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"You know, sometimes differences can be good if we just take the time to get to know each other."
— Jimmy Gourd
ThoseGourdsMustBeCrazy100
Are You My Neighbor?
Directed by

Phil Vischer
Chris Olsen

Produced by

Chris Olsen

Written by

Phil Vischer

Music by

Kurt Heinecke

Distributed by

Word/Everland Entertainment

Released

March 28, 1995

Runtime

31 minutes

Previous episode

God Wants Me
to Forgive Them!?!

Next episode

Rack, Shack
and Benny

Are You My Neighbor? is the third episode of VeggieTales. This episode focuses on the message of loving your neighbor.

The first segment is based on the Biblical parable of the Good Samaritan, mixed with the style and works of Dr. Seuss. The second segment is a parody on the 1960s sci-fi series Star Trek.

Plot

Opening Countertop

Bob and Larry are on the countertop again, though Larry sports a shoe on his head. When Larry asks why he has a shoe on his head, Bob explains that he got a letter from a girl named Latasha Robbins who hails from Savannah, Georgia. Bob says that Latasha wants to know what loving your neighbor actually means. Seeing that Larry is still confused, Bob then explains that he's going to tell Latasha The Story of Flibber-O-Loo, in which Larry's character wears a shoe on his head.

The Story of Flibber-O-Loo

Written and Directed by Phil Vischer

(See the main page for the plot.)

Silly Song

Written by Mike Nawrocki and Directed by Chris Olsen

(The Hairbrush Song.)

The Gourds Must Be Crazy

Written and Directed by Phil Vischer

(See the main page for the plot.)

Bible Verse

Leviticus 19:18, Love your neighbor as yourself.

Production

Co-creator Phil Vischer had been wanting to make an episode that he could style after Dr. Seuss stories that he would read to his children, and at the same time wondered which story from the New Testament he could retell, given that his mother had suggested a policy that Jesus would not be depicted as a vegetable, and most of the New Testament besides the Gospels (i.e. the biographies of Jesus) were letters. He ended up choosing the Good Samaritan, one of Jesus' parables and it proved to be a time-consuming challenge, but in the end, proved to be very successful.

Meanwhile, Big Idea just went through some backlash from confused and disappointed fans regarding the lack of Silly Songs with Larry in the previous episode. Phil went to co-creator/voice actor for Larry, Mike Nawrocki, and told him to come up with a new silly song. While shaving, Mike looked for his razor and started singing to himself, "Oh, where is my razor?" and later suggested it to Phil. Mike was unmarried and had no children at the time, so he did not realize that children might get the idea to look for their parents' razors, so Phil suggested they find another, much less dangerous, object one would find in a bathroom, and thus Mike wrote The Hairbrush Song.

Phil then went on to make another pop culture spoof for the second segment after spoofing Gilligan's Island, this time based on Star Trek.

Characters

Major

Minor

Featured in the Silly Song

Voice Cast

Songs

Home media

Main article: Are You My Neighbor?/Home Video

Features

Are You My Neighbor?/Features

Trailer Appearances

Are You My Neighbor?/Trailer Appearances

Other Languages

  • 你是我的新鄰居嗎?(Cantonese) (Are You My New Neighbor?)
  • Wie zijn mijn buren? (Dutch) (Who are My Neighbors?)
  • Eripuraiset naapurit (Finnish) (Different Neighbors)
  • Είσαι Γειτονάς Μου; (Greek) (same translation)
  • Are You My Neighbor? (Indonesian) (same title)
  • ほんとうの友ともだちって?(Japanese) (What is a True Friend?)
  • 누가 나의 이웃일까요? (Korean) (Who is My Neighbor?)
  • 誰是好鄰居 (Mandarin) (Taiwan) (1st dub) (Who is a Good Neighbor)
    • 你是我的鄰居嗎?(Mandarin (Taiwan) (2nd dub) (same translation)
  • Er du min nabo? (Norwegian) (same translation)
  • همسایه من هستی؟ (Persian) (same translation)
  • Você É o Meu Vizinho? (Portuguese) (Brazil) (1st dub) (same translation)
    • Você é Meu Vizinho? (Portuguese) (Brazil) (2nd dub) (same translation)
  • És meu Vizinho? (Portuguese) (Portugal) (same translation)
  • Ты Мой Сосед? (Russian) (same translation)
  • Ali si ti Moj sosed?/Ali si moj sosed?/Si ti moj sosed? (Slovenian) (same translation)
  • ¿Eres Mi Prójimo? (Spanish) (Latin America) (1st dub) (same translation)
    • Unknown (Spanish) (Latin America) (2nd dub)
  • Hàng xóm (Vietnamese) (Neighbor)

Fun Facts

Moral(s)

  • Some people may do things that are weird to us, but we can learn a lot from them.
  • Loving your neighbor means lending a hand to those in need, even if they do not live right next to you.
  • Our differences should not divide us. They bring us together in celebration of what makes us different.

Trivia

  • This is the first episode for several things:
    • The first appearance of The Peach, Scooter, Laura, Lenny, their father, Jimmy and Jerry Gourd.
    • The first episode that Ron Smith worked on.
    • The first episode to feature Bob and Larry's current voices.
      • However, Larry's voice did start to improve and get to its final form towards the end of the previous video.
    • The first episode not to have "God" in the title.
    • The first episode to feature the kitchen sink, as shown in "The Hairbrush Song."
    • The first episode not to have Palmy, Tom Grape, Rosie Grape, and Ma Grape since their debut appearances.
    • The first episode since the original 1993 version of Where's God When I'm S-Scared? to have the credits appear in a black background, but also the first one in which the credits for all segments has only one instrumental track.
    • The first episode to use Big Idea's logo (with Bob and Larry) at the end of the video.
      • The previous two shows and the VeggieTunes CD never had this in their original releases, as the company likely did not have a logo until this episode came out.
    • The first episode to start the trend of cancelling out the prototype video cover prior to its release. However, it can be found on the back cover of the original release of the VeggieTunes CD.
    • The first VeggieTales video to have an FBI Warning screen and the Word, Inc. bumper logo before the show. This had only made it into a rarer 1995 VHS edition of the episode.
      • This had a blue version of Disney's 1991 Green FBI Warning screens, where the second screen was in a different font. The Word, Inc. logo used a Sonic the Hedgehog/Sega Genesis/New jack swing-like synth fanfare.
      • Also, this is the only VeggieTales video in the entire series to include the Word, Inc. bumper logo before the show. Besides this, the Word, Inc. logo in any form only appeared on video cover art of other episodes.
    • The first episode to originally be released by Word Entertainment and Everland Entertainment.
    • The first episode to be distributed by Lyrick Studios in 1997.
      • It was also the only episode to reuse the 1995 cover print (with minor differences) and original Everland Entertainment master for its initial Lyrick Studios reprint in 1997, as it was used as a test tape. All the other episodes did not reuse their original cover prints or Everland masters for their Lyrick Studios reprints, unless otherwise for their screener tapes.
    • The first episode to show Larry with more than one tooth. This would not happen again until Noah's Ark (not counting the LarryBoy: The Cartoon Adventures)
    • The first episode where Bob reads the verse first, then reads the book, chapter and number after.
  • This is also the last episode for a few things:
  • The Story of Flibber-o-loo also appears in A Taste of VeggieTales, Heroes of the Bible!: Stand Up, Stand Tall, Stand Strong!, Silly Little Thing Called Love, the TV version of Babysitter in DeNile, and a bonus from A Snoodle's Tale.
  • The Hairbrush Song also appears in Very Silly Songs!, The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown, Sing-Alongs: Dance of the Cucumber, and If I Sang A Silly Song.
  • The Gourds Must Be Crazy also appears in God Made You Special.
    • According to the DVD-ROM feature, the scripts for the two stories were written in 1994.
  • As referred to in the inner pamphlet of the original 1995 release of the VeggieTunes CD, The Story of Flibber-o-Loo was originally going to be titled "A Tale of Two Cities." This was changed in order to avoid confusion with the 1859 novel of the same name by Charles Dickens.
    • VeggieTales' official store website still refers to it as "A Tale of Two Cities".[1]
  • Some scenes on the "Flibber-O-Loo" segment were rendered interlaced (where the first, third, fifth, and so online is rendered, then the second, fourth, sixth, and so online is rendered) rather than progressive (where the first, second, third, and so online are rendered in sequence) because they would have caused a strobing effect otherwise with VHS quality. They are rendered progressively in the DVD releases.
  • Not counting the original 1993 version of Where's God When I'm S-Scared?, this is one of three VeggieTales episodes (the other two being Rack, Shack and Benny and The Toy That Saved Christmas) to have had major differences in the animation, graphics, and sometimes sound, all of which get remastered or corrected in later versions. You will notice this easier on one scene during the Love Your Neighbor song in The Story of Flibber-O-Loo: there were some glitches with the animation (more on that below), the shading of the characters was darker in contrast to the 1998 version, the lighting of the nurse's office abruptly changes to bright before Larry faints forward, and the camera is slightly zoomed in on the characters after Junior helps Larry get up. An extra animation of Archibald and his wife turning their faces towards Junior and Larry (before they resume singing) was added in the 1998 animation as well.
  • While this episode and The Toy That Saved Christmas had this effect of audiovisual remastering, reanimating and graphic corrections in 1998, Rack, Shack and Benny (which had the least visual differences) did not have this effect until its 2002 VeggieTales Classics re-release.
  • On some versions of the 1997 Lyrick Studios VHS release, the end credits get sped up after the "Dialogue Breakdown, Audio and Video Editing" credit, causing the Big Idea logo to appear while the instrumental of "I Can Be Your Friend" is playing and fade out right to where the song ends, just before the 1997-1998 Lyrick Studios logo comes up.
  • According to the 2002 "Silly Snow Day" product catalogue, the DVD was originally planned to be released in 2003 but was cancelled, likely due to Big Idea's bankruptcy. The commentary referring to Sumo of the Opera as a future episode hints that it was planned to be released in 2004, possibly around the same time as the release of The Complete Silly Song Collection (judging by the DVD-Rom menus/DVD menus), before being shelved once more until its eventual release in 2006.
  • The VeggieTales Classics VHS version of the episode released in 2006 uses the 2000 Word Entertainment version without any edits to the audio.
  • This episode as a whole was banned in the Arab World because its lesson is allegedly related to the fear that one of Egypt's neighboring countries is politically regarded as an enemy.
  • This is one of the few episodes whose original unremastered visuals are available on DVD, and one of three episodes (the other two being Very Silly Songs! and The End of Silliness?) whose uncut original masters are entirely available on the Australian DVD releases.
  • Although this episode was released in 1995, it was made in 1994 according to Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki in the DVD commentary.

Remarks

  • The original version of the episode has had low audio and footage quality just like with the previous two episodes. Unlike those two episodes, it was the first episode to have no white noise artifacts on the bottom edge the screen (despite still having large dot crawl noise artifacts on the left edge of the screen), and was the only one of the first three episodes that was able to be digitally restored in pristine visual quality in later re-releases, hence why clips from this episode were used in a montage of clips from other later episodes in the 1998 theme song onward.
    • However, in the 1998 re-release, the close-up shot of Qwerty was oddly left in low quality from the original version, but was later fixed in the 2006 DVD release.
    • Despite the episode having been restored and re-animated in later re-releases, the original 1995 master was still used on the VeggieTales Stories VHS tapes for any VeggieTown Values VBS kit from 1998-2001, the 2005 Australian DVD release (which included the full episode itself), and the VHS and DVD releases of the STARS Classroom Editions.
  • The audio for later releases is different than in the original. This includes the classic Star Trek door opening SFX being omitted (possibly to avoid copyright issues) and some new music cues being added in, and in the 2006 release, the songs used remastered audio, and some of the brass instruments are missing on the scene where Bob and Larry pull Junior into their ship.
    • Oddly, any international dubs of the episode (even when its songs were featured in dubbed compilation videos) keep the original unremastered backing track intact.
  • The 1994-1997 theme on the Australian DVD oddly has Bob's 1998 audio of him saying "Alright, you'd better get on out there" albeit the rest of the audio is the same as the 1994 intro.
  • According to the audio commentary on Dave and the Giant Pickle, Phil Vischer has stated that the space environment, along with the desert environment, was the easiest environments to create at the time.
  • The quotation at the end is only part of Leviticus 19:18. The whole verse is, "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD." It was likely cut because the rest would seem distracting and it would look small and might not have been legible on VHS.
  • Bob said that Jibber-de-Lot would look down at the shoe people, but the towns are actually on the same altitude.
    • On a similar note, why are the towns separated at different lengths between shots?
  • The mayor and doctor of Flibber-o-loo have time to sing a song about how bisy they are, yet they don't have time to save their friend.
  • Bob introduces himself as a tomato to Junior, even though he had already done so in the first episode. In addition, Junior doesn't seem to recognize Bob and Larry at all.
  • Jimmy and Jerry can breathe in space, despite not wearing any helmets.
  • The table, despite losing one leg, still stands.
  • Bob and Larry need directions for the freeway, yet they are in a spaceship.
  • Bob says they need the Mr. Slushy money for tolls even though they could easily fly over the toll booth in their spaceship.
  • The bleeping sounds that Bob and Larry's spaceship make are obviously a reversed, sped-up version of circus music.
  • In the original Latin American Spanish dub, this is one of two episodes (the other being Rack, Shack and Benny) where the letter sender is changed.
  • While most versions from 2003-2005 used the 1998-2000 theme songs, the Slovenian and Korean dubs use the 2001-2003 theme song.
    • Both dubs also have Jimmy echoing "Planet!" being re-recorded from "Sometimes, I think I could eat a whole planet!" each time he says it.
  • The Baltimore Sun Wed Nov 29 1995

    The Baltimore Sun Wednesday, Nov 29 1995, Page 167

    The Baltimore Sun Wednesday, 29 Nov 1995 newspaper article, Page 167[2] and The Tampa Tribune Saturday, 9 Dec 1995 newspaper article, Page 144 label this episode as the first VeggieTales video, which is false.
  • Adding only two escape pods to a ship that holds 364 people would be extremely foolish and irresponsible.
  • While most of the episode's production design reflects that of Where's God When I'm S-Scared?, the episode's animation movement style as well as the production design in The Hairbrush Song, most scenes in The Gourds Must Be Crazy, and the closing countertop reflect the production design from God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?! (due to the same animators involved).
    • The exact animation of Junior snuggling into his bed covers (despite changes made to the animation to stay in flow with the episode) is also recycled from said episode.

Fixed Goofs/Goofs

  • In the original version of the video, when the doctor of Flibber-o-loo, Larry, and the mayor of Flibber-o-loo gather with Junior to perform a chorus during the song "Love Your Neighbor," a couple of glitches occurred (which were fixed in later re-releases of the episode, despite the STARS edition still keeping in the animation glitches):
    • The frames were chopping ahead when the doctor and mayor hop over to Junior.
    • Larry abruptly appears halfway on the screen (while the doctor was hopping) before hopping over to Junior.
  • Also in the original version, Bob turns away from the viewer to face Qwerty for the Bible verse, then suddenly jerks back to facing the viewer like he was before. Bob's face is only shown for a split second before the scene shifts to Qwerty displaying the verse. Like the glitches above, this too was fixed in later re-releases.
  • When Henry is standing on top of the building, he clips into the edge where he's standing.
  • When Larry says, "It's great that my lobster can get out and run!", his mouth doesn't move.
  • When the bandits make their way down the hill to rob Larry, the sky is black.
  • When the mayor of Flibber-o-loo first approaches Larry (while his head was stuck in a hole), he is seen coming from Jibber-de-Lot (the green town), not Flibber-o-loo (the pink town). It's possible he might have some diplomatic business to attend to.
  • In the shot showing Junior and Larry walking up the hill after Junior helped Larry out of the ground, neither of them have mouths.
  • There are a few instances where the characters' pupils clip through their eyelids. These include:
    • Junior when he gets startled by Bob and Larry.
    • Bob when his eyes are in closeup.
  • When Bob and Larry are projecting the meteor coming towards the ship to Junior, the meteor is shown in one shot, but then disappears in the next.
  • Some shots show Jimmy clipping through his seat.
  • In the scene where Bob and Larry take Junior back home in the second segment, you will notice the shadow of the spaceship is stuck perfectly still on the wall near the window before heading out the window.
  • One shot shows Jerry clipping through his seat.
  • One shot shows Jerry without his headset, and he has it in the next shot.
  • In the VHS Captions, the captions mistake Jerry for saying "So then, we'll just stay here" and Larry for saying "Hey, it's kinda like a field trip or something!"
  • After Bob runs to the right of the screen and just before Jimmy and Jerry are about to hit the window, his back pops into view and freezes for a couple of seconds before abruptly disappearing and showing him running to the left.
  • One shot shows Scooter without his hat, and in the next shot, it comes back.
  • In the original version of the scene after Jerry turns the power back, the whole entire ship lights up. However, in the next shot with Scooter, the lights are still dimmed. This was brought up in the audio commentary and was eventually somewhat fixed when the story was repackaged for God Made You Special, where they adjusted the brightness.
  • During "I Can Be Your Friend," if you pause at the right moment as Jimmy and Jerry Gourd's part cuts to the crew's, you can see what appears to be a second USS Applepies floating outside the window.
  • During "I Can Be Your Friend," after Bob sings "Yeah, we're all pretty different, some are skinny, some are stout!" and turns around, there is a rendering glitch where his mouth wipes to its original state. Also, Larry's mouth suddenly appears when he starts singing his part.
  • During the end of the second segment, when Bob and Larry come back to Junior for directions for the freeway, the lights on the spaceship don't light up on Junior's face.
  • Qwerty's verse background stays on his screen even when he is done displaying the verse.
  • Many DVD covers of this episode, as well as in international releases, have the bottom green line missing from Jimmy's escape pod. The 1995 prototype cover has this as well.
  • Gail Freeman is credited as "Gayle Freeman" in the credits. This is most likely a misspelling.
  • The 2006 VeggieTales Classics DVD strangely has the framerate slightly messed up with interlace flickers. This could be due to the original 29.97fps interlaced video being transcoded at a different framerate in some form.
  • In the 2006 VeggieTales Classics DVD, the first question of the Veggie Trivia's Hard Mode accidentally messed up the correct answer placement. The question was "Who sent in the letter at the beginning of the show?". The actual answer is "Latasha Robbins of Savannah, GA", while the answer incorrectly marked as the right answer was "Mary Margaret Renfroe of Johnson City, TN".

Inside References

  • Larry's blue wind-up lobster from Take 38, which also made a brief cameo in Where's God When I'm S-Scared?, re-appears.
  • A few references to the first episode are made:
    • The Scallions appear, once again as bad guys, in the first segment.
    • Junior's drawing from his bedroom and the Scallion's dotted contract can be seen in picture frames in the Flibbian doctor's office.
    • During the acapella portion of Love Your Neighbor, the characters sing in a similar tune reminiscent of the final stanza of King Darius Suite.
    • The Silly Song title card used for The Hairbrush Song is the same one used for The Water Buffalo Song, topped with Larry's towel added. This type of Silly Song title card would appear once more in the next episode's Silly Song.
    • Junior's bedroom is present in the second segment.
    • The animation of Junior snuggling into his bed covers is recycled but with changes made to his facial expressions.
    • Bob introducing himself to Junior, shortly after he and Larry dropped in once again. Junior even lampshades this by saying "Whoa, deja vu."
    • Archival recordings of Dad Asparagus' lines "I love you, little mister" and "I'll see you in the morning" and Junior Asparagus' line "I love you, big mister" were reused from the ending scene of Tales From the Crisper.
  • This episode also has a few nods to the previous episode, such as:
    • One of the family photos that start of the second segment shows Junior and Lisa Asparagus at the island from Larry's Lagoon.
    • The music from The Forgive-O-Matic plays while Bob, Larry and Junior are taking the elevator in the USS Applepies.
    • The bleeping sounds coming from Jimmy and Jerry's escape pods were originally used for when Qwerty was playing Pong.

Real-World References

  • Play-Doh is a modelling compound used by young children for arts and craft.
  • Jell-O is a trademark of Kraft Foods for varieties of gelatin and pudding.
  • "All they do is sing and eat, eat and sing!" is a take on a Garfield comic strip from June 30th, 1978 ("All I ever do is eat and sleep, eat and sleep, eat and sleep. There must be more to a cat's life than that. But, I hope not.").
  • The inspiration for the shoes being on the citizens of Flibber-o-Loo's heads' was inspired by the 1985 sci-fi dystopian dark comedy film Brazil, which features a group of women wearing hats with upside down shoes on them. Lovey's hat is the closest to resembling the ones shown in the film.
  • The song Jimmy and Jerry sing is "Meet me in St. Louie, Louie", which is from the 1944 movie of the same name.

Fast Forward

Transcript

Credits

Commentary

Are You My Neighbor?/Commentary

Gallery

AreYouMyNeighborClassroomTitleCard
AreYouMyNeighborTitleCard

References

  1. http://www.veggietales.com/are-you-my-neighbor-veggietales-dvd.html
  2. “The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland on November 29, 1995 · Page 167.” Newspapers.com, The Baltimore Sun, www.newspapers.com/newspage/171318405/.
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