moose Lake is the one that gave him the outboard motor.

Just another one of those inside-type VeggieTales gags.

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VeggieTales: Worship Songs

Rating:
****

VeggieTales Worship Songs is a collection of songs with a worship/CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) type feel. That being said, there are only a couple of songs that would lean toward the Christian Rock Sound.

The story line revolves around Bob and Larry taking over rehearsing Junior’s choir while the original conductor is out at a convention in Moose Lake. The big gag at the beginning is that Larry is having a hard time getting out of his seat belt because he doesn’t have hands.

Here’s some of the songs and my take:

Come Now is the Time
A very repetative song– but easy to tap your foot to.

God of Wonders
CCM song that starts with a statement that “God rules”– something much more in line with teen type conversation.

Better is One Day
Probably the one song that you’ll walk away humming. This song is performed by Matt Redman and the kids, and is taken right from the Psalms.

Thy Word
Weird choice of instrumentation here– they used a clavichord to set the song, but the song talks about God’s Word lighting our path. Junior is the key vocalist on this song.

Blessed Be Your Name
Matt Redman again is featured in this song.

Forever
Bob spells out a good definition of forever, and they sing this almost tropical sounding song.

You Put This Love in My Heart
Keith Green song that is the closest the CD gets to Christian Rock/Pop sound. Performed by Boyz in the Sink (Larry, Junior, Jimmy, and Mr. Lunt). It also flirts with being a boyfriend/girlfriend song. “You put this love in my heart”– who did?

I Could Sing of Your Love Forever
This song says the title a lot.

In The Secret
CCM song that talks about wanting to know God more– definitely a worthwhile goal.

I Am A Promise
Junior Asparagus sings about the ability we have to be promises in this arrangement of a Gaither classic. I prefer the arrangement on More Bob and Larry’s Sunday Morning Songs to this setting.

Seek Ye First
A classic worship chorus.

You Are Holy
A pick-me-up song with a beat that focuses on God’s names to give Him glory.

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VeggieTales: Madame Blueberry

Rating:
***½

This VeggieTales adventure starts out with Bob just being present on the Countertop waiting for Larry to show up– and boy does he make an entrance. He rides in on his pink “Susie Action Jeep.” Bob asks Larry if the jeep makes him happy, and Larry starts listing the accessories he would need for true happiness. Before Bob can start a story, Jean-Claude and Phillipe Pea show up on scene saying they have a french story they would like to share.

In this story of Madame Blueberry, she lives in a tree with Bob and Larry, her butlers. Why a blueberry lives in a tree is never explained except it is necessary for the story! In any case, the blueberry is a very jealous fruit. she has pictures around the trunk of the tree of thiings that other people have that she wants. She believes that if she were to possess these things that she would be happy.

It is at this point that Larry notices a building out the window– a building named Stuff Mart. As they are wondering what this building is, the three scallions show up at her door claiming they are neighbors and offering her a view at some of the things she could buy at Stuff Mart. They sing a song that goes from classical to full blown rap– so be warned if this type of music offends you. She agrees to go with them.

It is at this point that Larry comes out to sing a silly song but is replaced by Mr. Lunt because the previous silly songs have been too silly. So, we get love songs with Mr. Lunt. He comes out and sings The Cheeseburger Song about Jerry Gourd who really loves his cheeseburger enough to wait for the fast food place to open back up the next day– so he sleeps in the drive thru and then goes to Denny’s, but is ready to come back when Burger Bell opens at 10:00 am. This song is done in power ballad style. Athough Archibald hints that next time Mr. Lunt will do a love song, it has yet to materialize.

Back to the story. On the way to Stuff Mart, the group comes upon Annie and her family underneath a tree. They are celebrating Annie’s birthday with just one piece of pie. She sings the Thankfunless song and Madame Blueberry wonders how she can be happy with only so little. But she presses on.

Blueberry starts buying anything and everything that she can– though we never see a cost or how she pays for it. The shopping carts have steering wheels– pretty amusing. The store sets it up so that everything she buys automatically goes to her house and gets set up. She takes a break from buying and sees Junior and his dad and observes a conversation between them.

Junior’s dad cannot afford the train set, but offers to get Junior a ball. Junior acknowledges his dad’s love, and sings the Thankfulness song. Madame Blueberry finally gets the point– it’s a thankful heart that yields happiness. She decides to stop buying things and go back to her house, but that house is beginning to wobble. It turns out that all of that stuff is making it so that the house is having a hard time staying on the tree.

Bob and Madame Blueberry race back in shopping carts while Larry heads back in a basket. Bob and Madame Blueberry get there just in time to see the air compressor launch the house– catapult like, into the Stuff Mart parking lot. The final scene has all the story characters eating pie and singing the Thankfulness song.

Cutting back to the countertop, Jean-Claude and Phillipe have to do some of the wrapup because Bob and Larry are crying too much. They finally wrap things up and talk about how a thankful spirit can effect our feelings and how we need to be thankful for what we have.

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I Heard Big Idea was Bought By a Secular Company?

Big Idea did go bankrupt due to a fight with Lyrick Studios after Lyrick was bought out by Hit Entertainment (Thomas the Train and the Wiggles). There was a major dispute over who could distribute VeggieTales on DVD. Big Idea said that it was not bound to Lyrick, Hit disagreed. Hit was originally declared the winner, and Big Idea was bought by Classic Media– the owners of Lassie, Popeye and other brands.

The complete story is Phil Vischer’s old blog. Simply put, Big Idea is owned by classic media. Vischer still has creative input, writes a story a year, and is the majority of the voices– but he no longer has veto power, and he is not an employee of Big Idea. Most of the original crew is still there.

What does this mean for Biblical content? According to Vischer and Mike Nawrocki (Larry the Cucumber, VeggieTales was given permission to be who they are– there is no dictates from above that they have to water down their message or change the way they do things.

That said, Classic Media is in business to make money. You will notice that they are pushing more merchandise (t-shirts, toys, games, etc.) , they are having more appearances, and they are producing and promoting more videos. It’s possible that this is just the fact that there’s a real production company behind them, or it could be they know that these videos are good sellers.

I have noticed that there were stories they didn’t know if they could tackle before that now they are. As I’ve noted in the comments, some of the new ones are right on, and some seem to emphasize friends and family over God– they never totally exclude Him.

They’re still solid family entertainment with a “nugget” (they use this word a lot) of truth.

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