Reflections on Me, Myself, and Bob

How many of you have heard of VeggieTales?

I'm guessing at least 90% of my readers have.

How many of you loved VeggieTales?

I'm guessing if you raised your hand the first time, you did then too.

I remember our first [and only] VeggieTales VHS. It was "Are You My Neighbor?" and my mom bought it second hand back in the garage sale days. My sister and I loved that movie. I can still hear Larry say, while he is stuck upside down in a hole, "Uh, I'm a cucumber!" While I glimpsed other episodes at friends' houses, the adventures of the Gourd brothers have stayed with me.

Me, Myself, and Bob is the autobiography of the creator and original producer of Big Idea and its most popular show, VeggieTales. It's a wonderfully written saga of the rise and fall of arguably the most successful series in Christian film producing.

I honestly don't know what I was expecting when I picked up this book. It was sitting on a shelf at the library, and it had Bob on it. That right there attracted my attention, because I had heard rumors of the Veggie platter sinking. I picked it up, looked at the cover (yes, I'm shallow when it comes to picking out random books), read the back, and got it. I started reading it last week and it's such an amazing story. Granted, when I was little and watched VeggieTales, I didn't appreciate all the work that went behind any sort of movie, but I didn't realize that at the time, the creation of a computer anamated character of that quality was rare. VeggieTales was among the first of its kind. The story only further enhanced my love for this adorable series.

Furthermore, it was created by a man with no university education (Bible college drop-out) on a self-taught basis. The first Veggie episode that aired was thirty minutes long and completely created by a team of about three guys. The voices were provided by those three and acquaintances. It was inspiring to see them overcome the struggles they encountered and the different ways God expanded their ministry.

As Phil Vascher walks his readers through his [rather familiar sounding ;) ] goals and beliefs on media, it is inspiring to see the motivation he had. Many of the facts he discusses are still true. Children spend more and more time in front of the TV. Disney is still responsible for Cinderella and Desperate Housewives. Large media companies are interested in making a profit and not positively impacting the youth of America/[Canada]. Phil's dream was to change that, and his dream is to still change that.

You know that question, "If you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be?" and people usually say George Washington or Mother Theresa. I think Phil Vischer would be one of the first invitations out.