Talk:The Bob & Larry Movie/@comment-38722639-20200703031503

I've heard that when DreamWorks bought Classic Media and Big Idea Entertainment in 2012, all VeggieTales productions produced at Big Idea were to be controlled and overseen by DreamWorks. As a result, DreamWorks launched production of the Netflix original series VeggieTales in the House in late 2013 and announced that it would shut down production of the original VeggieTales direct-to-DVD series after the release of its 58th episode entitled VeggieTales: Noah's Ark in 2015.[15]  DreamWorks replaced the original creative crew that had been working at Big Idea Entertainment for nearly two decades with an entirely new team of nearly 75 artists led under the direction of Doug TenNapel. VeggieTales creators Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki were given no control over the creative content of VeggieTales in the House and were only allowed to provide the characters' voices. Since DreamWorks ordered 78 22-minute episodes for VeggieTales in the House in 2013, production of the last 13 episodes wrapped up in the summer of 2017 and DreamWorks' team left Big Idea Entertainment to work on new animated series for Netflix such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolls:_The_Beat_Goes_On! Trolls: The Beat Goes on] and Dragons Rescue Riders. DreamWorks originally planned to shut down Big Idea Entertainment once production concluded. While the last season of VeggieTales in the City premiered on Netflix in the fall of 2017, marketing employees continued to work at Big Idea Entertainment.

Midway through production of VeggieTales in the House, NBCUniversal bought DreamWorks for $3.8 billion on April 28, 2016.[20]  A year after production of VeggieTales in the City wrapped, NBCUniversal reopened Big Idea Entertainment and allowed them to create more VeggieTales content without the control or supervision of DreamWorks.[17]  Since DreamWorks sold the Big Idea Entertainment’s headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee after VeggieTales in the City wrapped production in 2017, NBCUniversal relocated the headquarters of Big Idea Entertainment to Tustin, a city in Orange County, California, which is near the headquarters of  The Trinity Broadcast Network. NBCUniversal allowed Big Idea Entertainment to bring back many of the original characters that had been removed from the series' cast under DreamWorks’ direction, including Mr. Nezzer. They also allowed VeggieTales to be licensed to other networks.

In late 2018, Vischer received a phone call from The Trinity Broadcast Network, which was in talks to license VeggieTales from NBCUniversal in order to create a new reboot. TBN, who had been trying to buy VeggieTales for nearly a decade, asked if he would be interested in reprising the voice of Bob the Tomato for the reboot. Vischer said that he wasn't interested in being part of the new reboot unless he had a role in shaping the creative and educational content for the show. As a result, NBCUniversal and TBN allowed him to view an early draft of the pilot. Vischer was encouraged by the fact that the early draft of the pilot reflected the heart of the classic episodes from the original series, instead of VeggieTales in the House and VeggieTales in the City. NBCUniversal and TBN then allowed Vischer to rewrite the pilot. Before long, he and Nawrocki signed on as head-writers, executive producers, and voice actors for the reboot.

Although VeggieTales in the House was critically successful and was nominated for several Emmy Awards, fans of the original series were disappointed by the entire "Netflix series", and a majority of the fans were disgusted and unsatisfied with the redesigns of the characters. On social media, fans complained that their favorite characters were given completely different personalities, the theological teachings were shallow, and the series as a whole was too babyish compared to the original series. With this being said, the viewership of VeggieTales in the House on Netflix was significantly lower than the viewership of the original series. As a result, Vischer and Nawrocki made The VeggieTales Show feel much like the original series as possible. They brought back the original character designs. They brought back many members of the creative team from the original series including Big Idea Entertainment's original music director, Kurt Heniecke, and lead storyboard artists/director, Tod Carter. Lisa Vischer, the original voice of Junior Asparagus, also returned from a five-year hiatus to reprise her role. I've learned all of this information from Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_VeggieTales_Show