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"Jesus gave everything! When we know how much Jesus loves us, it makes us wanna share His love with others, just like Saint Nicholas did!"
— Junior
SaintNicholas689
Saint Nicholas:
A Story of Joyful Giving
Directed by

Brian Roberts

Produced by

Chris Wall
Kevin Gamble

Written by

Phil Vischer
Mike Nawrocki
Robert G. Lee

Music by

Kurt Heinecke

Distributed by

Vivendi Entertainment
(Mass market)
Word Entertainment
(Christian market)

Released

October 3, 2009
(Christian market)
October 6, 2009
(Mass market)

Runtime

45 minutes

Previous episode

Minnesota Cuke
and The Search for
Noah's Umbrella

Next episode

Pistachio
The Little Boy
That Woodn't

Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving is the 35th episode of VeggieTales and the third Christmas special of the series.

Summary

Laura Carrot's Christmas stocking might be empty this year because her Dad is in danger of losing his job. Bob knows what will really help... and tells the story of a little boy named Nicholas who made a discovery in Bethlehem that changed Christmas forever. But what did Nick learn and how can it possibly help Laura and her family? Find out as the Veggies discover the true joy of giving to others - at Christmas time and throughout the year.

Plot

Everyone at the town square is very happy that Christmas is coming, especially Junior after getting two gold coins from his grandparents. Just then, Laura's dad shows up with his delivery truck breaking down and he persuades Gus to repair it, he told him he'd have to pay twice as much with cash because it's Christmas Eve. However, because Dad Carrot is unable to pay, Gus doesn't help out and closes his auto shop while orders Laura's dad to come back after Christmas with pay money for repair. Both Laura and her Dad are saddened about this, because that means he'll lose his job and they won't get a Christmas tree. Junior suggests that Santa can help out, but Bob doesn't really think that's going to work. He then decides to tell everyone at the center about the story of Nicholas, the origins of Santa.

The story starts at ancient Greece (which is now part of Turkey) and focuses on a small boy, who lives with happy and caring parents. However, he didn't understand why his parents like to help a lot towards others. Later that afternoon, Nicholas was fishing by the pier with his father when they spotted Gustav. The grouchy gourd fired one of his employees and the employee's daughters were worried about what happened. Nicholas' father gave the fired employee free fish, much to Gustav's appalled. Later that night, Nicholas' parents had a call from someone who was sick and needed help. Nicholas was worried that something might happen to them, which his predictions were right when he heard his parents died from the illness. Nicholas was left with wealth, but with no family, with the exception of his clumsy and wisecracking servant Octavius.

Gustav came back and asks Nicholas on how he'll run the fishing business because his dad is gone. He decided to do the same thing by giving fish away, but one of Gustav's henchmen stole the basket of fish away from Nicholas and everyone was asking for some. With no other way, he runs away to a ship and sailed off to escape the calamity. Nicholas decided to head to Bethlehem, so he can find out about what his parents were talking about helping others. He eventually figured out when he spotted the church where Jesus was born, and a nun told about the goodness about helping others and realized that’s the reason his mom and dad gave too.

Nicky came back to his hometown afterwards, only to find it's been run by Gustav who is now mayor and make things cost money. As punishment for those who don't pay money for things, they will be put in jail forever. He later told Octavius about what happened, and the servant knows about it as well. They decided that to help others is to sneak the fish inside their clothing. As they're doing so, the daughters of Gustav's former employee were caught by giving things for free. Gustav warned them that they had three days to pay the fine, or they'll be thrown in jail.

Nicholas decides to help the daughters out, but he needs to be very stealthy as the Roman guards might spot him. So both he and Octavius decided to be in disguise, and it worked for the most part until Larry makes it worse by making the story have snow. Because of the snow, Gustav and his army were able to track down both Nicky and Octavius. Things get worse as the pepper and gourd bumped into Bob and Larry, and they get stuck in a cart with sheep being dragged. Just as they're about to fall off the cliffs, the sheep decided to pull the cart with our heroes, and managed to safety cross. The old folk thanked Nicholas (who is still in disguise) for helping out his daughters, and the story ends with Nicky and Octavius hopping giving themselves nicknames.

Back in the town square, Junior was thinking how he can help his friend Laura. He then had an idea, and asked Jimmy, who then told Larry to see if they can help. The small asparagus went to Gus' shop, and gave him his gold coin to help pay the repairs for the truck to get fixed. He resisted as he needs more than just one coin, but soon the other town folks helped out thanks to Bob. Gus asked to Junior why he's doing such generous things, and his response is that we need to help others. Meanwhile, Larry and Jimmy decided to get a Christmas tree for the Carrot family, and had to do it in Santa's way. The Carrot family were surprised that they got the truck fixed, as well having a Christmas tree, and the Veggies felt happy to help out.

Characters

Major

Minor

Cameo

Locations

Songs

Home Media

Main article: Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving/Home Video

Features

Trailer Appearances

Fun Facts

Moral

Explanations

  • The Sea of Galilee is Israel's largest freshwater lake.

Trivia

  • According to Brian Roberts, this was the hardest episode to work on as there's hardly any information on the real St. Nicholas, as Bob points out at the end of the show.
  • This is the first episode for several things:
  • This is the last episode for a few things:
    • The last time when Petunia has permanent visible teeth until VeggieTales in the House, although they would appear in the title card and make a small cameo appearance (probably by mistake) in Where Have All the Staplers Gone?.
    • The last episode of VeggieTales of the 2000s.
    • The last episode of VeggieTales to not feature the VeggieTales Theme Song.
    • This episode to not have countertop segments at the beginning and end. But the scenes in town act as countertop segments.
    • This marks the last appearance of Mom Pea.
    • The last episode to have Robert G. Lee as a writer.
  • Some of the nicknames Octavius tried to give to Nicholas are Halibut, Nickerdoodle, Nickelback, Nickybopper, and Nick Junior. (See Real-World References)
  • There were a few differences between pre-production and the final version:
    • The show's original title was "Saint Nicholas: A Veggie Christmas Story."
    • Originally, Nicholas ran away because everything at his town reminded him too much of his parents.
    • Laura's dad was just going to lose his job, and the other decided to help them by getting gifts. Brian changed it because he wanted to show Christmas is more than just gifts. Also, because of this, he decided to bring Gustav into the town segments to give him some sort of redemption from the story.
    • Gustav's rant about dropping fish was longer.
    • After the story ended, Bob told everyone about how the legend of Nicholas passed on.
    • Extra dialogue from George was cut.
    • Nicholas was going to be played by Mr. Nezzer, but was changed because he wouldn’t fit the role.
  • The small girl pea who ran away was voiced by Sarah Vorhees.
  • In reality, Saint Nicholas saved three girls from being forced into prostitution, which is why he gave each of them sacks of gold coins on each night. This element of the real Saint Nicholas did carry over into VeggieTales, but was retooled to make it family-friendly.
  • It's most likely that the Poor Father was remodeled after a recolored Scallion 3, but they're both not the same character as they have different voice actors.
  • Consumers who buy the Saint Nicholas DVD will receive a free Bob & Larry cookie cutter, including a recipe for Bob & Larry’s Yummy Christmas Cookies on the back of the package.

Other Languages

  • سانت نيكولاس المعطي المسرور (Arabic) (Saint Nicholas the Cheerful Giver)
  • Sankt Nikolas om hvordan man gir med glede (Norwegian) (Saint Nicholas on How to Give with Joy)
  • سنت نیکلاس داستان بخشش لذت بخش (Persian) (Saint Nicholas A Delightful Story of Forgiveness)
  • Святой Николай/Легенда о святом Николае (Russian) (Saint Nicholas/The Legend of Saint Nicholas)

Remarks

  • Like most of the episodes after The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's, the episode was animated in 16:9 (widescreen), but is formatted into 4:3 (fullscreen) on the original DVD release.
  • The scissors are cutting the fabric, despite the fact that it's not closed in.
  • Despite the guards not spotting Nicky the first time, a wanted poster of him was made.
  • Despite being two of Nicholas' three main comic relief sidekicks (alongside Octavius), Bob and Larry never interact with him until the end of the story, due to also being the story's narrators, although Larry has three sidekick songs (Nicholas, Nicholas, Helpful Young Saint Nicholas, and Up on the Rooftop) while helping him and Octavius deliver presents.
  • When the father tells Nicky the good news, Gustav is further away from the fish market. But in the next shot, he is closer.
  • As stated in the commentary, there's no explanation why the stocking is by the fireplace, or why nothing's sticking to it.
  • The DVD credits oddly made it onto the Russian voiceover, even though no DVD releases are known to exist.
  • Without a canopy to cover the bed, a pickup truck wouldn't be the best choice for a delivery vehicle as the packages would fall out if the truck made a sharp turn or went up a steep hill.
  • Dad Carrot tells Laura that he's almost finished delivering packages, but his truck is completely full, making it look like he just started.
  • Unlike in the English Version, in the Arabic dub, after Ephinaus says "Amen" the Churchgoers repeat after him.
  • While Christmas is about the birth of Jesus, Percy is still right about it being about time with family.

Goofs

  • The back cover states Larry suggests on writing a letter to Santa for Laura's help. However, it was Junior who suggested it.
  • Nicky's pupils are slightly off in the wanted poster.
  • When the cart was going uphill in the climax, Larry's toga vanishes in one shot before coming back in the very next shot just before the cart goes backwards down the hill. Also, Octavius' hair is missing.
  • Because the interior was reused from St. Bart's, the entrance has the London background.
  • Before Nicky and Epiphanus go fishing, their fishing poles resemble bamboo stalks. But they change into regular fishing poles when they actually go fishing.
    • It's possible they were originally gonna use the Bamboo stalks but they quickly decided to change the fishing poles right at the last minute.

Inside References

Real-World References

  • The line "Let us Sing" is likely a reference to Tally Hall's song "Good Day".
  • When Octavius heads towards the dock, he quotes a line from the 1968 Otis Redding song "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay".
  • Octavius's line "Greece is the word" is a reference to the opening song from the musical movie Grease.
  • Octavius' personality is similar to that of Mushu from Mulan, because both are comical and wisecracking guardians of the protagonists (Mulan and Nicholas) who help them save the land (Greece and China) from a tyrannical villain (Gustav and Shan-Yu).
  • Nick Jr. is a television block owned by ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global), and later channel owned by MTV Networks Kids & Family Group.
  • Nickelback is a Canadian rock band that was formed in 1995.
  • Some mentions of the Rankin/Bass specials are made:
    • The mentions of the reindeer games, Hermey the Elf and the titular deer are from the 1964 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special.
    • Giving reindeer magic corn so they can fly is from Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town.
      • Gustav is partially based on the main antagonist from this special, Burgermeister Meisterburger as stated in the art gallery feature.
  • Toys "R" Us (spelled as Toys-R-Us in the subtitles) is a toy retailer that closed down in America, but is still open in Macy's stores and other countries.
  • Octavius' disguises are based off of DC comic book superheroes. These included:
    • Robin
    • Wonder Woman
    • Green Arrow (this could also be Robin Hood, whom this comic book character was based after)
  • The scene where Nicholas is jumping off the cliff with the sheep is a reference to E.T.
  • One of the souvenirs that Nicholas picks up is a Giza pet, which is based on the Chia Pet, a terracotta figurine used to sprout chia.

Fast Forward

  1. Main Street would be reworked into Rockwell for It’s a Meaningful Life.

Transcript

Credits

Gallery

SaintNicholasTitleCard

External Link

VeggieTales episodes
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