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King George and the Ducky

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This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the book.
"You have been selfish, King George. And when we are selfish, we hurt the people around us... Just as you have hurt Thomas."
— Melvin telling King George what he has done



King George and the Ducky is the eleventh episode of VeggieTales.

This story is a retelling of David and Bathsheba from the Book of II Samuel and features a lesson in selfishness.

Plot

Countertop Intro

The show opens up on the countertop with Jimmy and Jerry Gourd, who are disguised poorly as Bob and Larry respectively. They say they've received a letter from a kid named Jimmy who lives somewhere near Texas. He mentions a friend of his named Jerry who is very selfish. Jerry (dressed as Larry) speaks up and says that Jerry is a very nice guy and the guy who is really selfish is called Hubert. Jimmy (dressed as Bob) is annoyed with Jerry for messing up the letter. Jerry takes off his Larry costume and lashes out at Jimmy, saying "You want a piece of me?". All of a sudden, the real Bob and Larry appear and confront Jimmy and Jerry. Jimmy and Jerry say they figured Bob could use a break and they have wanted to host a show ever since Dave and the Giant Pickle. Bob at first isn't sure about letting the gourds host it at first, but he lets them when they say that Jerry made a story to tell. The story they have unfortunately is an extremely poorly acted play called "The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill (and Came Down with All the Bananas)."

The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill (and Came Down with All the Bananas)

(see page for full plot)

After The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill (and Came Down with All the Bananas)

After the story ends, Jimmy and Jerry head towards Qwerty for a verse, only to find that he is completely shut off. As Jimmy tries to figure out a way to turn him back on, Jerry shows a piece of cardboard with "Don't be selfish" (which obviously isn't a real verse from the Bible) poorly scribbled on instead. As the gourds attempt to wrap up the show, the real Bob and Larry come out and discredit the gourds for their performance, plus they scold them with their results. Bob hops over to the camera and apologizes to the viewers for what happened, saying that they're gonna give it another go round. He hops back to his usual spot, orders the two to take off their “ridiculous” costumes and says that they have a “real story to tell”, and he asks Larry if he remembers about a letter they just got from a girl named Lucy Thomas of Bismarck, North Dakota. Larry says that he does and it turns out Lucy wrote to Bob and Larry all because she did not want to play with her sister because she wanted to keep all of her toys to herself. The two then decide to teach little Lucy a lesson about selfishness and they begin to play the story of "King George and the Ducky."

King George and the Ducky (Act 1)

In the story, there lives a king named George (Larry) who resides in a very big castle on a mountain. While his kingdom is in the middle of a pie war, all he ever does is spend time in his bathtub playing with his rubber ducky. King George's assistant Louis (Bob) always urges him to stop taking baths and start taking part in leading his troops in the epic pie war, but George always ignores Louis and focuses on both him and his rubber ducky collection. One day, as George looks over his kingdom, he notices a poor peasant boy named Thomas (Junior Asparagus) bathing in his house and playing with his own rubber duck. Filled with envy, King George's focus is all on Thomas' duck and will do stop at nothing to get the duck in spite of having lots of them. Just then, Cedric (Scallion #1), King George's top general of his army, comes by to inform George that the war has grown ferocious and that his army is desperate need of more soldiers. Seeing this as an opportunity to snatch Thomas' ducky, King George says that Thomas will be willing to enlist and to send him to the front line alone. George and a very reluctant Louis begin to prepare a plot for taking Thomas' ducky.

Silly Songs with Larry

Endangered Love

King George and the Ducky (Act 2)

Later that night, King George and Louis head out to the village to take the duck. They take the duck from Thomas' house and head back to the castle. George puts the ducky on a pedestal and claims that it is, “the most perfect ducky the world has ever known.” Louis points out that it is literally no different than George's other duckies, but George ignores him and calls him a nonbeliever. Just then, Cedric comes in with Thomas, who has won the battle all by himself but is suffering terrible PTSD from the battle. While Louis feels awful for allowing this to happen, King George doesn't feel any remorse and focuses on the duck. Louis snaps at George for being selfish and always focusing on what the only things he cares about: himself, rubber ducks and for being a terrible king in general, but George dismissed his comment. Just then, Melvin, (Pa Grape) a storyteller, comes in and tells a story about a rich man who has a lot of sheep and a poor man who has only one sheep which he loves very deeply. When the rich man is visited by the guest, he goes to the poor man and steals his sheep to serve as dinner to his guest. Demanding who the horrible rich man is, Melvin points out that the rich man is none other than King George himself. Melvin tells George that whether you're a king or just a kid, God wants us all to think of the people around us rather than just ourselves. King George then brings Thomas back to his castle, gives him a warm hot bath in his tub to cure his PTSD, apologizes, and gives back his ducky to make up for his crime. King George, Louis, Melvin, and Thomas then sing a song about how it is always right to put other people first.

Countertop Outro and What Have We Learned

Back on the countertop, Bob and Larry admit that that was a great story. Bob then tells the viewers that now is the time to talk about what they've learned today. That's when the gourds sing the first part of the What Have We Learned song. Bob gives them an angry glare at first, but Jimmy reminds Bob that he wouldn't let him and Jerry do the show, so they have to do something. Bob reluctantly lets them continue. After the gourds finish the song, Bob tells Larry that the very next day, King George went out giving away all his old duckies to his people to start his new life of being a good king. The Bible verse QWERTY displays is "Love each other as brothers and sisters and honor others more than you do yourself." Romans 12:10. Bob informs the viewers that rather than honoring ourselves or making ourselves happy, we should honor others by making those around us happy. Bob then tells Lucy that he bets that it would make her sister really happy if she would share her toys with her; with Larry agreeing. The show ends the gourds telling the duo that the French Peas want to host a show of their own.

Characters

Major

Minor

Featured in the Silly Song

Voice Cast

  • Phil Vischer as Bob the Tomato, Jimmy Gourd, Scallion #1, Phillipe Pea, Pa Grape and the Silly Song Announcer
  • Mike Nawrocki as Larry the Cucumber, Jerry Gourd and Jean-Claude Pea
  • Lisa Vischer as Junior Asparagus
  • Jackie Ritz as Barbara and Backup Vocals on "Endangered Love"
  • Paul Rosenburg as Bill

Songs

Quotes

  • Jimmy Gourd: Now, Jimmy said that this kid, Jerry, is SO selfish, one of the most selfish kids in the whole world. So selfish, it-it just makes you sick!
  • Jerry Gourd: No, he's not.
  • Jimmy Gourd: Who's not?
  • Jerry Gourd: Jerry. He's not selfish. He's nice.
  • Jean-Claude Pea: You're so selfish!
  • Louis: It's "more wrong." Not "more wronger."
  • King George: It had to rhyme! Don't question the king's grammar! Now go and get that duck!
  • Bob: Larry … What are you doing?
  • Larry: Just … watching a little TV, Bob.
  • Bob: Well, maybe you should read a book.
  • Larry: Yeah... Okay.
  • Thomas: Cobbler in the hole! Hit the deck!
  • King George: What’s that?
  • Melvin: It's a flannelgraph. To illustrate.
  • King George and Louis: Ooh! Flannelgraph!
  • Jimmy Gourd: Hey! You wouldn't let us do the show, we've gotta do something!

Other Languages

  • الملك و البطة الصغيرة (Arabic) (The King and the Little Duck)
  • রাজা সোশাংকো (Bengali) (King Soshanko)
  • George 國王與小鴨 (Cantonese) (same translation)
  • Kralj George i Patkica (Croatian) (same translation)
  • Kuningas ja kumiankka (Finnish) (The King and the Rubber Duck)
  • Das Abenteuer von König David (German) (The Adventure of King David)
  • Unknown (Hungarian)
  • King George and the Ducky (Indonesian) (same title)
  • 욕심쟁이 오이 대왕 (Korean) (Greedy Cucumber King)
  • 貪心的喬治國王 (Mandarin) (Taiwan) (Greedy King George)
  • Kong George og gakkgakken (Norwegian) (same translation)
  • قسمت سوم (Persian) (1st dub) (Third Part)
    • پادشاه جورج و اردکی (Persian) (2nd dub) (same translation)
  • Rei George e o Patinho (Portuguese) (Brazil) (same translation)
  • O Rei Jorge e o Patinho (Portuguese) (Portugal) (same translation)
  • Король Георг и Даки (Russian) (same translation)
  • Kralj Jurij in račka (Slovenian) (same translation)
  • El Rey George y el Patito (Spanish) (Latin America) (same translation)
  • Vua George và con vịt (Vietnamese) (same translation)

Home Media

Features

Trailer Appearances

Fun Facts

Moral

  • Selfishness won't lead to happiness.
  • When we are selfish, we hurt the people around us.
  • Rather than honoring ourselves or making ourselves happy, we should honor others by making the people around us happy.
  • We need to be selfless and not selfish.
  • We all feel a little greedy and envious at times, but that doesn't mean it's right to steal.

Explanations

ByeLumpy
  • "Break a leg" is show terms for saying "Good luck!",
  • Infidel is another term for someone who is a non-believer.
  • Boysenberry is a type of berry, which is a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry.
  • A cobbler is similar to a pie, but with a biscuit topping.
  • The "Bye-bye, Lumpy!" message is a farewell for using the previous server (Softimage) for the shows.

Trivia

  • This is the first episode for several things:
    • The first episode to be animated in Maya.
    • The first appearance of Scallion #1 with his new, slicked-back hairdo.
    • The first episode that Tod Carter worked on.
    • The first regular episode Madame Blueberry doesn't appear.
    • The first time Larry played an antagonistic role. However, he turns nice in the end.
      • Additionally, Big Idea got some letters from fans saying they didn't like that Larry was being mean in this episode.
    • The first episode where someone else sings the What Have We Learned song in its entirety (in this case Jimmy and Jerry), as Bob cuts off Larry before he finishes the song in Rack, Shack & Benny.
    • The first episode to be made at Yorktown Center.
    • The first episode to have two story segments since Are You My Neighbor?.
    • The first (and only) episode to feature two story segments with a Silly Song in the middle of the second story (not counting Sumo of the Opera).
    • This is the second episode replacing the Palatino font for the end credits; however, it has returned as the font on Qwerty's screen for the Bible verse.
    • The first VeggieTales episode (and Big Idea production in general) to be produced in the 2000s.
    • The first episode to yet again introduce modified eye rigs. Here, the characters' eye pupils are squashed down like plain round circles.
    • The first episode to use the 1998-2000 intro since The End of Silliness?.
    • The first VeggieTales episode to not feature building destruction since The Toy That Saved Christmas (unless you count the Sing-Alongs).
    • The first episode to use the Why We Do What We Do Promo (mass-market release only).
    • The first episode to be rendered entirely in high quality from digital files for its original release, even with the theme song.
    • Bob and Jimmy's first appearance in 2000 since they were only picture cameos in the previous episode.
  • This is the only episode for a few things:
    • The only Biblical episode to feature two story segments with a Silly Song in the middle of the second story.
    • The only Biblical episode where Larry played the main antagonist in the story.
    • The only episode to be dubbed in Bengali.
    • The only episode to be aired on Qubo around 2006, and they didn't change a single thing.
  • The costumes Jimmy and Jerry wore were based on real-life costumes ones Mike Nawrocki saw when he was a spokesperson for a Big Idea team-member’s Vacation Bible School. The kids who participated actually made cardboard cutouts of Bob and Larry because the seamstress working in the original costumes had passed away before finishing them.
  • This is the last episode for a few things:
    • The last episode to use the 1998-2000 VeggieTales intro, although the 1998 intro was used in Heroes of the Bible!: Lions, Shepherds and Queens (Oh My!) to Stand Up, Stand Tall, Stand Strong!.
    • The last episode that Ron Smith worked on as a full-time animator for VeggieTales, as he would start working full-time on 3-2-1 Penguins!
    • The last episode to be released with a sticker label on a black cassette in North America.
    • The last episode to use the still credits version at the end. Starting with the next episode, the scrolling credits from bottom to top is used.
    • The last episode where Pa Grape's mouth is positioned higher from his mustache, although he barely talks when his mouth is opened.
    • The last episode Aaron Hartline worked on.
  • This episode marks the return of letters from a kid received by Bob and Larry since Josh and the Big Wall!. However, this episode would mark the last mention of letters until The Ballad of Little Joe.
  • Portions of this episode have been featured on later releases, including Larry's Favorite Stories!, Lettuce Love One Another!, and Growing Generous Kids!.
  • The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill (and Came Down with All the Bananas) was later featured on Englishman with an Omelet and Lessons from the Sock Drawer.
  • Endangered Love was featured on Larry's Favorite Stories!, The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown, Sing-Alongs: Do the Moo Shoo, Silly Little Thing Called Love, If I Sang a Silly Song... and the TV version of A Snoodle's Tale.
  • During the scenes of King George taking Thomas's duck, there's a graffiti of King George and his castle on the viewer's right, along with "Selfish" partially visible above.
  • Phil Vischer said in the studio commentary that this was the riskiest episode Big Idea had ever produced at the time, since the original Bible story the episode is based after is more "adult" themed. Sean Gaffney wrote the first draft; a ten-page script called "King David and the Bath Ducky." The story was just the same as the original Bible story, but with a rubber duck in the place of Bathsheba. Phil then decided to tweak it (e.g. names and locations) because he didn't want kids to go looking it up in the Bible to read it.
    • Additionally, Phil Vischer also revealed that Pa Grape's character was named Nathan after the prophet in the original story, but then changed to Melvin in the final version.
    • The characters in King George and the Ducky and their biblical counterparts include:
    • King George — King David
    • George's Duckies — David's Wives
    • General Cedric — Joab
    • Thomas — Uriah the Hittite
    • Thomas' Duck — Bathsheba
    • Melvin — Nathan
  • On the original 2000 Word Entertainment VHS release, it contained the first 3-2-1 Penguins! Promo.
  • The script for the main story lists of differences and the final:
    • The script has a copyright of 1999, one year before this episode was released.
    • There was originally going to be a scene of Louis looking frustrated during Bob's narration, but was cut due to time.
      • The script does not show the Pie War scenes where the pea screams before the pie hits him.
    • In I Love My Duck, Louis was originally going to sing "Oh boy, I'm feeling like a schmuck...". The final had him singing "Oh boy, we're really out of luck...".
    • The screen fades to black in the script, while the final version had the screen cuts to black at the end of the main story.
  • Even though Bob said "God made you special and He loves you very much," Jimmy and Jerry said goodbye to the viewers instead of him and Larry.
  • This is the second episode where Scallion #1's voice sounded much more similar to Archibald. The first was Madame Blueberry and the last was Esther... The Girl Who Became Queen.
  • Pa Grape's line, "What you have done has made God very unhappy," become an internet meme in the early 2020s.
  • A 2017 reprint of this episode included 5 bonus episodes of VeggieTales in the House. These include Sickabeezer, The Camp Out, Coach Ichabeezer, Blueberry's Tickets, and The Lost Tooth.
  • 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 19, 2002. The video content on the tape is exactly the same as the 2000 Lyrick VHS release.

Remarks

  • One of the screenshots on the back of the cover has King George and Louis smiling. Louis is smiling with his teeth, while in the actual episode, he has his mouth opened. It could be possible that this was an alternate take or a photo-edited for the box art.
  • When watching the video on a computer, white lines appear behind the video in the scene where George and Louis go down the castle.
  • The Countertop scenes have a slight yellow tint to them. Mike Nawrocki states in the studio commentary that this is because the Big Idea team wanted to get a softer, less harsh feel on the Countertop scenes, but it didn't turn out as they had planned.
  • Jimmy presses "Option" on Qwerty, but the "Option" key is only on a Macintosh keyboard.
  • Drinking bathtub water can easily make you sick.
  • George states that he wants the message sent out to every boy and girl. Considering the time that the story takes place, it would be unlikely as he'll only be able to reach rural and border states.
  • It is never explained how Thomas manages to end the Pie War by himself.
  • The back of the DVD cover states there is a feature on how-to-draw Junior Asparagus, however, it NEVER appears on the DVD.
    • It could be they were planning to do so but scrapped it at the last minute or because it was too late.
  • The previews option has a preview for the episode itself.
  • This episode's secular international version replaces Endangered Love with The Yodeling Veterinarian of the Alps, and has a few differences from the American version.
  • The 2002 WEA VHS states it was released in 1999, but it was not released until April 2000. Though it is likely the episode may have been completed in late 1999/early 2000.
    • Additionally, the cover was done in Softimage before switching to Maya at the time and the script was finalized in 1999.

Goofs

KingGeorgeTowelGoof

"It's way down near the bottom of the screen, so it's not that big of a deal." - Ron Smith

  • When Bob tells Jimmy and Jerry he just had a break, Larry's mouth disappears.
  • At the very end of The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down with All the Bananas, the image displayed underneath the projector effects was an early animation-studio rendering of the final shot, only missing the final lighting and 3D textures.
  • Jean-Claude's right eye clips through the pie crust after the pie hits him.
  • In I Love My Duck, there are some continuity errors in some scenes:
    • When King George is in the screen changer, he changes to his robe, but in the next shot he is back to his towel, and then is back in his robe again in the next shot. This shot was animated by Ron Smith, who later apologized for it in one of the Easter Eggs on the DVD. (see image)
    • After the portrait of King George's father fell, the candles on the fireplace stayed upright. When King George and Louis are outside on the balcony, the candles are shown having fallen over, but then are standing upright again in all later scenes.
  • The background mountain shots are shown at inconsistent angles. One shot shows them in a lower position, but the shots after that show the mountains back to their normal higher position. Also in one shot of the background mountains, a cloud can be seen zooming across behind the background.
  • When King George is upset that he was thinking about himself being selfish, the lighting behind him changes for a millisecond.
  • The Croatian and Slovenian dubs leave out Bob's "Wait a minute, you mean 'wasn't'..." dialogue during The Selfish Song.
    • Jimmy also says "Uh, no, no. Shift, escape..." instead of "Oh, would you look at that!".
    • Jean-Claude also doesn't scream before he is hit with a pie in the pie war in the Croatian dub, although he still moves his mouth as if he did.
    • Also, when King George says "Now go and get that duck!", his voice actor doesn't get angry, not even in the slightest.
  • The Smile of a Child and TBN airings cut out the Silly Song and The Selfish Song, possibly to save time.
  • The DVD Chapters menu starts playing the Endangered Love preview backwards after 20 seconds or so. None of the other Chapter previews do this.
  • The closed captions on the TBN airing mistakenly spelled "Cedric" as "Frederick".

Inside References

  • This episode features a few nods to the previous episode, including:
    • Bob telling Jimmy and Jerry he just had a break, referring to his absence in that episode.
    • The ground texture on King George's balcony being the same one that was used in said episode.
    • A picture frame of The Pecking is in the Silly song.
  • Jimmy mentions Dave and the Giant Pickle when explaining how long he and Jerry have wanted to host the show.
  • King George's bath towel is similar to the one used in The Hairbrush Song.
  • Despite wanting to host the show in this episode, the French Peas had already hosted and they had told the story of Madame Blueberry.

Real-World References

  • The first story's title is a spoof on the 1995 romantic comedy film "The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain" starring Hugh Grant.
  • The glasses King George wore while stealing Thomas' duck are Groucho Marx glasses.
  • King George's name is an allusion to several monarchs of the United Kingdom who go by the name.

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