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==Plot== |
==Plot== |
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===Prologue of the Story=== |
===Prologue of the Story=== |
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| − | [[Percy Pea]] and [[Lil' Pea]] are leaving a movie theater and are cornered by a shady Scallion ([[The Scallions|Scallion #3]], the "Milk Money Bandit") who asks them for a nickel. Percy refuses, but the Scallion then demands the money he is carrying for |
+ | [[Percy Pea]] and [[Lil' Pea]] are leaving a movie theater and are cornered by a shady Scallion ([[The Scallions|Scallion #3]], the "Milk Money Bandit") who asks them for a nickel. Percy refuses, but the Scallion then demands the money he is carrying for milk money. After stealing the money and escaping to the rooftops with his loot, Larry-Boy (Larry the Cucumber) confronts him and shakes the stolen money off of him before throwing him into Officer Scooter's patrol car. Soon afterwards, he begins reviewing his capture technique with his butler, Alfred ([[Archibald Asparagus]]), but in the process, accidentally knocks an unfinished plant off the ledge. The plant gets caught on some telephone wires on the way down, where a woman is gossiping on the phone, then falls into the sewers, where the gossip brings the plant to life. |
===Story=== |
===Story=== |
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*Spreading gossip can lead to ruining someone’s credibility and ultimately bring harm to others. Instead, spread uplifting and positive messages about other people. |
*Spreading gossip can lead to ruining someone’s credibility and ultimately bring harm to others. Instead, spread uplifting and positive messages about other people. |
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| − | *God doesn’t want us to tell stories that can hurt, |
+ | *God doesn’t want us to tell stories that can hurt, He wants us to spread nice words. |
=== Trivia=== |
=== Trivia=== |
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Revision as of 22:43, 10 January 2021
- "Even if it's true, God doesn't want us to tell stories that can hurt, He wants us to spread nice words."
- — Mike Asparagus
 | |
| Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | |
| Produced by | |
| Written by |
Phil Vischer |
| Music by | |
| Distributed by | |
| Released |
July 24th, 1999 |
| Runtime |
35 minutes |
| Previous episode | |
| Next episode | |
Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed is the second VeggieTales special (as the twelfth episode of the show), and the second Larry-Boy episode. It is the sequel to Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space!.
Plot
Prologue of the Story
Percy Pea and Lil' Pea are leaving a movie theater and are cornered by a shady Scallion (Scallion #3, the "Milk Money Bandit") who asks them for a nickel. Percy refuses, but the Scallion then demands the money he is carrying for milk money. After stealing the money and escaping to the rooftops with his loot, Larry-Boy (Larry the Cucumber) confronts him and shakes the stolen money off of him before throwing him into Officer Scooter's patrol car. Soon afterwards, he begins reviewing his capture technique with his butler, Alfred (Archibald Asparagus), but in the process, accidentally knocks an unfinished plant off the ledge. The plant gets caught on some telephone wires on the way down, where a woman is gossiping on the phone, then falls into the sewers, where the gossip brings the plant to life.
Story
The next morning, Alfred is telling a story at a school and tells the teacher and the kids that he needs to go home and "recharge his batteries" (meaning he needs to rest). Not knowing that it's a figure of speech, Junior Asparagus and Laura Carrot take it literally and jump to the conclusion that Alfred is a robot. As they walk home, discussing what they had heard Alfred say, they encounter a small talking weed. Similar weeds begin to appear throughout town, spreading the rumor. Larry and Alfred are tending to a garden when Alfred heads inside to answer the phone. Another weed appears and tries to spread the rumor, but Larry doesn't listen. Alfred then calls Larry in. Mayor Blueberry (Madame Blueberry) informs him that strange weeds are growing all over the city and saying that the story that Alfred is a robot is a rumor. Suiting up as Larry-Boy, he dives into action.
Larry-Boy manages to find a weed and attempts to shred it with a weed whacker, which malfunctions. Back at the Larry-Cave, Alfred discovers that all the weeds are connected to a "Mother Weed" underground. Upon arriving in the sewer, Larry-Boy meets the Mother Weed and is quickly overpowered. Alfred learns the citizens are afraid of him, saying that he is a "killer robot with laser eyes." Suddenly, the Mother Weed breaks free out from underground and snatches Alfred, but the citizens refuse to help.
Dad Asparagus arrives and asks what is going on. The Mother Weed says she heard the story from "two very reliable sources." Junior and Laura confess that they took Alfred literally and started the rumor. Dad explains to them that what Alfred said was actually a figure of speech. Junior and Laura are confused. Dad then goes on to say that sometimes, grown ups say stuff that really means something else. In this case, when Alfred said he needed to recharge his batteries; he really meant that he was exhausted & needed to go home and rest. He also explains that "If you hear something about someone that sounds bad or even just weird, you should ask them about it or ask your mom or dad. But don't spread rumors. Even if it's true, God doesn't want us to tell stories that can hurt. He want us to spread nice words." Junior realizes that Alfred is not a robot. Dad then says that Alfred's a very nice man. And Dad's words cause flowers to grow on the Mother Weed. Junior and Laura decide that the best way to save Alfred is to spread good words about him. They convince the citizens that Alfred is not a robot and the citizens state all the nice stuff that Alfred has done for them (Mr. Nezzer saying that Alfred helped him with his dinner party, a scallion with a moustache saying that Alfred helped him change a tire, a cucumber lady saying that Alfred carried her groceries for her and Scooter saying that Alfred helped out with the police department's bake sale.) The Mother Weed continues sprouting flowers until she transforms into a giant flower. Alfred forgives the citizens of Bumblyburg for the misunderstanding just as a battered Larry-Boy drags himself out of the sewer.
Unaware of the preceding events, he almost accidentally starts the rumor again by saying someone told him Alfred was a robot (obviously the rumor weed), thus everyone gently shushes him, hoping the other Bumblyburg residents didn't hear what he just said. But he doesn't get it, and the story ends rather strangely with him asking if there was a flower show (having seen flowers on what was once the Rumor Weed), and everyone laughs, thinking it's a joke as the story ends with a choral reminder, and a flower landing on the screen.
Closing Segment (Back at the Larry-Cave)
In the final scene, Larry-Boy and Alfred enact their own What Have We Learned segment with the computer pulling up the verse:
- ""Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing,""
- — Proverbs 12:18
Characters
Major
- Larry the Cucumber/Larry-Boy
- Archibald Asparagus/Alfred
- Junior Asparagus
- Laura Carrot
- The Rumor Weed
- Mike Asparagus
Minor
- Percy Pea
- Lil' Pea
- Milk Money Bandit
- Scooter Carrot (as Officer Scooter)
- Madame Blueberry (as Mayor Blueberry)
- Mr. Nezzer
- Dad Carrot
- Dad Pea
Cameo
- Lenny Carrot
- Barth the Cucumber
- Renée Blueberry
- Gordy Gourd
- Jack the Pumpkin
- Chilli Pepper
- Pepe the Bell Pepper
- Dr. Glocken
- The Mushroom Family
- Marcus
- Gladys
- Angus
- Lazarus
- Woman in the window
- Unnamed cucumber woman
- Unnamed scallion men
- Unnamed carrot men
- Unnamed carrot baseball player
- Unnamed cucumber men
- Bob the Tomato (pictured)
- The Fib (pictured)
Locations
Songs
- Larry-Boy
- The Rumor Weed Song
- The Rumor Weed Song (Credits Version; performed by The W's)
Production
The story concept was written by Doug Peterson, which at the time Phil Vischer was accepting ideas for future episodes when the studio was growing. Mike Nawrocki was a bit skeptical at the time, due to the fact the episode sounded similar to the first Larry-Boy episode (kids caused trouble from something that grew big). But they eventually tweaked it to work it out. Phil at the time decided to push the limits on what they could do for the episode, since they were getting ready for their first feature film, and he originally considered this as the last half-hour episode they would work on.
Other Languages
- سوبر تيخة يحارب الشائعات (Arabic)
- 力仔與謠言 (Cantonese)
- SuperLeon i Korov Tračalica (Croatian)
- Ihmelari ja Juorukki (Finnish)
- Ο Λάρι και η Φήμη-Ζιζάνιο/Ο Ντέιβ και η Φήμη-Ζιζάνιο (Greek)
- Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed (Indonesian)
- 오이맨과 뻥깨비 (TV)/래리보이 와 소문의위드 (Korean)
- Unknown (Mandarin, Taiwan)
- Supersnurk og rykteugresset/Rykteugresset (Norwegian)
- Larry-Boy y la Cizaña de los Rumores (Spanish)
- LarryBoy contra a Erva Daninha (Portuguese, Brazil)
- Pepininho e a Erva Boato (Portuguese, Portugal)
- Čenčavi Pavel/Super L. in čenčavi pavel (Slovenian)
- Larry Boy và cỏ dại đồn xa (Vietnamese)
Home media
- Main article: Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed/Home Video
Fun Facts
Moral(s)
- Spreading gossip can lead to ruining someone’s credibility and ultimately bring harm to others. Instead, spread uplifting and positive messages about other people.
- God doesn’t want us to tell stories that can hurt, He wants us to spread nice words.
Trivia
- This episode was originally going to be released in November 1998, but the release date was switched with The End of Silliness?'s when Big Idea determined that having more production time would make the episode better.
- This is the last episode for several things:
- The last episode to be rendered entirely in Softimage.
- The last Larry-Boy episode to be released on VHS.
- The last VeggieTales episode of the 1990s.
- The last episode to be directed by Phil Vischer.
- The last appearance of Lenny Carrot to date.
- Mike Nawrocki states this in the commentary of the episode that one of the Veggie extras was modeled after John Wahba.
- The scene at the beginning of the episode involving Larry-Boy apprehending the Bandit was originally intended to be part of the previous Larry-Boy episode, but it was cut due to time.
- The original teaser trailer for this episode features some of the characters' voices in a lower pitch due to it still being in development at the time. It was never released, however, on the basis of it being deemed too frightening for kids. It was eventually included as an Easter Egg on the DVD re-release and can be accessed through the main menu.
- This episode is notable for featuring a very diverse crowd of Veggie extras for the climax. Due to how expensive and complex it made animating crowd scenes for the Big Idea team at the time, it was decided that simpler looking characters such as peas and carrots would be used in crowds scenes for the foreseeable future.
- Eventually, as technology advanced and crowd scenes became easier to produce, many later episodes were once again able to include more complex Veggie characters in large crowd scenes.
- When Larry is talking to the mayor of Bumblyburg on his phone, you'll notice the phone has no cord, but an antenna. The reason behind this was to avoid the many problems the Big Idea team had faced in past projects attempting to make realistic and believable looking cords in 3D computer animation.
- Although he is seen on a poster in the back of the classroom, Bob does not appear in person in this VeggieTales episode.
- This is the first VeggieTales episode to not feature Bob.
- This is also the first Larry-Boy episode in which Madame Blueberry appears as Mayor of Bumblyburg.
- This is the only episode not to use the Book Antiqua font for the end credits of the 1990s.
- This was the first episode Marc Vulcano worked on.
- This episode first premiered at the Hard Rock Cafe at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
- Stock footage from Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space! was used before cutting to Percy Pea being confronted by the Rumor Weed.
- This is the only Larry-Boy episode not to have the VeggieTales Theme Song. Instead, it is replaced with the Larry-Boy Theme Song for the opening intro.
- When Larry-Boy confronts the Mother Weed in the sewer, he presses the wrong button on his weapon and drops some sort of powder. At one point, it was considered that Larry-Boy would blow the powder onto the Mother Weed, but it was later dropped to prevent it from looking like Larry-Boy was attempting to snort it.
- This is the second episode to not feature the regular Countertop segments. Although there's no opening segment, the ending has a countertop-like segment featuring Larry-Boy and Alfred in the Larry-Cave.
- The ending segment was animated entirely by Robert Ellis, as stated in the episode's commentary.
- International versions of this episode omit the Larry-Boy Theme Song and replace The W's version of The Rumor Weed Song in the credits with an instrumental of the original version.
- During Junior and Laura’s conversation on the street in the beginning of the episode, the same voice clip of Junior saying "I don't know" is reused.
A fish skeleton is seen on the left.
- There exists an extremely rare early 2002 VHS reprint of this episode by Lyrick Studios. It has a black tape with a white ink label, and it has a print date of March 15, 2002.
- If you scan frame by frame during the scenes where the Larry Mobile drills through the ground, you might notice a few random objects like bones and tires for a split second. Phil Vischer stated in the commentary that some of the animators threw in those objects as small jokes. (see image)
Remarks
- The Scallion states Percy has $1.28, but when Larry-Boy shakes the money off the Scallion, the money he drops is actually $0.37.
- Because stock footage was used, the lighting from it has different contrast to the real episode.
- The previews menu has a preview for the next episode.
- In the DVD-ROM section, it shows pictures from Dave and the Giant Pickle, Madame Blueberry, and Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie.
Goofs
- Larry-Boy's suit clips into his body between shots.
- In the shot where Laura tells the Weed her secret, the lens of the Weed's glasses flicker.
- Two animation goofs appear after the Mother Weed emerges from the sewers. She is missing her lipstick and there's a black hole behind her head. This is noticeable once she grabs Alfred.
- One shot shows some weeds missing their shadows.
Inside References
- The Milk Money Bandit is a reference to the bandits from Flibber-o-Loo who steal Larry's milk money
- On the streets there are street signs that say Vischer Street and Nawrocki Road. These are references to VeggieTales co-creators Mike Nawrocki and Phil Vischer.
- A few references from the previous Larry-Boy episode are made here:
- Percy and Lil' Pea walking home after seeing a movie, as well as acknowledging the time they saw The Fib falling from the sky.
- Scooter saying "it's another space alien" and listening to "I Can Be Your Friend" in the car.
- Larry-Boy acknowledges that if another space alien falls into Bumblyburg, he'll be ready for it
- One of Alfred’s computer monitors has the image of Junior that was used during the climax of the last episode.
- A "Say No" promotional poster with Fib on it is seen at the back of the classroom.
- Larry-Boy yelling "Goodbye, Bumblyburg!"
- When the Milk Money Bandit is spying on Percy and Lil' Pea, you can see the surround sound stereo from Madame Blueberry in the dumpster
- Pepe is seen wearing the Gourd's Gym sweater from Very Silly Songs!
Real-World References
- The weed's smile after her creation is somewhat similar to Jim Carrey's smile from "The Mask."
- Dad Carrot's line about Alfred having teenagers inside him that know karate is a reference to the Power Rangers series.
- On the DVD Trivia, the first question asks which school Alfred visits. One of the answer choices, Roosevelt Franklin Elementary School, is a reference to Sesame Street.
Fast Forward
- The phrase "Sweet, Sweet Petunia" inspired the name for a future character.
- "The Pecking" would be used as a background image in the next episode's Silly Song
Episode Transcript
Credits
Gallery
