What Could Have Been / VeggieTales

An early promo for the show in 1993, featuring the scrapped toaster character.

Examples from shows that have their own recap pages can be found in the trivia section of those pages.

• The whole concept was originally going to be centered around a cast of candy bars, but Phil Vischer saw his wife's point after hearing it: "You know, parents will be mad if you make their kids fall in love with candy bars."
• Early in the show's development, there was also going to be an anthropomorphic toaster named Coucho, according to Phil Vischer. However, he was cut from the series due to proving to be difficult to animate using the limited early 90's computer technology (he may have also been cut due to fears that it would invite comparison to The Brave Little Toaster). However, he can be briefly glimpsed at in an early ad that was placed in several Christian magazines in order to promote the series.
  • In addition, Take 38 has Bob mention small kitchen appliances along with the vegetables and fruits coming together.
• Silly Songs With Larry was orginally not going to be a recurring segment. Phil Vischer wanted to have little act breakers in between the stories, so in the first VeggieTales video he produced The Water Buffalo Song, which was only meant to be a one off sketch with each show having different skits, with the second show "God Wants Me To Forgive Them?" including a commercial for the Forgive-O-Matic. But after that show was released, letters were sent in to Big Idea from confused and angry fans asking where the silly song was. So Phil caved in and asked Mike Nawrocki to regularly produce more silly songs, which then became a staple for the series.
• Gaspard the skunk's role in Sweetpea Beauty was originally written for the porcupine from Jonah, who was to be named Gaspard. However, the skunk became Gaspard after it became too difficult to animate the porcupine due to the model's age^note The porcupine still makes a brief cameo during the song "More Beautiful".
• The qubo version was supposed to have a third season, but plans fell thorough for some reason and the show instead showed re-runs for another year and was removed from qubo during the next season along with Turbo Dogs, Lamb Chop's Play-Along, Theodore Tugboat and 3-2-1 Penguins! and LarryBoy Stories. ^note 3-2-1 Penguins still aired by itself, but the only change this caused was the removal of the edited versions of the direct-to-video episodes and the "Songs from Cosmic Cafe" special. These episodes did turn up in foreign runs of the show and in syndication.
• "God Made You Special" was originally going to end on "Bob's Vacation", though they felt it didn't fit the rest of the special. The original segue to the short is on the DVD as an Easter Egg.
• While Jonah was in its final stages, scripting and animation began for what was to be its followup: The Bob and Larry Movie. It would be an original story with the veggies "as themselves" instead of playing characters, and according to Phil Vischer, it was going to be "funnier, more action-oriented and more emotionally-involved than Jonah". The veggies would even encounter human characters for the very first time! Alas, Jonah sending Big Idea's already floundering finances down the drain put the kibosh on the project, and it was shelved for good.
• Early on, Phil Vischer sent his test footage to Nickelodeon after hearing they were searching for original animated shows for the fledgling network. The rejection letter apparently said Nickelodeon was not interested in producing CGI-animated shows. They didn't make that mistake twice.
• When VeggieTales took off in the Christian market, GoodTimes Home Video (of all companies) offered to release the videos in the mass-market. However, they insisted that all religious references had to be removed. As Phil Vischer felt that not mentioning God would render the morals incomprehensible, he turned them down. Another video distributor made an offer but they had the same stipulation and the deal was off. Ultimately, Vischer went with Lyrick Studios as their chairman Richard C. Leach was a devout Catholic and was willing to keep the religious aspects intact.
• Another VeggieTales Sing-Alongs CD about the beach was planned, but only a few songs were completed before being scrapped entirely. The song "Fingers and Toes", which appears on a few later compilation CDs, is evidence that this was the case, with Larry telling the listener not to get sunscreen in their eyes. Also, the song is likely a demo, as the kid chorus that appears on most of those CDs is not present.
• "His Cheeseburger" was originally going to be about Larry hitting on a girl from the drive-thru at a fast-food restaurant. It was later scrapped for being too creepy and was reworked into the ode to cheeseburgers by Mr. Lunt we know today.
• "God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?!": Mike Nawrocki's original idea for Larry's daydream that causes him to crash the boat in "Larry's Lagoon" was that he'd imagine his nose coming off and floating around his head. Phil Vischer found it too hallucinogenic and instead suggested having Larry daydream about being an iceberg breaking pilot.
• "Are You My Neighbor?":
  • Originally, "The Hairbrush Song" was written by Mike Nawrocki as "Where Is My Razor", which he wrote when he was looking for his razor. Phil Vischer wisely informed him that it was probably not a good idea to have kids sing a song about looking for a razor, so it was changed accordingly.
  • In the pamphlet included with early prints of the first VeggieTunes album, "The Story of Flibber-o-Loo" is referred to as "A Tale of Two Cities," suggesting this could have been an early title for it before being changed (the album was released around the same time as this episode).
• "Dave and the Giant Pickle":
  • The Silly Song, "Love My Lips" was originally written as "I Love My Tongue", which would have showcased Larry's love of yodeling, but it was instead changed to lips and instead had Larry start scatting, though the yodeling was later used in "The Yodeling Veterinarian of the Alps".
  • The random picture mixed in with the rest of the Inkblot Test cards was originally storyboarded as a photograph of Newt Gingrich before it was pointed out the staff would probably start getting letters from people who thought Big Idea was for or against the then-current Speaker of the House of Representatives. Initially they instead used a photograph of Sonny Bono, but only a few years later Bono died suddenly, and out of respect later releases settled on a drawn caricature of co-creator Mike Nawrocki.
  • The concept of Larry-Boy came when the creators originally wanted Bob to be a Batman parody called Bat-Bob, with Larry as his sidekick, Larry-Boy. Everyone thought Larry-Boy was much funnier and Bat-Bob was scrapped.
• "King George and the Ducky": For "Endangered Love," Larry originally would be watching a cooking show that used manatee as its main course.
• "Esther...the Girl Who Became Queen":
  • There was originally going to be a countertop sequence that was left on the cutting room floor due to time restraints.
  • Archibald Asparagus was originally cast as the pageant host^note As evidenced by the storyboards before being replaced by Scallion #1.
• "Lyle the Kindly Viking": Originally, before introducing the second story, Archibald would have talked about other Gilbert and Sullivan plays with posters appearing beside him, with images of Bob and Larry in H.M.S. Pinafore and The Mikado, as well as The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything appearing in The Pirates of Penzance. These would later be used as background elements in The Star of Christmas.
• As evidenced by concept art, Charlie Pincher's role in "An Easter Carol" was originally meant to be played by Scallion #3.
• "Sheerluck Holmes and the Golden Ruler":
  • Big Idea had wanted to originally retell the story of Don Quixote with a version called Bob Quixote. The only known info is that Bob & Larry would've played Don & Pancho respectively and that it would've had a sci-fi theme to it ^note  Known concept art included a futuristic windmill floating on an asteroid. The idea was dropped after the release of Treasure Planet.
  • The waitress who takes Holmes & Watson's orders was originally to be played by Petunia. She was replaced as it was considered too small of a role for her ^note  Though Cydney Trent still provides her voice for the part.
  • Brian K. Roberts had proposed that the queen in the titular segment be played by Ma Grape since Pa was playing the king. The idea was rejected due to Ma's model needing to be rebuilt ^note  Her last on-screen appearance by then was 1997's Larry-Boy & the Fib from Outer Space! which was when the series was animated in Softimage. Big Idea switched to Maya in 2000 resulting in everything needing to be rebuilt and they didn't have enough budget to do it.
• "Larry-Boy and the Bad Apple":
  • Several people auditioned for the role of the Bad Apple before Cynthia West ultimately got the part. Among those who auditioned was American Idol finalist Melinda Doolittle (who'd also previously worked with Big Idea as a member of the choir for The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree album) who was cut for sounding too nice for what they wanted out of the character. It was because of her audition that Mike Nawrocki later remembered her to allow her the chance to audition for and ultimately land the role of Cassie Cassava on 'Twas the Night Before Easter.
  • This show was originally to have a Silly Song called Lance the Turtle. But when it was decided to do a new theme song for Larry-Boy, the Silly Song was removed but later repurposed for Gideon: Tuba Warrior.
  • In an earlier treatment of the show, Alfred was going to throw a running chainsaw to Larry-Boy, which he would then use to get the web cables on Apply's Funhouse 2. This was decided against by Tim Hodge, however, for fear that it would teach kids to run with dangerous objects.
• "The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's":
  • The role of the Wizard was originally written for Jimmy Gourd. He was replaced with Archibald as he was considered 'too goofy' for the part.
  • On the DVD Commentary, the creators admit the garbage dump Darby is trapped in after the wizard reveals his true colors was originally going to be a dungeon, and That Strange Boy was going to imprison Darby. It was dropped for obvious reasons.
• "Big River Rescue": Originally, Clark Wayne was to be his very own character who was a potato◊ that spoke in a near similar manner to that of Foghorn Leghorn. But Big Idea ultimately had a hard time trying to find the right voice for the character to make him fit into the VeggieTales universe so it was then decided to have George play Clark instead.
• "Abe and the Amazing Promise": Several characters were considered for the role of Leon Merengue before Charlie Pincher landed the part. The only known character who was proposed was Scooter who was dropped for not being serious enough for the role.
• This qubo promo hints at the fact that Larry-Boy! And The Fib From Outer Space and Larry-Boy And The Rumor Weed were supposed to be aired as part of 3-2-1 Penguins! and LarryBoy Stories. For unknown reasons, they instead aired as part of season 2 of VeggieTales on TV.
• Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie:
  • Jonah was originally pitched as an adaptation of the story of Noah, but "the idea of fur scared us."
  • Other candidates to play Jonah were Bob, Larry, Junior, and Jimmy Gourd, but none of them were uptight enough to fit the role.
  • Khalil was originally going to be a worm just like the one from the biblical account that eats Jonah's shade. He was changed to a caterpillar due to a piece of concept art which had him saying the same line used in the film of him explaining that he's actually half-caterpillar. Additionally, once he became a caterpillar there was a time where he was to have two sets of arms instead of one (which would later happen to his design in The VeggieTales Show), as well as another time when he was supposed to have his antennae peeking out of his turban.
  • The whale was originally designed to look more intimidating, but concerns that it would terrify kids led to it being redrawn. Among the other designs were ones based on humpback whales, trout, and one that looked uncannily like Archibald, monocle and all.
  • Archibald's persona who shows up in the bridging material was originally to be named Tweezerman. His name was changed to Twippo when it was discovered that the aforementioned name was trademarked by a company that sold tweezers.
  • Besides playing the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything; Pa Grape, Larry and Mr. Lunt were also originally to appear in Nineveh with Pa as the king and the latter two as his guards. This was changed after the storyreel when it was realized that having the trio play dual roles within the same story made no sense. The end result was the king being played by the gourd from Larry's High Silk Hat and the trio reappearing in the Nineveh scenes as the contest winners (which had to be added due to it not being part of the original version).
    • Similarly, the French Peas were originally to play the guards standing outside the gates of Nineveh as another instance of them paying homage to their inspiration of the guards from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. However, they were replaced by a pair of peas with Cockney accents (also played by Phil & Mike) due to them already appearing in the Joppa scenes as fish vendors.
  • At one time, "Compassion" was actually going to fade onto the menu Junior was reading instead of already appearing but the idea was scrapped for going too far.
  • Merchandise example: A book called Khalil and the Big Gulp was to be produced for this movie. It was intended to be aimed at children four and under, and was the film's story retold by Khalil in rhyme. The website of the book's publisher reveals that the book was cancelled despite it getting promotion before its release. It's likely it was scrapped because the book line already had two books with the same concept (A Picture That! Sticker Book and A Worm's Eye View).
  • According to an early version of the script, Khalil was supposed to have been eating a pot of grape leaves when he said his line "We seem to have sprung a leak, traveling buddy!". This is why Pa Grape calls him a lousy leaf eater in the same scene. In the final cut, Khalil just floats by on a barrel.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie:
  • The movie was originally intended to just be a really long episode, not a theatrical film.
  • Monterria was originally called "Moritania". Phil Vischer decided he had to change it after it was pointed out to him there is an actual country called Mauritania.
  • Initially Phil Vischer intended for Laura Carrot to play the princess. Tim Hodge didn't think that would work out too well and so came up with Eloise.
  • Bob's cameo originally was going to be as a representative from a nursing home taking the blind man away, but it was cut for time. A cameo by Junior was also planned in an audience shot, but it was felt his presence was a bit distracting from the scene. He's still in the film at the dinner theater, but he's not focused on.
  • According to producer Paula Marcus, Tim Hodge made storyboards of some characters being sliced by swords.
  • There was going to be a logo variation for Universal Pictures, featuring Bob instead of the globe. It was storyboarded, but was never animated.
  • During production, Universal demanded that Pa Grape and Mr. Lunt be given eyes. However, Phil Vischer explained to them that they didn't need any.
    • Before Big Idea made the final decision, Tim Hodge made concept art of them with eyes, including one of Sedgewick saying, "You want eyes? I'll give you eyes!"
  • The kingdom was originally going to be called Mauritania. This was changed after Universal discovered that it was a real country.
  • "Somewhere in the present" was going to be "Somewhere last week." This was changed because they didn't want to confuse viewers about time.
  • Robert's scene after the Pirates meet Eloise was added so it didn't feel as if the film had forgotten about him.
  • The wheel in the cistern was going to be a lever, but was changed because viewers would get confused if that was the lever the prophecy meant.
  • According to storyboards by Tim Hodge, Larry was originally not going to have facial hair.
  • The Helpseeker at the end of the film was going to be a different shape.
• Before the project was shelved, the crew was working on a third movie as late as 2020. In 2024, it was revealed that said movie was supposed to adapt the story of Joseph.