Dolly... the Girl Who Became Queen

"*I can't tell you what to do, but I can tell you this. You want it to know why you were here, why you became queen. I told you God must have a reason. Dolly, perhaps he can put you a such of time as this. Perhaps this is a reason. Dolly, you never need to be afraid to do what's right.*"
— Mordecai's catchphrase

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**Dolly... the Girl Who Became Queen** is the second VeggieTales special presentation, marked as the show's fourteenth episode. It is based on the story of Esther from the Old Testament, with elements from Paramount Pictures' *The Godfather* and Warner Bros' *Casablanca*.

## Plot

The story opens at 3:00 A.M at a palace in Persia where Haman, King Xerxes' (Mr. Nezzer) right-hand-man (Mr. Lunt), is throwing Queen Vashti out for insubordination (as she refused to make Xerxes a sandwich at the hour). A search is then initiated to find a new Queen.

The following day, Dolly van Pelt and her cousin Mordecai (Pa Grape) are talking. Dolly is asking for Mordecai's advice, but his advice reveals that Dolly knows *what* to do but that she lacks the courage to do it. He tells her that she should not be afraid to do what is right: to confront her friend who stole an apple. When Haman drives up in a favorite car-wagon to collect the eligible maidens, he spots Mordecai and orders him to bow in his presence, but Mordecai refuses as he bows down to no one except God and Xerxes. Haman then spots Dolly and has her taken to the place with the other maidens, though the relationship between Mordecai and Dolly is kept secret.

Dolly and Mordecai managed to meet again at the palace, and Mordecai apologized to Dolly for all the shushing. But he reveals the reason why he shushed Dolly; to keep Dolly from great danger. Then Mordecai tells Esther that she mustn't let anyone know that she was a part of Mordecai's family. Dolly didn't want to stay in the palace and asked Mordecai why. Mordecai couldn't tell, but he believes God does and maybe there's a reason. He leaves the palace before he gets caught, but promises Dolly he'll come visit her again. Dolly asks God to tell her the reason.

At the palace, Xerxes and Haman audition the maidens to be the new Queen. When Dolly takes the stage and sings, Xerxes is left in awe and the decision is made. However, Dolly does not wish to be the Queen, but regardless she is crowned and ensconced in her new life against her will. One day in the throne room of the Perisan palace, Xerxes is visited by Bigthan Peaoni, one of the two Peaoni brothers (Jean-Claude Pea), who has brought him a large cake. Unannounced visitors are not permitted, but Xerxes allows him to be heard. Peaoni convinces him to come to look closely at the cake, while Peaoni's brother Teresh Peaoni (Phillipe Pea) hangs onto a rope, the other end of which supports a grand piano from 1750 A.D. suspended above the cake. Mordecai, who is hiding in a corner to avoid Haman, observes the plot and informs Dolly. Dolly warns Xerxes in time and Teresh and the piano crash harmlessly onto the cake. Xerxes thanks her for saving his life, but she indicates Mordecai, saying that the credit should be his.

Haman banishes the Peaoni Brothers to the Island of Perpetual Tickling for their crimes of attempting to crush Xerxes and for entering the throne room uninvited. Though Xerxes believes he is safe, Haman convinces him that a greater threat awaits. There is a family that cannot be trusted, he claims, and pose an imminent danger to Xerxes. Unaware that Haman is talking about Mordecai, Xerxes unwittingly authorizes an edict to have him and his family banished to the Island of Perpetual Tickling. Mordecai finds the edict posted among other posters and visits Dolly on her balcony at the palace. He appeals to his cousin to reveal Haman's evil plans to Xerxes, but Dolly is afraid as she lacks the courage to confront Xerxes and struggles with what to do.

Mordecai then reminds her that she never needs to be afraid to do what's right. Dolly was still afraid, and was still unsure about what she should do, but she eventually redeems herself as she finally embraces her new position as queen and decides to do what is right.

However, action does not come easy for Dolly. Twice, she attempts to inform Xerxes, and both times she fails, lamely inviting Xerxes and Haman to dinner instead. Meanwhile, Haman attempts to get Mordecai to bow to him again and threatens to have his banishment carried out immediately when he refuses.

Meanwhile, at the palace, Xerxes makes his scribe Markus (Larry the Cucumber) to read what has happened since Dolly has been appointed queen. Xerxes declares his plan to do something in Mordecai's honor for saving his life. Haman then comes to request Xerxes about him carrying out Mordecai's banishment fast, but is foiled when Xerxes says he needed to do something special for someone special. Thinking that the "special guy" is him, Haman tells Xerxes that the "special guy" should deserve a parade. Xerxes thanks Haman for the idea, saying that Mordecai really deserves a parade, utterly humiliating Haman. On her third attempt, Dolly is finally able to muster up the courage to face Xerxes. She reveals that Mordecai is her cousin and that Haman has been plotting to destroy him and his family, which includes her. Xerxes, who respects Mordecai, loves Dolly and would never harm both of them and their family, believes her and banishes Haman to the Island of Perpetual Tickling. Mordecai ends up filling Haman's former position as Xerxes' right-hand-man as Dolly, having saved her people, gazes out the side of the palace with a smile.

## Characters

* Dolly van Pelt
* Markus (Larry the Cucumber)
* Scallion One
* Mordecai (Pa Grape)
* King Xerxes (Mr. Nezzer)
* Haman (Mr. Lunt)
* Percy Pea
* Peaoni Brothers (French Peas)
* Miss Achmetha
* Grim Tickler
* Bob the Tomato (*picture cameo*)
* Junior Asparagus (*picture cameo*)
* Laura Carrot (*picture cameo*)
* Mimi (*picture cameo*)
* Larry-Boy (*picture cameo*)
* Tom Grape (*picture cameo*)

**Location:**

* Persia

## Songs 🎵

* Lost Puppies 🐶
* The Battle Prelude
* Haman's Song 🎵
* The Battle Is Not Ours

## Quotes

* Haman: Hey. Aren’t you the Peaoni brothers? The most wanted peas in Persia?<br \*Bigthen: That’s right we are!
* Teresh: And we could have taken over the kingdom, if it wasn’t for that meddling Queen!
* Bigthan: You don't mean...
* Teresh: The island where you get tickled day and night?
* Bigthan: Night and day?
* Teresh: Without stop?
* Bigthan(Jean-Claude): Not even if you say pretty please?
* The Tickler: [enters with giant feather]
* Bigthan and Teresh: Aaaagh!
* King Xerxes): Why is there a piano on my cake?
* Haman: We work in the same palace, but comapred to me you are g-nat.
* Mordecai: Uh, the 'g' is silent. It's 'gnat.'
* Haman: Are you calling ME a g-nat?
* Mordecai: No! Just correcting your pronounciation.
* Haman: [shouts] Are you calling me stupid?

## Home media

*Main article: Dolly... the Girl Who Became Queen/Home video*
## Fun Facts

#### Morals

* Don't let fear dictate your life. (Reused from "A Boy Named Charlie Brown")
* You never need to be afraid to do what's right.

#### Explanations

* On the poster for public transportation, it states "Why wait 'till A.D.?". This is because the story of Esther takes place before Jesus' birth, which happened at the beginning of the A.D. era.
* A gnat is a type of insect.
* An edict is an order or decree by a person in authority.
* This is Scallion #1's second appearance with his new hairdo.

#### Trivia

* The episode was originally planned to be released for Spring 2001. However, since it was finished early, they decided to release it in late 2000 instead.
* This was the first episode for several things:
	+ The first episode since 'A Boy Named Charlie Brown" where someone that's not from the cast narrates the story.
	+ This is the first non-holiday or Larry-Boy episode not to have the countertop. Mike states that they originally planned a countertop, but it was going to make the run-time almost an hour (Keep in mind, this was before the company was about to move to Franklin).
	+ The first episode not to feature Junior since his debut appearance.
	+ The first and only episode where Larry appears without a major role.
	+ The first non-holiday episode that features no Bible verse.
	+ The first episode to be rendered in high quality during its original release.
	+ The first episode to use the 1998 logo than the opening montage, and not the logo and intro from 1993 to 1997.
		- However, a prototype VHS cover for the episode as sketched by Joseph Sapulich shows the 1993 logo.
	+ The first episode not to feature Lucy van Pelt since her debut appearance.
* This is the last episode made during the time American president Bill Clinton was in office. When the next episode was released, George W. Bush was already in office.
* This episode was featured in Lessons in Thankfulness and Courage Double Feature.
* In some airings of this episode on Smile of a Child, some scenes were removed, including who the youngest Jackson is. This is possibly due to time.
* There are a few differences between the pre-production and the final version:
	+ The narrator was going to be in a South Chicago accent. This was later changed to a New York-esque accent to better fit the gangster setting.
	+ Archibald was going to be the host, but in the final it was Scallion 1. It might be possible his model wasn't rebuilt until the next episode.
	+ According to early concept art, Dolly was originally going to have the beret on her head from The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk. This was given to the queen's crown instead.
* In the original Bible story, King Xerxes' two servants, Bigthan and Teresh, and right-hand man Haman, were hanged for their crimes. But since VeggieTales is a kid-friendly show, this version has them sent to a fictional island called the Island of Perpetual Tickling, where they are just tickled non-stop.
	+ The Island of Perpetual Tickling was inspired by Mike Nawrocki's childhood fear of being tickled non-stop.
* Phil had a friend whose 2-year-old child, when viewing the episode for the first time, was so scared by the Grim Tickler that they would yell out "BAD BIRD! BAD BIRD!" (granted, they had no idea what the Grim Tickler was) before running away crying, which was talked about on the commentary.
* Haman holding the cards was storyboarded by Luis Contreras. Mike originally didn't want Haman to hold the cards in the scene, but they decided to keep it in.
* Before Dolly tells Xerxes what Haman did, you'll notice the pizza box hides the front of him.
* This episode was included as a bonus feature on a re-release of "King Cavis and the Ducky".
* This is the second episode not to feature Bob, though he appeared as a picture cameo, the first time is in The Star of Christmas.
* This is the first episode where Junior is not present. However like Bob, he has a picture cameo obscured in the background.
* There exists an extremely rare early 2002 VHS reprint of this episode by Lyrick Studios/HiT Entertainment. It has a black tape with a white ink label, and it has a print date of March 15, 2002.

#### Remarks

* The Qubo broadcast of this episode states this episode was directed by Phil Vischer.
* On the DVD and Netflix versions, some sound effects are missing from the original VHS release (eg. a rooster crowing after the opening credits).
* Vashti is thrown out just because she refused to make Xerxes a sandwich at 3:00 A.M. Unless Haman was enforcing Xerxes' rules, there must be unreasonably strict rules set before the Queen (as they're crowned AND during their term in the palace).
* It'd be very unlikely all the maidens could fit in Haman's wagon at its size.
* Dolly was successfully able to audition for the role of and be crowned as the new Queen, but, aside from one maiden onscreen, where were the other maidens? Had they already auditioned and not been crowned or were they just plain ignored during the audition? Unless there were elimination rounds before the final rounds of the audition, it's hard to believe the host doesn't discriminate against certain maidens.
* The host says "Ladies and gentlemen..." even though only Haman and Xerxes are in the audience. That is, until the room suddenly fills up in just a split-second with unseen characters taking pictures and applauding.
* The Peaoni Brothers had ample time to set their whole trap up without anyone noticing indicating the palace guards aren't doing their job correctly.
* What does I.P.T (Infant Potty Training) have to do with banishment to the Island of Perpetual Tickling?
	+ I.P.T in this case would actually stand for "Island Perpetual Tickling", not "Infant Potty Training".
* After Haman is banished to the Island of Perpetual Tickling, Mordecai fills his former position, which is apparently "the No. 2 guy in the whole kingdom," which in turn would make the Queen's spot No. 3. Shouldn't the No. 2 spot go to the Queen since they both share the rule of Persia, unless that's no longer how royalty works?
* The only international dub of this episode that has the VeggieTales Theme Song is the German dub.
* The previews option has a preview for the episode itself.

#### Goofs

* In the first shot of Persia, the sunglasses on the Pea train clip through their bodies.
* When Mordecai shushes Dolly the second time, he gains teeth. However, he doesn't have any when he shushes her the first and third times.
* As you'll notice in some shots, you can see some buzzing in the textures.
* During *Haman's Song*, when Haman convinces to Xerxes that the greater danger awaits, the light on the lamp is white instead of green, making it into brightness. This was fixed in the 2004 re-release.
* Towards the end of *The Battle Is Not Ours*, when Dolly is gazing at the sunrise, she appears to clip into the edge of the palace.
* In the overshot of the palace entrance during the sunrise/sunset, you can see black on the left.
* One shot shows a wall rendering too late.
* On the 2004 Sony Wonder VHS, there are several goofs on the front cover (*see image*):
	+ While it may not be considered a goof, the cover is re-used from the 2002 WEA VHS.
	+ All the characters aside from Dolly are lower than usual. This causes Mordecai to be slightly hidden by the "A Lesson In..." box, and causes Haman to be hidden by the critic review.
	+ The background pattern from the back cover slightly overlaps onto the top of the front cover, overlapping half of the VeggieTales logo.

#### Inside References

* A flyer for "King Cavis and the Ducky", as well as an ad for the Stuff-Mart can be seen on the bulletin board.
* The doors in the town are the same as the one seen in the previous episode.

#### Real-World References

* The episode takes large inspiration from the gangster film *The Godfather,* and classic Hollywood film *Casablanca.* This is evident when paying attention to the designs of both Persia and Xerxes' chamber.
* Teresh Peaoni references the Scooby-Doo series by referring to Dolly as a "meddling queen."
* The Jacksons Haman and Xerxes are referring to while they're playing is a family of singers, including Michael, Randy, Tito, and Janet.
* When King Xerxes and Haman are having dinner with Dolly, they're playing Trivial Pursuit.
* Haman's car bears resemblance to a 1930's Lincoln.