God Wants Me To Forgive Them (VeggieTales)

God Wants Me to Forgive Them is the second episode of VeggieTales.

Bad Qualities
Note: Please show respect for Phil Vischer, Mike Nawrocki, Lisa Vischer and Kurt Heinecke, as they worked hard to produced this video in time for the fall (despite its rushed nature).


 * 1) The stories in the video pale in comparison to the first episode. The first story involved a family of cranky grapes teasing Junior Asparagus. The second story is marginally better (despite having some mean-spirited moments), but that's not saying much.
 * 2) The second episode feels similar to VeggieTales in the House, but with a lower budget. Ironically, the Christian values remain intact.
 * 3) While the Forgive-O-Matic is an underrated classic, it was initially panned by parents for it replacing the Silly Song segment.
 * 4) * In Vischer's case, the series originally intended to have a variety of silly segments to pad the runtime.
 * 5) Rosie's laughter over Junior's name can be an irritating earworm to some.
 * 6) In the second story, Larry constantly apologizes by simply saying "sorry". Bob has a right to point out that it's not good enough and that means the cuke needs to be more specific with his sincere apologies.
 * 7) * It's also worth noting that Larry builted a raft for himself yet it never crossed his mind that he could have made it big enough to get everyone off of the Island he got them stranded in.
 * 8) The personification of the sun and trees in the first story can be weird to some.
 * 9) * The infamous and weirdest moment is when a tree runs from a family of cranky grapes and jumps into the pond, which is something you'd expect from a pre-Code Fleischer cartoon of the early 1930s.
 * 10) The CGI animation is incredibly rubbery and wonky at times, and most of it is stiff and robotic with weird facial expressions, even for 1994 standards.
 * 11) Unlike other VeggieTales videos in the 1990s, the studio never fixed any of its animation errors nor clipping objects for re-release and were left intact for most fans to notice.
 * 12) Larry's voice (while still good) is still a little too deep to be silly, as it still sounds like Goofy choking on food.
 * 13) Much of the charm from the first video is gone, such as the Silly Song segment and its moral being handled poorly (except for the Forgive-O-Matic segment).

Good Qualities

 * 1) The songs and the Forgive-O-Matic segment are undeniably the highlights of this episode.
 * 2) The voice acting is still good from the first episode and the audio quality has improved a bit.
 * 3) Some funny moments.
 * 4) It was refreshing for Bob and Larry to narrate the stories (opting for a more Looney Tunes type approach), instead of having an off-screen narrator like in the first episode.
 * 5) Palmy makes his official and only debut in the VeggieTales series. His voice was done by professional actor, Jeff Morrow.
 * 6) * Pa Grape and his family also make their debut in the series. However, Pa Grape would later become an official member of the VeggieTales cast.
 * 7) Despite being incredibly rubbery and wonky at times, the CGI animation is still considered decent.
 * 8) Although it was handled poorly, the moral is still good, as it tells you that whenever someone is really sorry and they mean it, we need to forgive others just as God forgives us.
 * 9) Overall, it's not really a bad episode, it's just too flawed to be on it's sister wiki.

Trivia

 * This is the first episode for several things:
 * The first appearance of the Grape family, Henry the Potato and Lovely Asparagus. This also marks the only video speaking role of Rosie (not counting A Very Veggie Christmas).
 * As Phil Vischer had not considered the Silly Songs with Larry segment a regular staple of the series at the time, this is the first episode to not have a Silly Song. After frustrated and confused fans flooded the Big Idea studio with letters asking where the segment was, however, Phil suggested to Mike Nawrocki that he write more Silly Songs for future shows, which ultimately led to the segment becoming a regular appearance.
 * The first episode not to have a letter from a child. The question at hand was asked by one of Bob and Larry's TV friends named Marco.
 * The first episode to spoof classic literature.
 * The first episode to use constriction (pupils shrinking).
 * The first episode someone cheers.
 * The first episode not to have Phil Winklestein, Lisa Asparagus, The Blue Wind-Up Lobster, and Scallions #2 and 3 appear since their debut appearances.
 * The first episode where QWERTY displays two verses on one episode. The second was in Abe and the Amazing Promise.
 * The first episode that reveals more of the kitchen countertop, including cabinetry. The kitchen sink was not yet added until Are You My Neighbor?, where it is seen in The Hairbrush Song.
 * This is also the only episode in which the cabinetry and drawers look different.
 * The first time Junior appeared on the countertop, as shown in The Forgive-O-Matic.
 * The first episode that ended with Larry saying God Made You Special, and He Loves You Very Much by himself. The second was in Rack, Shack and Benny.
 * The first episode not to have a prototype video cover for the front.
 * The first episode to use a Word Entertainment FBI warning screen in 1997 (the year it was reprinted on VHS).
 * The first episode that used splashing water animation.
 * The first and only episode where there is no fade to black between the closing countertop scene and the credits.
 * The first episode to have someone tell the segments, rather than present them.
 * This episode can be featured in Happy Together! and Growing Faithful Kids! featuring The Grapes of Wrath, and Lessons from the Sock Drawer featuring Larry's Lagoon and The Forgive-O-Matic.
 * An episode based, however loosely, on The Grapes of Wrath was actually suggested by Mike prior to production on the first episode.
 * This episode is notorious for having more animation errors than any other episode in the VeggieTales series, comparable to Sweetpea Beauty and The Wonderful World of Auto-Tainment!
 * This is the only other episode to have Larry's lower dopey voice. However, Larry's voice was starting to improve and bear more resemblance to his current voice from the next episode. His voice gets to its final form in the closing countertop.
 * This is also the only episode to have an on/off option for the audio commentary.
 * The Forgive-O-Matic segment was based a puppet show Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki performed at Bible college.
 * The sound effect of the boat's motor in the second segment was actually Mike Nawrocki making a motorboat sound with his mouth. The grapes' car's motor was also a sound effect made by series musician Kurt Heinecke using his mouth as well.
 * Larry's original daydream that caused him to crash the boat was that his nose would come off his face and float around him, but the production team thought the idea was strange.
 * In the Forgive-O-Matic, when Scallion #1 tells Junior that he is busy with advertising, a picture of Bob, Larry, Junior, Lisa and Mike Asparagus with the original VeggieTales logo can be seen on a bulletin board in the background if you look closely.
 * The original 1994 VHS has the same designs as the original 1993 VHS of the previous episode.
 * When scoring for the episode, Kurt Heinecke used a stopwatch to see how long each piece of the score would fit with whichever scene.
 * The Latin Spanish and Japanese dubs have the theme song from Where's God When I'm S-Scared?.
 * Many international dubs perfectly time Bob and Larry's screaming with their voiceovers.
 * There exists an extremely rare late 2001 VHS reprint of this episode by Lyrick Studios. It has a green tape with a purple ink label, and it has a print date of August 6, 2001.