King George and the Ducky is the 13th episode of VeggieTales. It was released in April 8, 2000 by Everland Entertainment on VHS, in April 11, 2000 by Lyrick Studios on VHS, on August 8, 2000 by Lyrick Studios on VHS, on November 26, 2002 by Warner Home Video on DVD and VHS, on May 20, 2003 by Warner Home Video on DVD and VHS, and on May 18, 2004 by Warner Home Video on DVD and VHS. This story is a retelling of David and Bathsheba from the Book of Second Samuel.
An Englishman (Scallion #1) goes up a hill and steals all the bananas. Then a Swede (Jerry) goes up another hill and steals all the strawberries. Both men refuse to eat their own fruit without some of the other but are too selfish to lend some to each other. They are stuck.
In the second story, King George (Larry) only cares about rubber ducks. His servant Louis (Bob) tries to tell him the kingdom is in the middle of the Great Pie War. George doesn't care. To him, the most important person in the world is himself. As George proclaims his love for himself and his rubber duck, he notices a rubber duck which belongs to a poor boy named Thomas (Junior). Jealous, King George tells Louis to get him the duck, but Louis refuses.
Cedric the General (Scallion #1) says that they need more men on the battlefield. Seeing his opportunity, George announces that Thomas wants to help and tells Cedric to put Thomas on the front line of the battle alone. With Thomas out of the way, George tells Louis to meet him at Thomas's house so they can take the duck.
King George and Louis manage to steal the duck and the King is happy. Before George can take a bath with his new duck, Cedric and Thomas come. According to Cedric, Thomas ended the war all on his own, but has suffered "the trauma of war" in the process. George quickly shoes them away and again tries to get in the bath, but is interrupted by Melvin (Pa Grape).
Melvin tells a story of two men, one with many sheep and one with a single sheep. Visited by a guest, the rich man steals the sheep from the poor man to serve for dinner. Furious, George asks who this rich man is, and Melvin points out that it is George himself. Melvin tells George that "Whether he is a king or just a kid, God wants us all to put others first." Looking to make up for his sins, George lets Thomas take a bath in his tub, which cures his war trauma, and then returns his duck.
Plot
The show opens up on the countertop with Jimmy and Jerry Gourd, who are disguised poorly as Bob and Larry. They say they've received a letter from a guy named Jimmy who lives somewhere in Kansas. He mentions of a friend of his named Jerry who is very selfish. Jerry (dressed as Larry) speaks up and says that Jerry is a very nice guy and the guy who is really selfish is name Hubert. Jimmy (dressed as Bob) yells at Jerry for messing up the letter. Jerry takes off his Larry costume and lashes out at Jimmy. All of a sudden, the real Bob and Larry come out at confront Jimmy and Jerry. Jimmy and Jerry say they figured Bob could use a break and they've wanted to host a show ever since Dave and the Giant Pickle. Bob at first isn't sure about letting the gourds host, but he lets them when they say that they have a story to tell. The story they have is a poorly acted play called "The Englishman who went up hill (and came down with all the bananas).
In the play, Scallion #1 is dress as an Englishman who came down a hill and took a bunch of bananas and won't eat one without a strawberry. Meanwhile, a swede (Jerry) has a bunch of strawberries he had taken from a hill and won't eat one unless he has a banana. The two gentlemen see the fruit they have and they won't share their fruit with each other.
As the story ends, Jimmy and Jerry head towards Qwerty for a verse only to find that he is completely shut off. Jerry then pulls out a piece of cardboard with "Don't be selfish" scribbled on. As the gourds begin to wrap up the show, a fed up Bob comes out and discredits Jimmy and Jerry for their performance. Bob then asks Larry if he remembers about a letter from Lucy of Thompson from Bismark, North Dakota, which reads that she won't share her toys with her little brother. The two then begin to play the story of "King George and the Ducky."
Characters
- Jimmy Gourd
- Jerry Gourd
- Bob the Tomato
- Larry the Cucumber
- Scallion #1
- Rubber Ducky (debut)
- King George's father (debut, picture)
- Junior Asparagus
- Silly Song Narrator
- Manatee plush doll (debut)
- Barbara Manatee singers (debut)
- Bill (manatee) (debut)
- Pa Grape
Fun Facts
Explanations
- "Break a leg" is showterms for saying "Good luck!".
- Infidel is another way to someone who doesn't believe.
- Boysenberry is a type of berry, which is a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry.
- A cobbler is similar to a pie, but with a biscuit topping.
- The "Bye-bye, Lumpy!" message is a farewell for using the previous server (possibly SoftImage) for the shows.
Trivia
- This is the first episode where someone else besides Bob and Larry to take over the Countertop.
- The costumes Jimmy and Jerry wore were based on the ones Mike Nawrocki experienced when he went to be a spokesperson for a Vacation Bible School. The kids at who did VBS actually made cardboard cutouts of Bob and Larry.
- This marks the first episode to use Maya, as well the first appearance of Scallion One with his Tall hairdo.
- During the scenes of King George taking Thomas' duck, there's a graffiti of King George and his castle on the viewer's right. It also has "Selfi", which is probably "Selfish". So the picture is probably drawn by someone who didn't like King George.
- Phil said this was the riskiest episode they wrote, since the original Bible story it's based after is more "adult" themed. Sean Gaffney helped out when he wrote a ten page draft called "King Dave and the Bath Ducky", which is basically just the same Bible story but with a rubber duck. Phil then decided to tweaked it (eg. names and locations) because he didn't want kids to know what Bible story it's based on.
- This is the first episode Tod Carter worked on.
- This is the last episode for Larry to have a lisp.
- This is the first time Larry played an antagonist type role.
- Speaking of which, some fans wrote letters stating they didn't like Larry being mean.
- According to Phil, Pa Grape's character was named Nathan, but then changed to Melvin in the final.
Remarks
- One of the screenshots on the back of the cover have King George and Louis smiling. Louis is smiling with his teeth, whilst in the actual episode, he has his mouth opened.
- If you watch the video on a computer, you'll notice some white behind in the scene where George and Louis were down the castle.
- As you'll noticed in the episode, the countertop scenes are in more of a yellow-ish look. Phil apologized to anyone who notices it.
- It's unknown when the story of King George takes place, considering he uses a quarter to operate the binoculars.
Goofs
- After the pie hits Jean Claude, his right eye phases through the pie crust.
Inside References
- Bob states he just had a break, probably referring to Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed.
Real World References
- In the teaser trailer from the second sing along, the narrator mentions King Arthur and Henry the 8th.
- Jerry's line "You wanna piece of me?" was a homage to the first Toy Story film.
- The first story's title is a spoof on "The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain" starring Hugh Grant.
- The glasses King George wore while stealing Thomas' duck are Groucho Glasses.
Fast Forward
- A prequel of the story would be made years later.
Credits Roll
Directed by MIKE NAWROCKI
Produced by JENNIFER COMBS
Story by SEAN GAFFNEY
Production Coordinators JOSHUA LINDSAY ALEXANDER M. SCHEIDLER
Production Assistant HEATHER FINCH
Written by MIKE NAWROCKI PHIL VISCHER
Storyboarding by TOD CARTER LUIS CONTRERAS
Concept Art AARON HARTLINE HYUN HUH STEPHEN UNTERFRANZ JEREMY VICKERY
Matte Paintings RICHARD GOUGE DANIEL PATRICK O’BRIEN
Character Voices MIKE NAWROCKI JACKIE RITZ PAUL ROSENBURG LISA VISCHER PHIL VISCHER
Edited by ADAM FRICK JOHN WAHBA
Modeling Supervisor STEPHEN UNTERFRANZ
Modeling Artists AARON HARTLINE IAN HUBBARD HYUN HUH JEREMY VICKERY
Additional Modeling STEPHEN UNTERFRANZ
Texturing Supervisor STEPHEN UNTERFRANZ
Texturing Artists AARON HARTLINE IAN HUBBARD HYUN HUH JEREMY VICKERY
Layout Supervisor STEVE LEEPER
Layout Artists STEVE LEEPER ALEX LI CHARLES RAMSEY RYAN WILLIAMS
Animation Supervisor MARC VULCANO
Character Animators ANDY ARNETT THOMAS DANEN ROBERT ELLIS JOE MCFADDEN RON SMITH NATHAN TUNGSETH MARC VULCANO
Additional Animation ROB DUCEY RYAN WILLIAMS
Lighting Supervisor DANIEL PATRICK O’BRIEN
Lighting Artists NICOLE ALLEN RICHARD GOUGE DANIEL PATRICK O’BRIEN CHARLES RAMSEY
Effects Artists ROB DUCEY RICHARD GOUGE HENRY VERA
Engineering Artist MIKE LAUBACH
Additional Engineering Artists ROB DUCEY BRAD HIEBERT HENRY VERA JOE MCFADDEN
Director of Technical Development HENRY VERA
Render Management KEN GREENE TIM TOLL HENRY VERA
Additional Render Management HEATHER FINCH JOSHUA LINDSAY SCOTT NELSON
Database Development SCOTT NELSON
Software Support DAN WALKER
Software Development KEN GREENE ALAN MILLMAN SCOTT NELSON TIM TOLL HENRY VERA
Musical Score Composed And Produced by KURT HEINECKE MIKE NAWROCKI PHIL VISCHER
Audio Engineering ADAM FRICK
Instruments HEATHER FINCH ADAM FRICK KURT HEINECKE CHAR JACKSON MARC VULCANO
Director of IT WAYNE GEILS
Studio Systems Administrator PAT KEANE
Senior Systems Administrators MATT GRUETT WES SUESS
Content Consultant SCOTTIE MAY Ed.D.
Special Thanks To JON GADSBY BILL HALJUN CHAR JACKSON PATTY O'KELLEY DARREN RAICHART HOLLY VICKERY And The Big Idea Family
Executive In Charge Of Production CHRIS MEIDL
Executive Producer PHIL VISCHER