VeggieTales (partially found widescreen versions of animated children's series episodes; 2003-2004): Difference between revisions

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==See Also==
==See Also==
* [[The Bob & Larry Movie (lost production material of cancelled "VeggieTales" animated film; 2005)]]
* [[Bob & Larry Family Fun (lost content of VeggieTales DVD; 2003)]]
* [[Bob & Larry Family Fun (lost content of VeggieTales DVD; 2003)]]
* [[Dove Awards: Bob and Larry segments (partially found footage from award show; 1996-1997)]]
* [[Dove Awards: Bob and Larry segments (partially found footage from award show; 1996-1997)]]
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* [[Silly Songs with Larry Musical E-Card (lost animated e-card; 2001)]]
* [[Silly Songs with Larry Musical E-Card (lost animated e-card; 2001)]]
* [[Take 38 (found VeggieTales promotional short; 1992)]]
* [[Take 38 (found VeggieTales promotional short; 1992)]]
* [[The Bob & Larry Movie (lost production material of cancelled "VeggieTales" animated film; 2005)]]
* [[Tornado Hunters (partially found Silly Song segment of VeggieTales direct-to-video series; early 2010s)]]
* [[Tornado Hunters (partially found Silly Song segment of VeggieTales direct-to-video series; early 2010s)]]
* [[VeggieTales (lost radio adaptation of CGI animated series; 2006)]]
* [[VeggieTales (lost radio adaptation of CGI animated series; 2006)]]

Revision as of 04:00, 31 January 2024

LittleJoeEasterCarol.png

DVD covers for The Ballad of Little Joe and An Easter Carol.

Status: Partially Found

VeggieTales is a 3D-animated Christian children's series created by Big Idea Productions in 1993. The original series ran from 1993 to 2015, although several spin-offs and reboots have been created since its inception.

Background

Prior to 2002, all of Big Idea's projects were animated in 4:3 fullscreen, the standard aspect ratio for home video and TV at the time. Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, their first theatrical film, was also their first project rendered in a 16:9 widescreen ratio.[1][2][3] Because of this, VeggieTales episodes produced after Jonah would also be animated in this same format. This applied to The Ballad of Little Joe and An Easter Carol, which were both fully animated in a 16:9 aspect ratio. When released on video, however, both episodes were cropped to the standard 4:3 ratio.

Similarly, these two would also be the final episodes animated in-house by Big Idea due to the company going bankrupt in 2003.[4] The following episode, A Snoodle's Tale, was also to be animated in widescreen, and began production with Big Idea's in-house team. However, animation was instead outsourced to DKP Studios, after Big Idea had already completed the layout stages.[5] This resulted in the episode being rendered in fullscreen instead, albeit with the frame extended instead of cropping the original widescreen files.[6]

Big Idea would not produce their episodes in widescreen again until Tomato Sawyer and Huckleberry Larry's Big River Rescue, released 4 years later in 2008.

Availability

The uncropped widescreen versions of both episodes have never been released in full, although the Silly Song in The Ballad of Little Joe, "Belly Button", was intentionally letterboxed to fullscreen to mimic the music videos of the time. Outside of this, the only proof of the widescreen cuts can be found on animation reels, trailers, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and a flashback seen at the beginning of the 2007 episode Moe and the Big Exit, the sequel to Little Joe.

While the likelihood of the widescreen versions being fully released is incredibly slim, NBCUniversal, the current owners of VeggieTales, have shown to have access to the Big Idea archives. This is evidenced by several previously unseen/VHS-exclusive bonus features included in the 20th anniversary DVD/Blu-Ray of Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie,[7] meaning that the chances of the widescreen versions seeing the light of day are not entirely impossible.

Videos

Demo reel containing clips from the widescreen versions from 1:54 to 2:15.

Belly Button, the only part of The Ballad of Little Joe to be officially released in widescreen.

Trailer for The Ballad of Little Joe that contains unfinished widescreen footage (at 2:10).

Song from the episode Moe and the Big Exit, which uses widescreen footage of Little Joe from 0:52 to 1:43.

See Also

References