Dave and the Giant Pickle

This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the book.

"I will fight Goliath!"

— Dave to King Saul

Dave and the Giant Pickle
Directed by	Phil Vischer
Written by	Phil Vischer
Music by	Kurt Heinecke
Distributed by	Word/Everland Entertainment
Released	April 2, 1996
Runtime	28 minutes
Previous episode	Rack, Shack and Benny
Next episode	The Toy That Saved Christmas

Dave and the Giant Pickle is the fifth episode of VeggieTales. The story is a retelling of the Bible story of David and Goliath that handles the topic of self-esteem.

Plot

The show opens up with Larry dressed as his alter-ego Larry-Boy with a cardboard cutout of a city skyline. He demonstrates his super-suction ears by jumping on a cardboard building. He gets stuck as Bob walks out on the countertop. Larry asks for Bob's help getting down but falls off before Bob can actually help him. When Bob asks Larry to get out of his costume, Larry says that he doesn't feel special about his normal self. Bob then mentions that he got a letter from Myra Eggleston from Youngstown, Pennsylvania. She says that her siblings are all older than her and can do all kinds of things, but she's too little for any of those things and wonders what's special about her. Bob then tells the story of Dave and the Giant Pickle.

A long time ago in a country named Israel, Dave (Junior Asparagus) was a shepherd who lived with his three brothers (Jimmy and Jerry Gourd and Tom Grape) and his father Jesse (Pa Grape). Every day while Dave tended his sheep, the sheep would tip over and his older brothers would pick on him by making him pick up their tipped over sheep and get them food. One day, their father Jesse comes running to the boys to tell them something. He accidentally bumps into a line of sheep and asks Dave to pick them up, which utterly irritates Dave. Jesse tells his sons that Israel's sworn enemies, the Philistines, are attacking. In order to defeat them, Israel's king, King Saul (Archibald) is putting together an army to defeat the Philistines. Dave's brothers head towards the battlegrounds. Dave follows them but is stopped by his father. Jesse tells Dave that Dave was too small to fight for the army, and leaves Dave to take care of the sheep himself. Jesse then takes his three sons to battle. Dave started wondering why little people couldn't do big things.

At the battlefield, the army of the Israelites was camped out on one hill while the Philistines were on another hill. The Philistines began to throw insults at the Israelites. Then the two upfront Philistines (Jean-Claude and Cristoffe Pea) begin to make a deal with the Israelites. The two armies will bring out their great champions and if one of them wins, the losing army will be the winning army's slaves. King Saul agrees to the offer and the Philistines bring out their champion, a giant pickle named Goliath.

The Israelites are frightened by the sight of Goliath and they run away and hide. Goliath came back day after day for 40 days to see who would fight him. But every time he showed up, all the Israelites were in hiding. After a while, Jesse begins to worry about his boys, and he sends Dave to the campgrounds to deliver some pizza. On the grounds, Dave sees his brothers in hiding from Goliath and overhears Goliath calling the Israelites cowards. Fed up with no one willing to fight Goliath, Dave goes to King Saul and says that he'll fight Goliath. King Saul has major doubts that Dave, at his young age, can defeat Goliath. Dave, through song, convinces Saul to let him out on the field. Saul tells Dave to put on his old royal armor. Dave's not fit for the armor and says that he'll confront Goliath with all he has and the will of God. Saul reluctantly lets Dave go out and fight.

As Dave heads for the camp, he stops by a stream and picks up five smooth stones. At the camps, Dave goes to Goliath and accepts his challenge. Goliath suits up in his boxing uniform and heads out in the battlefield and confronts Dave. Dave then takes a stone he picked up and uses a slingshot to fling a stone at Goliath. The stone hits Goliath's head, knocking him completely out. The Israelites are cheering with victory as the Philistines run away in defeat and fear. The story ends with Dave riding on his sheep in the sunset, and falling off.

Back on the countertop, Larry's moved by the story and is feeling special again. The Bible verse of the day is Matthew 19:26; with God all things are possible. Larry thinks that he can do anything he wants and says that he wants to be a chicken. Bob then corrects him by saying that the verse means whatever God wants us to do, we can do. As Bob leaves the countertop, Larry stays behind to play around as Larry-Boy for fun. He then uses his super-suction ears to hang onto the camera and gets stuck then falls off onto the kitchen floor.

Silly Song

• Love My Lips

Characters

Major

• Bob the Tomato
• Larry the Cucumber/Larry-Boy
• Junior Asparagus (as Dave)
• Archibald Asparagus (as himself and King Saul)
• Pa Grape (as Jesse)
• Jimmy and Jerry Gourd (as two of Dave's brothers)
• Tom Grape (as one of Dave's other brothers)
• Goliath
• The French Peas (as the Philistines)

Minor

• Lenny Carrot (as an Israelite)
• Unnamed Peas (as Israelites)
• The Sheep
• Qwerty

Songs

• VeggieTales Theme Song
• Silly Songs with Larry: Love My Lips
• Big Things Too
• What Have We Learned

Production

After Big Idea suffered through exhaustion after making Rack, Shack and Benny, Phil Vischer wanted to make the next episode silly and simple. He began reading the story of David and Goliath and thought about doing a Monty Python-like story of David and Goliath.

The episode was the easiest made in just four months with eight people and everything was on budget, on schedule, and no one got tired making it and had a ball doing it. It even proved to be a favorite.

Home media

Main article: Dave and the Giant Pickle/Home Video

Other Languages

• سقوط الخيارة الجبارة (Arabic)
• 戴夫和巨人泡菜 (Cantonese, Revealed by FinnyRises)
• David i Divovski Krastavac (Croatian)
• Taavi ja jättiläiskurkku (Finnish)
• Ο Ντεϊβ και το Τεράστιο Τουρσί (Greek)
• 少年ダビデとジャイアントピクルス (Japanese)
• 다윗과 골리앗 (Korean)
• 小兵立大功 (Mandarin) (Taiwanese)
• David og den sure agurken (Norwegian)
• Davi e o Pickle Gigante (Portuguese) (Brazilian) (1st dub)
  • Davi e o Gigante (Portuguese) (Brazilian) (2nd-3rd dubs)
• David e o Pickle Gigante (Portuguese) (European)
• David in velikanska kumarica (Slovenian)
• David y el Pepino Gigante (Latin Spanish) (1st dub)
  • Dave y el Pepinillo Gigante (Latin Spanish) (2nd dub)
• Dave và người khổng lồ (Vietnamese)

Fun Facts

Moral(s)

• It doesn't matter who or what you are, everyone is capable of doing great things.
• Don't judge a person based on their appearance.
• It's okay to just be yourself instead of trying to be someone or something you're not.

Trivia

• This is the first episode for several things:
  • This was said to be the first of the easiest episodes to make, as it only took four months to produce. This episode held that record until The Wonderful World of Auto-Tainment!.
  • The first episode to feature Larry's alter-ego Larry-Boy. Believe it or not, Larry-Boy was going to appear just in this episode and not come back ever. But people loved Larry-Boy so much that he was kept.
  • The first appearance of Jean Claude Pea, Philippe Pea (known as Christophe at that time), and Goliath.
    • A third French Pea appears in A Very Silly Sing-Along! and Beauty and the Beet along with Jean-Claude and Phillipe. He is rumored to be Christophe.
  • The first episode where Pa Grape has a triangular nose.
  • The first episode not to have Mike Asparagus, Laura Carrot, Grandpa George, Mr. Nezzer and Mr. Lunt since their debut appearances
    • On a similar note, this is also the first episode not to feature any female characters (not counting Lisa Asparagus' appearance in the VeggieTales theme).
• Pa Grape's voice becomes more high-pitched starting in this episode.
• This is the first and only time Bob says God Made You Special, and He Loves You Very Much and goodbye to the viewers by himself.
• This is the only time the end credits took place during the countertop scenes because it only faded to black afterwards.
• This episode can be featured in Heroes of the Bible!: Lions, Shepherds and Queens (Oh My!), God Made You Special, and Little Ones Can Do Big Things Too!.
• Love My Lips will return in Very Silly Songs!, The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown, Heroes of the Bible!: Lions, Shepherds and Queens (Oh My!), Sing-Alongs: Do the Moo Shoo, Sing-Alongs: I Love My Lips, Silly Little Thing Called Love, and If I Sang A Silly Song.
• In the original Bible story, Dave severs Goliath's head after knocking him out with the stone. But since VeggieTales is a kid-friendly show, the battle ends with just Goliath getting knocked out.
• There were a few differences between pre-production and the final version:
  • The sheep tipping over was something Phil came up since it'll be just dull for them doing nothing.
  • The line Larry-Boy saying what're the Philippines wasn't in the script.
  • The donut Jerry was eating wasn't seen in the final (see Fast Forward).
• In the scene where Larry-Boy is eating popcorn and talking to Bob about the story, there's a piece of popcorn on Larry-Boy's helmet. Phil Vischer stated on the DVD commentary that it was his idea as he thought it'd be funny, but no one found it funny at all.
• Tom Danen, Robert Ellis, Mike Nawrocki and Chris Olsen were impressed to see Ron Smith animating Junior tap-dancing.
• The TV version of this has The Blues With Larry.
• This was featured as a bonus feature on a re-release of Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed.
• British and Australian releases still refer to Goliath as a pickle on both the box art and dialogue, even though pickles are usually known as gherkins there.
• This is the only time when the end credits take place during the countertop, because the screen faded to black afterwards before the Big Idea logo.
• This is one of two episode to have toy sets released of them, with the other being Josh and the Big Wall!
  • In March 1999, the toys were recalled due to choking hazards.
• Not counting VeggieTales in the House/City and The VeggieTales Show, this is the shortest episode of VeggieTales, at only 28 minutes long. However, it does have the longest countertop scenes.
• This is one of the few episodes whose original unremastered visuals in almost their entirety are available on DVD, including Heroes of the Bible!: Lions, Shepherds and Queens (Oh My!) and the classroom edition of Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space!. This includes most of the episode (plus both the 1996 and 1998 versions of Love My Lips), minus the first half of the credits.
  • However, the "Love My Lips" credit (which is when Larry-Boy's plunger slowly lets go of the camera) has an added copyright byline below the screen.

Remarks

• Phil Vischer stated that this is the first video to feature animals. However, there is a snake and two whales featured in God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?!
• The back cover of the 2009 re-release states the episode came out in 1997, which isn't true.
  • Also on the cover, Larry-Boy's second costume design is featured, instead of his original design.
• The original 1996 VHS of this episode is one of only three 1993-1997 VeggieTales VHS tapes (the other being the original 1993 VHS Where's God When I'm S-Scared? and the original 1994 imprint of God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?!) that has a different sticker label aside from the rest of the tapes from 1993-1997. The 1997 Lyrick Studios VHS of Are You My Neighbor? doesn't count.
• As you'll notice on some of the characters, the underneath of them is brighter than normal.
• Goliath had a convenient chance of attacking David, but he just stares at his slingshot when he could just plan ahead.
• "They were mostly... sheep, especially around Dave's house," says Bob, except there's never a house shown in the shots depicting the sheep.
• David had seven brothers, but there were only three seen.
• Larry states that Larry-Boy can fly, although he does not have this power (Though the Bad Apple video game and later design of the costume later incorporate flight).
• In the original 1996 version, there are some sound effects missing (i.e. some of Goliath's stomping noises). This was corrected by adding them in when the episode was remastered in 2004 for its VeggieTales Classics re-release.
  • As for the sound effect of Larry-Boy's plungers swooshing, only the lower-pitched swooshing was heard and the louder, higher-pitched swish sound (which was actually layered within the lower swooshing sound) was missing in the 2004 remaster, but only before the closing credits.
  • At the end of Love My Lips, Larry's scatting and the instrumental music also fade out sooner on the 2004 remaster.
• When the episode was remastered in 2004, the brightness and gamma of the picture was adjusted to a slightly higher level, possibly due to Goliath's skin being too dark for his mouth to be barely seen in the original version.
  • As of DVD releases, the original master of the episode (with darker picture brightness) is still on the Heroes of the Bible! Lions, Shepherds and Queens (Oh My!) DVD.
• Some international releases have Endangered Love play after Love My Lips.
  • On a similar note, the Arabic dub replaces Love My Lips with The Hairbrush Song, due to Are You My Neighbor? being denied from release in the Arab World for controversial reasons involving its lesson in loving your neighbor.
    • In addition, Pa Grape's voiceover before and after the Silly Song were cut, resulting in silence during the black screen.

Goofs

• Jimmy's pupils clip through his eyelids when Bob was telling the viewers who Dave is.
• When one of the peas are hopping, they appear to be flying.
• In one shot where Goliath hops away, the sound of his giant footsteps is missing. This was fixed in the 2004 rerelease.
• King Saul's monocle changes from silver to gold in one shot.
• When Dave tells Goliath he will fight him, Jerry is standing between Tom and Jimmy. In the close-up, Jimmy and Jerry have switched places.
• King Saul's pupils are missing before the camera turns to Dave when he is ready to fight Goliath.
• When Goliath is falling down, he is missing his cap in one shot.
• One of Larry-Boy's super suction ears is bent during the "What We Have Learned" song.
• Some white appears in Larry-Boy's mouth while he's recognizing that he can do anything God wants him to do.
• On the back cover of the 1996 release, "challenge" is misspelled as "challange."

Inside References

• A few nods from the first episode are featured here:
  • Archibald playing a biblical king, which looks identical to the same one.
  • The lion pizza box design's most likely a reference towards when Daniel had pizza with the lions.
  • Jimmy and Jerry talking about dipping Dave in tar and sticking him on the backside of an angry water buffalo.
• Jimmy and Jerry saying they can eat a whole (insert object here) is a reference towards their debut appearance.
• The 1998 Lyrick Studios VHS trailer for this episode has an instrumental of God Is Bigger from Where's God When I'm S-Scared?.

Real-World References

• The episode's title's reminisces towards Roald Dahl's book "James and the Giant Peach," which got a film adaptation by Disney around the same year as the episode.
• The Larry-Go-Round is a pun of a Merry Go Round.
• Bob explaining what the Philippines are and saying "That's not important now" references the 1980 comedy movie "Airplane!"

Fast Forward

• Jimmy and Jerry wanted to host VeggieTales since this episode but they didn't do it until King George and the Ducky.
• A Half-eaten Donut Jerry ate during production was on display in Jonah Sing-Along Songs and More!
• Larry's line, "I laughed, I cried. It moved me Bob," was reused in the TV version of Rack, Shack and Benny.

Episode Transcript

• Transcript

Credits

• Credits

Gallery

VeggieTales episodes 1990s episodes Where's God When I'm S-Scared? | God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?! | Are You My Neighbor? | Rack, Shack and Benny | Dave and the Giant Pickle | The Toy That Saved Christmas | Very Silly Songs! | Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space! | Josh and the Big Wall! | Madame Blueberry | The End of Silliness? | Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed 2000s episodes King George and the Ducky | Esther... The Girl Who Became Queen | Lyle the Kindly Viking | The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown | Jonah Sing-Along Songs and More! | The Star of Christmas | The Wonderful World of Auto-Tainment! | The Ballad of Little Joe | An Easter Carol | A Snoodle's Tale | Sumo of the Opera | Duke and the Great Pie War | Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Samson's Hairbrush | Lord of the Beans | Sheerluck Holmes and the Golden Ruler | LarryBoy and the Bad Apple | Gideon: Tuba Warrior | Moe and the Big Exit | The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's | Tomato Sawyer and Huckleberry Larry's Big River Rescue | Abe and the Amazing Promise | Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah's Umbrella | Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving 2010s episodes Pistachio - The Little Boy That Woodn't | Sweetpea Beauty | It's a Meaningful Life | 'Twas the Night Before Easter | Princess and the Popstar | The Little Drummer Boy | Robin Good and His Not-So-Merry Men | The Penniless Princess | The League of Incredible Vegetables | The Little House That Stood | MacLarry and the Stinky Cheese Battle | Merry Larry and the True Light of Christmas | Veggies in Space: The Fennel Frontier | Celery Night Fever | Beauty and the Beet | Noah's Ark Feature films Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie | The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie | Untitled 'VeggieTales' film Compilation episodes God Made You Special | The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything Sing Along Songs and More | Lessons from the Sock Drawer | Silly Little Thing Called Love | Happy Together! | Larry Learns to Listen | Bob Lends a Helping Hand | God Loves You Very Much | If I Sang A Silly Song... | Little Ones Can Do Big Things Too! | Lettuce Love One Another! | Parade of Animals Television and Video Specials VeggieTown Values | VeggieTales Christmas Spectacular! | VeggieTown Values on the Job! | Jonah: An Overboard Adventure! | Bob and Larry's How to Draw! | Silly Songs with VeggieTales | VeggieTales Live! Sing Yourself Silly Spin-off series LarryBoy: The Cartoon Adventures | VeggieTales on TV | VeggieTales in the House | VeggieTales in the City | The VeggieTales Show