Picking a favorite VeggieTales release

Got a favorite VeggieTales episode?

"VeggieTales" is the brain child of Phil Vischer, founder of Big Idea.  Like the classic Looney Tunes and various more recent cartoons, they rely on wit rather than the potty humor of Rug Rats or the banal talk-down-to-kids mentality of Barney, the Teletubbies and a few others. Amazingly it's aimed at the Christian market but doesn't suffer for it.

It took them until their third tape before they really caught their stride, and a couple others since then also were mediocre. But with those few exceptions, the VeggieTales tapes are excellent.

One of their finest episodes was "Fib from Outer Space," in which a tiny fib lands in Bumblyburg and encourages Junior Asparagus to get out of trouble with a lie, failing to mention that with every lie Junior tells, the fib will grow bigger. Everything about the story built steadily toward a dramatic climax, the humor was as witty as it's ever been, and everything just plain fit.

Junior's lies were a small thing, but steadily and subtly grew until suddenly it owned him -- and, appropriately, no one else could do anything to stop the monster. Only Junior could, by telling the truth and freeing himself from what he had got himself into.

This was their foray into superhero adventures, featuring Larry-Boy, a cucumber with a Batman complex. They revisited the concept in "Rumor Weed," which unfortunately was too much like a first draft. I was glad when they got things back on track with "King George and the Ducky": more original, more clever, funnier, subtler, and none of the obvious jokes or morals we had been seeing.

I thought "God wants me to Forgive THEM?" relied on too many of the stock, expected jokes about forgiveness, and should have had a silly song instead of the "forgive-o-matic" commercial. The spoof of Gilligan's Island was inspired, though.

The series began with "Where's God When I'm S-Scared?" which largely failed at storytelling by having host Bob the Tomato talk too endlessly about God, although it redeemed itself in part with music. My wife and I were singing this episode's catchy song, "God is Bigger than the Bogeyman," long before we were married, let alone had a daughter to watch the tape.

Similarly, I thought the "Oh no, What We Gonna Do?" song is unforgettable, but the Daniel story as they presented it was too Sunday school-ish.

The other episode that doesn't even get considered for favorite video include "Silly Sing-along 2: The End of Silliness?"

But a favorite? "Lyle, the Kindly Viking" is still amusing, and I really enjoyed "Madame Blueberry." And like I said, "Fib" is excellent. "Esther" is topnotch too.

Maybe Esther.