A VeggieTales primer

Big Idea Productions, producer of the VeggieTales series, was founded in 1993 by Phil Vischer and soon established itself as one of the most popular computer-generated children’s series in the nation. Vischer, a committed Christian, remains the creative genius behind the series that eventually sold more than 50 million videos/DVDs trumpeting values from a Judeo-Christian point of view.

Phil Vischer

But growth came at a frenetic pace and eventually led to its downfall. Between 1996 and 1999 revenue growth increased by 3,300 percent, from $1.3 million to $44 million and staff had mushroomed to 210. By early 2000 the company was having serious cash flow problems. Two years later it released the highly popular Jonah movie that grossed more than $25 million theatrically. But production costs, which had doubled from $15 million to $30, increased the crisis and the company was forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2003. At the time of the filing its staff had been reduced to only 44.

In order to pay its debts Big Idea sold its assets, including copyrights on Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber and other VeggieTales characters, to secular company Classic Media LLC, a privately held group which owns or manages media properties such as “Rocky and Bullwinkle,” “Lassie,” “The Lone Ranger,” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” The new owners are not professing Christians but businessmen who recognized the undervalued potential of the company. The winning bid at the court-supervised auction: $19.6 million.

The current problem grows from the mixed signals being sent by the new owners. While they state on their website that they have taken it upon themselves to bring viewers “quality entertainment fit for children of all ages, and present it in such a way that amplifies the timeless values of the Bible,” they accepted NBC’s terms to remove all such biblical references to increase market share of the product line.

Vischer, previously CEO of the company prior to the bankruptcy, finds himself in the unenviable position of being under contract to produce the material. He says on his blog that such editing was not spelled out to him prior to his entering the business arrangement. While not a permanent employee of Big Idea through its relationship with the new owners, he is working with them on this one venture. His primary focus is on other ministry opportunities, using his skills in computer-generated storytelling. His website is www.philvischer.com.

In his blog entry for Sept. 21 he clearly states where he stands in the controversy, which has now attracted national attention:

“I wish I had known the extent of the required cuts before agreeing to reformat the shows, because I probably would have declined the invitation to participate. While some VeggieTales shows work fine without overt references to God or the Bible (like Snoodle’s Tale, which presents God allegorically, or Sheerluck Holmes, which simply teaches the Golden Rule), most of the shows I wrote in the pre-bankruptcy days don’t really teach lessons about values at all, but rather about God.

“And those shows don’t hold up very well if you try to take God out. So I probably would have declined to participate simply because there aren’t enough veggie shows that could be made acceptable to NBC without significantly compromising their message.”

And there lies the battleground.

Sources: Phil Vischer blog (www.philvischer.com/index.php/?p=38); Christian Century, Sept. 20, 2003 (www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_19_120/ai_109269259); Big Idea Productions (www.bigidea.com/games/big_idea_note.htm).

Related articles:
NBC chooses family values over spiritual values in VeggieTales Saturday morning line-up
The players in the VeggieTales saga