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"With God's help, little guys can do big things too!"
— Dave singing to King Saul
DaveAndTheGiantPickle246
Dave and the Giant Pickle
Directed by

Phil Vischer

Written by

Phil Vischer

Music by

Kurt Heinecke

Distributed by

Word/Everland Entertainment

Released

April 2, 1996

Runtime

28 minutes

Previous episode

Rack, Shack
and Benny

Next episode

The Toy That
Saved Christmas

Dave and the Giant Pickle is the fifth episode of VeggieTales.

The episode is a retelling of the Bible story of David and Goliath from the First Book of Samuel that focuses on the topic of self-esteem. Also featured is the first appearance of Larry’s superhero alter-ego, Larry-Boy.

Plot

Opening Countertop

The show opens up with Larry dressed as his alter-ego Larry-Boy with a cardboard cutout of a city skyline. He demonstrates his super-suction ears by jumping on a cardboard building. He gets stuck as Bob walks out on the countertop. Larry asks for Bob's help getting down but falls off before Bob can actually help him. When Bob asks Larry to get out of his costume, Larry says that he doesn't feel special about his normal self. Bob then mentions that he got a letter from Myra Eggleston from Youngstown, Pennsylvania. She says that her siblings are all older than her and can do all kinds of things, but she's too little for any of those things and wonders what's special about her with Larry-Boy empathizing with Myra. Bob then tells them both the story of Dave and the Giant Pickle.

Act 1

A long time ago in a country named Israel, Dave (Junior Asparagus) was a shepherd who lived with his three brothers (Jimmy and Jerry Gourd and Tom Grape) and his father Jesse (Pa Grape). Every day while Dave tended his sheep, the sheep would tip over and his older brothers would pick on him by making him pick up their tipped over sheep and get them food. One day, Jesse comes running to the boys to tell them something. He accidentally bumps into a line of sheep and asks Dave to pick them up, which utterly irritates Dave. Jesse tells his sons that Israel's sworn enemies, the Philistines, are attacking. In order to defeat them, Israel's king, King Saul (Archibald Asparagus) is putting together an army to defeat the Philistines. Dave and his brothers head towards the battlegrounds, but Dave is stopped by his father. Jesse tells Dave that he was too small to fight for the army, and leaves Dave to take care of the sheep himself. As he watches his brothers and father go to battle, Dave becomes sad and wonders why little people couldn't do big things.

At the battlefield, the army of the Israelites was camped out on one hill while the Philistines were on another hill. The Philistines began to throw insults at the Israelites. Then the two upfront Philistines (Jean-Claude and Cristoffe Pea) begin to make a deal with the Israelites. The two armies will bring out their great champions and if one of them wins, the losing army will be the winning army's slaves. King Saul agrees to the offer and the Philistines bring out their champion, a giant pickle named Goliath.

Silly Song

Main article: Love My Lips

Act 2

The Israelites are frightened by the sight of Goliath and they run away and hide. Goliath came back day after day for 40 days to see who would fight him. But every time he showed up, all the Israelites were in hiding. After a while, Jesse begins to worry about his boys, and he sends Dave to the campgrounds to deliver some pizza. On the grounds, Dave sees his brothers in hiding from Goliath and overhears Goliath calling the Israelites cowards. Fed up with no one willing to fight Goliath, Dave goes to King Saul and says that he'll fight Goliath. King Saul has major doubts that Dave, at his young age, can defeat Goliath. Dave, through song, convinces Saul to let him out on the field. Saul tells Dave to put on his old royal armor. Dave's not fit for the armor and says that he'll confront Goliath with all he has and the will of God. Saul reluctantly lets Dave go out and fight.

As Dave heads for the camp, he stops by a stream and picks up five smooth stones. At the camps, Dave goes to Goliath and accepts his challenge. Goliath suits up in his boxing uniform and heads out in the battlefield and confronts Dave. Dave then takes a stone he picked up and uses a slingshot to fling a stone at Goliath. The stone hits Goliath's head, knocking him completely out. The Israelites are cheering with victory as the Philistines run away in defeat and fear. The story ends with Dave riding on his sheep in the sunset, and falling off.

Closing Countertop

Back on the countertop, Larry's moved by the story. The Bible verse of the day is Matthew 19:26; with God all things are possible. Larry thinks that he can do anything he wants and says that he wants to be a chicken. Bob then corrects him by saying that the verse means whatever God wants us to do, we can do. Larry then says that thanks to the story, he feels special! Bob also says to Myra that he hopes that the story made her feel special too. As Bob leaves the countertop, Larry stays behind to play around as Larry-Boy for fun. He then uses his super-suction ears to hang onto the camera and gets stuck then falls off onto the kitchen floor.

Characters

Major

Minor

Voice Cast

  • Phil Vischer as Bob the Tomato, Archibald Asparagus, Pa Grape, Jimmy Gourd, Tom Grape, Goliath and the Silly Song Announcer
  • Mike Nawrocki as Larry the Cucumber/Larry-Boy, Jerry Gourd, Jean Claude Pea
  • Lisa Vischer as Junior Asparagus
  • Chris Olsen as Christophe Pea

Songs

Production

After Big Idea suffered through exhaustion after making Rack, Shack and Benny, Phil Vischer wanted to make the next episode silly and simple. He began reading the story of David and Goliath and thought about doing a Monty Python-like story of David and Goliath.

The episode was the easiest made in just four months with eight people and everything was on budget, on schedule, and no one got tired making it and had a ball doing it. It even proved to be a favorite.

Home media

Main article: Dave and the Giant Pickle/Home Video

Features

Dave and the Giant Pickle/Features

Trailer Appearances

Dave and the Giant Pickle/Trailer Appearances

Other Languages

  • سقوط الخيارة الجبارة (Arabic) (The Fall of the Mighty Cucumber)
  • 大衛與巨大的醃菜 (Cantonese) (same translation)
  • David i Divovski Krastavac (Croatian) (David and the Giant Cucumber)
  • Taavi ja jättiläiskurkku (Finnish) (David and Giant Cucumber)
  • Ο Ντεϊβ και το Τεράστιο Τουρσί (Greek) (same translation)
  • 少しょう年ねんダビデとジャイアントピクルス (Japanese) (Little Boy David and the Giant Pickle)
  • 다윗과 골리앗 (Korean) (David and Goliath)
  • 小兵立大功 (Mandarin) (Taiwan) (1st dub) (Small Soldiers Make Great Contributions)
    • Unknown (Mandarin) (Taiwan) (2nd dub)
  • David og den sure agurken (Norwegian) (David and the Sour Cucumber)
  • داود و ترشی غول پیکر (Persian) (same translation)
  • Davi e o Pickle Gigante (Portuguese) (Brazil) (1st dub) (same translation)
    • Davi e o Gigante (Portuguese) (Brazil) (2nd-3rd dubs) (David and the Giant)
  • David e o Pickle Gigante (Portuguese) (Portugal) (same translation)
  • Давид и Гигантский Огурец (Russian) (David and the Giant Cucumber)
  • David in velikanska kumarica (Slovenian) (same translation)
  • David y el Pepino Gigante (Spanish) (Latin America) (1st dub) (David and the Giant Cucumber)
    • Dave y el Pepinillo Gigante (Spanish) (Latin America) (2nd dub) (same translation)
  • Dave và người khổng lồ (Vietnamese) (Dave and the Giants)

Fun Facts

Moral(s)

  • Little people can do big things, too.
  • It doesn't matter who or what you are, everyone is capable of doing great things.
  • Don't feel jealous over someone having special talents or being more successful than you.
  • It's okay to just be yourself instead of trying to be someone or something you're not.

Trivia

Remarks

  • Phil Vischer stated that this is the first video to feature animals. However, there is a snake and two whales featured in God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?!
  • The back cover of the 2009 re-release states the episode came out in 1997, which isn't true.
    • Also on the cover, Larry-Boy's second costume design is featured, instead of his original design.
  • The original 1996 VHS of this episode is one of only three 1993-1997 VeggieTales VHS tapes (the other being the original 1993 VHS Where's God When I'm S-Scared? and the original 1994 imprint of God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?!) that has a different sticker label aside from the rest of the tapes from 1993-1997. The 1997 Lyrick Studios VHS of Are You My Neighbor? doesn't count.
  • As you'll notice on some of the characters, the underneath of them is brighter than normal.
  • Goliath had a convenient chance of attacking David, but he just stares at his slingshot when he could just plan ahead.
  • When Bob said "They were mostly... sheep, especially around Dave's house,", there's no house shown in the shots depicting the sheep.
  • David had seven brothers, but there were only three seen.
  • Larry states that Larry-Boy can fly, although he does not have this power (Though the Bad Apple video game and later design of the costume later incorporate flight).
  • Bob states that there weren't any cars, telephones or vacuums or other modern technology. However, in other Biblical adaptations in the series, at least one example of modern technology is featured in a few episodes.
  • It's never explained how Bob got out of the sink between this and the last episode.
  • In the original 1996 version, there are some sound effects missing (i.e. some of Goliath's stomping noises). This was corrected by adding them in when the episode was remastered in 2004 for its VeggieTales Classics re-release.
    • As for the sound effect of Larry-Boy's plungers swooshing, only the lower-pitched swooshing was heard and the louder, higher-pitched swish sound (which was actually layered within the lower swooshing sound) was missing in the 2004 remaster, but only before the closing credits.
    • At the end of Love My Lips, Larry's scatting and the instrumental music also fade out sooner on the 2004 remaster.
  • When the episode was remastered in 2004, the brightness and gamma of the picture was adjusted to a slightly higher level, possibly due to Goliath's skin being too dark for his mouth to be barely seen in the original version.
  • Some international releases have Endangered Love play after Love My Lips.
    • On a similar note, the Arabic dub replaces Love My Lips with The Hairbrush Song, due to Are You My Neighbor? being denied from release in the Arab World for controversial reasons involving its lesson in loving your neighbor.
      • In addition, Pa Grape's voiceover before and after the Silly Song were cut, resulting in silence during the black screen.

Goofs

  • When Larry-Boy demonstrates, his tooth is missing.
  • Jimmy's pupils clip through his eyelids when Bob was telling the viewers who Dave is.
  • When one of the peas are hopping, they appear to be flying.
  • Many sound effects were missing in the original version, especially the sound of Goliath's giant footsteps in many scenes. This was fixed in the 2004 rerelease.
  • King Saul's monocle changes from silver to gold in one shot.
  • When Dave tells Goliath he will fight him, Jerry is standing between Tom and Jimmy. In the close-up, Jimmy and Jerry have switched places.
  • King Saul's pupils are missing before the camera turns to Dave when he is ready to fight Goliath.
  • When Goliath is falling down, he is missing his cap in one shot.
  • One of Larry-Boy's super suction ears is bent during the "What We Have Learned" song.
  • Some white appears in Larry-Boy's mouth while he's recognizing that he can do anything God wants him to do.
  • On the back cover of the 1996 release, "challenge" is misspelled as "challange."

Inside References

  • A few nods from the first episode are featured here:
    • Archibald playing a biblical king, which looks identical to the same one.
    • The lion pizza box design's most likely a reference towards when Daniel had pizza with the lions.
    • Jimmy and Jerry talking about dipping Dave in tar and sticking him on the backside of an angry water buffalo.
  • Jimmy and Jerry saying they can eat a whole (insert object here) is a reference towards their debut appearance.
  • The 1998 Lyrick Studios VHS trailer for this episode has an instrumental of God is Bigger from Where's God When I'm S-Scared?.

Real-World References

  • The episode's title reminisces towards Roald Dahl's book "James and the Giant Peach," which got a film adaptation by Disney the following year the episode was released.
  • The Larry-Go-Round is a pun of a Merry-Go-Round.
  • Bob explaining what the Philippines are and saying "That's not important now" references the 1980 Paramount comedy movie "Airplane!".
  • The water in King Saul's cup shaking and causing ripples is a reference to Steven Spielberg's 1993 movie Jurassic Park.
  • David's sheep bear some resemblance to the sheep that appear in the Wallace and Gromit short "A Close Shave."
  • When Dave sits on King Saul's throne during the line "With His help, I know I can do big things!" in Big Things Too, it foreshadows David becoming king after King Saul's death.
  • The line "Couldn't you just play your harp and I'll throw things at you?" from Big Things Too is a reference to the Bible, where King Saul tries to kill David by throwing a spear at him.

Fast Forward

Transcript

Credits

Commentary

Dave and the Giant Pickle/Commentary

Gallery

DaveAndTheGiantPickleTitleCard

VeggieTales episodes
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