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- "You see, you don't have to be afraid because God is the biggest."
- — Bob
Where's God When I'm S-Scared? | |
---|---|
Directed by | |
Written by |
Phil Vischer |
Music by | |
Distributed by | |
Released |
December 23, 1993 (earliest known release date) |
Runtime |
31 minutes |
Next episode |
Where's God When I'm S-Scared? is the first episode of VeggieTales. It features two stories that deals with the topic of handling fear. The first story has Junior facing his fear of monsters, while the second story is a retelling of the Bible story of Daniel and the Lions' Den.
Plot
Opening Countertop
Bob and Larry greet the viewers on the countertop and read a letter they received from a six-year-old girl named Lucy Anderson hailing from Phoenix, Arizona. Her letter reveals that she is afraid of monsters in her closet. Larry chimes in, remembering when he thought monsters were in his closet, but they turned out to be his fluffy bunny slippers. Bob tells Lucy to check and see if it is just her slippers and then segues into the first story: Tales From the Crisper.
Tales from the Crisper
(See the main page for the full plot.)
Silly Song
Daniel and the Lions' Den
(See the main page for a full plot.)
Closing Countertop
We return back to the countertop with Bob and Larry to wrap up the show. Bob compliments Larry's performance in the Daniel segment, to which Larry thanks him and replies that it was his "finest hour". They both proceed to hop over to Qwerty the computer to talk about what was learned today, triggering the "What Have We Learned" song to play and interrupt Bob, much to his annoyance. After the song is done, Bob explains how Junior Asparagus learned that no one has to be afraid because God is bigger than anything and is always looking out for everyone because he loves everyone so much. Larry then adds that in the Bible, Daniel learned he did not have to be afraid because he know God was protecting him from the danger of the lions in the lions' den. They then see if Qwerty has a Bible verse for them. After accidentally providing a meatloaf recipe, Qwerty displays the verse of the day: Isaiah 41:10: "So do not fear for I am with you." Bob encourages the viewers to remember that specific Bible verse whenever they feel scared and before they go to sleep at night, they should pray with their mom or dad to thank God for always looking out for them. Larry agrees and the duo sign off after reminding the kids that God made them special, and he loves them very much.
Characters
Major
- Bob the Tomato
- Larry the Cucumber (as himself and Daniel)
- Junior Asparagus
- Archibald Asparagus (as himself and King Darius)
- Phil Winklestein (Frankencelery)
- Mike Asparagus
- The Scallions (as the Wisemen)
Minor
- Lisa Asparagus (as herself and a maid)
- The Pear
- Closet Monsters
- Qwerty
- Silly Song Announcer (unseen)
- Mad Scientist and his Assistant (unseen; shadows only)
- Female Narrator (unseen)
- The Angel (unseen)
- The Blue Wind-Up Lobster (cameo)
Voice Cast
- Phil Vischer as Bob the Tomato, Archibald Asparagus, Phil Winklestein, Scallion #1, Silly Song Announcer, the Mad Scientist and one of the Closet Monsters
- Mike Nawrocki as Larry the Cucumber, Scallion #2, the Assistant, and the Closet Monsters
- Lisa Vischer as Junior Asparagus and the Angel
- Dan Anderson as Mike Asparagus
- Mike Sage as Scallion #3
- Gail Freeman-Bock as Lisa Asparagus, The Pear and the Female Narrator
Songs
- VeggieTales Theme Song
- God is Bigger
- Silly Songs with Larry: The Water Buffalo Song
- King Darius Suite
- Oh, No!
- We've Got Some News, King Darius
- Fear Not, Daniel
- You Were in His Hand
- What Have We Learned
Quotes
- Larry: Ooh, I remember once I thought there were monsters in MY closet.
- Bob: Yeah? Well, what happened, Larry?
- Larry: Well, it turned out they weren't really monsters at all, just my fluffy bunny slippers. And, they're not so scary. Just, kind of, squishy.
- Lisa Asparagus: Junior! It's time for bed.
- Junior Asparagus: J-just four more minutes.
- Lisa Asparagus: That's what you said four minutes ago. Let's skedaddle up those stairs, your father will be up in a minute to tuck you in. Besides, I think this show might be a little too scary for you.
- Junior Asparagus: Aaah! Who are you?
- Bob: I'm Bob. I'm a tomato and I'm here to help you.
- Junior Asparagus: There's something in my toy chest! It's a big scary lizard! It's a... baby pickle?
- Bob: Um, he's a cucumber. (1993 prototype)/Uh, that's a cucumber. (later releases)
- Junior Asparagus: Oh.
- Larry: Where is everybody?
- Bob: Over here Larry! [clears throat] We couldn't help but notice that you were a little bit frightened, so we thought we'd drop in and help.
- Larry: Yeah! Um, fear not, for behold I bring you tidings of great joy which shall be to all people, for unto you -
- Bob: [clears throat to cut Larry off] Wrong story Larry.
- Larry: Oh, sorry.
- Bob: What are you gonna do?
- Junior Asparagus: I’m going to call the police!
- Larry: Compared to God, the Slime Monster is like a teeny little cornflake!
- Junior Asparagus: Yeah, but the Slime Monster can squirt slime out of his ears!
- Larry: [singing]: Everybody's got a water buffalo / Yours is fast but mine is slow / Oh, where'd we get them? I don't know / But everybody's got a water buffalo-ooooooooo/ I took my buffalo to the store / Got his head stuck in the door / Spilled some lima beans on the floor / Oh everybody's got a...
- Archibald Asparagus: [Cuts Larry off]: Stop it, stop, stop right this instant! What do you think you're doing? You can't say everyone's got a water buffalo when everyone does not have a water buffalo! We're going to get nasty letters saying, "Where's my water buffalo? Why don't I have a water buffalo?" And are you prepared to deal with that? I don't think so! Just stop being so silly!
- Larry: [singing]: Everybody's got a baby kangaroo / Yours is pink but mine is blue...
- Archibald Asparagus: Ahhhhhhhhhhh! [Tackles Larry]
- Narrator: This was very good news for Daniel, but very bad news for the wise men. You see? Each one of them wanted to be second in command.
- Narrator: So the next day, just like every other day, Daniel prayed and thank God for the sunshine and for all of his friends. He also thanked God for giving him the courage to do what was right. Even when he knew it could get him in trouble.
- Larry: Did you say? Trouble?
- Larry: So, you guys are wise men. That's pretty cool, have you, like, have you always been wise, or did you have to go to school for that? Were you serious about that cheese-ball thing? Hey, I can see my house from here!
- Scallion #1: Daniel, because you violated Section 4219 2R9-4000 6.1-7, B, of the code of Babylon, forbidding prayer to anyone but King Darius- you are hereby sentenced to be consumed by the lions. Goodbye!
- Larry: Hey, didn't I get a phone caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall?
- Larry: Oh, it's not so scary down here! A little musty, not so scary!
- Larry: See you guys later! Thanks for the pizza.
- Scallion #1: They had pizza?
Other Languages
- لا تخف يا قرنبيطة (Arabic) (Fear Not, Cauliflower)
- Crisper 的故事 (Cantonese) (Crisper's Story)
- Is God er ook als ik bang ben? (Dutch) (Is God Here When I'm Afraid?)
- Rouskuvia Tarinoita (Finnish) (Rousing Stories)
- Ιστορίες Του Ψυγείου (Greek) (Stories of the Fridge)
- Hol van Isten, amikor félek? (Hungarian) (Where is God When I'm Afraid?)
- ぼくが怖こわい時とき、神かみ様さまはどこにいるの?(Japanese) (When I'm Scared, Where is God?)
- 恐懼終結者 (Mandarin) (Taiwan) (1st dub) (Fear Buster)
- 瞬過恐懼 (Mandarin) (Taiwan) (2nd dub) (Fleeting Fear)
- Dagens ferske salat (Norwegian) (Today's Fresh Salad)
- وقتی من میترسم خدا کجاست؟ (Persian) (Where is God When I'm Afraid?)
- Onde Deus Está Quando eu Estou com M-Medo? (Portuguese) (Brazil) (1st dub) (same translation)
- O Que Fazer Quando Estou Com Medo? (Portuguese) (Brazil) (2nd and 3rd dubs) (What To Do When I'm Scared?)
- Contos Estaladiços (Portuguese) (Portugal) (Crispy Tales)
- Где Же Бог, Когда Мне Страшно? (Russian) (same translation)
- Zgodbice z gredice/Zgodba iz omari (Slovenian) (Stories From the Flower Bed/A Story From the Closet)
- ¿Dónde Está Dios Cuando Tengo M-Miedo? (Spanish) (Latin America) (same translation)
- Câu chuyện từ khoai tây (Vietnamese) (The Story of Potatoes)
Production
Before production on the episode began, Phil Vischer had created a screen test called VeggieTales Promo: Take 38 in 1992. He tried to sell the show with it to Christian video distribution companies in hopes that they would give him a budget, but the plan ultimately failed. As Phil tried to sell the show, he and his wife Lisa were in major debt and were struggling to come up with the money to feed their then 13-month-old daughter, Shelby. After a while, a rich couple at Phil's church dipped into their retirement funds and gave Phil $60,000 dollars (US) to get started on the show.
As soon as Phil got the money, he and his Bible college friend, Mike Nawrocki, co-wrote and recorded dialogue for the episode. Phil, deciding he could not possibly animate the whole thing before Christmas 1993 alone, hired two recent art school graduates named Chris Olsen and Robert Ellis to co-animate, but Lisa Vischer was not comfortable with several men all concentrated in their house animating. So the three animators, along with Nawrocki, moved Phil's computer animation system and a couple of office supplies into a rental office at a strip mall on the north side of Chicago, IL, right between a Mexican grocery store and comic book store (see image on the right). They also set up blinds on their windows so nobody walking by could see them animate. As soon as animation began, Phil showcased VeggieTales in Christian magazines and put an 800 number in the magazine advertisements in hopes that people would call in and buy as the show was being made.
As soon as the animation was done, editing was underway. Phil was able to rent an editing device for the video for about two weeks. About halfway into editing, the company that the editing machine came from had called and told Phil that time was up on the machine. He managed to dump the footage onto a hard drive and dump the footage onto another editing device. After everything was done, two copies of the episode were made on two VHS tapes and were rushed off for duplication and everyone, sleep-deprived from completing the episode, slept for a few days while the copies were going off.
500 copies of the episode were sold, which, according to Phil, neither covered for the magazine ads nor the show's production.
Home media
- Main article: Where's God When I'm S-Scared?/Home Video
Features
Trailer Appearances
Fun Facts
Moral(s)
- We do not need to be afraid of scary things because there is a God who created us, loves us, and is always looking out for us.
- God is bigger than any of our fears.
Trivia
- About 500 copies of the episode were released between December 23-26, 1993, on-demand from responses to ads in Christian magazines. The version of these had several differences compared to the current version (which has been making the rounds on all re-releases).
- The theme song is unfinished, and has a couple of differences, which are:
- Larry nods his head to the camera after Bob says "Have we got a show for you!" This animation was not used in the theme song of the retail version of any other episode, but was used again starting in 1998 with Madame Blueberry and the March 31, 1998 Lyrick Studios reprints of this episode and Are You My Neighbor?
- The clip montage begins after "VeggieTales" is sung for the first time.
- Slightly different shots of clips from this episode are used.
- The lyrics "Broccoli, celery, gotta be; Lima beans, collard greens, peachy keen; Cauliflower, sweet and sour, half an hour" are not sung. Instead, the chorus sings "Veggie, veggie, it's VeggieTales" over and over again until they reach the rest of the song.
- Both major segments have credits.
- Even the closing countertop still has credits, using an instrumental of the VeggieTales theme song.
- The dialogue in the movie-within-a-show Junior watches was mixed around a bit, not pitched up, and also recorded in a different session.
- The assistant says, "Master, it can't be done," in a lower and breathier voice.
- He says, "Oh, my goodness!" before the scientist's exclamation that Frankencelery has come to life.
- The assistant also says, "Look how big it is! I didn't realize it when it was lying down! It's standing up!", whereas the scientist did not say "Stand!" until the retail version of the episode was released.
- Also, the assistant says, "Oh, look at it going!" before the scientist says, "No, this way."
- The scientist's dialogue is slightly different after the point where he says, "Frankencelery, where are you going?"
- The opening dialogue for The Water Buffalo Song was also recorded in a different session.
- QWERTY does not have designated sound effects.
- There are several other minor differences in the audio and uncut footage.
- Like the older VHS tapes, there is a pamphlet explaining what VeggieTales is.
- The theme song is unfinished, and has a couple of differences, which are:
- As far as world records go, it was only behind The Incredible Crash Dummies and The Moxy Pirate Show in 1993, but it was the first half-hour long CGI show and series produced in the United States.
- About a total of 17 characters in the show were around by the time the show debuted with this episode.
- This episode can be featured in Heroes of the Bible!: Lions, Shepherds and Queens (Oh My!), featuring Daniel and the Lion's Den.
- This episode, however marks the first appearances of Junior Asparagus, Lisa Asparagus, Mike Asparagus, Frankencelery, The Scallions, The Pear, the Closet Monsters and Qwerty.
- The Mad Scientist and his assistant were only off-screen characters.
- This episode, however marks the first appearances of Junior Asparagus, Lisa Asparagus, Mike Asparagus, Frankencelery, The Scallions, The Pear, the Closet Monsters and Qwerty.
- This is one of the only two episodes to have Larry's lower dopey voice, the other is God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?!.
- The shadows on the television show and the pupils are done by motion capture from real-time tracking of a mouse being operated by Phil Vischer.
- Phil came up with the idea of the Daniel story as a musical after watching Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
- The lines the Wisemen said while taunting Daniel were improvised by Mike Nawrocki and Mike Sage.
- On the commentary, Mike Nawrocki said that he would like to reanimate the episode with new animation and voices, just with the same script. However, little interest in the episode makes this very unlikely.
- According to the script, Daniel and the Lion's Den was originally going to be performed as a musical in a theater for an audience. However, this concept never actually came to fruition until the story was retold again in an episode of the 2019 reboot.
- According to Phil Vischer's autobiography, before production on this episode, he tried to sell the show with a little animation test called VeggieTales Promo: Take 38 to Christian video distributor companies in hopes that he would get the money to make it, but was told they might sell had he made a completed product. Phil managed to get the money from a man at his church who dipped into his retirement funds and gave him $60,000.
- The 2003 promotional 10th anniversary DVD of this episode and the 2004 Warner Home Video VHS version of the VeggieTales Classics release were the only VeggieTales home videos that includes VeggieTales Promo: Take 38, as well as other early animation tests (including Mr. Cuke's Screen Test) as a bonus feature.
- The 2004 VHS went out of print in mid-2006 (along with the rest of the VeggieTales shows on VHS due to the general death of the format).
- The 10th-anniversary promo DVD from 2003 was only available through a pamphlet that came with certain episodes around the time, and has become extinct.
- In an ad for the episode in a magazine, a character lineup is visible with a conspicuous toaster who never appears in any VeggieTales episode allegedly because he was too difficult to animate.
- During the making of the second segment, the animators panicked about making animated lions in the scene where Daniel is thrown into the den as they thought it would be expensive. They decided to go with just making yellow eyes for lions and animate them.
- International dubs of this episode except for the Arabic dub have Larry's song about him fearing the lions spoken rather than sung.
- On a similar note, the Slovenian dub has Fear Not, Daniel spoken rather than sung.
- This is the first VeggieTales episode to use classic Disney sound effects from the Cartoon Trax Volume 1.
- This is the first time the VeggieTales characters' eye rigs were modified, resembling Muppet-like eyes. This type of eye rig would remain in use until Josh and the Big Wall!, which is also the final episode in the Everland era of VeggieTales videos.
- This is the only episode of the entire series whose prototype video cover had made it into the final print. This does not happen with Are You My Neighbor? onwards.
- This is the first work from Big Idea created during the time American president Bill Clinton was in office. The last work during his presidency was Esther: The Girl Who Became Queen.
- This episode has the same lesson as both Esther... The Girl Who Became Queen and The League of Incredible Vegetables.
- Production of this episode started in July of 1993.
- There exists an extremely rare early 2001 VHS reprint of this episode by Lyrick Studios. It has a green tape with a purple ink label, and it has a print date of March 16th, 2001.
- It's believed the original print run was duplicated at A.K.O. Video Transfer.
Remarks
- This episode had the worst visual quality in contrast to the rest of the series, especially the next two episodes that were in slightly better quality than this (despite still being compressed in quality). Phil apologized about this, stating that this was due to the footage being dumped from one editing system to another via DAT tapes (as explained above) while the episode was still in production, which resulted in the episode's quality loss.
- As such, the likely cause of Where's God When I'm S-Scared? being remastered in only poor quality is presumed to have been due to most of the original project files or raw rendered frames being lost, corrupted, or even deleted to free up disk space (with the exception of the footage for the The Water Buffalo Song somehow being re-rendered in high quality for The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown). It is possible, given that the lightning that flashes (when the tall Wiseman Scallion #1 says anyone disobeying their new law will be thrown into the Lions' Den) was an error; Big Idea has never bothered to recreate that scene.
- This episode and God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?! were never restored in digitally pristine visual quality unlike the rest of the 90s episodes on their VeggieTales Classics reprints, most likely due to said reason above. However, there are recent variations of the episode that have attempted to fix the picture quality as followed by pros and cons:
- Pro: Although not sanctioned by Big Idea, some fan restorations of the episode attempted to restore the episode's visual quality by sharpness adjustments and color corrections to recreate higher-quality visuals, which in the outcome does not look like a digitally pristine remaster, but was able to be restored to much sharper, better quality matching that of the next two episodes – therefore greatly beating the one master which is making the rounds in all official releases.
- Con: The 15th anniversary release attempted to fix the RGB colors with mixed results, but this by any means still does not remedy the episode's visual quality.
- The mad scientist's voice sounds similar to Jimmy Gourd, though he has never appeared physically. Whether or not said character is playing the character in the movie is unknown.
- On the 2003 and 2004 DVD releases, the video cropping was bizarrely zoomed in a bit, possibly to remove the white noise on the bottom of the screen. The 15th anniversary DVD reverted the video cropping back to its original state (just like in the original 1993-1994 VHS versions), except that a small, black bar at the bottom of the screen cut off a bit of the bottom of the screen for some reason. Some international DVD releases keep it uncropped in its entirety, despite making some minor brightness, contrast and color adjustments.
- When the episode was remastered for the show's 15th anniversary, the audio gets more restoration, as a 5.1 surround sound audio track was included and the songs also get remastered with more instruments.
- The Water Buffalo Song also uses a re-recording from VeggieTales Live! (with the exception of the beginning and end) having Larry's current voice, but results in some of Archibald's dialogue getting cut off, due to them having been possibly recorded along with Larry's original voice when the Silly Song was originally produced at the time.
- However, most of the music is placed on the vocal track as it was only in MONO, while the music for the songs gets placed in the backing track but with clearly-heard vocals applied to it.
- The next episode did not have this treatment in all of its reprints.
- The original 1993 VHS of this episode is one of only three 1993-1997 VeggieTales VHS tapes (the other two being the original 1994 VHS of God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?! and the 1996 VHS of Dave and the Giant Pickle) that have a different sticker label aside from the rest of the tapes from 1993-1997. The 1997 Lyrick Studios VHS of Are You My Neighbor? does not count, because it uses an ink label on the tape instead of a sticker label.
- The 15th anniversary DVD falsely advertises DVD-ROM features which do not actually exist.
- The first episode features little to no texture mapping. Phil Vischer said on the DVD audio commentary that someone actually called him and asked him why he did not use texture maps.
- How on earth did both Daniel and the lions have pizza down in the lions' den? Lions have no opposable thumbs. Also, Larry has no hands. They also don't have a pizza oven, coal, wood nor tools to get the pizza out of said non-existent ovens and they certainly had no telephones, grocery stores, nor pizza parlors in Ancient Babylon. Also, there's no electricity nor are there fridges in ancient Babylon. So, storing the ingredients to make pizza in the lions' den would certainly be impossible to do & the dampness would have made all the ingredients go to waste. So there is no way the lions & Daniel should be having pizza. Besides, Wiseman #1 should never have asked "They had pizza?" because ancient Babylonians should not have any idea what pizza is. Also, pizza was invented in Gaeta, Italy in the late-990s C.E. instead of Ancient Babylon. Why this was added into the story is certainly questionable.
- When the Wisemen are about to throw Daniel in, Daniel says he sees his house. How does Daniel see his house? Also, Daniel should not be getting a phone call. As established earlier, there aren't any phones in ancient Babylon and would not exist until Alexander Graham Bell invented it in 1876.
- Junior has a VeggieTales poster on his bedroom wall with Bob and Larry on it even though he has never seen them before.
- During the first half of the Daniel story, King Darius is seen without his monocle. He later regained it the next morning, though he might be possible that he only wears it during the day or to perform magisterial duties, like how many people rarely wear glasses in the evening or to read or drive.
- Upon arriving with the Wisemen at the Lions' Den, Daniel states he can see his house from there, which is impossible since the Lions' Den is the only thing he could logically see. It is possible this statement is a reference to the camera zoom out of the Lions' Den, as evidenced by the original 1993 print.
- Larry mentions that he has slippers. But since he is a vegetable, he doesn't have any feet.
- King Darius is the king of Babylon, but in the original Bible story he is the ruler of Persia and Nebuchadnezzar is the king of Babylon.
- It is unknown who removed the rock that the wisemen put in at the lion's den. It may have been the pizza guy if the lions & Daniel ordered pizza.
- Mike Asparagus comes in after Junior sings. How come he did not hear him right at the beginning of the God is Bigger song?
- It is unknown how Bob, Larry, Phil Winklestein (aka Frankencelery), and the closet monsters instantly left Junior's bedroom after he finished singing God is Bigger, just before Mike Asparagus came in to ask Junior what was going on.
- Some international releases call this "Tales from the Crisper" in order to remove God from the title, and also replace The Water Buffalo Song with The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.
- When Qwerty pulls up the wrong thing and not the verse, Bob states it is a recipe for meatloaf, when it's actually the stuff you need for meatloaf. There are no cooking instructions anywhere.
Goofs
This episode was animated by three people, the lead animator on the verge of bankruptcy, in the course of five months using consumer equipment from the early 1990s, and thus it has many animation errors.
- When Frankencelery escapes, part of his head clips through the door entrance.
- When Bob explains to Junior that Larry is a cucumber, the shadows and the rug on the bottom of the screen change suddenly.
- When Larry asks, "Where is everybody?", his mouth is frozen.
- In the opening countertop scene, the jars behind Bob and Larry show a reflection of the countertop, but in most shots, the jars lose the reflective element.
- When Bob jumps down, his eyes clip through his eyelids.
- While not a goof, near the end of God is Bigger, the head of Junior's dinosaur toy can be seen next to Larry, although it is easy to see why it looks like an off model closet monster.
- One shot shows the jars missing.
- There is a drawing right by Junior's bed. If you pay close attention to the opening scene of Junior in bed, you will notice that there is Junior's signature. The signature only appears in two shots and does not come back. It is featured in the opening shot of Junior laying in bed and when Mike Asparagus comes in Junior's room.
- When Lisa Asparagus tells Junior that the movie he is watching is too scary for him, you will notice that the necklace she is wearing does not move along with her neck, it just stays in place and her body clips through it.
- The golden gates change between open and closed between shots.
- When the lead Wiseman (Scallion #1) proclaims any citizen disobeying their new law will be thrown into the Lions' Den, the upper right part of the set flickers white as the background turns red. Due to the team being unable to fix it, a thunderclap sound effect was added to cover up the mistake.
- When the Wisemen are carrying Daniel to the Lions' Den for breaking their new law, Wiseman #3's (Scallion #3) hair stalks clip into him.
- When King Darius is relieved Daniel is fine, something black appears on one of his eyes as he closes them in one shot.
- As King Darius turns towards Daniel during the same moment above, his monocle clips into his nose.
- When Daniel is being growled at by the lions, his mouth disappears briefly.
- When King Darius and Daniel are chasing after the Wisemen at the end of the episode, Darius can be seen clipping into the ground.
- The British DVD incorrectly lists the bonus features from King George and the Ducky on the back.
- On the 2004 Word Entertainment DVD, the screenshot of Junior looking around the room was shown on the bottom and top, instead of Bob and Larry smiling in front of Qwerty (see image).
Inside References
- Junior has a VeggieTales poster in his room, which includes Bob and Larry in the same poses from the Take 38 promo.
- Larry's blue wind-up lobster, also from from Take 38, appears in Junior's toy chest.
Real-World References
- The first segment's title "Tales from the Crisper" is a spoof on HBO's "Tales from the Crypt."
- Frankencelery is based on Frankenstein's monster which originated in the 1818 novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
- King Kong is a 1933 film about a giant gorilla that attacks New York City.
- Toledo is a city in Ohio.
- Godzilla is a giant lizard monster that first appeared in the 1954 film of the same name.
- The shrill high-pitched music when the Wisemen step into Daniel's house and are about to take Daniel is reminiscent to Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho." However, this was removed in the 15th anniversary DVD release, possibly to avoid copyright issues.
- Scrabble is a board game property owned by Hasbro, where letter tiles are used to form words.
- The house that Junior Asparagus lives in was modeled after a real rental house that Phil Vischer and his wife were living in at the time this episode was in production.
- QWERTY was based on a computer featured in an advertisement Phil Vischer made not long before production on this episode began, but Phil has declined to state the model and manufacturer for fear of being charged for using assets from corporate work on personal work.
- Larry quotes Luke 2:10-11, which is a verse from the story of Jesus' birth.
Fast Forward
- Junior's room would come back two more times in Are You My Neighbor? and Rack, Shack and Benny, before being redesigned in later episodes.
- Bob would introduce himself to Junior again in Are You My Neighbor?, in a similar way he does in this episode.
- The technique of performing Biblical stories in a theater (which Daniel and the Lion's Den was originally going to be, as described above) would later occur in the 2019 revival.
- The contract King Darius signs would later make cameo appearances in Are You My Neighbor? and Dave and the Giant Pickle.
- The Lion Pizza joke comes back in Dave and the Giant Pickle and Madame Blueberry.
- There would be three other episodes with a lesson in handling fear years later.
- Daniel and the Lion's Den will return in Heroes of the Bible!: Lions, Shepherds and Queens (Oh My!).
- The story of Daniel would be told again on The VeggieTales Show episode, "Samson's Bad Hair Day", using some elements from this episode.
- Luke 2:10-11 would be heard again in the series' first Christmas episode.