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The French Peas

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The French Peas are a group of peas who appear as supporting characters in the VeggieTales franchise. As their name suggests, they hail from France and speak in broken French accents. The informal leaders of the group are Jean-Claude and Philippe. The peas mostly function as utility performers amongst the Veggie troupe, often working behind the scenes or joining the ensemble to play cheeky and mischievous characters.

Bio

While peas were introduced into the VeggieTales universe with the episode Rack, Shack and Benny, the peas of the French variety were not properly introduced until the episode Dave and the Giant Pickle. They were featured portraying the obnoxious Philistines who taunted the Israelites from their opposing hill. Here, the peas were led by Jean-Claude and another pea named Christophe in one of his few appearances.

In subsequent appearances, Jean-Claude began to be paired up with Philippe. They officially became an iconic duo with the episode Josh and the Big Wall! where they played a pair of irreverent guards sitting atop the walls of Jericho taunting the Israelites once again.

The French Peas have gone on to become favorites among VeggieTales fans due to their cheeky nature and iconic performances. Besides portraying Philistines and defenders of Jericho, the Peas are also known for their rendition of There’s a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea, portraying Little Joe’s brothers in The Ballad of Little Joe, playing a whole town of creatures called Munchies in The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's, and helping Archibald Asparagus take over an episode of VeggieTales (to somewhat disastrous results).

Personality

As a group and individually, the French Peas have set a clear precedent of irreverence amongst their other Veggie peers. Although very helpful and hardworking, they tend to cause mischief and chaos by meddling with the plans of others or bending (if not even following) the rules that have been established beforehand. Thankfully, the peas are not always so deliberate with their trouble causing, and never mean to hurt anyone. If they do find out that they hurt someone's feelings, they are fairly apologetic and empathetic.

Physical Appearance

The French Peas are a group of nearly identical, small light pear green peas with semi-wrinkled builds, beady black eyes, and small, round noses. A defining feature for many of them is a trio of red freckles around their noses, though these sometimes vary or are absent entirely depending on the episode. Because they share the same basic design, it can be difficult to tell them apart visually—their most reliable distinguishing feature is their voices. For example, Jean-Claude speaks with a low, gravelly French accent, while Phillipe has a more high-pitched, shrill tone. The peas occasionally wear costumes or themed outfits, especially when performing in character roles or appearing in merchandise.

In VeggieTales in the House/City, Jean-Claude and Phillipe received significant redesigns to better differentiate them. Jean-Claude’s new look featured a lime green body, a bright red nose, a thin black mustache, black eyebrows, and white sclera in his eyes. Phillipe, on the other hand, was redesigned with a darker emerald green hue, a yellow-orange nose, a curly black mustache, and a prominent unibrow. Both peas were also given more angular shapes—Jean-Claude appearing more hexagonal and Phillipe more rectangular—moving away from their original round forms.

For The VeggieTales Show, the French Peas returned to their classic designs, restoring their familiar round shape and simplified facial features.

Filmography

See The French Peas' filmography

Voice Actors

Jean-Claude Pea

English

International

Phillipe Pea

English

International

Christophe Pea

English

International

Buddy Pea

English

International

Fun Facts

  • The reason all French Peas look alike is out of necessity. In the studio commentary for Dave and the Giant Pickle, Phil Vischer said he wanted a large group of simple characters that would be easy to animate and render in their then current animation software.
  • Jean-Claude and Christophe were unnamed in their debut, Dave and the Giant Pickle but they would eventually be named according to the Credits in A Very Veggie Christmas.
  • The French Peas' personalities are based on the Frenchmen from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
  • According to the studio commentary for Josh and the Big Wall!, a former French-Canadian Big Idea staff member had made a complaint about the French Peas, believing it to offensive to portray the French peas as antagonistic while all other peas with no accents were not. However, when the episode in question was shown to native French people, they found it very funny and were not offended at all.
  • In the VeggieTales franchise, it's never been clearly stated if Jean-Claude and Phillipe are related or not. In response to a fan on Twitter, Phil Vischer revealed that they're not.
  • During Larry and Mr. Lunt’s commentary for the Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie DVD, Larry states that the French Peas are actually Swedish and speak with Swedish accents when they aren’t filming.

Gallery

DaveAndTheGiantPickle87

VeggieTales Main Cast
Bob • Larry
Junior Asparagus • Archibald Asparagus • Pa Grape • Laura Carrot • Jimmy and Jerry Gourd • Mr. Nezzer • Mr. Lunt • The French Peas • Madame Blueberry • Petunia Rhubarb • Qwerty
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