I tried to find an existing VeggieTales thread and failed. Apologies if this reveals my sad forum search skills. Anyway, this story came to me in the Biola U. e-newsletter. Thought it might be of interest:

> 1. VEGGIETALES CREATOR DELIVERS COMMENCEMENT SPEECH
>
> After introducing himself in the voice of the popular animated character
> Bob the Tomato, VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer delivered Biola’s winter
> commencement address on December 19.
>
> In his message, Vischer talked candidly about the disappointment of seeing
> his company Big Idea Productions -- responsible for producing the
> VeggieTales series -- dissolve because of financial woes. He told the
> graduates that the company fulfilled his life-long dream to create an
> animated series that would not only entertain, but also impart the wisdom
> of biblical truths.
>
> Since Vischer first dreamed up the VeggieTales series in 1993, more than
> 35 million VeggieTales videos have been sold. At one time, Big Idea
> Productions was home to approximately 200 employees. But, like so many
> businesses in the post-dot com era, Vischer’s company grew too quickly.
> After stagnant sales in 2002, layoffs ensued and Big Idea Productions was
> forced to file for bankruptcy in the winter of 2003.
>
> At the close of his address, Vischer issued a challenge the graduates:
> Don’t focus on your accomplishments but instead on making God the number
> one priority in your life.
>
> Audiences of the afternoon graduate ceremony and the evening undergraduate
> ceremony responded to Vischer’s message with standing ovations.
>
> Biola President Clyde Cook said of the audience’s reaction, “It was
> obvious from the response of the graduating students and guests, in both
> services, how much Phil’s message touched them. It is rare to have a
> commencement speaker deliver such a memorable address and I cannot
> remember one that received a standing ovation, including several I have
> given.”
>
> 110 students received master’s degrees while 160 students received
> bachelor’s degrees.
>
> To order a copy of Vischer’s speech or hear it online, visit
> www.biola.edu/news_items.cfm

But nobody sang a Silly Song? He didn't bring Larry? Sigh....

It was Biola, Ron. You can't have everything :wink:

> including several I have given.”

I like this college prez for this phrase alone.

No point in starting a whole new thread for this, I guess.

I just got a release schedule from Maple, which I believe is the Canadian branch of Lions Gate (a company owned by a guy here in Vancouver, but whatever). In addition to Saw III (opening October 27, 2006!) and some other yeah-whatever titles, I see The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything listed under "coming soon". A bit of web snooping reveals that this film is tentatively scheduled for 2007. Looks like Jonah (2002; our thread on the film three message boards ago) won't be the only VeggieTales movie after all!

General question: The founders of Veggie Tales were forced to sell the company due to bankruptcy and a contract ruling that went against them. That ruling was recently reversed...have they been able to regain control of the company? Anyone?

The reversal of that ruling won't change much, as far as I know. Big Idea went bankrupt, and the assets were sold to Classic Media. The original jury award (10-million) would have been one of the liabilities of the defunct LLC, and my understanding is that the other creditors will now get a larger piece of the pie.

I don't think Vischer would turn down an offer to get his company back, but I'm not sure. I had a chance to hear him speak twice this year, and once at an event that allowed us to visit for a while. He is pretty clearly *over* the whole thing -- and he has moved on to a new creative venture called Jellyfish.

Hey Peter, was just doing some snooping around on this, and found out that Maple is a new company started by two former LGF execs and partly owned by LGF. Details here. Just fwiw.

Thanks, Tim!

That was seven months ago. Today, as I caught up on some things, I noticed that items here and here (and perhaps elsewhere) have been reporting that it was announced just last week that The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything would be released by Universal in 2008. I happened to get an updated Maple Films schedule just a few days ago, so I checked it just now, and sure enough, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything is no longer on their list. Hmmm.

I also came across an article here, which gives some (to my mind) disappointing news:



Sounds pretty iffy.

Edit: Not because it's Canada, you understand, just because I have no idea how good these other animators might be.

Censored versions playing on Saturday-morning TV?

I recorded VeggieTales TV and watched it myself (before showing it to my daughter). Ick. It was really bad. I didn't get to the 'values' issue--it was just lousy.

Alan Thomas wrote:
: I recorded VeggieTales TV and watched it myself (before showing it to my daughter). Ick. It was really bad.

Did you still show it to your daughter? I'm still kinda clueless as to how strongly I'll be enforcing the "good art" standard when I get around to letting my own kids watch stuff.

No, I didn't show it to her. And I'll probably screen one additional episode (in its entirity) to make sure I didn't miss something.

Mandate great art and make a "best effort" to avoid the bad stuff (in my house, The Little Mermaid is verbotten, as is Barney and commercial television, but I'm not sure my daughter is even aware of that). Avoid all TV/video before age two (if you can); they need to interact with the real world and the physical things around them first.

The Weinstein Co. gets involved.

Movie Marketing Madness posts two different trailers for The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything -- one that is presumably for theatres ...



... and one that was included on some VeggieTales videos a while ago:



Neither of these trailers indicates what will be particularly "Christian" or "biblical" about this film, if anything. It all looks pretty generic -- heroes can be small, etc., etc.

As per earlier posts in this thread, LionsGate/Maple was going to release the film in 2007 at one point, but now it looks like Universal is releasing the film in 2008.

Interesting to think, BTW, that Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie (2002; $25.6 million) is still the top-grossing evangelical movie ever, despite coming out pre-Passion. The runner-up is One Night with the King (2006; $13.4 million), which grossed only a little more than half what Jonah made.

Alan,
I'm curious what you think about the video series.

VeggieMovies, take two
The idea for the movie began with a vision of three fake pirates falling from the sky into the ocean, transported in a magical rowboat back into the 17th century. It helps to know that Elliot, Sedgewick and George have, in their previous dramatic lives, been known as Larry the Cucumber, Mr. Lunt and Pa Grape -- key characters in the successful VeggieTales products created by Big Idea, Inc. Now they're headed back to theaters in "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything," a feature film distributed by Universal Pictures that is scheduled for release on Jan. 11.
Terry Mattingly, October 15

- - -

BTW, is it mere quibbling if I point out that one of the videos above seems to equate piracy with heroism? Or is there a substantial point to be made there?

Sorry, Jennie--just saw your note.

The commercials are overwhelming to me. We're just not used to watching any programs with commercials, and my daughter can't really skip them. So we're not watching the program and sticking with DVDs and PBS.

Just wondering: Has anybody here heard any rumblings about press screenings or preview screenings for The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything? I ask because it opens in ten days -- less, if you take into account the fact that I'm writing this at night and there will almost certainly be matinees on opening day -- but I haven't heard a peep, yet I know of all sorts of promos and pressers that have been lined up for various OTHER films that are coming out in the first two weeks of January. And since The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything is a kids' film, it would normally be standard practice to have the preview on a Saturday morning, but the only Saturday morning remaining before the release date is ... three and a half days from now. I haven't contacted the Universal rep yet -- it's a stat holiday, after all -- but I checked with a friend of mine who works for one of the other studios and goes to all the screenings in town, and he tells me HE hasn't heard anything yet either.

Now if only I could get that darnable 'Belly Button' song out of my mind. (Many thanks to the family friends who gave my kids that VeggieTales DVD for Christmas...)

I love the Belly Button song. There's a time to be silly, and a time to be serious. I'm glad the Veggie folks learned that.

Well, I haven't heard anything about the standard press screening, but I saw a work print of the film about three months ago, and talked to Vischer about it in early December.

CrimsonLine wrote:
: I love the Belly Button song. There's a time to be silly, and a time to be serious. I'm glad the Veggie folks learned that.

And I'm glad that they've broadened their horizons. Artistically.

Greg Wright:
: Well, I haven't heard anything about the standard press screening . . .

See, now, that's odd, isn't it?

Cam you tell us if it's as good as, below the standard of, or better than Jonah? I think that Jonah is a fun little movie, and given that CrimsonDash watches it at least once a month, and that I still laugh at parts of it, that's saying something.

I think that adult VT fans will be a little disappointed; but the kids in the audience I saw it with ate it all up.

When I talked with Vischer, he was very clear, though, in wanting to communicate to fans that this is not the film that will "bring Veggie Tales back to life" or anything like that. It's a work for hire.

The interview will run Friday at Past the Popcorn.

The interview is up. Vischer says some surprising things. A sample:

So did anyone here attend any actual press screenings (as opposed to church-based Christian-radio screenings)? RottenTomatoes.com has seven reviews up so far -- 80% Fresh in the cream-of-the-crop section, 57% Rotten overall -- and that's not including the dismissive New York Times review. Variety says it saw the film in L.A. last Saturday.

My very tepid review is up. The kiddies will be relatively happy, at any rate.

My major complaints?

I love middling adverbs like ""Very Tepid" or "Extremely Mediocre". I suppose they me mean "Not one hair above OR below average." That's a pretty precise description.

Ah, but when you consider all the possible areas of potential excellence or ineptitude to be avoided in order to achieve a really thoroughgoing tepidity or mediocrity, when you reflect on all the possible opportunities even in a generally mediocre movie for some ray of distinction or some pit of real failure -- when no major or minor performance stands out either in a good way or a bad way, when line after line of dialogue, shot after shot, cut after cut is ploddingly middle-of-the-road, when story, theme, imagery, and character development warrant no particular commment of any sort, when soundtrack, production values and costuming are competent but no more, when in the end you find yourself unable to point to any one specific point of interest either in censure or in praise, and can neither pronounce the film worthwhile or a waste of time -- then perhaps any number of possible intensifying adverbs can credibly be applied to the adjectives of moderation.

Hypothetically speaking, I mean.

I just finished ready Phil Visher's book Me, Myself, and Bob which chronicles the rise and fall of VeggieTales. I highly recommend it. It is a cautionary tale about chasing one's dreams assuming God will bless everything we do if our motives are (at least somewhat) pure. It seems Phil has come out the other side a better and wiser person for the whole experience. I have read several interviews with him about the new movie and he is very realistic about what it is and is not. He no longer has creative control over VeggieTales and this story was written right after Jonah as a way to keep the remnant of his staff busy while the business was imploding around them-nothing more, nothing less. It was shelved and the company who owns VeggieTales now, finally got around to making the movie.

Sounds like you actually read my review...

Of course "very tepid" was applied to my review, not to the movie itself...

Did I mention that politically I am radically moderate?

I prefer to be moderately radical.

CrimsonDash and I just got back from the noon-thirty showing of "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything." Dash is five and a half, and loves VeggieTales. He thought the movie was awesome, though his favorite part was the silly song, "Rock Monster" at the end.

I found it amusing but not really funny; while "Jonah" had a lot of zany parts, this movie didn't have a lot of zane. The sole exception to that zanelessness were the angry cheese curls, which made me laugh every time they were on screen, and made even the credits enjoyable.

The movie is a parable about the "cosmic" elements of the Christian story - In the 17th century, after the good king's brother, Robert the Terrible, rebels against his liege and is exiled from the kingdom, he becomes a Dread Pirate (in what may be a subtle nod to The Princess Bride) and vows revenge. He waits until the king is off on a long journey, then captures the king's children, in hopes of killing them and becoming the heir to the kingdom. His problem is, he doesn't know when the King is returning, and he needs that information in order to truly mount his offensive. But the King didn't tell the children when he was coming back, he just left them with his example, and with a cool ball-shaped "seeker" that would find help when it was most needed. Enter the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, three hapless waiters from a Pirate-themed restaurant in our time. The seeker brings the trio back in time to help rescue the Prince and Princess. Along the way, they need to conquer their own laziness, fear, and lack of confidence, and become the heroes that the King knows them to be.

It's a gentle parable, and the spiritual connections are nebulous enough not to offend the irreligious. They may in fact be so subtle that they will escape many theologically unsophisticated Christians! But I enjoyed the story, smiled my way through it, and laughed out loud whenever the dread menace of the tiny, gnashing-teethed cheese curls came onscreen. My son loved it, and we had a great time together. So, thumbs up.

'Course, what I really missed, and there was a great place for it, was for the guys to say, "zero, zilch, zip, nada." And they didn't. I was crushed!

Crim: Judging from my zero-results Google search, you may have just coined the perfectly lovely word "zanelessness." ("Zaneless" does turn up a handful of matches, most of which appear to be irrelevant. Researching existing usage of "zane" as a positive quality obviously poses a significantly greater challenge.)

I shall watch assiduously for my next opportunity to deploy it in conversation.

I am glad to be of service...

CrimsonLine, just wondering, did you spot any two-year-olds in the audience? My sister and I are thinking of taking my twins to see this movie on Monday ...

Yes. We went to the theaters while school was in session, so the crowd was light, only five or so families, but some of the kids were as young as 2, no question. It's a very mild movie.

On the other hand, my son had trouble going to sleep tonight due to fear, which he attributed to the movie. It makes no sense to me, but he's a sensitive kid. I asked him if that meant he didn't want to see more movies like that, and he said that he definitely DID want to see more movies like that. It may just be more overwhelming for him on a big screen.

I know mediocre means average, but it has far more negative connotations than most of it's synonyms.

I mean which would you rather be described as "on par" or mediocre?

Extremely mediocre seems, to me, to be about as poor as you can get without being actually poor.

Matt

Just for the record, I didn't call the film mediocre or average or anything like that. I called my review "tepid" and my review itself called the film "a likely disappointment" for adult Veggie Tales fans. I also said kids are likely to love it.

If estimates hold, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything grossed $4.4 million on 1,337 screens for 9th place this weekend, which makes it the second-highest opening weekend of any evangelical movie ever -- behind only Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, which grossed $6.2 million on 940 screens for 6th place in October 2002 (before expanding to 1,625 screens and going on to gross $25.6 million in total).

For comparison's sake, End of the Spear grossed $4.3 million on 1,163 screens for 8th place in January 2006 (and went on to gross $12 million in total), and One Night with the King grossed $4.1 million on 909 screens for 9th place in October 2006 (and went on to gross $13.4 million in total).

Well, we've had an evening and a morning since I took my twins to see it, and there are no nightmares to report. In fact, my daughter fell asleep on my sister's lap towards the end of the movie, as you can see here (don't worry, I wasn't snapping pictures DURING the movie, just during the credits, after the handful of other people had already started leaving):



I really, really enjoyed sitting in a theatre with my boy on my knee. I have no idea how long it will be until the next time I try something like this, and I look forward to the day that he and I can actually TALK about the movies we see. (Right now his vocabulary doesn't go much further than "All done!" and "Amen!" and "Thanks!" and "Hot!" and "Well-o-well-o-well-o...")

CrimsonLine, if I do write about this movie, I will HAVE to use the word "zanelessness" and credit you with it -- but how should you be credited? (PM me or e-mail me if you don't want your "real" name to be made public here.)

My real name is in my sig, so no big deal. I go by the real name "Denes House."

So we had a babysitter the other night, because we had plans to attend a board meeting at a local theatre, in order for Sarah to present herself as a candidate for artistic director. (Not that the board had advertised for one — this was a sort of "hostile takeover" bid on Sarah's part, because the current artistic director clearly isn't getting the job done. But I digress.) We had no idea how long the meeting might take, but the sitter said she could stay till 10:30 p.m. or so.

Well, first the meeting was moved from 7 to 6, so Sarah got a ride with a friend and went at 6. The plan was for me to follow at 7 after the sitter arrived. When I got to the theatre, Sarah met me at the door. Her part of the meeting was over already.

So we had 3.5 hours ahead of us with nothing planned. To the multiplex we went. We stood and perused the marquee, on which appeared the titles of 16 films. But not the entire titles. They were all severely truncated — in order, I suppose, to fit them all on the marquee. One such title leaped out at us: Pirates. Wow, we thought, is At World's End still playing here? Amazing! (No, we don't get out much.)

Do you see where this is going?

We bought the tickets. There were about six people in the theatre, including us. We settled in with soft pretzel and diet Coke and endured a couple of trailers. When the feature started, we thought at first it was another trailer. But after a couple of minutes of cutlass-wielding broccoli, we figured it out. We had expected Johnny Depp and gotten Veggie Tales.

Fortunately, Johnny Depp was playing twenty minutes later down the hall, wielding a blade of a different sort. So there we went. If we decide to come back for this pirate movie, we'll skip the babysitter and bring the kid.

Just be glad you didn't take the kid and get the Depp films the other way around.

Matt

Link to the thread on VeggieTales in the 'Religion' forum.

- - -

ER mulls 'Veggie Tales' sale
The troubled U.K. children’s and family specialist, Entertainment Rights, may sell one of its U.S. businesses as it moves to reduce debt of around $200 million.
Big Idea, the Nashville-based studio best known for “Veggie Tales,” is being lined up for a possible sale by Entertainment Rights’ new CEO Nick Phillips.
Big Idea became part of Entertainment Rights when it acquired Classic Media in January 2007. . . .
Variety, June 16