- "This is network television."
- — Bob
The VeggieTales Christmas Spectacular! is a VeggieTales television special. It originally aired on Ion Television (formerly PAX TV) in 1998, 1999, and 2000, and retells the story of The Toy That Saved Christmas, the first Christmas special of the series.
Plot
Opening
The special took place on a big stage where the Veggies have ostensibly booked time with a major network to air a special film as part for the VeggieTales Christmas Spectacular! However, one big problem becomes almost immediately clear - Larry the Cucumber can't find the film. Given this discouraging news, the Veggies attempt to fill the time with a variety of musical performances.
The first song is performed by Junior Asparagus who is being uplinked by satellite live from the Holy Lands. He sings the song "While By My Sheep" surrounded by a flock of sheep that bleat along with the melody. When the satellite uplink is lost, the Veggies continue to scramble while Pa Grape attempts to buy time with the network, which is threatening to pull the plug on the production.
The second song is "Silly Songs With Larry" where Larry sings "Oh Santa"
Silly Songs with Larry
Before the Film
The third musical number features Archibald Asparagus singing a German folk song, "Ring, Little Bells", while ringing some bells. Larry joins in, but as the song ends the Veggies learn that the network is about to pull the plug. Fortunately, the film reel is found by Jimmy and the feature The Toy That Saved Christmas is shown.
The Film Plays
Closing
As Bob and Larry begin to wrap up, they get news from Pa Grape that the network loves the film. While Bob and Larry are initially excited, it's eventually revealed that the network wasn't watching the right channel, and that they missed the entire show. While initially disappointed, Bob and Larry still wish the people watching a Merry Christmas!
Characters
Major
- Bob the Tomato (as himself in the segments and story; as Santa Claus in the Silly Song)
- Larry the Cucumber
- Pa Grape (as himself in the segments; as a Viking in the Silly Song)
- Junior Asparagus
- Buzz-Saw Louie
- Mr. Nezzer (voice only during the intro sequence; as Wally P. Nezzer in the story)
- Mr. Lunt
- Grandpa George
- Annie Onion
Minor
- Archibald Asparagus (appears in segments only)
- Jimmy and Jerry Gourd (appear in segments only)
- Laura Carrot
- Lenny Carrot
- Percy Pea
- Lil' Pea
- Baby Lou (does not speak)
- Lisa Asparagus (does not speak)
- Mike Asparagus
- Mom Carrot (does not speak)
- Dad Carrot
- Mom Pea (does not speak)
- Dad Pea
- Penguins
- Sheep (appear in segments only)
Featured in the Silly Song
- Scallion #1 (as a Bank Robber)
- The Peach (as an IRS Agent)
- Silly Song Announcer (unseen)
Songs
- VeggieTales Theme Song
- While By My Sheep (from A Very Veggie Christmas)
- Silly Songs with Larry: Oh, Santa! (from The Toy That Saved Christmas)
- Ring Little Bells (from A Very Veggie Christmas)
- Can't Believe It's Christmas (from The Toy That Saved Christmas)
- Grumpy Kids (from The Toy That Saved Christmas)
- Away in a Manger (briefly)
- Can't Believe It's Christmas (reprise, credits only)
Quotes
- Larry: Don't go away! "The VeggieTales Christmas Spectacular" will be right back.
- Bob: Good job, Larry.
- Larry: Thanks!
- Bob: DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT WAS TO GET A NETWORK TO TURN OVER AN HOUR OF AIRTIME TO A BUNCH OF VEGETABLES?!?!
- Larry: Uh, pretty hard??
- Bob: D'YEHHHHH!!
- Santa: Nobody messes with Santa! You know that don't you?! You've been very naughty, and I've got a list!!
- Archibald: Stay tuned for more "The VeggieTales Christmas Spectacular". But first, I'd like to do one more song.
- Bob: Not now, Archibald!
- Archibald: Sorry.
- Archibald: Oh, you're really in for a treat this evening! In the spirit of Christmases gone by, I've prepared a traditional carol. This selection is entitled "Ring, Little Bells," or in its original German, "Kling, Glöckchen".
- Jimmy: Cling, what-chen?
- Jerry: Ich bin ein gourd. (translation: I am a Gourd)
- Bob: Larry! Roll the film! Pa Grape! Dim the houselights! It's gonna be a Veggie Christmas after all!!!
- George: Where did the...? Oh, number four. Well, that was easy.
- Mr. Lunt: Look at me! I'm an elf!
- Buzz-Saw Louie: "Billy has more toys than you!"
- Bob: Mouse trap.
- Larry: Huh?
- Bob: I wanted to play Mouse Trap. You roll your dice, you move your mice. Nobody gets hurt.
- Junior: We were wrong about Christmas!
- Pa Grape: What kinda vegetable are you?
- Grandpa George: I have no idea.
- Louie: OK, everybody whose got hands, start tying.
- Pa Grape: The VeggieMan Christmas Spackleparty will be clint black. What? How am I supposed to read the card? I've got no eyes!
Production
Around 1998, Phil Vischer began talking with PAX TV about the possibility of taking over their Saturday morning block, with Bob and Larry introducing each show alongside VeggieTales. Although initially interested, they decided to give them an hour-long prime time Christmas special instead.
This posed a problem, since their only Christmas special at the time was only a half-hour long. They eventually decided to include the VeggieTales Theme Song and Junior's satellite uplink from the 1997 Young Messiah tour to fill up time. However, this meant they still had to create around 14 minutes worth of brand new animation to introduce/conclude the special, which they began making shortly after The End of Silliness? finished production.
Because of this unexpected project, production on Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed was delayed for a few weeks.
Fun Facts
Morals
- Christmas is about loving and caring for your fellow man, not for getting more stuff.
- Christmas is about giving, not receiving, and it is especially about celebrating the greatest gift ever: Jesus Christ.
- Do not believe anything false you see or hear on TV, especially commercials.
Trivia
- This is the only TV special for a few things:
- The only VeggieTales Christmas TV special to be animated entirely by Big Idea.
- The only TV special to be animated in Softimage.
- The only TV special to be done in the 1990s.
- This is the final VeggieTales-related project to have Bob, Jimmy and Jerry Gourd, Grandpa George, and Pa Grape animated in Softimage (not counting the picture cameos in LarryBoy and the Rumor Weed).
- This is included on the DVD releases of The Toy That Saved Christmas and both the VHS and DVD releases of Holiday Double Feature.
- This is the first Big Idea production for a few things:
- The first Big Idea production that Marc Vulcano worked on.
- The first Big Idea production to have a Silly Song in the beginning, although it was only placed in the middle in the main story.
- The clips that were included in the introduction for each of the characters were:
- Bob the Tomato (Madame Blueberry)
- Larry the Cucumber (His Cheeseburger)
- Junior Asparagus (Dave and the Giant Pickle)
- Jimmy and Jerry Gourd (Josh and the Big Wall!)
- The French Peas (Josh and the Big Wall!)
- Archibald Asparagus (The End of Silliness?)
- Pa Grape (The Yodeling Veteranarian of the Alps)
- Laura Carrot (Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space!)
- The Peach (Oh Santa!)
- Mr. Nezzer (Rack, Shack & Benny)
Remarks
- The intro states that the French Peas are in the special, but they never appear in any of the segments. It is possible that they were mistakenly confused with the peas who were involved with the main story.
- On a similar note, Mr. Lunt is absent from the intro, despite the fact he was involved with the main story; this was most likely due to time constraints.
- Mr. Nezzer appears on promotional art for the special, but never appears in any of the segments, despite his voice being heard offscreen during the intro.
- Additionally, the model used for the character on the promotional art is that of Wally P. Nezzer, hinting it is not the true Mr. Nezzer who appeared with the segments' cast, as Wally P. continued to appear as the character of Mr. Nezzer in the other remaining Softimage-rendered VeggieTales episodes that featured him.
- The credits were missing during the original airings and on the DVD releases of The Toy That Saved Christmas. However, Holiday Double Feature has the special with the credits.
- Despite the network saying they'll change the program in five minutes, they never actually did. When taking into account that they were watching the wrong channel the entire time, it's possible they changed the program on said channel.
- The scream that Bob lets out when Larry states that he can't find the film subliminally says "Yeah".
- The same scream clip is also played after when Pa Grape asks why isn't the film being played in response.
- This is the first time VeggieTales was on TV. However, it is just a special and not the actual show. The actual show would be seen eight years later on TV when Qubo launched.
- Incidentally, Qubo aired on i: Independent Television and Ion Television, successors of Pax.
- Laura Carrot’s name is mistakenly mentioned as Laura The Carrot.
Goofs
- On the DVD release of The Toy That Saved Christmas, Bob's line "This is network television" is glitched. This was not the case for said DVD's "The Toy That Changed a Company" bonus feature and when the special was re-released as part of the Holiday Double Feature.
- When Pa turns in some shots, you can see a bit of the special's logo on the side of his hat.
Real-World References
- Vanna White is the hostess of Wheel of Fortune.
- Bonanza was a Western-themed television series that ran from 1959 to 1973.
- In the end, it turns out the network saw the classic Christmas special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, based on the carol of the same name, instead of this show.
Episode Transcript
Credits
Gallery
