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==Home media== |
==Home media== |
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===VHS=== |
===VHS=== |
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| − | *[[Word Entertainment]]/[[Everland Entertainment]] (November 18th, 1997) |
+ | *[[Word Entertainment]]/[[Everland Entertainment]] (''November 18th, 1997'') |
*[[Lyrick Studios]] (''June 8, 1999/March 15, 2002'') |
*[[Lyrick Studios]] (''June 8, 1999/March 15, 2002'') |
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| + | *[[Warner Home Video]] (''February 4th, 2003'') |
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===DVD=== |
===DVD=== |
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| − | *Word Entertainment (April 16, 2002) |
+ | *Word Entertainment (''April 16, 2002'') |
| − | *[[Warner Home Video]] (2002 |
+ | *[[Warner Home Video]] (''2002'') |
| − | *[[Genius Products]] (2009) |
+ | *[[Genius Products]] (''2009'') |
==Other Languages== |
==Other Languages== |
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Revision as of 15:33, 11 July 2020
| This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the book. |
- "Hello! My name is Joshua, and God has given us this land!"
- — Joshua giving his victory speech towards the people of Jericho
 | |
| Josh and the Big Wall | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | |
| Produced by |
Chris Olsen |
| Written by |
Phil Vischer |
| Music by | |
| Distributed by | |
| Released |
November 18, 1997 |
| Runtime |
34 minutes |
| Previous episode | |
| Next episode | |
Josh and the Big Wall! is the ninth episode of VeggieTales. This episode is a retelling of the Bible story of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho.
Plot
The opening counter-top finds Bob the Tomato on his usual spot doing his welcoming to the kids to VeggieTales, and introducing himself. But then, we see Junior Asparagus on Larry's spot introducing himself. Bob then finishes off the intro with the whole reassurance that they're here to respond to any inquires the kids might have with Junior adding "Yep, that's right." Bob then says to the kids: "I bet you're wondering where Larry is." while Junior just looks at the viewers sheepishly. Bob explains that the reason Larry isn't in today is because he was a little exhausted after doing the previous show (Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space!), so they decided to let Larry sleep in. Bob then tells the kids not to worry, as Larry'll be in pretty soon. But; in the meantime, Junior Asparagus has graciously agreed to help Bob out. Junior then looks at the camera and says hi to the audience. Junior is then informed by Bob that today they have received a hand written letter from this random kid by the name of Victor Bartholomew who hails from the city of Sausalito, in the state of California. Junior then says "Oh. Hi Victor!" Victor explains that some random kid named Louis in his class decided to smack him the other day and that in church, he learned that we should be kind to people; even if they are not nice to us. Now, Victor wants to know if he should follow God's way: which is to be nice to him or should he do it his way: which is to smack him back. Junior can relate to Victor because sometimes he wants to do things his way too and that the stuff he learnt in church doesn't sound like much fun at all. Bob then tells Junior about the Israelites and how even though they sometimes followed God's directions, they didn't always do what he asked. Bob then tells Junior to start using his imagination, which we then see Bob and Junior being transported from the kitchen to the Holy Land.
Bob acts as narrator and provides Junior with some background information. The Israelites, having been held as slaves in Egypt, are liberated by Moses and led to the Promised Land. However, they flee after seeing Goliath and his family in it and are banished from The Promised Land for forty years. Upon the completion of their exile, Moses has died, and Joshua (played here by Larry) has become leader of the Israelites. Joshua leads them back to the Promised Land, but one thing stands in their way — Jericho.
The story is interrupted here by Larry's Silly Songs with Larry. "Song of the Cebu," introduced as a "sequential image, stereophonic, multimedia event," finds Larry on the counter-top with a slide projector and a captive audience comprising Jimmy and Jerry Gourd and Junior Asparagus. The song, about a boy and three cebu (and a hippo) frequently goes off track and is interrupted several times by Archibald Asparagus.
When the story resumes, the Israelites are met by the defenders of Jericho (the French Peas) who taunt them from atop the city's great wall. Joshua explains that God has given this land to the Israelites and that therefore the defenders will have to step aside. They are met by more insults and jeering. When a slushy falls and hits Jimmy, they fall back and regroup.
That night Joshua meets the Commander of the Army of the Lord who tells him how the Israelites are to take Jericho: they must march around the city once a day for six days; on the seventh day they are to march around it seven times, blow their horns, and all yell at the same time. At this point, the messenger states, the walls of Jericho will eventually fall. Naturally this plan leads to some skepticism. Joshua must deal with dissent among his people, some of whom want to return to Egypt and some of whom want to attack the wall with might.
But they agree to try it God's way and proceed to Jericho the next day. The city's defenders insult them all the more, turning their taunts into a choreographed musical number while bombing them constantly with slushies. The end of the day finds the Israelites on the verge of rebellion. At this point, Junior intervenes and convinces them to continue with the plan God laid out. He explains that God's way doesn't always make sense, but provides examples of how it always works out in the end.
The Israelites agree to stick with the plan and, in spite of renewed counter-attacks, march around the city for seven days as specified. On the seventh day they blow their horns and yell. At first nothing happens, but then cracks appear and the walls crashes down, just as God said it would, and Joshua claims the land for his people.
Bob and Junior wrap up on the closing counter-top by doing the main things him and Larry usually do:
Standing over by QWERTY and trying to talk about what they've learnt. Only to get interrupted by the "what have we learned" song, recapping the lesson from the film, getting a verse from QWERTY (in this case, it is a part of 2nd Samuel 22:31) telling the kid in question how on earth he/she can solve the problem he/she is having! (in this case, telling Victor that maybe Louis just needs a buddy and not a punch to the nose.) Bob and Junior then do the whole "God made you special and he loves you very much." thing before saying their farewells to all of the kids watching at home and exiting the counter-top. But as soon as Bob and Junior leave the countertop, Larry appears in his pajamas and night hat ,yawning for a bit, and asking if it's already time for the show. Seconds later, the lights go out & QWERTY's screen turns off leaving only Larry's eyes in the dark. Larry then remarks by saying "Aw nuts.".
Characters
Major Characters
- Bob the Tomato
- Larry the Cucumber (Himself and Joshua)
- Junior Asparagus
- Jimmy and Jerry Gourd
- The French Peas
- Pa Grape
- Archibald Asparagus (Himself and Messenger from God)
- Qwerty
Minor Characters
- Tom Grape
- Scooter Carrot
- Percy Pea
- Goliath
- Mr. Nezzer (Moses, does not speak)
Silly Song cameos
- Grandpa George
- Lovey
- Mike Asparagus
- The Peach
- Larry-Boy (Mask helmet)
Songs
- VeggieTales Theme Song
- The Promised Land
- Silly Songs with Larry: The Song of the Cebú
- The Lord Has Given
- Keep Walking
- The Lord Has Given (reprise)
- The Promised Land (reprise)
- What Have We Learned
Home media
VHS
- Word Entertainment/Everland Entertainment (November 18th, 1997)
- Lyrick Studios (June 8, 1999/March 15, 2002)
- Warner Home Video (February 4th, 2003)
DVD
- Word Entertainment (April 16, 2002)
- Warner Home Video (2002)
- Genius Products (2009)
Other Languages
- صة شعب الله وارض (Arabic)
- Das Abenteuer von Josua (German)
- 여호수아와 여리고성 (Korean)
- 沙漠先鋒隊 (Mandarin) (Taiwanese)
- Joshua og den store muren (Norwegian)
- Jozue in veliki zid (Slovenian)
Fun Facts
Moral
- Things can't always go your way.
Explanations
- Saline is a mixture of sodium chloride (salt and sterile water). It's commonly used for contact lens solution and nasal irrigation sprays.
Trivia
- This is the first episode for these things:
- The first episode Everett Downing worked on as an assistant storyboard artist.
- The first physical appearance of Aunt Ruth, who only cameo appeared in a slideshow still in the silly song, though was previously mentioned by Jerry Gourd in the I Can Be Your Friend song from Are You My Neighbor? in The Gourds Must Be Crazy and by Larry in the Love My Lips silly song from Dave and the Giant Pickle.
- The first episode where Larry is replaced by Junior as the host.
- This is the last episode for these things:
- Tom Grape's last appearance to date.
- The Peach's last appearance until Merry Larry and the True Light of Christmas.
- The last show Mike Nawrocki worked with the sound effects.
- This was the last episode to use the original VeggieTales logo and theme song.
- This is the last episode to be distributed by Everland Entertainment.
- According to the concept art, there were a few differences between that and the final.
The original title of the episode.
- According to a The Morning Star November 23, 1997 newspaper article, the episode's original title was going to be "Joshua and the Battle of Jericho".
- The ark was going to be on wheels.
- The helmets on the army of Jericho were going to be colanders and something to an Asian straw hat. Also, the helmets would've covered the Peas' eyesight, but they'd still see (ala Tom Grape and Mr. Lunt).
- The wall was going to be extendable, meaning, starting as a low wall and folding up to become bigger.
- There was going to be a motorcycle involved.
The 1999 VHS reprint cover was going to look similar to the original one, but never made it into the final reprint.
- The cover to the 1999 re-release was going to look similar to the original cover but never came to be.
- There was going to be more shots of the walls of Jericho collapsing for the episode, but they were scrapped due to money running low and the episode's deadline.
- This episode can be featured in Heroes of the Bible!: Stand Up, Stand Tall, Stand Strong!, and Larry Learns to Listen.
- The Song of the Cebú will return in The End of Silliness?, The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown, Englishman with an Omelet, Heroes of the Bible!: Stand Up, Stand Tall, Stand Strong!, Sing-Alongs: I Love My Lips, and If I Sang A Silly Song.
- Mike Nawrocki read the interactive storybook version on The Wonderful World of Auto-Tainment!
- At the end, Junior asks Bob if the Israelites really built a rocket and got slushies dropped on their heads, but it turns out that those were things added in their story (possibly to make it appealing to young kids). This line was added in the script in order to prevent young children from asking that question in Sunday School.
- Even though Junior replaced Larry in this episode, Larry did appear with Bob in the next episode.
- There exists an extremely rare early 2002 VHS reprint of this episode by Lyrick Studios/HiT Entertainment. It has a black tape with a white ink label, and it has a print date of March 15, 2002.
Technical and Logical Remarks
- The lighting has changed from what was from the previous episodes, despite the fact that Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space! was the first episode with a lighting department. Phil stated this because they had a new lighting technician after the previous episode.
- This is also the first time the characters had a different color look, which results from them not as shiny. This was done by their lighting director at the time, Jon Gadsby.
- The sun shown is actually a lens flare.
- Unlike the Biblical version of the story, God's directions don't start at Egypt.
- The German dub's title refers to Josh as "Josua", but the dialogue in the actual episode refers to him as "Joshua."
- In the 1999 Word Entertainment VHS reissue and further reprints of this episode, the axis positioning and height of the characters was edited for some scenes.
Goofs/Errors
- After God tells Moses about the Promised Land, you can still see part of the clothing after he leaves the screen.
- After the Israelites get scared of the Pickle family and run away, Percy's escaping from the tree was rendered at a lower framerate, which technically counts as a rendering glitch.
- As you'll notice in some shots, the legs on the sheep don't touch the ground, making them float in mid-air.
- In the first of Jericho, the slushie cup isn't there until it shows up in the closeups of the Peas. It then vanishes again after the Peas ask Joshua who he is. It then reappears after Joshua tells the Peas to leave.
- One shot shows Jerry's eyes positioned too high.
Inside References
- This episode has a few nods to Dave and the Giant Pickle, such as:
- It's a retelling of a Bible story that takes place in the desert, the Israelites are in the story, and the costumes the characters wore (Jimmy, Jerry, Pa, Tom, and Junior) were recycled.
- Goliath and the sheep are in it.
- The French Peas were portrayed as the bad guys.
- A few mentions of lack of body parts, such as:
- Tom stating to his father how they're clapping.
- Jimmy saying he has slushy in his ear.
- Larry has his pyjamas from Oh, Santa! at the end.
Real World References
- Like Dave and the Giant Pickle, this episode contained a small nod to the Monty Python series. Here, the French Peas taunt Josh and the Israelites from above the wall. This is reminiscent of Holy Grail, where the French taunt King Arthur and his men from their fort.
- As Phil confirmed, the moving arrow action on the map is similar to what the Indiana Jones films did.
- The sunrise in the climax is similar to the one from the opening in Disney's The Lion King.
Fast Forward
- Junior would become co-host and break the fourth wall to say hi to the kid in which they get the letter from again for a later episode, even the opening for this episode where they imagine themselves in the story.
- This episode, along with Dave and the Giant Pickle, was turned into a touring live show in 2002. Both episodes were combined into one 90 minute stage show.
Episode Transcript
Gallery
