| 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 countertop finds Bob on his usual spot introducing himself. But then, we see Junior Asparagus standing on Larry's spot introducing himself. Bob says that he bets the kids are wondering where on earth Larry is. He explains that the reason Larry isn't in today is because he was a little exhausted after the events of the last show, so the crew decided to let him sleep in. In the meantime, Junior Asparagus has very graciously agreed to help Bob out. Junior then breaks the fourth wall by saying hi to all of the kids watching them at home. 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 breaks the fourth wall once again by saying "Oh. Hi, Victor". Victor explains that he's got bit of a problem on his hands. He says that there was some random kid named Louis in his class who decided to hit him the other day shocking Junior. Bob then explains that in church, Victor just learned that God wants us to be nice to other people; even if they are not so pleasent towards us. But Victor doesn't feel like doing that because deep down inside, he really wants to settle the score with Louis by hitting him back. Now, Victor wants to know from Bob & Junior if he should follow his way: which is to settle the score with Louis or should he do it God's way: which is to be nice to Louis. Junior sympathises with Victor because sometimes he wants to do things his way too and that the stuff he has learned in church doesn't sound like much fun at all. Junior asks Bob if they have any stories about this kind of stuff. Bob then tells Junior about the Israelites and how even though they sometimes obeyed 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(played by Mr. Nezzer) and led to the Promised Land. However, they run away after seeing people who look like giants in it. Therefore the Israelites are punished by God & they cannot enter The Promised Land for the next 40 years. Upon the completion of their exile, Moses had unfortunately passed away. Luckily, Moses carried around a well thought of contingency plan. Before his death, Moses had already appointed his special helper Joshua (played here by Larry the Cucumber) to become the new leader of the Israelites. Joshua then leads the Israelites back to the Promised Land, but a thing stands in their way — the walls of the city of Jericho.
The story is interrupted here by 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 of the gourds and Junior Asparagus. The song, about a boy & three cebu (also a hippo) frequently goes off track and is interrupted twice by Archibald Asparagus. The song ends badly & the audience wants their money back.
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 decide to 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 top of their lungs all at 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 scheming 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 scream. 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 the show on the counter-top by doing the main things he and Larry usually do: Standing over by Qwerty and trying to talk about what they've learned today; 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), and finally, telling the kid in question how on earth he/she can solve the problem he/she is having! (in this case, Bob starts telling Victor that he should probably be a lamb & obviously do things God's way. He also explains that maybe Louis just needs a buddy & not a punch to the nose.) Bob & Junior then tell the kids that they're out of time for today but to always remember that God made them special & He loves them very much. Then they say their farewells to all of the kids watching at home and exit 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 asks if it is 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
- Bob the Tomato
- Larry the Cucumber (as himself and Joshua)
- Junior Asparagus
- Jimmy and Jerry Gourd (as themselves and Israelites)
- Pa Grape (as an Israelite)
- The French Peas (as the Guards of Jericho)
- Archibald Asparagus (as himself and the Messenger from God)
Minor
- Tom Grape (as an Israelite)
- Scooter Carrot (as an Israelite)
- Percy Pea (as an Israelite)
- Unnamed Peas (as Israelites)
- Mr. Nezzer (as Moses; does not speak)
- The Sheep
- Goliath (cameo)
- Qwerty
Featured in the Silly Song
- The Bull (pictured)
- The Bull’s Cousin (pictured)
- Grandpa George (pictured cameo)
- Lovey (pictured cameo)
- Mike Asparagus (pictured cameo)
- The Peach (pictured cameo)
Songs
- VeggieTales Theme Song
- VeggieTales on TV Theme Song (TV version)
- Mail Song (TV version)
- 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
- Main article: Josh and the Big Wall!/Home Video
Other Languages
- صة شعب الله وارض (Arabic)
- Josse ja suuri muuri (Finnish)
- Das Abenteuer von Josua (German)
- 여호수아와 여리고성 (Korean)
- 沙漠先鋒隊 (Mandarin) (Taiwanese)
- Joshua og den store muren (Norwegian)
- Джош и Большие Стены (Russian)
- Jozue in veliki zid (Slovenian)
- Josh và bức tường vĩ đại (Vietnamese)
Fun Facts
Moral
- God's way of doing things is always the best way, no matter what.
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 a few 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 several 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.
- The last episode to use the original VeggieTales logo and theme song. By the time the next episode was released, the 1998 logo and opening montage were introduced.
- 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 product:
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. Seen on a Kids Motion International promotional pamphlet for the episode.
- 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.
- Larry reads the interactive storybook version on The Wonderful World of Auto-Tainment!
- Near the end, Junior asks Bob about the legitimacy of the story. But it turns out that the slushee dropping and the rocket being built 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 same question in Sunday School.
- This episode was originally going to be released on October 4, 1997, but was pushed back to nearly a month and a half later.
- 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.
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 was 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 in them not being 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, the Israelites 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
- 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 frame rate, 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.
- On the 2004 Sony Wonder DVD, the 1991 Sony Wonder logo is used on the disc instead of the ribbon logo seen on the cover, despite being reprinted in 2004.
Inside References
- This episode has a few nods to Dave and the Giant Pickle, such as:
- It being 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 slushie in his ear.
- Larry has his pajamas from Oh, Santa! at the end.
- Bob mentions that Larry was a little tired after the last show.
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
Credits
Gallery
