Lyrick Studios

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, 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 Big Idea had asked beforehand. The company was acquired by HiT Entertainment on February 9, 2001, shortly before Richard C. Leach died.

In 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)
• God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?! (February 9th, 1999/March 28th, 2000)
• Are You My Neighbor? (December 16th, 1997/March 31st, 1998/March 28th, 2000)
• Rack, Shack and Benny (August 25th, 1998/March 28th, 2000)
• Dave and the Giant Pickle (August 25th, 1998/March 28th, 2000)
• The Toy That Saved Christmas (October 6th, 1998/October 5th, 1999/October 3rd, 2000)
• Very Silly Songs! (June 8th, 1999/January 11th, 2000)
• Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space! (February 9th, 1999/January 11th, 2000)
• Josh and the Big Wall! (June 8th, 1999/January 11th, 2000)
• Madame Blueberry (October 5th, 1999/January 11th, 2000)
• The End of Silliness? (April 11th, 2000)
• Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed (March 28th, 2000)
• King George and the Ducky (August 8th, 2000)
• Esther... The Girl Who Became Queen (January 9th, 2001)
• Lyle the Kindly Viking (March 27th, 2001)

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 1999 reprints of Very Silly Songs! and Josh and the Big Wall! contains a trailer for the 1999 reprint of Madame Blueberry.
• The 1999 reprints of The Toy That Saved Christmas and Madame Blueberry, the 2000 reprint of the latter episode, 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!, and Josh and the Big Wall! 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 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 compilation video More of Bob and Larry's Favorite Stories! have the text "Distributed by" in a white font on a black background before the Lyrick Studios logo. The 1998 reprints of Where's God When I'm S-Scared? and Are You My Neighbor?, as well as Bob and Larry's Favorite Stories!, have the 1997 "Distributed by" Lyrick logo, and 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.
• 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 takes over with the trailer narrations.
• The Lyrick Studios release of Lyle the Kindly Viking was released three days after it's 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 it was Big Idea's properties Lyrick was merely promoting and distributing.

Gallery

Appears on VeggieTales VHS releases from March 31, 1998 and March 28, 2000

Appears on VeggieTales VHS releases from 1998 to 1999

Appears on VeggieTales VHS releases from 1999 to 2001

Lyrick Studios screener/promo VHS tape for Are You My Neighbor?