| Rack, Shack & Benny | |
|---|---|
DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Phil Vischer Mike Nawrocki (silly Song) Chris Olsen (animation) |
| Written by | Phil Vischer |
| Starring | Phil Vischer, Mike Nawrocki, Lisa Pautz Vischer, Kristin Blegen, Mike Sage |
| Music by | Phil Vischer Kurt Heinecke Mike Nawrocki |
| Editing by | Mike Nawrocki |
| Distributed by | Lyrick Studios |
| Release date(s) | October 1995 (VHS release) June 18, 2002 (DVD release) |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Language | English |
Rack, Shack, and Benny, released in October 1995 on VHS, is the fourth episode of the VeggieTales animated series and the first to present one story instead of two shorter ones. Subtitled "A Lesson in Handling Peer Pressure," it teaches viewers about avoiding unhealthy peer pressure and standing up for their beliefs.
The video is a retelling of the biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, from the Book of Daniel. In the story, King Nebuchadnezzar II requires that all his subjects bow down before a false idol. But three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, refuse and are thrown into a furnace. They remain unharmed, and Nebuchadnezzar recognizes the power of their God.
Rack, Shack, and Benny adheres to the original story (including the very child unfriendly fate of being thrown into a furnace), but places it in a chocolate factory at which all employees are required to bow down before a giant chocolate bunny and sing "The Bunny Song."
Contents |
The show starts with Bob the Tomato alone. Larry the Cucumber appears on the countertop, wearing an oven mitten on his head. When asked why, he says that it is because he saw it on the cover of "Veggie Beat" magazine and that everyone is doing it. Unable to see, however, he crashes into the sink. Bob reads a letter from Dexter Wilmington from Tuscaloosa, Alabama about how he has peer pressure, because he is always tempted by his friend "Billy" to watch a show that Dexter isn't supposed to watch. The story begins.
The story is told by Grandpa George, who made his debut on this episode. The story takes place at the Nezzer Chocolate Factory (an analogue for the biblical Babylon) where the employees work hard all day in making chocolate bunnies on an assembly line. Among the plant employees are three kids named Shadrach (Bob), Meshach (Junior Asparagus), and Abednego (Larry), though everybody just calls them Rack, Shack, and Benny. Another employee, Laura Carrot, works as the factory's delivery girl.
As the story begins, the factory has just sold its two-millionth chocolate bunny, and Nebby K. Nezzer, the owner of the factory, announces that all employees of the Nezzer Chocolate Factory may celebrate by eating as many bunnies as they like for thirty minutes. While all the employees tear ravenously into the chocolate bunnies, Shack reminds Rack and Benny to heed their parents' advice about not eating too much candy. When Mr. Nezzer and his assistant Mr. Lunt comes out to soak up the appreciation of his employees, he finds them all lying ill, except for Rack, Shack, and Benny. Impressed by their ability to stand up for themselves, Mr. Nezzer promotes them to Junior Executives (which means they get to wear a tie), and the three friends are happy.
The following day, Mr. Nezzer calls Rack, Shack, and Benny into his office and gives them a sneak peek at his secret project. Wanting to show everybody at Nezzer Chocolate about how important the bunny is, Mr. Nezzer believes that if the bunny were a big bunny, then all of his employees will love it as much as he. To illustrate his point, he shows them a model despicting a ninety-foot bunny statue for his employees to worship. He also demonstrates a song of worship called "The Bunny Song", whose lyrics state that nothing in the world (whether it be God, parents, healthy food, or school) is more important than the bunny. When asked by Rack as to what happens if someone refuses to sing and worship, Mr. Nezzer draws their attention to the furnace (where the "bad bunnies" are disposed of) and warns that "if you don't bow down and sing the song... you're a baaaad bunny."
The completed bunny statue is unveiled later in the day, and Mr. Nezzer orders all his employees to bow and sing. However, Mr. Lunt notices that Rack, Shack, and Benny aren't bowing, and Mr. Nezzer confronts them to obey. When they refuse, an enraged Mr. Nezzer orders that Rack, Shack, and Benny be sent to the furnace.
The story takes a short break at this point and "Silly Songs with Larry" begins. Larry, dressed in authentic Argentinian garb, sings and dances to a Spanish ballad called "The Dance of the Cucumber", while Bob translates the Spanish lyrics. As the song proceeds, however, Larry starts sneaking Spanish insults towards Bob, which he unintentionally translates. As the song grinds to a halt over Bob's increasing anger towards the insults, Junior Asparagus and his father (dresses as tourists) arrive for an impromptu photo opportunity. The song then continues and Larry again insults Bob until the tomato finally loses his temper and chases Larry offstage.
The story then resumes. At the factory, Mr. Nezzer gives Rack, Shack, and Benny one last chance to sing the song, but they refuse and explain that they were taught to stand up for their beliefs. Now infuriated, Mr. Nezzer finally calls them "bad bunnies" and sends them down a chute into the furnace.
However, they are rescued at the last second by Laura Carrot in her delivery truck. After a chase, Rack, Shack, and Benny are captured by Mr. Nezzer's machines as they try to dump them into the furnace. Though Laura unplugs Mr. Nezzer's machines, her efforts are thwarted when the three boys fall into the furnace anyway. As Mr. Nezzer gloats, the lights suddenly go out and a strange sound hums through the factory. As this happens, Mr. Lunt looks inside the furnace and notices that there's a fourth person in the furnace who's "real shiny", and that none of them are burning up. Rack, Shack, and Benny emerge from the furnace, unscathed, and Mr. Nezzer realizes that their faith in God is what saved them despite the peer pressure he inflicted on them. The three boys forgive Mr. Nezzer for his mistakes and lead him and the factory into a song appropriately titled "Stand Up!".
Back on the countertop, Larry is still stuck in the sink. He recognizes now that peer pressure is not always good advice, and that common sense, one's own beliefs, and what one was taught by one's parents are more valuable than fleeting fads. He laments his wasted life, and Bob offers to help. Unfortunately, as Bob helps Larry get out of the sink, he himself ends up stuck in the cucumber's place.
Larry wraps up the show with Qwerty's verse: 2nd Thessalonians 2:15, which tells of standing up for one's beliefs and remembering parental advice as opposed to caving into peer pressure. Bob, meanwhile, is left alone in the sink as the show ends.
In the original edition of Rack, Shack & Benny, Mr. Nezzer sings The Bunny Song, with lines such as, "I don't love my mom or my dad, just the bunny," and, "I won't go to church and I won't go to school." As the writer, Phil Vischer, mentioned in an interview on the DVD edition that he hoped that kids, who saw the protagonists refuse to sing the song would recognize its negative context as unacceptable, but concerned and unhappy parents wrote to Big Idea, complaining that their kids were singing in public about not loving their mom or their dad or not going to church or school. Vischer said that the lesson that he learned was to never mix negative lyrics with a catchy tune, since children will sing the song irrespective of the content.
For the first Veggietales sing-along video, a "New and Improved Bunny Song" was written, which had a repentant Mr. Nezzer singing that eating too much candy is wrong and that church and school are important. The original offending lines were dubbed to, "I didn't eat my soup or my bread, just the bunny," and I will go to church and I will go to school", respectively. The backup singing from the original remains unaltered, though Mr. Nezzer is now trying to get the girls to stop with no success. In later releases of Rack, Shack, and Benny, "I don't love my Mom or my Dad" was changed to "I don;t love my soup or my bread," and the line "I won't go to church and I won't go to school" was changed to "I won't eat no beans and I won't eat tofu" respectively.
1. http://www1.epinions.com/kifm-review-2649-8756FB8-389AF5EE-prod1
2. http://www.veggietalesreview.com/2006/07/30/veggietales-rack-shack-and-benny/
3. http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/pre2000/rvu-veg4.html