A Tale of True Courage

**A Tale of True Courage** is the fourteenth episode of The VeggieTales Show, which teaches a lesson in bravery.

## Plot

When Madame Blueberry develops a bad case of the hiccups, the opera she is set to perform is called off. Callie, the cauliflower with a flowery voice would be the perfect substitution if not for her terrible stage fright. The Veggie crew hears the story of Nehemiah’s bravery and while Callie watches from the stage wings, she is inspired to be brave too!!

## Characters

* Bob the Tomato
* Larry the Cucumber
* Junior Asparagus
* Pa Grape
* Laura Carrot
* Jimmy and Jerry Gourd
* Mr. Nezzer
* Mr. Lunt
* The French Peas
* Madame Blueberry
* Petunia Rhubarb
* Callie Flower
* Goliath
* Miss Achmetha
* Timmy Turner
* Wubbzy
* Daizy
* Dora
* Boots
* Backpack
* Map
* Swiper
* Fiesta Trio
* Benny
* Tico
* Diego
* Baby Jaguar
* Miss Minchin (*non-speaking role*)
* Archibald Asparagus (*voice only*)
* Jimmy Neutron (*theme song only*)
* Isa (*theme song only*)
* Bruce Onion (*non-speaking role; theme song only*)

## Songs

* The VeggieTales Show Theme Song
* Brave

## Production

The first draft of the script was written on July 2nd, 2019, with later revisions written on July 31st and August 12th.

## Fun Facts

### Trivia

* This is the first episode for several things:
	+ The first episode written by Mike Nawrocki since Patience Takes Practice.
	+ The first episode to not include Archibald, although his voice can be heard at the beginning of the Wheel of Bravery segment.
	+ The first episode to feature Callie Flower since LarryBoy and the Cape-Coat Caper, the first time she has a role on stage since A Lifetime Supply of Joy, the first time she reads a verse, and the first time she helps ends the show with Bob and Larry since It's Cool to Be Kind.
	+ The first episode to feature Miss Achmetha since Patience Takes Practice, and the first time she is referred to by name since The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree.
	+ The first episode to feature Miss Minchin since LarryBoy and the Cape-Coat Caper.
	+ The first episode to feature Goliath since Little Things Matter.
	+ The first episode to not start with Larry bursting through the doors since Patience Takes Practice and the first episode not to start with him doing so and wanting to tell Bob something since A ShakeSparagus Play.
	+ The first episode where a letter is read without “Dear Bob and Larry” at the beginning.
	+ The first episode where a kid’s last name is mentioned since Veggies in Space: The Fennel Frontier.
	+ The first non-LarryBoy episode to have Bumblyburg be mentioned since The Toy That Saved Christmas.
	+ The first episode to have only one song (not counting the theme song).
	+ The first episode to have a verse read from the actual Bible since Patience Takes Practice.
	+ The first episode to have someone other than Bob or Larry say one of the show’s closing lines since Sweetpea Beauty, and the first time in which this happens overall since Little Ones Can Do Big Things Too!
	+ The first episode to have the Yippee TV logo at the end.
	+ The first episode to have the “A Lesson in...” caption below the title card since LarryBoy and the Cape-Coat Caper.
	+ The first episode to have a verse read by someone other than Bob or Larry since MacLarry and the Stinky Cheese Battle.
	+ The first episode to have Mr. Lunt host the first segment since When Being Good Means Giving Up.
	+ The first episode to not feature Jimmy and Isa since LarryBoy and the Cape-Coat Caper.
	+ The first episode in which Benny and Tico appear without Isa since Dora's Night Light Adventure.
* The name of the episode during production was "Be Brave," but was later changed.
* This was the seventeenth episode in production, while it was the fourteenth episode released.
* The episode's original title was first revealed in a first look of The VeggieTales Show that was included at the end of the first three of episodes of VeggieTales Remix.
* As revealed in this episode, Mr. Nezzer's theater, as well as the show in general, is located and takes place in Bumblyburg.

### Remarks

* Callie claims that everyone in the audience was looking at her when she was first onstage, but the curtains were actually closed until after she ran offstage due to her stage fright. Thus, it would be impossible for the audience to see her with the curtains closed.
* The credits do not mention the following voice roles:
	+ Phil Vischer as Goliath
	+ Stephanie Southerland as Callie
	+ Elise Napier as Miss Achmetha

### Goofs

* When the episode was first uploaded on Yippee, the video was in a lower quality. This was later fixed a couple days after the initial release.
* When Larry tells the king about his family in Jerusalem, his body jerks up a few times.
* Larry’s costume disappears at the beginning of Brave.
* Throughout Brave, there are a few moments when Larry sings, but his mouth does not move.
* In the episode's description, "perform" is misspelt as "**preform**".

### Inside References

* Multiple costumes are re-used or modified from previous episodes:
	+ Madame Blueberry's opera costume is re-used from God Wants Us to Make Peace.
	+ The top hat on Mr. Lunt's Wink Gourdondale costume is re-used from his ringmaster costume from Little Things Matter, albeit with a purple band around the hat.
	+ Miss Achmetha’s hair during the Wheel of Bravery segment is the same as Madame Chalot’s from Beauty and the Beet.
	+ Jimmy and Jerry’s costumes are re-used from Being Gentle Makes You Great and the previous episode.
	+ Junior’s costume is re-used from Being Gentle Makes You Great, albeit with an added beard.
	+ The waistband on Larry’s Nehemiah costume is re-color and modified from costumes he wore in previous episodes.
	+ The bottom half of Bob's costume is a re-colored version of his Shem and Prodigal son's brother costumes from Patience Takes Practice and the previous episode, respectively.
* Sam Wahba is a reference to former editor John Wahba.
* Callie's line "Everyone was looking at me" is a reference to one of LarryBoy's lines from The Yodelnapper!, which happened after he too ran offstage due to having stage fright of his own.
* Mr. Lunt calls Larry a pickle after the latter corrects his name. Later in the episode, when Larry says that his gang will build with one hand and carry a sword with the other, Jimmy acknowledges that they do not have hands, to which Larry states that it is a figure of speech.
	+ Both of these are callbacks to a couple of popular running gags from the original series.
* This is the second time the peas attack the veggies from a wall, the first being Josh and the Big Wall!.
* The cuckoo clock sound effect that is heard when Larry drinks the poisoned latte cup is the same as the sound heard in Daniel and the Lion’s Den.
* The throne room backdrop is re-used from a few previous episodes.
* The dove puppet flying over the broken walls at the beginning of the story is the same one from Patience Takes Practice.
* The audio recording of Larry's exclamation when he reacts to Mr. Lunt's suggestion of doing a game show skit is re-used from a few previous episodes. This also occurs when he reacts to Pa Grape's suggestion of dong a re-enactment of the story of Nehemiah.
	+ Incidentally, the audio recording of Larry's "Woah" when an arrow is shot towards him is re-used from LarryBoy and the Cape-Coat Caper, the second of the three aforementioned episodes.

### Real-World References

* The episode's title could possibly be based off of the Charles Dickens novel, *A Tale of Two Cities*, mainly because "True" and "Courage" use the same beginning letters as "Two" and "Cities".
* *Ride of the Blueberry Valkyrie* is a parody of *Ride of the Valkyries*.
	+ Additionally, Madame Blueberry's song *Blueberry Valkyrie* is sung to the tune of said opera.
* Wheel of Bravery is a reference to *Wheel of Fortune*.
* Wink Gourdondale is a parody of game show host Wink Martindale.
	+ This is the second time a Big Idea production has referenced Wink Martindale. The first time was in the Trivia Questions feature on the DVD release of the LarryBoy: The Cartoon Adventures episode Leggo My Ego!, where he is referenced in one of the answers of the second question of the hard mode.
* The logo on the latte cup Larry uses is likely based off of the Starbucks logo.