The Best Christmas Gift is the first Christmas special of The VeggieTales Show, the first episode of the first season, and the second episode produced of the entire series.
Plot[]
Characters[]
- Bob the Tomato
- Larry
- Junior Asparagus
- Archibald Asparagus
- Pa Grape
- Jimmy and Jerry Gourd
- Mr. Nezzer
- Mr. Lunt
- The French Peas
- Madame Blueberry
- Petunia Rhubarb
- Oscar (picture cameo)
- Grandma Gourd (picture cameo)
- Chog Norrius (picture cameo)
- MacJimmy (picture cameo)
- MacNezzer (picture cameo)
- MacScooter (picture cameo)
- Goliath
- Khalil (non-speaking role)
- Bruce Onion (non-speaking role)
Songs[]
Main Episode[]
- VeggieTales Theme Song
- Christmas Foods
- Junior Shepherd
- Wisemen
- Let There Be Joy
- Kingdom of God
- O Goliath
DVD & Digital Release Version[]
- I Can Love (VeggieTales Christmas Songs & Stories Mash-Up)
- Oh, Santa! (VeggieTales Christmas Songs & Stories Mash-Up)
- Donuts for Benny (VeggieTales Christmas Songs & Stories Mash-Up)
- Wrapped Myself Up for Christmas (VeggieTales Christmas Songs & Stories Mash-Up)
- The Hairbrush Song (Silly Song Remix version)
- The Water Buffalo Song (Silly Song Remix version)
Other Languages[]
- Unknown (French) (subtitled)
- A legjobb karácsonyi ajándék (Hungarian)
- Unknown (Latin Spanish) (subtitled)
- Veggietales: Den bästa Julklappen (Swedish)
Trailer Appearances[]
Production[]
Phil Vischer got the idea for the episode as a response to the Sandy Hook shootings that happened in 2012 two weeks before Christmas. Multiple people had taken down their Christmas decorations in response because "how could they celebrate Christmas in tough times?". It donned in Phil that the tough times are exactly why Christmas is worth celebrating. That idea of spreading joy and hope in the tough times became the main theme of the episode, but instead of dealing with something as dark as a shooting, it tackles kids having their own bad days around Christmas.
Phil wrote the first draft of the script on November 19th, 2018 with later revisions done on December 7th, December 10th, March 10th (2019) and August 8th (2019).
According to Phil, this episode was not originally intended to be the first episode of The VeggieTales Show’s first season. "God Wants Us to Make Peace" was intended to be the first episode released for the first season. It was decided by TBN to have the Christmas special come out first instead, just in time for the upcoming 2019 holiday season. (This is confirmed by the episode's script and production number as well)
Fun Facts[]
Trivia[]
- This is the first episode for the following things:
- The first new episode from a series created by Big Idea since Bye Bye Bacon Bill!, which was the final VeggieTales in the City episode.
- The first speaking appearance of Petunia Rhubarb since Monster in the Closet.
- The first speaking appearance of Junior Asparagus since Attack of the Marshmallow Laser.
- The first time Goliath physically appears in a work related to VeggieTales since Josh and the Big Wall! (as well as the compilation Little Ones Can Do Big Things Too!).
- The first time Khalil appears in a work related to VeggieTales since Celery Night Fever.
- This also marks the first time Bruce Onion appears outside of said episode.
- The first time the VeggieTales characters original designs were used since Beauty and the Beet, not counting promotional material released on the online store and official social media posts.
- The first time Lisa Vischer has voiced Junior since Celery Night Fever, the first time Madame Blueberry is voiced by Stephanie Southerland, and the first time Petunia is voiced by Kira Buckland.
- The first time Mr. Nezzer appears in a work related to VeggieTales since Beauty and the Beet and his first speaking role in one since Veggies in Space: The Fennel Frontier, as well as the introduction of David Mann as Nezzer’s new voice actor.
- Phil Vischer’s voice can still be heard as Mr. Nezzer during O Goliath.
- It is also known an earlier cut had Phil voicing Nezzer throughout.
- The first time the 2012 Universal Pictures logo is featured in a work related to Big Idea, even though it is not a movie.
- The first work from Big Idea that both Trilogy Animation Group and Prana Studios are involved in.
- This is also the only time Prana Studios will be credited, as the studio shut down and animation production moved to 88 Pictures.
- The first time a Big Idea DVD has the following things:
- The first time French subtitles are offered as an option.
- The first time that the options are split into two different menus.
- The first time since "Abe and the Amazing Promise" that the buttons on the main menu are positioned in a vertical fashion.
- The first time the "Piracy is not a victimless crime" warning is featured on a Big Idea DVD that is not a compilation.
- The first time an audio commentary was featured since "The Little House That Stood".
- This is so far the only episode of the revival series to be dubbed in Swedish.
- The first time Mr. Lunt is seen with a full set of teeth but no gold tooth in his original design.
- This is the only The VeggieTales Show episode to be aired on Smile.
- This episode premiered on iTunes exactly 5 years and 1 day after Beauty and the Beet, the last VeggieTales tale to use the original character designs before The VeggieTales Show.
- It also premiered on DVD exactly 23 years after The Toy That Saved Christmas and 6 years after Merry Larry and the True Light of Christmas.
- The font for the place names on the map during Christmas Foods is SpongeBoy Me Bob, that was used for SpongeBob SquarePants episodes.
- The only episode to feature the new renders of the VeggieTales characters on the DVD art, as the series would use the renders from the original series for the shows marketing.
Remarks[]
- The BarberBarians are bizarrely on the Scandinavia postcard when they're actually Scottish (though vikings are Scandinavian in real life).
- The audio recordings of Jimmy saying "We love Christmas food!" and "Right, got it." are each used twice.
- The following things could lead to viewers mistaking it for a movie:
- The Universal and Trilogy Pictures logos playing at the beginning.
- Opening credits at the very beginning.
- The episode's overall runtime being labeled 58 minutes, due to the included bonus features being integrated into the episode for home video releases, much like other Universal home video releases.
Goofs[]
- Larry's tooth appears to be missing in a few scenes.
- When the wisemen arrive at the stable, they are seen in front of it facing the baby and the manger, but in the next shot, they are standing next to it. They go back to their original positions when Jimmy and Jerry arrive.
- In the shot of Pa Grape singing "To the coming of the kingdom of God" during Kingdom of God, Junior's mouth does not move even though he is heard singing.
- Jean-Claude's voice is not pitch-shifted when he says "Au revoir." Additionally, Goliath's mouth is moving when Jean-Claude says this, even though nothing comes out of his mouth.
Inside References[]
- The coffee mug that Bob drinks from is from Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving.
- The glasses that Larry puts on to read Bob's list are originally from the cover of the Veggie Bible Dictionary. Those glasses were also used in the Netflix series.
- The microphone Bob uses is the same one Jimmy and Jerry used during I Can Be Your Friend in The Gourds Must Be Crazy and was later used by Larry in a couple of Silly Songs.
- The postcards in the Christmas Foods segment feature characters from previous episodes including Oscar, Grandma Gourd, Emma Grape and the cast of MacLarry & The Stinky Cheese Battle.
- The postcards also feature the settings of both the Rootin' Tootin' Pizza Place from The Ballad of Little Joe and Jolly Joe's from The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie.
- Jimmy and Jerry mention going to Burger Bell, a reference to His Cheeseburger.
- The costume rack Madame Blueberry pushes is a re-colored version of the one from The Little House That Stood.
- Pa Grape wears the same costume he wore in Abe and the Amazing Promise, with slightly different colors.
- Junior, Jimmy, and Jerry can be seen wearing their costumes from Dave and the Giant Pickle.
- Larry wears the same costume as Belthezzar from The Little Drummer Boy. Madame Blueberry and Mr. Lunt’s costumes are also based on the other Magi costumes of Bob and Archie, respectively.
- Jimmy mishearing "ham" in the word Bethlehem is a reference to the town "Bethlingham" (which is a play on Bethlehem and Nottingham) from Robin Good and His Not-So-Merry Men.
- This isn't the first time that peas have portrayed angels.
- Petunia and Mr. Lunt reprise their respective roles as Mary and one of the wiseman from A Christmas Play.
- O Goliath is a parody of O Christmas Tree, which was previously covered by VeggieTales in The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree.
- An instrumental rendition of What Have We Learned is heard near the end of the episode.
Fast Forward[]
- Junior would call Bob "Mr. Bob" again in the next episode.
Episode Transcript[]
Commentary[]
Credits[]
Gallery[]
