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Pistachio: The Little Boy That Woodn't

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Pistachio: The Little Boy That Woodn't (simply known as Pistachio) is the thirty-second episode of VeggieTales. It is based on both the 1883 Carlo Collodi novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio and Disney's 1940 animated movie Pinocchio, as well as the parable of The Good Shepherd.

Plot

Opening Countertop

A curtain that says "Extreme Redo: Crying Edition" is seen on the countertop. Larry is telling Bob to follow him. When Larry is seen on the countertop, Bob is wondering what Larry is up to. Larry says, "You'll see." Larry takes off the blindfold and shows Bob the curtain. Bob thinks its just a curtain. Larry tells Bob that it's an "Extreme Redo: Crying Edition" curtain. He tells him that while he was on his vacation that the crew from Extreme Redo had come in and redid the kitchen. The host and the two crew members come out. The host asks Bob how is he feeling. Bob says the he feels good and when the host tells the two crew members they aww at it and sob. Then, the host tells Bob to get ready to feel great. The host, Larry and the two crew members say, "Pull... that... curtain!" The curtain is pulled, revealing light blue painted walls with two throw pillows and two cookie jars. Larry is impressed with the new countertop, while Bob thinks it just looks the same. The host tells Bob to let it all out (cry). Then Bob wonders where Qwerty is and heads to see him in his new look.

Larry says hi to Qwerty. Qwerty responds by saying, "Greetings, Larry." Bob is surprised by this. Larry told Bob that he had an Extreme Redo and that he needed an upgrade for 10 years. Larry tells Qwerty that he is looking good. Qwerty says, "I feel like a million bits. Ha ha. Get it? Bits?" After he says that, the host and the crew laugh at his pun. The host says that he upgraded his humor chip. Then Qwerty says that he has gotten mail. The host says that he has never had mail before and now he does and asks him how it feels to have mail. He says that he feels like a million bits. The two crew members thinks it's sweet, but Bob doesn't. Then the mail changes to a video chat. A kid appears on screen and says this: "Dear Bob and Larry, My mom & dad are always telling me stuff I don't wanna do. Like making my bed, doing my homework, practicing piano. That kind of stuff. All I want to do is play. What should I do? Your friend, Liam Young." After that, Bob thinks it was cool. Larry says that they're hip, happening, and now thanks to Extreme Redo. Bob then claims that he doesn't know what to say. The host says that he doesn't have to say anything. One of the crew members tells him that he can cry if he wants. So Bob starts to cry. The host hands him a pack of tissues while the crew members comfort him. Larry says to roll the tape.

Act 1

The story starts with narration from Bob, introducing the setting and a toymaker named Gelato (played by Larry the Cucumber). In his workshop, we find a bunch of toys, a trio of ducklings named Bruce, Gary, and Greg, and a caterpillar who's called Cricket (played by Khalil). Bob then gives exposition into Gelato's life as its revealed that he never married, hence why he never had a child he could call his own. His three brothers, Espresso, Milano, and Dorito, were loved by him, but were lost at sea when delivering meatballs to a small island. Since Gelato spent time making toys, one of his own toys happened to grab the attention of motherless ducklings, who'd follow him home and become the closing things to children. Gelato loves the ducks as they love him back, teaching them important lessons in life. Gelato expresses one of these lessons through song: listen to your parents and you'll be alright.

After the song concludes, Gelato runs into his friend, Parcheesi (played by Pa Grape), who often supplies him with wood. This time around, he's offered a piece of wood made from a Pistachio tree for free. This specific wood also happens to be one that randomly jumps and shakes, which catches them off guard. Cricket is suspicious while Gelato is ecstatic to create a wooden brother for the ducklings. That night, after the ducks are put to bed, Gelato gets to work crafting a wooden asparagus child (played by Junior Asparagus). Once he finishes, the toy looks down at Cricket and winks. Cricket notices this and alerts Gelato, only for the toy to start bouncing around the room in excitement. This wasn't any normal piece of wood, it was a living piece of wood! When Gelato tries asking for the wooden boy to stay still, the boy responds saying he doesn't have to listen to anyone. Gelato then decides to call the boy Pistachio, after the wood he was made from. Pistachio isn't having it however, and starts to make a run for the door. Gelato stops him though, and starts to give him a breakdown of his relation to him. Pistachio still believes that he should have what's best for him, so Gelato tells him that they'll take a field trip to give him his first lesson in life. After being put to bed, Pistachio is told by Cricket that Gelato is a good father and that he'll learn from him if he listens.

The next day, Gelato takes his kids to the art museum to visit a specific section. After getting directions from Art (played by Scooter Carrot), Pistachio notices a puppet show going on outside of the section they're going to. Gelato then starts to show Pistachio the parable of the Lost Sheep through paintings. The parable focuses on a Shepard leaving the other 99 sheep to find the one lost sheep. He does this because he was a good Shepard and loves all of his sheep. While it is unknown why the sheep ran away, the sheep is later found cold and miserable, knowing now that he should've listened to the Shepard. Cricket remarks that children often doing the same thing. After the story is told, Pistachio looks back to the puppet show, and notices a small art book shop right next to it. Both have admission that costs five cents. Pistachio tells Gelato about the art books, but Gelato is hesitant, seeing how five cents is all the money he has. After Pistachio "shows" him how much he wants to learn, Gelato gives him the five cents to by a book, but tells him to go straight there and come right back. He "promises" only for his nose to grow a little bit. Pistachio then sneaks away to the puppet show, led by The Great Calzone (played by Mr. Nezzer), who sings a song to the children seeing his show. Pistachio pays the admission, only for Calzone to noticing the living "puppet" without strings. He sees him as an opportunity to become rich, and wants him to be a part of his show. When Pistachio tries to flee, Calzone and his carrot right-hand man named Alfredo chase him. They bump into a rack of clothes, and gold coins fly out of one of the coats' pockets, Pistachio picks five of them up, and escapes the museum.

Outside, Pistachio then meets a strange duo of figures, Confetti the Fox and Purina the Cat (both played by Scallion #1 and Scallion #2). They wonder what Pistachio's hiding behind his back, and he tells them everything. As soon as Pistachio showcases the coins, Confetti sees dollar signs and lies to Pistachio saying that the coins belong to him. They then start to take the wooden boy outside of town, far from the museum. Meanwhile, Gelato and the ducklings are about to leave, when Gelato notices Pistachio's absence. When he calls out to him, a different boy who sounds similar to him calls out to his own father, which Gelato takes as a response from Pistachio. Back outside of town, Confetti reveals that he and Purina are running an opportunity for people to turn 5 coins to hundreds. Said opportunity resides at the waterfront carnival. While Pistachio believes that this'll be a way to help his father get more money, what he doesn't realize is that he's walking to a scam run by these two and the carnival attendant (played by Charlie Pincher in his last role in the entire show). When he gets to the first game, he's told by the carnie that wherever the wheel stops, his gold coin will be multiplied that many times. The game is rigged however, as the carnie manually slows it down with a brake, landing the wheel at zero. Pistachio's let down, but is assured that he could win it back at the next game. Back at Gelato's workshop, he and Cricket finally notice Pistachio's absence, and Gelato starts to panic. When Cricket says it's not that bad, Gelato reminds him of the Lost Sheep story, and tells him that he won't rest until Pistachio's back. Just then, a thunderclap followed by a lightning strike occurs, scaring the ducklings. Cricket then remarks about taking Pistachio's dinner to go.

Silly Song

Main article: Where Have All the Staplers Gone?

Act 2

Back at the carnival, Pistachio loses another rigged game, and starts to give up. Confetti stops him though and starts singing to Pistachio, saying that if he heads back home empty-handed, Gelato won't be pleased. The three of them tell Pistachio that he doesn't need his father's teachings, and should continue until he finally wins a big amount. While all of this is happening, Gelato is told by the woman who ran the art book store that she saw a wooden boy running towards the waterfront. Worried, Gelato heads off to go find him in the ocean. At the carnival, Pistachio's now down to one coin, and is made aware of one final game where he can win riches beyond his wildest dreams. The game, Rainbow of Fortune, has the player ride up a cart and answer a question. If answered correctly, they'll move up. The higher up they go, the more they win. They can stop whenever and take home the amount they were at. However, get a question wrong, and they'll lose everything. Pistachio accepts this challenge. Little do the three carnival owners know, the questions they're spouting to Pistachio happen to be Lost Sheep related. Pistachio answers two of these questions correctly, only for Pistachio to hear his father yelling out to him out at sea. Pistachio's still determined to win, so he continues on. The final question is asked, being a woodchuck riddle that Pistachio has no idea about, resulting in him being sent down to a catapult. When Pistachio reminds them that they wouldn't steer him wrong, Confetti corrects him saying "why would they steer him wrong?" Their answer: five gold coins. They shoot him into the ocean, laughing. At sea, Pistachio sees his father up ahead, only for him and his rowboat to be engulfed by a giant wave.

The next morning, Pistachio finds himself washed up at shore, and meets a blueberry (played by Madame Blueberry). When she asks about why Pistachio was looking for his father at sea, Pistachio lies about what happening. His nose grows longer with every lie. He panics, only for the blueberry to assure him about how much his father loves him. Pistachio then gets an idea to find Cricket at the workshop. He runs into him at a cart outside of town, and finds out Cricket was looking for Gelato as well. He left the ducklings with the blueberry, who's now looking after them. Pistachio tells him that it's all his fault, which makes Cricket happy. Cricket sees that Pistachio's taking responsibility for his actions, and that would make Gelato proud of him. However, this little happy moment comes to an end when the cart starts rolling down without a horse attached to it, and they end up at sea. The cart is then eaten by a whale (the same one who appeared in Jonah).

Pistachio and Cricket find themselves inside the whale and hear singing from a ship up ahead. Three Italian cucumbers are singing their woes about how they didn't listen to their mother. Pistachio and Cricket recognizes them as Gelato's long lost brothers who went out at sea delivering meatballs one night. They regretted that night to this very day, and cry out, admitting their faults. Pistachio then sees Gelato coming out of a room on the boat with a plate of meatballs, and they reunite. Pistachio tells him everything, and is even introduced to Gelato's brothers. Gelato then takes care of PIstachio's long nose by cutting it down, only for the group to realize they're now out of food and are gonna starve. They panic, only for Pistachio to get an idea. He sees a bunch of barrels of Castor Oil that are used to light the candles, and wonders if dumping the barrels will cause the fish to throw up. Gelato notices the crows nest and expands on the idea by saying that if they drop the barrels from that height, the oil will splash all over his stomach. Pistachio's hesitant at first, but he finally decides to listen to his father. They carry out the plan, and the whale shoots them all out from its blowhole. They survive, and Pistachio and Gelato come up with a plan to build a raft.

Flash forward to Pistachio's first birthday, as Gelato's brothers, the blueberry, and even Art show up to celebrate this wooden boy. Gelato gives Pistachio a framed picture of the final painting of the Lost Sheep that was in the gift shop, and Pistachio loves it. They then sing a reprise of Gelato's song from the start, concluding the story.

Closing Countertop

Back on the new and reformed countertop, Larry admits that the story was a valuable and beautiful one. Bob then notice Gelato's brothers as Larry tells him that he called them to admire the new place. The three brothers are appreciated of what they are seeing and Bob tells them that its just a blue wall and a throw pillow. Still wanting to finish the episode, Larry tells that they're over by Qwerty to talk about what they've learned today, before the "What Have We Learned" song plays, Larry and Bob went to Qwerty to see the verse of the day. The verse is from Ephesians 6:1-3 and then the pair talk about the lesson from the story. Afterwards, Liam finally understands that his folks love him and totally want what is best for him, so he thanks Bob and Larry; then he hangs up. Bob got so emotional again as the host of Extreme Re-do reappears. As Bob cries, he and Larry say their closing lines. Dorito complains that he loved the throw pillow and also says the new kitchen is a fancy place as the episode ends.

Characters

Major

Supporting

Minor

Picture Cameo

Silly Song only

Songs

Other Languages

  • الفستق (Arabic) (Pistachio)
  • פיסטוקיו (Hebrew) (Pistachio)
  • Pistasjio (Norwegian) (Pistachio)
  • پسته (Persian) (Pistachio)

Home Media

Main article: Pistachio: The Little Boy That Woodn't/Home Video

Features

Trailer Appearances

Fun Facts

Moral

  • Our parents love us and know what is best for us; so we should clearly listen to them, no matter what.

Trivia

  • This is the first episode for several things:
  • This is the last episode for several things:
  • This episode did not air on TBN and Smile of a Child until 2019.
  • According to Mike Nawrocki, the countertop was going to be completely redesigned. This idea was dropped in order to not make viewers feel out of place.
  • The prototype cover has many differences between it and the final cover:
    • It originally featured a stock picture of Pistachio up against a hand-drawn picture of Gelato's workshop and had the lesson read "NOWHERE Near Final Cover Art."
    • Gelato and Khalil did not appear on the prototype cover.
    • Pistachio's mouth was open on the prototype cover; he is seen grinning on the final cover.
  • This is the only episode to be dubbed in Hebrew.
  • This is one of the only episodes where Bob and Larry don't say hello to the kids.
  • When this episode was released on DVD, it came with a VeggieTales sticker book.
  • Calzone is based off Stromboli alongside his original counterpart, Mangiafuoco.
  • The Scallions are basically a combination based off of Honest John, Gideon, and the Coachman.
  • Some of the characters in the story and their biblical counterparts include:
    • Pistachio — The Lost Sheep
    • Gelato— The Good Shepherd
    • The Ducks — The Sheep
    • Confetti and Purina — The Wolf
    • Gelato's Brothers — The Shepherd's friends and neighbors

Remarks

  • The credits state that this episode was released in 2009, but it did not release until February 2010. Although, this may have been when the episode was completed.

Goofs

  • When Pistachio spies on the Art Gallery puppet show after hearing Gelato’s story, Calzone’s (Mr. Nezzer’s) costume changes between shots to the outfit used for Nezzer in Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah's Umbrella.
  • The credits state that Jim Poole voiced a fourth Extreme Redo crewmember, but there were only three crewmembers, although it's possible there was originally going to be a fourth crewmember but was removed at the last minute.
  • When Bob says "You've got it, Liam", Larry's tooth is missing.

Inside References

Real-World References

  • Extreme Re-Do: Crying Edition is a reference to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
  • Khalil's "I'm no fool, no sirree!" line was taken from the early Disney educational films starring Jiminy Cricket, a character from Disney's Pinocchio, which inspired this episode.
  • The Island of Boyardee is a reference to Chef Boyardee canned pastas.
  • There are mentions of the board game Monopoly scattered a few times throughout the episode, including the ducklings and Madame Blueberry playing the game in one scene, using a real-life game board.
  • The scenario showing the sheep listening to a wolf dressed as a sheep is a reference to a verse in Matthew 7:15 which states "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."
  • Cricket says that Gelato's brothers look more like Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro, two actors best known for starring in crime movies.

Fast Forward

  • The story of the Good Shepherd would later be told again.

Episode Transcript

Credits

Gallery


VeggieTales episodes
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