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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
Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving | |
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Directed by | |
Produced by | |
Written by | |
Music by | |
Distributed by |
Vivendi Entertainment |
Released |
October 3, 2009 |
Runtime |
45 minutes |
Previous episode | |
Next episode |
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
- Bob the Tomato
- Larry the Cucumber
- Junior Asparagus
- Jimmy Gourd
- Gus (Tow Truck Person, Gustav)
- Mr. Lunt (Octavius)
- Nicky
- Epiphanus and Tona
- Benny
Minor
- Petunia Rhubarb (Sister Claire)
- Pa Grape (Captain Pa)
- Laura Carrot
- Mom Carrot
- Dad Carrot
- Grandpa George
- Mr. Nezzer
- Annie Onion
- Archibald Asparagus
- The French Peas (Roman Guards)
- Poor Father
- Crazed Joppanian
- Silly Song Announcer
Cameo
- Scooter (Officer Scooter, cameo)
- Dirk Evert
- Grandma Gourd
- Papaya Poppyseed
- Buzz-Saw Louie
- Scallion #1
- Hat Lady
- Arthur Carrot
- Village Heckler
- Harold Pea
- Wee Pea
- French Peas (Crowd) (Roman Guards)
- Dad Pea
- Mom Pea
- Lil' Pea
Locations
Songs
- Hope It's Gonna Be A Happy Christmas
- Greece
- I Can Love
- Fa-La-La
- Helpful Humanitarian Songs with Mr. Lunt: Donuts for Benny
- Nicholas, Nicholas
- Helpful Young Saint Nicholas
- Up on the Rooftop
- I Can Love (Reprise)
- Give This Christmas Away
Home Media
- Main article: Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving/Home Video
Features
Trailer Appearances
Fun Facts
Moral
- Christmas is about giving, not receiving. (This moral is also used in "The Toy That Saved Christmas")
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:
- The first Christmas episode since The Star of Christmas.
- The first holiday episode to be animated in 16:9.
- The first episode since An Easter Carol to not feature the VeggieTales Theme Song. But Hope It's Gonna Be Christmas replaces the Theme Song.
- The first episode to be distributed by Vivendi Entertainment.
- The first episode to not feature Madame Blueberry since Moe and the Big Exit.
- The first episode to have Archibald Asparagus, Laura Carrot, Dad Carrot, Mom Carrot, Percy Pea, Lil' Pea, Dad Pea, Mom Pea, Scooter, Grandpa George, and Annie Onion animated by Huhu Studios.
- The first episode to feature a Pepper character since Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed
- 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
- In several ways, this episode is similar to Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie
- The beginning and ending of the episode would have singing even before a vehicle breaks down.
- Mr. Nezzer has a minor role.
- Bob, Larry, Junior, Laura, Percy, and Annie are the major characters.
- The Kids are told a story in the frame of the story.
- Gustav and Khalil are both in the actual story and the frame of the story.
- The way Gustav closed his shop because Dad Carrot couldn't pay would be similar to how Mr. Nezzer closed his shop because the Pirates couldn't afford more cheesecurls.
- Pa Grape has his Pirate costume.
- The people in the Jerusalem scene are extras.
- Octavius slaps Nicholas with a fish.
- The sheep are reused as well as their sound effects.
- Bob says "You roll your dice, you move your mice. Nobody gets hurt." This was added by Brian Roberts.
- The fishing poles as bamboo stalks were recycled from Tomato Sawyer and Huckleberry Larry's Big River Rescue.
- The Paper Dollar bills are the same ones from Tomato Sawyer and Huckleberry Larry's Big River Rescue
- This is the second time Mr. Lunt crossdressed.
- Nicky's first costume is reminiscent of Larry-Boy's costume.
- The daughters' home is the same as Billboy's in Lord of the Beans.
- The pea guards' helmets are re-colors of the ones from Josh and the Big Wall!.
- Additionally, the way our hosts imagine themselves in the story is similar to that episode.
- Dad Carrot's truck is a re-color of the truck used in Going Up! which previously appeared in The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's.
- The set for said scene is originally from Babysitter in DeNile but redressed to look different.
- The teaser trailer uses music from The Star of Christmas and the inside of the church is the same one from that episode.
- One of the townspeople uses the same crutch Edmund used in An Easter Carol.
- The bags the peas were dragging were recycled from Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah's Umbrella, which the Potato captured Julia in.
- The code the girls broke about no giving gifts is a similar code to only praying to King Darius referencing Where's God When I'm S-Scared?.
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
- Main Street would be reworked into Rockwell for It’s a Meaningful Life.