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The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown is the sixteenth episode of VeggieTales. The premise was to count down the Top Ten Silly Songs as decided by the show's viewers.

The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown
Director(s)

Tom Bancroft

Producer(s)

Jennifer Combs

Writer(s)

Mike Nawrocki

Music by

Kurt Heinecke

Distributor

HiT Entertainment
(Mass market)
Word Entertainment
(Christian market)

Released

September 15, 2001
(Christian market)
September 18, 2001
(Mass market)

Runtime

43 minutes

Previous episode

Lyle the
Kindly Viking

Next episode

Jonah Sing-Along
Songs and More!

Plot[]

On the Countertop, the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, comprised of Larry the Cucumber, Pa Grape, and Mr. Lunt, are hosting the show, greeting the viewers to what is known as "The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown." Of course, Larry and Mr. Lunt aren't so thrilled about it, telling Pa that they already did something, but Pa tells them that all they did was order Chinese food. Pa then explains to the viewers that for the past few months, they asked fans to cast their votes for their favorite Silly Song, before introducing them to a device called "The Astonishing Contraption of Silliness," which they will use to tally up the votes for the silliest Silly Song of all time. Mr. Lunt comments that that's a lame name for a machine, but Larry thinks otherwise, saying that he likes it, before offering a won ton to Mr. Lunt. Pa then demonstrates how the ACOS works, before it speeds up a little then malfunctions. Pa then tells Larry and Mr. Lunt to get to work with getting the countdown all ready.

Larry and Mr. Lunt then bring out a bunch of sacks full of votes and place them into the ACOS while Pa explains the rules to the viewers, which are that they will put the votes into the ACOS, which will then count the votes and countdown to the silliest Silly Song of all time. Once all of the votes have been placed into the ACOS, Pa then tells Mr. Lunt to pull the lever. Once the lever has been pulled, the ACOS then brings up the Silly Songs in order of vote:

After this song, the ACOS malfunctions again, this time bringing up a non-existent Silly Song called "The Dance of the Yodeling Cebu Lips", Pa stops the countdown, saying that something must be be wrong with the ACOS, before using a wooden mallet to fix it up again. This time, the ACOS is able to work properly again, bringing up:

Pa then praises that song for being the grandfather of Silly Songs, the one that started the whole thing. Pa then says to pause for a moment of respect, before quickly telling Larry to "hit it," to which Larry then hits the machine to start it up again. After that, more Silly Songs are brought up again in order of vote:

After this song, the ACOS malfunctions once again, bringing up another non-existent Silly Song called "The Song of the Water Buffalo Who Don't Love Cebu with Yodeling Lips," Pa shows up with his wooden mallet again, telling the viewers that they are experiencing technical difficulties once again. Pa then tells Larry to come up with one of his Silly Songs while he fixes the machine, but Larry says that he didn't prepare anything. This only frustrates Pa even further, before picking up a Chinese menu and handing it to Larry and Mr. Lunt. Because of that, Larry and Mr. Lunt improvise a brand new Silly Song entitled "Do the Moo Shoo." After the song ends, with Mr. Lunt telling Larry to break the fortune cookie, Larry does so, revealing a fortune that reads, "Beware of grape with wooden mallet." By the time the song ends, Pa has gotten the ACOS fixed up again, telling Larry and Mr. Lunt that the song they sang was a nice song, but it won't make the countdown, before the ACOS brings up more songs by order of vote:

After this song, Pa then tells the viewers that they are now down to two more songs, with one song going home as the loser and the other song going home as the silliest Silly Song of all time. The ACOS then brings up the number 2 song: "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" and starts to say it, but Pa quickly stops the countdown, saying that they didn't collect all the votes. Larry and Mr. Lunt tell him that they did, but Pa acts even more apprehensively, asking them if they checked in the closet, to which Larry replies that there's nothing in the closet. Pa then goes off to check in the closet, before returning with a bag labeled "Official Votes," which he then throws into the ACOS. Mr. Lunt claims that he smells something fishy, but Pa tells him that it's just Larry, who offers Mr. Lunt some "kung pao squid," which Mr. Lunt takes a pass on. Before the ACOS can start up again with the number 2 song, Larry and Mr. Lunt stop the countdown again and confront Pa about what he just did. Pa finally admits that he rigged the election, saying that the bag he threw into the ACOS wasn't full of Official Votes after all, as well as the fact that "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" was the only song he ever actually had a starring role in. Larry and Mr. Lunt comfort him, saying that number 2 isn't all that bad, before adding that it sure beats the Forgive-O-Matic, before Scallion #1 says from off-screen, "I heard that!" Once Pa realizes that number 2 isn't such a bad position, he asks Larry and Mr. Lunt to forgive him, which they do, before asking the ACOS if it forgives him too, to which it does before telling him not to let it happen again. This time, the ACOS then brings up the number 2 Silly Song:

After this song, the ACOS then brings up the number 1 Silly Song of all time:

Once the silliest Silly Song of all time has been revealed and the countdown being officially over, Larry, Pa, and Mr. Lunt then thank the viewers for voting. Larry then hops up to the front of the camera with his take out box to offer the viewers some kung pao squid. Then, the episode ends.

Characters[]

Archival Footage (in order of appearance)[]

Voice Cast[]

  • Phil Vischer as Pa Grape, Mr. Lunt and Scallion #1
    • Archival audio: Bob the Tomato, Archibald Asparagus, Mr. Nezzer, Phil Winklestein and Jimmy Gourd
  • Mike Nawrocki as Larry the Cucumber
    • Archival audio: Jean-Claude Pea, Scallion #2, The Bear (Re-Release), Jerry Gourd and The Peach
  • Appearing in archival audio (in alphabetical order): Dan Anderson (Dad Asparagus), Robert Ellis (The Bear) (Original Release), Kurt Heinecke, Raeann Powell, Jackie Ritz (Barbara), Paul Rosenberg (Bill), Mike Sage (Scallion #3), Ginger Tam and Lisa Vischer (Junior Asparagus)

Top Ten Silly Songs[]

Production[]

Phil Vischer said in an interview that he and Mike Nawrocki wanted to create a video of all the Silly Songs they created through the years for the fans. But they had a hard pick on which is the silliest song, so Phil decided to do a contest for fans on voting their favorite songs. Mike later got involved, and started writing the script. He decided to inject the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything in the episode, since they would be in the Jonah film. Mike stated that there has to be a conflict, so he wrote on them not being the winners. At first, when they did the votes with some friends, they were in seventh place, but when voting became public, they later saw on the votes that the song was being voted the most, next to the Hairbrush Song, so they needed some way to keep the conflict. Tom Bancroft, along with Mike and Phil, decided to figure out a way to fix it. They initially pitched that Pa Grape would try cheating, by adding more votes in-between the countdown, similar to what happened during the 2000 election in Florida. Eventually, they decided to let the voting continue a bit more until the numbers changed.

Other Languages[]

  • A csacska lista (Hungarian) (The Bucket List)
  • The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown (Indonesian) (same title)
  • Canções Divertidas: Contagem Regressiva (Portuguese) (Brazil) (Fun Songs: Countdown)
  • A Contagem Final das Canções Tontas (Portuguese) (Portugal) (The Final Countdown of Silly Songs)
  • Типичная Глупая Песня Обратный Отсчет (Russian) (Typical Silly Song Countdown)
  • Trapaste pesmice (Slovenian) (Silly Songs)

Home media[]

Main article: The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown/Home Video

Features[]

The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown/Features

Fun Facts[]

Trivia[]

  • The show's original title was "The Ultimate Silly Song Collection," but it was changed at the last minute.
  • This is the first episode for a few things:
  • This is the only episode for a few things:
    • The only main episode that was distributed by HiT Entertainment on VHS and DVD for the mass market after they acquired Lyrick Studios. By the time the next episode came out, Warner Home Video had already became the mass market distributor for VeggieTales.
    • The only episode to not have new bonus features when re-released in the VeggieTales Classics line (not counting the Previews section).
      • Because of this, it’s also the only VeggieTales Classics release to not have an audio commentary.
    • The only main episode to not be re-released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment or Yippee TV.
    • The only episode to not have the DVD subtitles when re-released in the VeggieTales Classics release.
  • On the DVD, there was some deleted animated footage of Pa Grape stating their song is the "Citizen Kane" of silliness and stating it'll be number 1, with Larry and Lunt having nay opinions. (See Real-World References)
    • One reason for this being cut might be due to the number of votes changing, as this was most likely made when the Pirates song was in seventh place.
  • This video was released the Saturday after the September 11 attacks.
  • It's unknown if "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" votes were official or rigged before Number 2 was reached.
  • The other silly songs that are speeding up during the contraption's malfunction are Love My Lips, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, and The Song of the Cebú.
  • This is Daniel Patrick O'Brien's last episode.
  • This is the third-to-last episode to be made before Jonah.
  • This is the final episode produced by Jennifer Combs.
  • There exists an extremely rare early 2002 VHS reprint of this episode by HiT Entertainment. It has a black tape with a white ink label, and it has a print date of March 15th, 2002. The video content on the tape is exactly the same as the 2001 HiT VHS release.
  • Pa Grape's "Maybe we didn't collect all the votes" and "Maybe there's more votes in the closets" lines would later became a popular internet meme.
  • The second episode not to have someone screaming since Rack, Shack and Benny.

Remarks[]

  • Despite being a fifth Silly Song, Oh, Santa! was absent in the list, possibly because it's a Christmas song. However, it and Lost Puppies were included as Easter Eggs on the DVD.
  • This episode uses the same frame rate as the other VeggieTales episodes from 1993 to 2001.
  • This is the first time Pa Grape's mustache moves.
  • On the 5.1 Surround Sound audio track of the DVD releases, when The Hairbrush Song finishes, there's a crowd cheering sound effect (which is Hollywoodedge, Medium Exterior Crow PE140501).
  • Pa Grape says The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything is the only Silly Song he's starred in. This is not true, however, as he also appeared in The Hairbrush Song, albeit only briefly, and The Yodeling Veterinarian of The Alps.

Goofs[]

  • Like the silly song, Mr. Lunt often clips through the bean bag.
  • The ladder glitches when Mr. Lunt is about to place it on the Astonishing Contraption of Silliness.
  • As you'll notice in some shots, you can see the shade of yellow on Pa Grape's mustache.
  • Mr. Lunt is missing his teeth in one shot.
  • When Pa Grape shushes Larry, his nose clips through Larry's eye. Also in the same scene, the two levers are missing in these holes on the Astonishing Contraption of Silliness (see image).
  • When Larry offers both Mr. Lunt and the viewers Kung Pao Squid, there is no kung pao sauce.
  • Something flashes in Pa Grape's mustache when Mr. Lunt says "Don't they?" at him.
  • On Sony Wonder reprints of the Classics DVD, the spine is mislabeled as Madame Blueberry. This is possibly due to the fact that the spine can be mislabeled as the other episodes.

Inside References[]

  • Mr. Lunt states that their song with Pa Grape sure beats the Forgive-O-Matic, with Scallion #1 remarking back. This is most likely because of how people complained that the segment replaced the Silly Songs before they became permanent.
  • The curtains used to reveal the contraption are the same ones from previous two episodes.
  • When Pa stops the countdown the first time the ACOS brings up the #2 song, the same animation of him doing that when it brought up "The Dance of the Yodeling Cebú Lips" is used.

Real-World References[]

  • "Citizen Kane" is a 1941 drama film starring Orson Wells.
  • When Pa Grape says, "I rigged the election!" it is a reference to Linus's actual quote "I've blown the election" from the Peanuts TV special "You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown".
    • Though it might be potentially that Pa Grape might be the one loss the election after he threw a bag of votes into the Astonishing Contraption of Silliness.

Fast Forward[]

Transcript[]

Credits[]

  • The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown/Credits

Gallery[]

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