For many of us, VeggieTales was a fun show that popped on while we were eating our breakfast, scribbling pictures with crayons, or cooling down after a hot summer game of ‘hide and seek’.
Maybe you were on the other end of things, watching the show as a parent. There might be more to this kid’s cartoon than you know, though. We’re going to take a look at some information that you might find interesting about the VeggieTales movies.
Hopefully, the ideas below make it a little more interesting the next time one of these movies pops onto the screen.
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1. The Creator Just Needed a Type of Character
The VeggieTales movies could have easily included any other type of character other than vegetables.
Phil Vischer, the creator of VeggieTales, chose vegetables because they don’t have hands and would be easier to animate. It makes sense, considering the movies were made in 1993 and he wasn’t operating on a massive budget at first.
Good thing he chose vegetables, though! Who knows if the show would have been successful otherwise.
2. Fusion of Heroes
Phil’s biggest heroes as a kid were the creator of the muppets, Jim Henson, and the infamous Walt Disney.
There are influences throughout VeggieTales movies from both of those heroes. There’s something distinct about Muppets, Disney, and VeggieTales that make these family-friendly movies accessible to kids and adults.
3. VeggieTales Was Very Religious
Did you forget?
We watch these movies as kids and forget that there might have been some undertones we weren’t aware of. VeggieTales included many religious messages and Christian ideas.
In fact, the message of most movies and episodes of VeggieTales circles back to support Christian values.
4. The DVDs Hold Hidden Content
Many of the original DVD copies have easter eggs hidden throughout the menus screens. Each egg is different, so there’s no one rule to finding all of them, but they’re kids movies so we can assume that it won’t be too hard.
That said, you might not even look if you weren’t aware that there was extra content. The next time you watch one of these movies on DVD, browse around the home screen to see if you can find one of these little gems.
5. Phil’s Rules for The Show
Interestingly, Phil Vischer’s mother gave him a couple of rules that he had to follow for the show. First, he wasn’t allowed to animate a version of Jesus and display him to the world.
That would be sacrilegious, according to his mother. That’s understandable. The weirder one, though, is that the vegetables weren’t allowed to have “redemptive relationships” with god.
That’s a complicated thing to unpack, but the one way you can see this shine through in the show is that the end message always applies to the viewer, and never the veggies.
Interested in More VeggieTales Movies Facts?
Hopefully, you’ll have a little more to think about the next time you flip on the VeggieTales movies. There’s a lot more to unpack about this timeless show, though, and we’re here to help.
Explore our site for more ideas on VeggieTales and insight into more easter eggs and insights about classic shows and movies.