Lyrick Studios, Inc., established in 1988 as The Lyons Group, was an American video production and distribution company based in Allen, Texas, a Dallas suburb. They were known for producing and distributing shows like Barney & Friends and Wishbone, as well as videos and albums from two music artists, Joe Scruggs and The Wiggles, They also had book rights to Humongous Entertainment characters like Putt-Putt, Freddi Fish, and Pajama Sam. They paired with Big Idea for mass market distribution of prints and reprints of VeggieTales home videos from 1997 to 2001, as well as rights to VeggieTales plush toys.
According to Phil Vischer, he chose the company to release the videos since Lyrick Studios' founder and former chairman Richard C. Leach was a committed Christian, and the company let the religious tones on the shows remain intact, unlike other distributors that Big Idea had asked beforehand. The company was acquired by HiT Entertainment on February 9, 2001, shortly before Richard C. Leach died.
In June 2002, Big Idea turned to Warner Home Video to serve as their new mass market distributor; HiT responded to this by filing a lawsuit against them for $11 million, which was one of the major causes of Big Idea's 2003 bankruptcy.
Releases
All re-releases were mass market reprints of videos previously released exclusively to Christian retailers
- Where's God When I'm S-Scared? (March 31st, 1998/March 28th, 2000/March 16th, 2001/March 15th, 2002)
- God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?! (February 9th, 1999/March 28th, 2000/March 16th, 2001/August 6th, 2001)
- Are You My Neighbor? (December 16th, 1997/March 31st, 1998/March 28th, 2000)
- Rack, Shack and Benny (August 25th, 1998/March 28th, 2000/March 15th, 2002)
- Dave and the Giant Pickle (August 25th, 1998/March 28th, 2000/March 15th, 2002)
- The Toy That Saved Christmas (October 6th, 1998/October 5th, 1999/September 30th, 2000)
- Very Silly Songs! (June 8th, 1999/January 11th, 2000)
- Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space! (February 9th, 1999/January 11th, 2000/March 15th, 2002/March 16th, 2002 as part of Larry-Boy Power Pack)
- Josh and the Big Wall! (June 8th, 1999/January 11th, 2000/March 15th, 2002)
- Madame Blueberry (October 5th, 1999/January 11th, 2000/March 15th, 2002)
- The End of Silliness? (May 23rd, 2000)
- Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed (March 28th, 2000/March 15th, 2002/March 16th, 2002 as part of Larry-Boy Power Pack)
- King George and the Ducky (August 8th, 2000/March 19th, 2002)
- Esther... The Girl Who Became Queen (January 9th, 2001/March 15th, 2002)
- Lyle the Kindly Viking (March 27th, 2001/March 15th, 2002)
Albums
- VeggieTunes (1998 reissue)
- A Very Veggie Christmas (1998 reissue)
- VeggieTunes 2
- Larry-Boy: The Soundtrack
- A Queen, a King, and a Very Blue Berry
Compilations/Triple Features
- Bob and Larry's Favorite Stories!
- More of Bob and Larry's Favorite Stories!
- Junior's Favorite Stories
- Larry's Favorite Stories!
Fun Facts
Trivia
- The 1997 reprint of Are You My Neighbor?, using the original 1995 version of the episode and with only the Interpol FBI warning screens at the beginning of the tape, was presumably a test to see if the VeggieTales videos were "acceptable" for a mass market release.
- This is the only VeggieTales Lyrick Studios VHS not to have the Lyrick Studios logo anywhere on the VHS box cover nor at the beginning or end of the video, other than on the cassette ink label. However, there are some very scarce copies with the 1997 Lyrick Studios logo at the beginning and end of the tape.
- The 1998 release of Bob and Larry's Favorite Stories! contains trailers for Where's God When I'm S-Scared? and Are You My Neighbor?
- The openings of the 1998 reprints of Where's God When I'm S-Scared? and Are You My Neighbor? contain a trailer for one of the two videos before the What's the Big Idea? newsletter promo before the theme song.
- The openings of the 1998 reprints of Rack, Shack & Benny and Dave and the Giant Pickle contain a trailer for one of the two videos before the theme song, while the closings have the trailers of Where's God When I'm S-Scared? and Are You My Neighbor? in that order.
- The opening of the 1998 reprint of The Toy That Saved Christmas contains the trailers for Rack, Shack & Benny and Dave and the Giant Pickle in that order before the "Please Stay Tuned Following This Presentation for Previews of Other Lyrick Studios Home Videos" bumper, while the closing has the trailers of Are You My Neighbor? and Where's God When I'm S-Scared? in that order.
- The openings of the 1999 reprints of Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space! and God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?! contain the "Welcome to VeggieTales" promo with a trailer for one of the two videos between parts before the "Please Stay Tuned Following This Presentation for Previews of Other Lyrick Studios Home Videos" bumper, while the closing of the former title has the trailers of Where's God When I'm S-Scared? and Rack, Shack & Benny in that order, and the closing of the latter title features the trailers of Are You My Neighbor? and Dave and the Giant Pickle in that order.
- The openings of the 1999 reprints of Very Silly Songs! and Josh and the Big Wall! contain the "Welcome to VeggieTales" promo with a trailer for one of the two videos between parts before a trailer for the 1999 reprint of Madame Blueberry and a still image featuring Larry with a text that says "Please Stay Tuned for More Trailers After the Show", while the closing of the former title has the trailers of God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?! and Dave and the Giant Pickle in that order, and the closing of the latter title features the trailers of Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space! and Rack, Shack & Benny in that order.
- The 1999 reprints of The Toy That Saved Christmas and Madame Blueberry, the 1999 release of Junior's Favorite Stories, and the 2000 reprints of 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, Very Silly Songs!, Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space!, Josh and the Big Wall!, and Madame Blueberry all contain the trailer for Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed.
- The 2000 reprint of The End of Silliness? contains a trailer for King George and the Ducky.
- The 2000 VHS of King George and the Ducky and The Toy That Saved Christmas contains the teaser for Esther... The Girl Who Became Queen.
- The 2001 reprint of Esther... The Girl Who Became Queen contains a teaser for Lyle the Kindly Viking and a message from Phil Vischer.
- The 2001 VHS and DVD of Lyle the Kindly Viking contains one of the teasers for Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie.
- The 1998 reprints of Where's God When I'm S-Scared? and Are You My Neighbor? and the 1998 release of Bob and Larry's Favorite Stories! have the 1997 "Distributed by" Lyrick Studios logo. Meanwhile, the 1998 reprints of Rack, Shack and Benny, Dave and the Giant Pickle, and The Toy That Saved Christmas, the 1999 reprints of God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?! and Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space!, and the 1998 release of More of Bob and Larry's Favorite Stories! (as well as its 2000 reprint) have the text "Distributed by" in a white font on a black background before the Lyrick Studios logo.
- In 1999, these were both averted by using the 1998 Lyrick Studios logo with "Distributed by" above the logo and later a still version of said variant.
- Despite this, the 2000 reprints of Where's God When I'm S-Scared?, God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?!, Are You My Neighbor?, Rack, Shack and Benny, and Dave and the Giant Pickle use a still version of the 1997 "Distributed by" Lyrick logo.
- In 1999, these were both averted by using the 1998 Lyrick Studios logo with "Distributed by" above the logo and later a still version of said variant.
- Starting with Lyle the Kindly Viking, their logo is no longer seen on the DVD. Instead, it is still present on the back cover and disc label.
- The Lyrick promos for Where's God When I'm S-Scared? and Are You My Neighbor? were narrated by Earl Fisher. A year later, Earl would begin to provide the voice for Pasqually from Chuck E. Cheese's which began their tie-ins with Big Idea on the very show where he debuted as Pasqually (Dance Party from April 1999). Starting with the Lyrick promos for Rack, Shack and Benny and Dave and the Giant Pickle, Gail Freeman-Bock takes over with the trailer narrations.
- The Lyrick Studios release of Lyle the Kindly Viking was released three days after its original Word Entertainment release.
Remarks
- Although the Lyrick reprints of Josh and the Big Wall! and Very Silly Songs! used a custom Stay Tuned bumper, certain other reprints instead used Lyrick's bumper. While this was technically alright, the latter bumper tells viewers to stay tuned for "previews of other Lyrick™ Studios Home Videos," despite the fact that it was Big Idea's properties Lyrick was merely promoting and distributing.
Logo Evolution
External links
- Lyrick Studios at Wikipedia