Comments on: Tragic Tale of the Christian Cucumber

Tragic Tale of the Christian Cucumber

wendell — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 15:00:02 -0800

Phil Vischer, creator of those Veggie-Tales cartoons gives a reflective account of why he did not become "The Christian Disney". So why did Big Idea Productions fail while other "Holy Cultural Warriors" are thriving? (Maybe this guy was too sincerely Christian?)
A shorter version of this Tale from "Christianity Today" magazine here.
via the spiritual center of animation on the web: Cartoon Brew

By: caddis

caddis — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 15:34:09 -0800

This is a really, really sad tale. It is also precisely why you should not commit yourself in a business venture without actually signing the contract first. Bid Idea was naively trusting, but mostly just out-lawyered.

By: mecran01

mecran01 — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 15:47:44 -0800

I had no idea they were out of business. I really enjoyed those cartoons, and I usually hate stuff like that. I hope he creates a genetically modified clone of Bob and Larry soon. and learns to use a "print this article" button on his web page.

By: TetrisKid

TetrisKid — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 15:55:18 -0800

great post wendell! Would love to hear the story from the animators perspective though.

By: yhbc

yhbc — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 15:59:38 -0800

The only Big Idea thing you really need to know is that Spaced Penguin! is still online. I had no idea when it first made the rounds that it was part of a wannabe xtian media empire, but it's still a hella neat game.

By: PinkStainlessTail

PinkStainlessTail — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 16:06:06 -0800

Other distributors had asked us to remove “God” from our videos to ensure their acceptability in the mainstream world Wow, talk about not getting it. "We love this 'The Wiz' property, but does it absolutely need all the black folks?"

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 16:11:45 -0800

That was a pretty engaging read, more so than I expected. Thanks.

By: grabbingsand

grabbingsand — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 16:33:40 -0800

This breaks my heart. My nephews grew up on Veggietales and it didn't take too many shared watchings to get me interested. The genius of Veggietales is how is could be incredibly funny on a kid level and an adult level without ever splitting the message. While unapologetically Christian, the adventures of Bob and Larryboy were never heavy-handed. Sure, they're teaching a Biblical message, but every kid I know could do with a little more help in the sharing and caring department. Sigh. *** Picks up Larryboy plush cucumber from desk to hear it say, "Have you seen my hairbrush?" ***

By: taumeson

taumeson — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 17:28:44 -0800

I read through more of Phil's website. Phil's still doing Veggie Tales, at least one a year, and still voicing the characters. He's also doing advice for up to two VT videos a year. He's being paid as a consultant, so he can concentrate on new ventures and the Veggies, and not run the company. Also, his wife is a MILF.

By: caddis

caddis — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 17:48:12 -0800

"Bid Idea" is perhaps Freudian? It should be "Big Idea." Oy vay, these spell checkers these days, they know not what I think, only what I mistype.

By: heatherann

heatherann — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 18:12:52 -0800

Good article. He sounds like a really good guy, and it sucks that he held out for God to mysteriously save them instead of listening to the faint warning bells in the back of his mind. I used to work for a Christian bookstore, and VT merchandise sells like hotcakes. My favourites were the finger puppets. :) Everybody's got a water-buffalo, Yours is fast, but mine is slow, Oh, where do we get them, well I don't know But everybody's got a water-buffalo, ooooooooooooooh! 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 water-buffalo, ooooooooooooooooooooooh!

By: Slothrup

Slothrup — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 18:25:37 -0800

Good article, and the VeggieTales were great fun. Did anyone else catch his slams against the estate tax and unions?

By: kevspace

kevspace — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 18:57:20 -0800

I'll have to remember to check back for his "why I'm not mad at God" thing.

By: arse_hat

arse_hat — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 20:00:30 -0800

Several years’ back the veggie tales toys were available in the U.S. but not in Canada so a friend asked if I could bring a toy to him for his daughter for Christmas. At the border crossing the customs agent asked if I was bringing anything into Canada. I said, “Yes a twelve inch, singing dancing Christian cucumber…” Traffic backed up at the Detroit-Windsor tunnel as everyone came out to hear “Where’s my hairbrush?”

By: ddf

ddf — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 20:58:43 -0800

That was a very sad story.

By: Artifice_Eternity

Artifice_Eternity — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 23:23:49 -0800

Since the average American kid was watching more than three hours of television per day, the impact Nickelodeon's programming and intentionally subversive attitude (Nick marketers freely admitted that their strategy was to position themselves as a kids “true ally” and to exclude parents from the conversation) drove me to do as much as I could, as quickly as I could. I have always noticed this about Nickelodeon, and have always hated it. It's not just encouraging kids to be disrespectful and scornful toward their parents. It's positioning themselves -- the large corporation (and by extension, their advertisers) -- as the kids' ally against the parents.

By: Artifice_Eternity

Artifice_Eternity — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 23:39:55 -0800

Did anyone else catch his slams against the estate tax and unions? I'm not sure he was slamming either. The inheritance tax comment could actually be read as a slam against tax evasion. And the mention of union labor was as one factor that made a Clear-Channel-produced stage show overly expensive. Mostly he was criticizing Clear Channel.

By: elgilito

elgilito — Sun, 01 May 2005 01:13:50 -0800

Wasn't the core flaw in his grand scheme (20/20 hindsight I know) the simple fact that the market for Christian cartoon vegetables was by nature a niche one - a big one perhaps, particularly in North America, but still a niche?

By: May Kasahara

May Kasahara — Sun, 01 May 2005 07:00:00 -0800

elgilito: Perhaps it's that VeggieTales had the unusual fortune of finding an audience outside of the Christian markets (I was introduced to the series in college by friends); grabbingsand's description of the series is right on the money. They did pwn the niche, but had also found a niche outside the niche (people who like quirky, quality, original animation). Obviously, they started to lose their way after that bit of success... I've only read half the article, but was surprised to see that Big Idea had gone under at all.

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Sun, 01 May 2005 07:04:58 -0800

Classic tale of why most marketing "professionals" need to be marched off the nearest cliff. I've worked with too many of them in my life to read this account and see it as anything other than typical. Sad.

By: Alt F4

Alt F4 — Sun, 01 May 2005 07:30:36 -0800

elgilito - You could also say that the market for Christian self-help books (say, The Purpose-Driven Life) have a niche market. That book alone has sold over 21 million copies.

By: SisterHavana

SisterHavana — Sun, 01 May 2005 21:30:52 -0800

Not to mention Christian fiction such as the Left Behind series. Those books have sold millions of copies as well. The mall where Big Idea was headquartered is Yorktown Center in Lombard, IL, not far from where I live. A couple years ago I temped at a place in Lombard right near Yorktown and would go to lunch at the food court there every so often. The door where I came in was right by the headquarters...the windows into the mall were covered with VeggieTales pictures so we couldn't look in. I had no idea the company went under.