Larryboy: The Cartoon Adventures
Larryboy: The Cartoon Adventures | |
---|---|
Created by | Phil Vischer |
Based on |
VeggieTales by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki |
Directed by | Larry Whitaker |
Starring |
Mike Nawrocki Phil Vischer Shari Balgaue Lisa Vischer Larry Whitaker |
Narrated by | Lee Marshall |
Opening theme | He is That Hero |
Ending theme | He is That Hero (Instrumental) |
Composer(s) | Jesse Tewson |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of episodes | 4 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) |
Phil Vischer Terry Botwick |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production company(s) |
Big Idea Entertainment Cornerstone Animation |
Release | |
Picture format | 4:3 standard |
Original release | March 16, 2002 – June 10, 2003 |
Larryboy: The Cartoon Adventures is an American animated children's direct-to-video series which is a spin-off of the computer animated series VeggieTales created by Big Idea Entertainment. The first episode was released in March 16, 2002.[1] The last video in the series was released on June 10, 2003 as it was affected by Big Idea's bankruptcy. Unlike its predecessor VeggieTales, LarryBoy was animated in Adobe Flash.[2] From September 2006 to September 2009, NBC aired the content of all four videos on its Qubo block alongside other VeggieTales episodes.[3]
Premise
The series of videos revolves around the character Larry's superhero alter-ego Larryboy as he tries to manage his life as a superhero while working as a janitor for the Daily Bumble newspaper in Bumblyburg.
Characters
The Larryboy: The Cartoon Adventures only carry over four characters from VeggieTales: Larry the Cucumber, Bob the Tomato, Junior Asparagus, and Archibald Asparagus.
Main characters
- Larry the Cucumber (voiced by Mike Nawrocki) as himself and his superhero alter-ego, Larryboy.
- Archibald Asparagus (voiced by Phil Vischer) as Larryboy's butler. Unlike the previous Larryboy videos, Archibald is nicknamed Archie instead of Alfred.
- Bob the Tomato (voiced by Phil Vischer) is Larry's boss, who works as the head of the Daily Bumble newspaper.
- Junior Asparagus (voiced by Lisa Vischer) works as the editor of the Daily Bumble.
- Vicky Cucumber (voiced by Shari Belgaue) is one of the members of the Daily Bumble and a love interest of Larry.
Recurring characters
- Bok Choy (voiced by Marc Graue) is the instructor of the superhero class that Larryboy attends.
- The Dark Crow, The Scarlet Tomato, Lemon Twist, Electro-Melon, Bubblegum, Sweet Potato, and Hot Tamale are other superheroes who attend Bok Choy's superhero class.
- Officer Olaf (voiced by Larry Whitaker) and Chief Croswell (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) are Bumblyburg's resident policemen.
Villains
- Awful Alvin (voiced by Larry Whitaker)
- Greta Von Gruesome (voiced by Shari Belgaue)
- The Alchemist (voiced by Jerry Nelson)
Episodes
No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | Prod. code |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "LarryBoy and the Angry Eyebrows" | Larry Whitaker | Kent Redeker | March 16, 2002[4] | 101 |
Awful Alvin has some new eyebrows. But these aren't just any eyebrows, these are angry eyebrows! When someone holds onto their anger, the eyebrows attach to their forehead! Discovering this, Larryboy sets out to stop Awful Alvin and his sidekick, Lampy. Bumblyburg police arrest Awful Alvin and everyone lets go of their anger. Bonus short: "Fly By Might": Larryboy is enjoying a vacation and a drink when a mysterious fly comes upon him and begins bothering him. Frustrated, he tries to kill it in every way possible but ends up knocking himself out after multiple failed attempts. The short ends as the fly is enjoying its own drink on Larryboy himself. | |||||
2 | "Leggo My Ego!" | Larry Whitaker | Brian Roberts | August 27, 2002[5] | 102 |
Things seem normal in Bumblyburg until Larryboy notices that the residents are mysteriously shrinking. Larryboy discovers this is the work of the Alchemist who uses a flower loaded with a mysterious powder which has the ability to shrink those who are exposed to it. The Alchemist and his mother capture the residents of Bumblyburg, taking them to their lab, and turn them into an evil replica of Larryboy. Larryboy enters the lab and defeats the replica, returning everyone to normal. The Alchemist then takes Bob hostage and Bob is rescued by the brothers Herbert and Wally, who squish jelly donuts in a way the jelly fires at the Alchemist, causing him to lose his grip on Bob and release the shrinking powder on his mother. His mother, in retaliation, flings the powder back at him, causing him to shrink as well. The Alchemist and his mother are then arrested. Bonus short: "Cuke of All Trades": It's Larryboy's birthday, so he decides to go into the city. There, it's unusually quiet for a Tuesday, and Larryboy hopes no one has forgotten about his birthday. He goes into Mahoney's Bakery and decides to watch it while Mahoney himself goes out. Things turn to chaos quickly, resulting in Larryboy running to the candle shop across from the bakery and then running out of the bakery itself only to find himself inside his own birthday cake, made by the two buildings which have exploded on their interiors. Mahoney returns and, along with all the other residents, wishes him a happy birthday. | |||||
3 | "The Yodelnapper!" | Larry Whitaker | Kent Redeker | November 26, 2002[6] | 103 |
Larryboy is excited over the new Hula Heidi dolls, but Archie is less impressed considering Larryboy owns all the other Heidi dolls. Larryboy is devastated that the dolls are sold out, but Archie tells him that his favorite yodeler, Einger Warbulthroat, is performing. However, the performance goes wrong when Greta Von Gruesome kidnaps Eingel and takes him to her castle and demands the delivery of all yodelers. With the help of Archie, Larryboy sneaks into the castle under the disguise of a yodeler. There, he releases the trapped yodelers, but the group falls into a pit and are attacked by an army of Hula Heidi dolls. After defeating the dolls with the help of the yodeling Einger, Larryboy apprehends Greta Von Gruesome and she is arrested. The five rescued yodelers then put on a "Tribute to Larryboy" concert. Bonus short: "A Polar Pickle": A pickle and his friend visit a zoo and come upon a penguin exhibit. They get excited at them, but then the pickle's friend knocks his fish toy out of his hand, sending it plummeting down into the exhibit. Two of the penguins begin fighting over it while the pickle cries over losing his toy. This prompts Archie to summon Larryboy, who goes through various obstacles provided by the penguins and eventually retrieves the toy, using one of the penguins to give it back to the pickle. The pickle then again loses the toy to the polar bear exhibit by his friend knocking it out of his hand, and again cries over it. Archie tries to summon Larryboy once again, but Larryboy shows to Archie how tired he is after having retrieved the toy. | |||||
4 | "The Good, The Bad and the Eggly!" | Larry Whitaker | Sean Roche | June 10, 2003[7] | 104 |
Awful Alvin and Greta Von Gruesome are out of jail. After the Larry-Plane crash-lands in some woods due to three flying pigs with bacon-and-egg guns, Larryboy is saved by the Dark Crow, who is the hero of Bumblyburg's neighboring town. The two team up and almost defeat Awful Alvin and Greta Von Gruesome in their science lab, before Larryboy makes a mistake and allows the two to steal a machine called the Overeasy Egg Ray which turns anything not alive into eggs. Using it, they steal various antiques from a museum and kidnap Vicky. Larryboy and the Dark Crow, stripped of their supersuits, try to defeat Awful Alvin and Greta Von Gruesome but are captured themselves. After freeing themselves, Larryboy then proceeds to destroy the Overeasy Egg Ray, but is knocked out. Larryboy is freed by the Dark Crow and pair finally capture Alvin and Greta and send them back to jail. Bonus short: "Merry-Go-Wreck": Larryboy agrees to do what Bok Choy is asking of a single superhero; that is, clean a pile of erasers. Electro-Melon and Lemon Twist go to the Bumblyburg Amusement Park and accidentally destroy it over disagreements between each other. Larryboy, once finished cleaning the erasers, arrives to see the now-destroyed amusement park. Seeing the Electro-Melon and Lemon Twist fighting, he intervenes and asks them to stop, asking what they've been doing. The two then look around and realize what they've done to the amusement park, and take shame for it. Larryboy then tells them they should work together as a team to repair the damages. After repairing the damages, they then join Larryboy and the three begin walking through the now-repaired amusement park while eating cotton candy and popcorn. |
Reception
The series was nominated for a Golden Reel Award in 2003 for Best Sound Editing in Direct to Video, but lost to The Adventures of Tom Thumb & Thumbelina.[8] Furthermore, according to the creator Phil Vischer, fans of the original VeggieTales series criticized the series for its cheap-looking animation. Mixed with Big Idea's bankruptcy at the time, the series ended after the release of only four videos.[9]
Home media
All of the episodes were released in VHS and DVD formats. The four episodes were also released in one addition in the Bumblyburg Super Value Pack (2004)[10], The Larryboy: Power Pack (2009), and the Larryboy Super Hero Power Pack (2012).[11]
References
- ↑ Bloom, David (13 August 2002). "Cornerstone Animation Takes Hit". Animation World Network. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
- ↑ Vischer, Phil (9 January 2007). Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables. Thomas Nelson. p. 182. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
- ↑ DeMott, Rick (24 August 2006). "Qubo To Launch On NBC, Telemundo & The i Network This September". Animation World Network. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
- ↑ "Larryboy and the Angry Eyebrows". Big Idea. 5 March 2002. Archived from the original on 5 March 2002. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
- ↑ "Leggo My Ego!". 8 August 2002. Archived from the original on 8 August 2002. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
- ↑ "Larryboy - The Yodelnapper". Big Idea. 8 November 2002. Archived from the original on 8 November 2002. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
- ↑ "Welcome to BigIdea.com!". Big Idea. 4 June 2003. Archived from the original on 4 June 2003. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
- ↑ Martin, Denise (8 February 2003). "‘Gangs,’ ‘Perdition’ top Golden Reel nods". Variety. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
- ↑ Vischer, Phil (9 January 2007). Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables. Thomas Nelson. p. 184. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
- ↑ http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-veggie-tales-bumblyburg-super-hero-value-pack/8674031
- ↑ http://www.christiancinema.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=4386
External links
- Larryboy: The Cartoon Adventures at the Internet Movie Database
- Official Announcement via Internet Archive