King George and the Ducky

King George & The Ducky

2000 Lyrick Studios VHS cover
Directed by Mike Nawrocki
Produced by Jennifer Combs
Written by Phil Vischer
Story by Sean Gaffney
Starring Phil Vischer
Mike Nawrocki
Lisa Vischer
Jaquelyn Ritz
Music by Kurt Heinecke
Edited by John Wahba
Production
company
Big Idea Home Entertainment, Inc.
Distributed by Word
Lyrick Studios
Sony Wonder
Release dates
 2000
Running time
 38 minutes
Country United States
Language English

King George & The Ducky is the 13th episode in the VeggieTales animated series. Subtitled "A lesson about... Selfishness", it teaches viewers that they must think of others before themselves. The message is conveyed through a story based on the Biblical account of David and Bathsheba from Second Samuel. It was released for the very first time on VHS in 2000 by both Word and Lyrick Studios. In 2002, Warner Bros. has reprinted the tape with special quality. In 2003, the show has been added as part of the VeggieTales Classics line and on both VHS and DVD.

Although the VeggieTales adaptation remains relatively true to the source, Bathsheba is represented by a rubber duck, thus replacing the sin of adultery with the less difficult crime of theft. But the essence of the story remains intact as the King covets something belonging to his neighbor and takes it for his own and the selfish act is later condemned by a wiseman/prophet.

The subsequently released Duke and the Great Pie War is a prequel to this episode.

This was the first episode to use the Maya animation package instead of Softimage.[1]

Plot

The episode opens with Jimmy and Jerry Gourd looking like Bob and Larry, who both are trying to host the show but aren't doing a convincing job of it. When the real Bob and Larry arrive, Jimmy and Jerry explain that they figured that Bob and Larry could use a break, and they've been wanted to host a show ever since Dave and the Giant Pickle. Bob argues that he just had a break, but humors the gourds and lets them tell a short story they wrote called "The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill (And Came Down With All The Bananas)".

In this "story", an Englishman (Scallion #1) goes up a hill and steals all the bananas which he doesn't eat or share. Then a Swede (Jerry) goes up another hill and steals all the strawberries. As both men refuse to eat their own fruit without some of the other to go with it, but are both too selfish to lend some to each other, they are stuck hoarding their respective piles from one another indefinitely, and the story ends with Jean Claude (the higher-voiced of the French Peas), who has been interjecting the story from off-screen with cries of "you're so selfish!", pointing out that they are "not very bright".

The story ends there and Jimmy tries to get a verse from QWERTY, but he's been switched off. Jerry substitutes a crudely written "Don't be selfish" message in its place, but Bob finally cuts in and tells the gourds to let him tell a real story, that of King George and the Ducky.

In this 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 though 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.

At this point, Cedric the General (Scallion #) 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.

At this point, it's time for Silly Songs with Larry. Today's song is "Endangered Love", in which Larry follows the tragic saga of his favorite daytime soap-opera character, Barbara Manatee. As he watches Barbara and her boyfriend Bill overcome life's obstacles, Larry sings of his own affections for Barbara.

Back in the story, 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 shooes them away and again tries to get in the bath, but is interrupted by Melvin (Pa Grape), a "slightly odd wiseman who shows up every so often" to tell a story using amazing audiovisual technology... a flannelgraph.

Melvin tells a story of two men, one who had many sheep and one who had only 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's George himself. His actions in stealing Thomas's duck have done nothing but prove the King's selfishness, and 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. George then apologizes to God, Thomas, and Louis for his selfishness and is forgiven, thus ending the story.

Back on the countertop, Bob finishes up the story by adding that the next day, King George shared all his ducks with his people. As the show ends, however, the French Peas arrive and try their hand at hosting.

Cast

Segments

Songs

Releases

On July 2000, Word Entertainment and Lyrick Studios has both distributed the VHS release for King George & The Ducky for the promotion of Esther... The Girl Who Became Queen, which came out in November 2000. And in 2002, Warner Bros. distributed the tape with special quality, then another year later, this show has been added straight to the VeggieTales Classics line on both VHS and DVD and also with new, extra features.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.digitalmediafx.com/Features/bigideap.html

External links