And now for something completely different...

As the week is fast coming to a close, I now turn my attention to something that's quite a bit unusual. As you may know from my earlier posts, I have a great concern for altered TV programs surfacing on DVD. That seems to be the bane for many a TV-on-DVD fan who likes to have his/her TV shows kept intact on DVD. Of course, there are many titles that have appeared over the last few years that have been altered. This includes no less than...

WKRP in Cincinnati
The Adventures of Superman (specifically, the episode "Crime Wave")
The Adventures of Superboy (the episode "Countdown to Nowhere")
The New Adventures of Superman (minus all the Superboy segments)
Star Trek: Captain's Log Fan Collective (an altered edition of the two-part "Chain of Command")
Soul Food: Season 2
The Odd Couple: Season 2
Jericho: Season 1
The Real World: New York, Season 1 (really bad!)
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (the entire series!)

...and who knows how many countless other TV series with significant alterations. As more and more series continue to be released on DVD, the casualties mount.

But have you ever heard of a DVD release that, upon its TV broadcast, has been greatly altered for television? Believe it or not, there is one such direct-to-video series that has been altered for its TV broadcasts, and that is the long-running animated family series "Veggie Tales", nearing its 15th year of production.

Over the last 15 years Phil Vischer, Mike Nawrocki, and the people at Big Idea Productions have produced 27 separate animated tales for VHS and DVD releases, as well as two big-screen feature films, "Jonah" and the upcoming release "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything". In each of these hilarious animated stories and films, Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber host a series of stories geared toward families that present significant Biblical truths and Scripture references tied in to the stories. Sometimes they even go to the edge and spoof different pop-culture references, including "Star Trek", the Beatles, "Gilligan's Island", "The Lone Ranger", "Bonanza", the "Batman" and "Spider-Man" films, "Indiana Jones", Sherlock Holmes, "Rocky", the WWF/WWE, "The Wizard of Oz", and the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy, among others. But in every tale they mention an active presence of God in their lives.

Last year NBC picked up the broadcast rights to "Veggie Tales", but for obvious reasons each of the segments were greatly altered from their original video presentations. In short, they wanted all references to God eliminated from the shows. That reduces the tales to little more than silliness without a message. For that matter, they also got a different opening credits sequence that has never been included on any DVD or VHS release of the series! Last week I happened to catch on the Guardian Television Network a broadcast of "The Ballad of Little Joe" that had a completely different main title sequence and introduction that was never featured on the DVD, and it was something I'd never seen before as well. At first I thought it was something from the earlier release "God Made You Special", but it quickly turned out that I was wrong.

I can understand having to edit one of these segments for time constraints, not to mention shadowboxing the end credits. That's fine and dandy when you're trying to squeeze something into a 30-minute time slot, and as the "Veggie Tales" series have gotten longer and longer it becomes a necessary hazard. But to create a different main title sequence for the TV broadcast and feature footage that's not available on the DVDs? I don't get it.

For that matter, I don't get Phil Vischer's decision to make necessary edits for television. To do that, he's robbing the series of that special something extra that makes "Veggie Tales" stand out head and shoulders above all other animated series. If I were in Vischer's shoes, I wouldn't have compromised for one second. I would have either held out for the message to be maintained in each episode, or I wouldn't have brought the series to TV in the first place. While I like the idea of appealing to a broader audience, dumbing down the message and completely cutting it out of the different segments is wrong. Had that been the case, then older series such as "Touched by an Angel" and "Doc" wouldn't have stood a chance on television, and look how popular those series were. For that matter, ABC wouldn't have stood a chance of even airing its yearly ratings spectacular, "The Ten Commandments" (the 1956 version with Charlton Heston), uncut.

Recently I saw on TBN that filmmaker Tyler Perry (who just released "Why Did I Get Married?" to blockbuster status last weekend) was offered a lucrative deal to bring his stage concepts of Madea (the character he made famous in "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and "Madea's Family Reunion") and company to television. However, he refused because he did not agree with pushing the envelope to television's edgier standards and watering down his Christian witness all for the sake of money. He rejected the big network deal, took it to a smaller network, and presented it uncompromised and with his Christian themes intact. I have to give Perry credit for standing firm for his faith amid his businessman's beliefs. Phil Vischer could learn a thing or two from Perry.

Bottom line, if you like your veggies uncut and in its original format, then stick with the original DVD (or VHS) releases. But at the very least Vischer and company should give us the alternate TV credits and monologues with each DVD release for completion's sake. That way everyone is satisfied.

Have a good weekend!