Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed is the second VeggieTales special (as the 12th episode of the show), and the second Larry-Boy episode. It is the sequel to Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space!.
Plot[]
Prologue of the Story[]
Percy Pea and Lil' Pea are leaving a movie theater and are cornered by a shady Scallion (Scallion #3, the "Milk Money Bandit") who asks them for a nickel. Percy refuses, but the Scallion then demands the money he is carrying for milk money. After stealing the money and escaping to the rooftops with his loot, Larry-Boy (Larry the Cucumber) confronts him and shakes the stolen money off of him before throwing him into Officer Scooter's patrol car. Soon afterwards, he begins reviewing his capture technique with his butler, Alfred (Archibald Asparagus), but in the process, accidentally knocks an unfinished plant off the ledge. The plant gets caught on some telephone wires on the way down, where a woman is gossiping on the phone, then falls into the sewers, where the gossip brings the plant to life.
Story[]
The next morning, Alfred is telling a story at a school and tells the teacher and the kids that he needs to go home and "recharge his batteries" (meaning he needs to rest). Not knowing that it's a figure of speech, Junior Asparagus and Laura Carrot take it literally and jump to the conclusion that Alfred is a robot. As they walk home, discussing what they had heard Alfred say, they encounter a small talking weed. Similar weeds begin to appear throughout town, spreading the rumor. Larry and Alfred are tending to a garden when Alfred heads inside to answer the phone. Another weed appears and tries to spread the rumor, but Larry doesn't listen. Alfred then calls Larry in. Mayor Blueberry (Madame Blueberry) informs him that strange weeds are growing all over the city and spreading false rumors about Alfred. Suiting up as Larry-Boy, he dives into action.
Larry-Boy manages to find a weed and attempts to shred it with a weed whacker, which malfunctions. Back at the Larry-Cave, Alfred discovers that all the weeds are connected to a "Mother Weed" underground. Upon arriving in the sewer, Larry-Boy meets the Mother Weed and is quickly overpowered.
Meanwhile, the butler arrived at the city to tell the mayor and the officer that Larry-Boy is in danger. But however, Alfred learns that the citizens are afraid of him, saying that he is a "killer robot with laser eyes." Suddenly, the ground starts to shake with cracks appearing beneath them. And then, The Mother Weed breaks free out from underground and snatches Alfred as she carried him all the way to the top of the building, but the citizens think that the dangerous robot with laser eyes is going to be destroyed and they refuse to help.
Dad Asparagus arrives and asks what is going on. The Mother Weed says she heard the story from "two very reliable sources." Junior and Laura confess that they took Alfred literally and started the rumor. Dad explains to them that what Alfred said was actually a figure of speech. Junior and Laura are confused. Dad then goes on to say that sometimes, grown ups say stuff that really means something else. In this case, when Alfred said he needed to recharge his batteries; he really meant that he was exhausted and needed to go home and rest. He also explains that "If you hear something about someone that sounds bad or even just weird, you should ask them about it or ask your mom or dad. But don't spread rumors. Even if it's true, God doesn't want us to tell stories that can hurt. He want us to spread nice words." Junior realizes that Alfred is not a robot. Dad then says that Alfred's a very nice man. And Dad's words cause flowers to grow on the Mother Weed. Junior and Laura decide that the best way to save Alfred is to spread good words about him. They convince the citizens that Alfred is not a robot and the citizens state all the nice stuff that Alfred has done for them (Mr. Nezzer saying that Alfred helped him with his dinner party, a scallion with a moustache saying that Alfred helped him change a tire, a cucumber lady saying that Alfred carried her groceries for her and Scooter saying that Alfred helped out with the police department's bake sale.) The Mother Weed continues sprouting flowers until she transforms into a giant flower. Alfred forgives the citizens of Bumblyburg for the misunderstanding just as a battered Larry-Boy drags himself out of the sewer.
Unaware of the preceding events, he almost accidentally starts the rumor again by saying someone told him Alfred was a robot (obviously the rumor weed), thus everyone gently shushes him, hoping the other Bumblyburg residents didn't hear what he just said. But he doesn't get it, so he just looked around instead. However there’s flowers everywhere in the city where the mother weed turned into after her defeat and death. and then, the story ends rather strangely with him asking if there was a flower show (having seen flowers on what was once the Rumor Weed), and everyone laughs, thinking it's a joke as the story ends with a choral reminder, and a flower landing on the screen.
Closing Segment (Back at the Larry-Cave)[]
In the final scene, Larry-Boy and Alfred enact their own What Have We Learned segment with the computer pulling up the verse:
- ""Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing,""
- — Proverbs 12:18
Characters[]
Major[]
- Larry the Cucumber/Larry-Boy
- Archibald Asparagus/Alfred
- Junior Asparagus
- Laura Carrot
- The Rumor Weed
- Mike Asparagus
Minor[]
- Percy Pea
- Lil' Pea
- Milk Money Bandit
- Scooter Carrot (as Officer Scooter)
- Madame Blueberry (as Mayor Blueberry)
- Mr. Nezzer
- Dad Carrot
- Dad Pea
Cameos[]
- Lenny Carrot
- Unnamed cucumber
- Unnamed blueberry
- Unnamed gourd
- Unnamed pumpkin
- Unnamed chilli pepper
- Unnamed bell pepper
- Unnamed onion doctor
- Unnamed mushroom family
- Woman in the window
- Unnamed cucumber woman
- Unnamed scallion men
- Unnamed carrot men
- Unnamed carrot baseball player
- Unnamed cucumber men
- Bob the Tomato (pictured)
- The Fib (pictured)
Voice Cast[]
- Mike Nawrocki as Larry the Cucumber/Larry-Boy
- Phil Vischer as Archibald Asparagus, Mr. Nezzer, Percy Pea and Dad Pea
- Gail Freeman-Bock as The Rumor Weed, Madame Blueberry and Woman in The Window
- Lisa Vischer as Junior Asparagus
- Kristen Blegen as Laura Carrot
- Dan Anderson as Dad Asparagus
- Lesly Benodin as Lil' Pea
- Mike Sage as Scallion #3
- Jim Poole as Scooter Carrot
- John Wahba as Dad Carrot
- Steve Leeper as Woman #1
- Henry Caparoso as Man #1
- School Children: Justin Eddy, Steven Eddy, Gretchen Heinecke, Ariel Mock, Hailey Mock and Shelby Vischer
Locations[]
- Bumblyburg
Songs[]
- Larry-Boy Theme Song (Short version)
- The Yodeling Veterinarian of the Alps
- The Rumor Weed Song
- The Rumor Weed Song (Credits Version; performed by The W's)
Other Languages[]
- سوبر تيخة يحارب الشائعات (Arabic) (Super Tikha Fights the Rumors)
- 力仔與謠言 (Cantonese) (Lizai and Rumors)
- SuperLeon i Korov Tračalica (Croatian) (SuperLeon and the Gossip Weed)
- Ihmelari ja Juorukki (Finnish) (Wonder Larry and the Gossip)
- Ο Λάρι και η Φήμη-Ζιζάνιο/Ο Ντέιβ και η Φήμη-Ζιζάνιο (Greek) (same translation not counting name changes)
- Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed (Indonesian) (same title)
- 래리보이와 속닥속닥풀 (Korean) (Larry Boy and Whisper Whisper)
- 小報超人與謠言雜草 (Mandarin) (Taiwan) (same translation not counting Larry-Boy's name change)
- Supersnurk og rykteugresset/Rykteugresset (Norwegian) (same translation not counting Larry-Boy's name change/Rumor Weed)
- لری پسر و علف شایعه هرز (Persian) (Larry-Boy and the Gossip Weed)
- LarryBoy contra a Erva Daninha (Portuguese) (Brazil) (LarryBoy vs. the Weed)
- Pepininho e a Erva Boato (Portuguese) (Portugal) (same translation not counting Larry-Boy's name change)
- Čenčavi Pavel/Super L. in čenčavi pavel (Slovenian) (Rumor Weed/same translation not counting Larry-Boy's name change)
- Larry-Boy y la Cizaña de los Rumores (Spanish) (Latin America) (same translation)
- Larry Boy và cỏ dại đồn xa (Vietnamese) (Larry Boy and the Distant Weeds)
Production[]
The story concept was written by Doug Peterson, which at the time Phil Vischer was accepting ideas for future episodes when the studio was growing. Mike Nawrocki was a bit skeptical at the time, due to the fact the episode sounded similar to the first Larry-Boy episode (kids caused trouble from something that grew big). However, they eventually tweaked it to work it out. Phil at the time decided to push the limits on what they could do for the episode, since they were getting ready for their first feature film, and he originally considered this as the last half-hour episode they would work on.