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"Gee, it sure does feel good to be forgiven when you make mistakes."
— Mike Asparagus as The Professor
GodWantsMeToForgiveThem150
God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?!
Directed by

Phil Vischer
Chris Olsen

Produced by

Chris Olsen

Written by

Phil Vischer
Mike Nawrocki
(story)

Music by

Kurt Heinecke

Distributed by

Big Idea

Released

August 23, 1994

Runtime

32 minutes

Previous episode

Where's God
When I'm S-Scared?

Next episode

Are You
My Neighbor?

God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?! is the second episode of VeggieTales. It features two stories about forgiveness.

The first story is a parody loosely based on "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck, while the second story is a parody of the 1960s sitcom, Gilligan's Island.

Plot

Opening Countertop

On the countertop, Bob and Larry introduce themselves and greet the viewers. Bob then tells Larry that the other day, when he was walking home from his bowling league; he bumped into Marco, one of their TV friends. Now, Marco had a question for both Larry and Bob. Marco said that when his little sister makes aggravates him, and then she apologizes, their mom says he needs to forgive her, but Marco does not understand why he needs to forgive her. Larry then tells Marco the story of "The Grapes of Wrath".

The Grapes of Wrath

(See the full page for the plot.)

After the story ends, Bob congratulates Larry on the story, but asks him if that is actually how the story goes. Larry says "oh yeah" and winks at him.

The Forgive-O-Matic

(See the full page for the plot.)

Countertop 2

We meet back up with Bob and Larry back on the countertop. Bob then asks Larry if he remembers the time they learned about forgiveness and Larry responds that he does. Bob then asks Larry: "Well, do you the kids at home would like to hear about it?" Larry replies with: "Oh, most definitely." Larry then turns to ask the kids at home if they all want to hear the story by asking them: "You would? Would ya?" Bob then asks: "What'd they say?" Larry then replies that he does not know, but he is quite confident that the kids actually said "Yes". Bob says that that is great. Bob then asks Larry who tells it, and Larry lets Bob do it.

Larry's Lagoon

(See full page for the main plot.)

Bible verse(s)

Matthew 18:22 "Jesus answered 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.'" Colossians 3:13b "Forgive others as the Lord forgave you"

Production

After Big Idea finished Where's God When I'm S-Scared?, VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer began to wonder what he and his production team could make next. He then remembered a puppet skit he wrote in Bible college called the Forgive-O-Matic. Phil gave the script to his assistant animator Chris Olsen to animate and direct while he went to figure out a longer story. As he was brainstorming their next project, he considered spoofing (in very loose terms) classic literature, something that he and VeggieTales co-creator Mike Nawrocki discussed before they began working on the first episode. Ideas the duo discussed included "Bridge over Pumpkin Pie," "War and Peaches," "Lime and Punishment," "Madame Blueberry," and "The Grapes of Wrath," and as of 2024, only the latter two have been created by Big Idea.

After Grapes of Wrath was done, Phil and Mike went out to dinner to think of the second segment, and they came up with Larry's Lagoon, a spoof of the 1960s sitcom, Gilligan's Island.

Characters

Major

Minor

Voice Cast

Songs

Home media

Main article: God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?!/Home Video

Features

God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?!/Features

Trailer Appearances

Other Languages

  • العنب و الحساب (Arabic) (Grapes and Arithmetic)
  • 憤怒的葡萄 (Cantonese) (same translation as The Grapes of Wrath)
  • God wil dat ik ze vergeef?!? (Dutch) (same translation)
  • Vihaiset viinirypäleet (Finnish) (Angry Grapes)
  • Τα Σταφύλια της Οργής (Greek) (same translation as The Grapes of Wrath)
  • God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?! (Indonesian) (same title)
  • 神かみ様さまが赦ゆるせとおっしゃっているんだ!(Japanese) (God is Telling Me to Forgive!)
  • 심술쟁이 청포도 가족 (Korean) (Grumpy Green Grape Family)
  • 葡萄饒恕記 (Mandarin) (Taiwan) (1st dub) (Grape Forgiveness)
    • 蕻恕的功課 (Mandarin) (Taiwan) (2nd dub) (Forgive Homework)
  • Vredens druer (Norwegian) (same translation as The Grapes of Wrath)
  • خدا از من می خواهد آنها را ببخشم؟ (Persian) (1st dub) (same translation)
    • خوشه های خشم (Persian) (2nd dub) (same translation as The Grapes of Wrath)
  • Deus Quer que os Perdoe?!? (Portuguese) (Brazil) (1st dub) (Does God Want You to Forgive Them?!?)
    • Perdoar… Por Quê? (Portuguese) (Brazil) (2nd-3rd dubs) (Forgive... Why?)
  • As Uvas da Ira (Portuguese) (Portugal) (same translation as The Grapes of Wrath)
  • Бог Хочет, Чтобы Я Простил Им!?! (Russian) (same translation)
  • Sadovi jeze (Slovenian) (Fruits of Anger)
  • ¿¡¿Quiere Dios que los Perdone?!? (Spanish) (Latin America) (Does God Want Me to Forgive Them?!?)
  • Nho nhăn nhó (Vietnamese) (Wrinkled Grapes)

Fun Facts

Moral(s)

  • Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, so we need to forgive them and make up for it.
  • Holding a grudge is toxic and can lead to hurting people's feelings.
  • Don't unforgive others when someone apologizes.

Trivia

  • This is the first episode for several things:
    • The first appearance of the Grape family, Henry and Lovey Asparagus. This also marks the first video speaking role of Rosie and Palmy (not counting A Very Veggie Christmas).
    • As Phil Vischer had not considered the Silly Songs with Larry segment a regular staple of the series at the time, this is the first episode to not have a Silly Song. After frustrated and confused fans flooded the Big Idea studio with letters asking where the segment was, however, Phil suggested to Mike Nawrocki that he write more Silly Songs for future shows, which ultimately led to the segment becoming a regular appearance.
    • The first episode not to have a letter from a child. The question at hand was asked by one of Bob and Larry's TV friends named Marco.
    • The first episode to spoof classic literature.
    • This is also the first time in Big Idea where somebody cries, namely Junior, after the Grape family hurt his feelings.
    • The first episode to use constriction (pupils shrinking).
    • The first episode someone cheers.
    • The first episode not to have Phil Winklestein, Lisa Asparagus, The Blue Wind-Up Lobster, and Scallions #2 and 3 appear since their debut appearances.
    • The first episode where QWERTY displays two verses on one episode. The second was in Abe and the Amazing Promise.
    • The first episode that reveals more of the kitchen countertop, including cabinetry. The kitchen sink was not yet added until Are You My Neighbor?, where it is seen in The Hairbrush Song.
      • This is also the 1st episode in which the cabinetry and drawers look different.
    • The first time Junior appeared on the countertop, as shown in The Forgive-O-Matic.
    • The first episode that ended with Larry saying God Made You Special, and He Loves You Very Much by himself. The second was in Rack, Shack and Benny.
    • The first episode not to have a prototype video cover for the front.
    • The first episode to use a Word Entertainment FBI warning screen in 1997 (the year it was reprinted on VHS).
    • The first episode that used splashing water animation.
    • The first and only episode where there is no fade to black between the closing countertop scene and the credits.
    • The first episode to have someone tell the segments, rather than present them.
    • This first episode where Scallion #1 appears alone.
  • This episode can be featured in Happy Together! and Growing Faithful Kids! featuring The Grapes of Wrath, and Lessons from the Sock Drawer featuring Larry's Lagoon and The Forgive-O-Matic.
  • An episode based, however loosely, on The Grapes of Wrath was actually suggested by Mike prior to production on the first episode.
  • This episode is notorious for having more animation errors than any other episode in the VeggieTales series, comparable to Sweetpea Beauty and The Wonderful World of Auto-Tainment!
  • This is the second and last episode to have Larry's lower dopey voice. However, Larry's voice was starting to improve and bear more resemblance to his current voice from the next episode. His voice gets to its final form in the closing countertop.
  • This is also the first episode to have an on/off option for the audio commentary.
  • The Forgive-O-Matic segment was based a puppet show Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki performed at Bible college.
  • The sound effect of the boat's motor in the second segment was actually Mike Nawrocki making a motorboat sound with his mouth. The grapes' car's motor was also a sound effect made by series musician Kurt Heinecke using his mouth as well.
  • Larry's original daydream that caused him to crash the boat was that his nose would come off his face and float around him, but the production team thought the idea was strange.
  • In the Forgive-O-Matic, when Scallion #1 tells Junior that he is busy with advertising, a picture of Bob, Larry, Junior, Lisa and Mike Asparagus with the original VeggieTales logo can be seen on a bulletin board in the background if you look closely.
  • The original 1994 VHS has the same designs as the original 1993 VHS of the previous episode.
  • When scoring for the episode, Kurt Heinecke used a stopwatch to see how long each piece of the score would fit with whichever scene.
  • The Latin Spanish and Japanese dubs have the theme song from Where's God When I'm S-Scared?.
  • At some point in 2018, there was a rumor that the original mail-order VHS of this episode had the 1993-1994 intro but sometime in the early 2020s, it was confirmed to be false.
  • Many international dubs perfectly time Bob and Larry's screaming with their voiceovers.
  • There exists an extremely rare late 2001 VHS reprint of this episode by Lyrick Studios. It has a green tape with a purple ink label, and it has a print date of August 6, 2001.

Remarks

  • Larry blowing on a sail to propel himself out at sea is physically impossible due to the concept of closed systems.
  • When the Grape family sing their song in their car, they sing about rarely smiling and never laughing, despite doing both several times later in the segment. They might not have found something so amusing until seeing Junior's sprouts and making fun of them.
  • Larry states that "Junior's dad heard them [the grapes] laughing," but in the next shot, the grapes are not heard laughing. Larry may be referring to the previous shot in which Mike Asparagus heard them from inside Junior's house.
  • Lovey Asparagus says that Larry ruined their vacation, which is odd because in the UK, they refer to Vacation as Holiday.
    • Maybe Lovey and Archibald are adapted to the United States enough to use the term "vacation."
  • As he flies the helicopter, the Professor claims he made it entirely out of "bamboo and coconuts," but those materials alone cannot be used to make an engine capable of flight. However, it is possible he salvaged the engine from the sunk boat, but where he got fuel for it remains unknown.
  • Never taking a bath would be a bad idea, as it is unhygienic and unhealthy.
  • This episode and Where's God When I'm S-Scared? were never restored in digitally pristine visual quality unlike the rest of the 1990s episodes on their VeggieTales Classics reprints.
    • The likely cause of God Wants Me To Forgive Them!?! being remastered in only poor quality is presumed to have been due to most of the original project files or raw rendered frames being lost, corrupted, or even deleted to free up disk space (with the exception of most footage for the The Forgiveness Song being re-rendered in high quality for Very Silly Songs! in some form). It is possible, given that the Grapes' car twitching (when the Grapes leave in their car after being renamed the Grapes of Math) was an unfixable error (more on that below), Big Idea has never bothered trying to recreate that scene.
    • However, unlike with the previous episode that was in poorer quality, this one is still in marginally good quality like the other episodes, even though it is still compressed in slightly low audio and footage quality (as were other episodes in the early years).
  • Out of all the early VeggieTales episodes that were edited for later re-releases, this is overall the only 1990s episode that remained in its original master on all of its reprints (especially on its VeggieTales Classics reissue, where it also lacks a 5.1 Surround Sound audio track on the DVD), therefore all the scenes, animation, voices, music and sound effects from the original version by all means remained untouched for every re-release (not counting the VeggieTales Theme Song and an added 1997 Big Idea logo with Bob and Larry).
    • The original 1994 VeggieTales Theme Song is included as a bonus clip on the 2004 DVD release, in which it can be watched when you answer all the hard Trivia questions correctly. However, this version of the theme song has the text "Original Open from 'God Wants Me To Forgive Them!?!'" added on the screen prior to the text "Big Idea Productions presents" popping up on the screen and also has the 2003 audio (with Larry's current voice) dubbed over the original.
    • However, the songs We Are The Grapes Of Wrath and The Forgiveness Song have been changed with certain vocals heard more clearly in later years, but this was only noticeable on the 1998 reprint of VeggieTunes. The latter of the two songs also had this change in the 2004 reprint of Very Silly Songs!.
      • Some noticeable changes of the two songs include Pa's (and presumably Tom's) vocals being heard more clearly during most of the former song and the coconuts' backup vocals being heard during the last verses of the latter song.
  • On the alternate VHS cover for the original Latin Spanish dub (with the La Bamba font), the back states that the video features "Silly Songs with Larry," which is indeed false because of the aforementioned Forgive-O-Matic skit having replaced it in the actual episode.
  • Some versions of the bible that have Matthew 18:22 actually say 77 times rather than 70×7.
  • The original 1994 VHS of this episode is one of only three 1993-1997 VeggieTales VHS tapes (the other two being the original 1993 VHS of Where's God When I'm S-Scared? and the 1996 VHS of Dave and the Giant Pickle) that have a different sticker label aside from the rest of the tapes from 1993-1997. The 1997 Lyrick Studios VHS of Are You My Neighbor? does not count, since it has an ink label.
  • When the episode was reprinted in 1997, despite the Word Entertainment FBI warning before the video, it still uses the original 1994 master of the episode. However, after the theme song, there is a slightly longer black screen of death, and the picture panning of the episode is somehow positioned a few degrees to the left.
    • Unlike Where's God When I'm S-Scared? and Are You My Neighbor?, the entire box cover for the 1997 reprint is oddly unchanged and instead reused the second 1994 box cover, making this reprint of the episode confusing and harder to find.

Goofs

  • When Larry says that it is great that Bob bumped into Marco, his tooth is missing.
  • When Bob says, "Oooh, that's a classic! This'll be good!", the lid on the pink canister briefly changes to a lighter purple color before reverting back to its standard purple color.
  • As the Grapes' car leaves behind smoke in the first shot, the edge of the shadows of trees on both sides flickers.
  • The other road path (behind the grapes) is glitched via over hinge.
  • The car appears to fly above the road in one shot.
  • One shadow suddenly disappears.
  • In the shots showing the side of the Grapes' car as they are driving, neither of the Grapes have mouths, even when they are singing.
  • Pa and Ma's glasses clip through their noses.
  • Rosie's braids clip through Tom's hat while they're driving.
  • One of Rosie's braids clips through the piece of fence in the back of the car as she is throwing the snake into the tree's milkshake.
  • One shadow renders too late.
  • The car's tires are clipping through the ground when they are driving.
  • The tree running down does not stay on the sloped hill.
  • After the Grapes' car hits the tree stump, when Tom and Rosie are arguing over "who did it," Rosie is floating above the ground.
  • Before and after Tom Grape calls to Pa Grape, one of his freckles oddly has shading.
  • Pa Grape clips through the car as he jumps out while asking Rosie to apologize to Tom.
  • Rosie's pigtails are displayed in front of the stump instead of behind it in one shot.
  • When Pa Grape says, "Well it must be some kind of a bean or something," something black appears to the right of his nose and flickers in the shot afterwards.
  • Junior states that he is in a Liliopsida genus. Liliopsida is not a genus, but a class.
  • After Junior takes off his hat, a small part of his eyes clips through.
  • When Pa Grape admits he and the other Grapes of Wrath are teasing Junior, Dad Asparagus' tie flickers between various pattern schemes, which was dubbed "disco tie" by the production team.
  • Tom's hat clips through the car.
  • There are many shots where either the tool, sandbox, or truck disappear.
  • In the scene where the grapes wonder what Junior is, Ma Grape's (who is in the car) mouth flickers.
  • As the Grapes leave in their car after being renamed the Grapes of Math, the car twitches. Phil explained in the audio commentary that this was an unfixable mistake.
  • The knife cache is removed after it falls. Whether or not this is an error or someone removing it is unknown.
  • Bob's eye twitches while he and Larry talk on the boat before taking off.
  • The steering wheel's center glitches in one shot.
  • Bob's eyes are detached from his nose in one shot.
  • There is an inconsistent background shot when the millionaire and his wife were talking without any movement.
  • Archibald's eye clips through his wife's hat in one shot.
  • Palmy's coconuts are floating and are not connected.
  • Palmy's leaves clip through his body.
  • The ladder vanishes after its end reaches the helicopter.
  • Bob's eyelids twitch for a bit when he says, "You smashed our boat! Now, what are we gonna do?"

Inside References

Real-World References

  • The design of Junior's house is based on the 1988 Canadian animated short film, "The Cat Came Back."
  • The Chia Forgive-O-Matic is a spoof on Chia pets.
  • QWERTY is seen playing Pong, one of the first commercially available video games, before pulling up the first Bible verse.
  • Mike states in the Very Silly Songs! audio commentary that Palmy's laugh at the end is reminiscent of a 7-UP commercial that was popular at the time.
  • Larry's fantasy about freeing whales from ice reminisces towards Operation Breakthrough, an operation that took place in 1988 that involved breaking three whales free from ice.

Fast Forward

Transcript

Credits

Commentary

God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?!/Commentary

Gallery

GodWantsMeToForgiveThemLogo

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