Why 3-2-1 Penguins Was Unsuccessful

Big Idea in the early 2000s is just endlessly fascinating to me, 321 Penguins being a good example. It was honestly pretty cool to see the studio's talents try something completely different, while still carrying a lot of the same charm. But then you realize its ambitions are specifically what did them in. Sad, really.

It's worth mentioning that the penguins ARE a product of daydreaming in the VHS episodes, they never tell it to you, but it is very heavily implied. this also applies to the worlds they travel to, and the fact that the story, setting, set pieces, and characters often derive from context clues at the beginning of the episode. from this point of view, the writing is genius. Planet wait your turn is populated with Vacuum cleaners because Jason's grandma is vacuuming as the episode progresses. the villain of the Cheating Scales of Bullamaka is a reptile because Michelle misinterprets the word scale, as in balancing scale. In the Amazing Carnival of Complaining, all the kids are plants because they are a living pun on "seeds" of discontent, Michelle and Grandma were gardening, and Jason was discontent with the seed he bit into... etc. etc. Yes, I can't say it makes for a good ministry, but I still like the episodes and characters if anything. Normally that's all you could ask, but unfortunately, this show bragged about just how much of a ministry it was.

this show deserved better man, character's were charming, jokes were funny even when they sometimes didn't land, the characters were expressive, especially the penguins.

I really loved 321 penguins, it was a great show to me

I agree that the messages could have been stronger, but the way the inherent messages are described here is unfair to the writing staff. 3-2-1 Penguins tried to convey its themes in an abstract, show-not-tell kind of way. It was meant to be felt throughout the world the story focused on. Like parables, or Aesop's Fables, or the Grimm fairy tales. In fact, in some cases, I'd say the lessons in these original 6 episodes were more nuanced and more in-depth than the ones in VeggieTales, even if God wasn't involved in them. - Episode 1 is about patience and consideration, and it paints a picture of a world where no one has neither virtue at all. Even the planet they're living on is selfishly fighting the other planets in a short-sighted goal of being "closest to the sun". The Vacuum Cleaners are all miserable and all doomed because of their inability to put someone else first and wait their turn. - Episode 2 actually has one of the best explanations of the moral, and I'm surprised you missed it: Michelle: When you cheat, you're taking something that isn't yours. Not only are you taking away my chance to win the game and save my friends, you're also taking away your own chance to win the game fair and square. To be a real champion. God loves it when we play fair. That way everyone wins. And there aren't many feelings better than winning fair and square. Lizard King: You know, you've something there, missy. I've won a lot of games by cheating, but of all the things it's got me, a good feeling wasn't one of them. So yes, they did say 'God says not to do this'. But there was so much more to it than that, it almost makes this video seems manipulative. - Episode 3 tries something similar to what the first one did. You see Jason, Fidgel, and Kevin having a great time at the carnival, while everyone else is turning a blind eye to the fun stuff that's around. Just because some influences in your life are telling you that things are bad, or just because you haven't seen the upside yet, doesn't mean that everything is truly as bland and painful as you think it is. And you see from Uncle Blob's endgame that the normal people who aren't complaining want to get away from the people who are. They don't need that negativity in their life. So it's not just, 'God doesn't want you to do this.' It's 'Complaining and focusing on the bad things in life keeps you from seeing the good parts, and pushes people away from you.' - Episode 4 shows the consequences of pride on the big scale and on the small scale. Zidgel is too arrogant to admit that he doesn't know what he's doing. Michelle is so obviously wrong about everything at home, but still presses onward with her ideas. Being too prideful in the grand scheme on important tasks can cause a lot of destruction and chaos. Being too prideful in day-to-day life makes people want to avoid spending time with you. That's the key to the episode. Kids can watch Zidgel make a fool of himself, as well as how annoying Michelle is about her opinion, and think twice before acting the same way. - Episode 5 is not about sharing. It's the Spider-Man message. If you have the ability to help someone else, you have the responsibility to do so. Don't withhold good from those who deserve it. Kevin has to make a tough choice between keeping Bing for himself, or leaving him behind in order to help protect the colony from doom funnels. He chooses to leave Bing with the Professor because he knows the Professor needs it more than he does. And this message is made even stronger in the musical segment afterward. - The last episode (from the good era) goes back to visualizing the moral like in the first one. Actions have consequences. When you lie, the guilt of doing so is comparable to bearing the weight of the world on your shoulders, and that goes double when you lie to someone who trusts you and takes you at your word; exactly like how the moon is hanging over their heads, coming closer and closer to crushing everyone under the weight of their deception. And the second thing to take into consideration with this moral is that the lies are obvious. They sound believable to the people telling them, but anyone who hears them in this episode is not fooled at all. That's important to tell to kids who, by default, have pretty poor poker faces. Your lies won't fool anyone. Just tell the truth and keep your dignity in tact.

Yeah veggietales was EVERYWHERE!!! I actually remembered one of their songs because of Chuck E. Cheese!

Can we take a moment to appreciate that this is using Ratchet and Clank music in the background. That’s win in my book 👍.

I remember 3-2-1 Penguins!. I watched it on NBC's former Saturday morning block Qubo.

I loved 3-2-1 penguins as a kid. Still do...

The moral values were unfortunately limited by the show's rigid formula. The Conrads are told what God wants them to do, they don't quite understand why it matters, until they're thrown into a space adventure where the consequences of their sin are cruel, unusual and immediate. Probably not the best environment for deep theological insight. I said a long time back that, whenever Mike Nawrocki leads a VeggieTales episode, the concept is hilarious but the moral doesn't go too deep. Well, guess which VeggieTales co-creator had more input on 3-2-1 Penguins?

I’m amazed and gladdened that so many people remember this - and Veggie Tales!

I remember watching this on Qubo as a kid Good times Edit: I didn't even realize that this show was for a Christian audience until watching this video

My fav characters in "321 Penguins" are: 1. Midgel 2. Cowboy Alien 3. Koala Twins 4. Ventril-o-matic and Rusty (they're robots who tell jokes) 5. Bandicoot King 6. Lizard King (he's a master of Squid-Tac-Toad)

I'd like to push back on the lessons being shallow. At least for the couple I've seen recently, the situations flesh out some of the realistic consequences as well as introducing a higher-stakes space consequence. Cheating Scales puts Michelle on the receiving end of the cheating, showing how un-fun it is to play with a cheater. Amazing Carnival of Complaining demonstrates how one's attitude can be a self-fulling prophecy for yourself and others, since complainers had no fun so complained more and had less fun, non-complainers just enjoyed the rides).

yo this channel is gods work

I got this movie as a kid when dominos was having a special deal where you order such items and get your pick of 4 DVDs. This and the live action Aladin were what we got. And I watched them daily. Friggin love the penguins. Madagascar totally stole the idea from them.

I'll tell ya what made this show bomb: even as a kid forced to watch it (Catholic school had good and bad learning material) I was slightly unnerved by the penguin designs and couldn't understand what they were trying to go for - where at least I cared a little bit about the Veggie Tales veggies. Honestly another thing is that, well, it felt like this show started and ended with, "Because God wants you to." where Veggie Tales explained exactly why The Sin is Terrible. One more thing is that taking God out of Veggie Tales is like turning Spongebob into Landbob Roundpants - because Veggie Tales naturally added God into the show, so taking him out felt weird.

I'm Atheist, but I was raised Christian (Catholic family and 12 years of Catholic school.) I watched a decent amount of Veggietales and still have fond memories of it despite it being semi-counter to my current values today. 321 Penguins sounds like it would have been just as appealing to me as a kid as Veggietales was, and yet I've never heard of it until now. Makes you wonder about just how much small ripples can affect things. presumably because it wasn't able to catch on with the Christian audience, I, a secular viewer, was ironically less likely to see it.

I wish Big Idea made more shows besides Veggietales. Maybe they would’ve if they didn’t go bankrupt.

This show could certainly use a reboot; I've even got a vision of my own.