VeggieTales: Change Matters

By Biondipastas God made you special and he loves you very much. Those words were some of the last things I've ever heard my mother say before she died seven years ago. These words were also the last words of every episode of the popular Christian animated series VeggieTales. The show spread a lot of good morals and has created an emotional connection to my everyday life. My mother obviously knew about my appreciation for the show when I was younger, so she would say those words for many occasions: before I went to bed each night, before I went to school, before she dropped me off somewhere, and before... she died. Her death was devastating and I was never able to get over it. I mean, I was only 8 years old when that happened! When an 8 year old gets put in a devastating situation like that, do you expect them to EVER recover from it? No offense, I would probably have to disagree with you if you said no. Forget it... let's just talk about the reason why I'm talking to all of you.

My name is Damian Boyce, and I live in Charlotte, North Carolina. I'm a Christian, which kind of explains my appreciation for VeggieTales. To be honest with you all, I grew up liking many cartoons in my youth, but none of them had the same effect on me that VeggieTales did. Not just because it was a Christian series, mind you, but it made the seemingly complicated Bible stories very easy to understand and portrayed timeless characters that stuck with me as I grew older. I never got tired of watching the show, and for a TV show to have that effect on someone is pretty impressive, I must say. But what would happen if something as innocent and child-friendly as VeggieTales would take a dark spin into reality? No, I'm not talking about any bootlegs or demented lost episodes or any of that, I'm talking about the conclusion to everything. The finale. The endgame. The moment where you realize you have to accept that what you love is coming to a closure. That's what I'm talking about. Well, if I were to be completely honest, that happened to me before. Experiencing what would come as the ultimate culmination of all of the past VeggieTales adventures was something I can firmly say is a reality. A cold and brutal one, but it's still a reality.

The episode was called "Change Matters". The cover showed Bob and Larry looking up to a cloud, which portrayed Heaven. In the background it showed the rest of the VeggieTales cast wearing bright robes revealing that they have all turned into angels. I got it from an online video marketplace called cartoonsforsaleonline.com that somehow delivered packages with whatever the buyer wanted to purchase. Anyways, the reason why I bought it was because it was deemed as "the ultimate conclusion to the VeggieTales saga", or something like that. I'm not entirely sure how the description went. Another thing I'd like to mention about this is that it got four stars out of five on the website, so I figured it would probably be a pretty good episode. But anyway, I told my father (who also enjoyed watching VeggieTales) that I found an episode online that apparently claimed itself to wrap up VeggieTales as a whole, and he got really excited to watch it with me. I opened up the DVD and looked at it. It was gray and had the episode's logo as well as all of the technical and copyright-related information. After glancing at the DVD, I popped some popcorn, put the DVD in the video player, and it started up. The DVD menu looked normal enough, with a colorful background and a few characters from the show including Bob the Tomato, Larry the Cucumber, Junior Asparagus and Laura Carrot. I clicked Play on the remote at the position where the DVD menu was underlining the Play option and the episode started.

The episode began with the 2010 version of the theme song, with the original designs and not the crappy new redesigns from VeggieTales in the House, and after the theme song played it cut to Bob and Larry on the countertop. The two of them did their casual greeting as they do for each episode, and after that, Larry pulled out a box of tissues and started crying. Bob was questioning why Larry was doing this, and Larry said, "It's the last episode of our show, Bob. I can't believe it! We had laughs, songs, weird Monty Python references, it was awesome!" The Monty Python joke made me and my father chuckle as I scrambled for another handful of buttery popcorn. Bob then said, "Well, Larry, everything has to come to an end. We can't go on forever, can't we? I mean, think about it like this: even though we put on a great show for the past 25 years, the kids want to see something new. Something original. Something completely different! How's that for a weird Monty Python reference?" Me and my father laughed again. We were enjoying ourselves with this episode! We almost thought it was gonna capture the lighthearted fun of the original episodes but in a whole new way. Larry cheered up and put down his box of tissues and then said, "Well, I'd never! Anyways, I got a letter from a kid named Oscar Thompson from Denver, Colorado. He says, 'Dear Bob and Larry, I'm moving away this summer. I'm packing some of my old things and going to a newer and bigger house. It looks cool, but I really miss my old house and all the memories I've spent with it. Why is this happening to me?' Larry put down the letter, and Bob turned over to the camera. He then said, "Well, Oscar, just because you're moving to a new house doesn't mean everything's gonna be gloomy. In fact, if you really think about it, you can appreciate things you don't want to happen to you in brand new ways. It's all about change. You may not like it at first, but you'll soon learn to appreciate things!" Pretty interesting, I must say. My mother died seven years ago, which was a pretty harsh change, but I eventually learned to accept the changes that happened over time. Larry widened his smile and said, "So, does that mean VeggieTales ending is technically considered a change, and as time passes, we have to learn to accept it?" Bob then said, "That's right! Anyways, I have a story that can work for you. It will be our final story of this entire series, and we think you'd like it. It's called, 'Change Matters'. Roll film!" And with that, the story started. Me and my father stuffed our faces with popcorn in preparation for what was to come with the ending of VeggieTales. One thing I'd like to note about the episode, though, was that the animation was incredible. The countertop as well as Bob and Larry looked nearly photo-realistic, almost as if Pixar animated this. But anyway, let's move on to the actual episode.

It started off with Junior Asparagus and Laura Carrot having a sleepover in Junior's bedroom. They were having a pillow fight and they were giggling and having lots of fun. Junior's mom walked in and said, "Junior, Laura, it's time for bed!" Junior and Laura said, "Just four more minutes!" Then Junior's mom said, "That's what you said four minutes ago!" My dad commented that this was a callback to the very first episode of VeggieTales, and I found that to be very interesting. I love it when finales do callbacks to some of the earliest material in something because it makes me feel nostalgic. I love it when I get nostalgic. Anyways, Junior and Laura of course rebelled against Junior's mother's decisions, so Junior's mom had to threaten Junior by saying she'd make Laura go home if he didn't listen to her. This caused Junior to ultimately decide to conclude the pillow fight and call it a draw. Junior and Laura hopped in their beds (Junior slept on his bed and Laura slept on the spare bed) and Junior's mom turned off the light and shut the door. Junior and Laura stayed up all night whispering and giggling, and then it transitioned to the next morning. Junior's mom was cooking breakfast in the kitchen and when it was ready, she called down Junior and Laura to come and eat breakfast. Junior's dad walked in as well, and after he started eating he complimented his wife for being such a great cook. Junior's mom smiled at her husband's kind comment, and then Junior and Laura started to finish their breakfast. Laura was picked up by her mom to go back to her house, and Junior went over to the living room to watch TV. It then cut to 4 hours later, with Junior's mom vacuuming the floor. After some more vacuuming, the phone rang. She picked it up and it was one of Junior's dad's friends from work. He was a zucchini and his name was Zachary. So, in other words, Zachary Zucchini. Nice alliteration, Big Idea. Anyways, Zachary said Junior's dad (who I successfully managed to catch the name of; it's actually Dan, which is a reference to his voice actor) was missing from his office all day and that his boss started panicking if he was gonna show up. This made Junior's mom (who I still don't know the name of, sorry for the inconvenience) a little bit nervous and all the more curious. She went over to the TV (forgot to mention Junior left) and turned on the news. We saw that there was an accident in the middle of the road, which was surprisingly also the road to Dan Asparagus's job. The car that was involved in the accident looked identical to the Asparagus family's car. Junior's mom, in hindsight, knew it had something to do with her husband. According to the news report, there was only one casualty, but it was unknown who was involved. The phone rang again, and it was coming from an ambulance. After Junior's mom answered the phone, a voice that sounded like Pa Grape said that a person named Dan Asparagus had a severe concussion and was brain-damaged. The ambulance was taking him to the hospital and all operation bills were luckily on them. Junior's mom, in shock, hung up after Pa Grape was done talking and fainted. Junior walked in and noticed his mom fainted on the ground and was confused. This episode took a pretty dark spin on things. Me and my father were looking at each other, confused. Would Big Idea really go this far with their portrayal of certain themes? This couldn't be right. Anyways, it cut to the hospital. It showed Dan Asparagus lying on the bed with his eyes closed and no movement coming from him. Junior Asparagus, his mom, as well as the Carrot family were all looking at Dan Asparagus with sad looks while Pa Grape was performing an operation. After investigating Dan's brain, he concluded with a shocking discovery. He said, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, everyone, but Dan Asparagus is brain-dead. What this means is that his body is unable to function properly and that he only has ten minutes left to live." This brought everybody into tears, including me and my father watching the episode. Junior and his mom were crying the hardest. It cut to ten minutes later, and the heart monitor went completely flat. Pa Grape announced that Dan Asparagus had died, and the entire room broke down into more tears than before. It then cut to a funeral that showcased the Asparagus family, the Carrot family, as well as all of the other well-known VeggieTales characters. We then saw Junior's mom throwing a bouquet of flowers on Dan Asparagus's grave. She then performed a eulogy that went like this: "My dear friends and family, we are all gathered here to commemorate the life of Dan Asparagus, who did a lot of great things throughout his short stay here on planet Earth. None of us wanted him to die. In fact, nobody wants to die. But sometimes, we come across the cold and harsh reality that occurs to us that people do die and we need to move on. That's what change is. Moving on. And let's face it: moving on is hard. It's something humanity has thrived to do for thousands and thousands of centuries filled with lots and lots of complications. And as long as we learn to move on, everything will be okay." Beautiful words, I must say. It then cut to a painting of the Asparagus family (similar to the one from Where's God When I'm S-Scared?! but with much better animation) and then faded to black. Me and my father were crying like a bunch of tiny little babies. Why would they make something as sad as this?

It then cut to Bob and Larry on the countertop. Larry said, "That was a really sad story, Bob. Did it have to end like that?" Bob said, "Well, sure, it was a sad ending, but people have to learn that life isn't all sunshine and rainbows and happiness. It's filled with change. Now, come on! It's time to talk about what we've learned today." QWERTY performed the What Have We Learned song, which only slightly brightened up the mood but didn't do much else. Bob the Tomato wasn't at all bothered with the song for whatever reason. After that happened, Bob said, "When Junior's mom found out that her husband was involved in that accident, she realized that nothing would ever be the same again. Change can be difficult if it's a scenario like this, but as long as we're able to move on, everything will be okay. Now let's see if QWERTY has a verse for us!" QWERTY then displayed a Bible verse, then Bob read it out loud. It read, "The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger. Job 17:9." Larry then said, "So Oscar, when you learn to move on and realize that having a new house isn't as bad as you'd think it would be, just remember that God promised everything would be okay from the very beginning." Then Bob and Larry prepared the final goodbye by saying, "Well, that's all for the show. Thanks for watching, and remember: God made you special and he loves you very much. Goodbye!" And with that, the episode, as well as 25 years of a great Christian series, ended. Oh yeah, and it turns out Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki made that episode.

Me and my father were devastated. What started out as a funny and lighthearted episode ended up ending the series on a rather somber and serious note rather than a genuine grand finale. Now, the episode itself was actually pretty good, but it was also really sad! I took the DVD out of the DVD player and put it back in the case and stored it on the shelf. My father went back upstairs and I laid down on the couch, thinking of the words, "God made you special and he loves you very much." What does it actually mean? Did God make me special? Does He love me very much? Is He really okay with change? When my mom died, I was extremely devastated. Sure, I moved on, but it was still a shocking moment in my past. Then I jumped into a conclusion: the reason why Phil and Mike would make an episode like this was because they wanted kids to move on while also facing the harsh reality. Most kiddie shows wouldn't do that, especially something like VeggieTales, but something like this proves that kids need to be informed that change needs to take place on them. Nothing always works out the way we want it to be, but hey, that's part of life. Who would know something like VeggieTales would have a hidden context to it? I didn't. Now I know, though: when changes occur, you just have to move on.