Where's Apple When I'm Frightened?

Where's Apple When I'm Frightened? is the first episode of the Christian computer-animated series Shopkins.

The first story deals with Rainbow Kate's fear of monsters, while the second story is a retelling of the bible story of Daniel and the Lions' Den.

Plot
Jessicake and Apple Blossom on the countertop receive a letter from Sam Bollman from Montgomery, Alabama who is afraid that there are monsters in his closet. Apple Blossom mentions to Sam that she thought that there were monsters in her closet but they turned out be her squishy rabbit slippers. Jessicake then tells Sam to see if it's just his slippers and commences Tales from the Small Mart.

In the first segment, Tales from the Small Mart, Rainbow Kate is watching a Frankenhand movie before being told by her mother that she needs to go to bed and says the movie is too scary for her. Rainbow Kate denies this as she goes upstairs, but when she imagines a family portrait is Frankenhand monsters, she runs to her room scared. Jessicake and Apple Blossom drop in and comfort Rainbow Kate in song about how she does not need to be afraid because God is watching out for her and He is bigger than anything. Rainbow Kate is then confronted by Frankenhand who reveals that he is really just an actor named Phil Winkelstein from Toledo, Ohio, United States. Rainbow Kate is then convinced that "God is bigger" and after Jessicake, Apple Blossom, and Phil leave, Rainbow Kate's dad comes to tuck Rainbow Kate in. The pair then discuss how God takes care of them, that Rainbow Kate needs to be more careful about what she watches in the future, and it's okay to tell her parents if she's scared. This segment was written and directed by Tyler Vischer. Vischer also serves as the animator of this segment, along with Robert Ellis and Chris Olsen.

The second segment is the story of Daniel and the Lions' Den. The setting is the Middle East in the year 1200 BC. King Darius (Slick Breadstick) is in his court with his Wisemen (The Shoppets) when he confides that he has had a nightmare and wants help with what it means. The Wisemen cannot figure out the answer, but Daniel (Apple Blossom) arrives and correctly interprets the dream. Impressed, Darius then promotes Daniel as his second-in-command. However, the Wisemen become envious and trick Darius into creating a law that says his subjects can only pray to him. Soon after, the Wisemen catch Daniel praying to God and throw him into the Lions' Den in accordance with the law. Daniel hears the growling lions and is afraid, but an Angel comforts him reminding him that God is with him. Meanwhile, the Wisemen celebrate their supposed victory and Darius spends a restless night praying that Daniel's God is protecting him. The next day, Darius runs to the Lions' Den and finds Daniel alive and well. Darius changes the law so that everybody must pray only to Daniel's God and turns to punish the scheming Wisemen, who subsequently quit their jobs and flee. This segment was also written and directed by Tyler Vischer, and was also animated by Robert Ellis and Chris Olsen.

Characters

 * Jessicake
 * Apple Blossom (as herself and Daniel)
 * Rainbow Kate
 * Phil Winklestein (Frankenhand)
 * Duncan
 * Bunny Bow (as herself and a maid)
 * Slick Breadstick (as himself and King Darius)
 * The Shoppets (as the wisemen)
 * Penelope Coin (as a maid)
 * Closet Monsters
 * Qwerty

Morals

 * Don't be afraid of anything.
 * Don't let fear dictate your life.

Trivia

 * About 500 copies of the episode were released on December 21, 1993 on demand from responses to ads in Christian magazines. The version on these had several differences compared to the Word Entertainment release.
 * The theme song is unfinished, and has a couple of differences, the differences are:
 * Apple Blossom nods her head to the camera after Jessicake says "Have we got a show for you!". This animation wasn't used in the theme song of the retail version of any other episode, but a similar one was used starting in 1998 with Madame Bianca.
 * The clip montage begins after "Shopkins" is sung for the first time.
 * Slightly different clips from this episode are used.
 * The lyrics "Having fun, lots of fun, gotta be; having some fun, lots of fun, has to be; we can have fun, all the time, I already said that" aren't sung. Instead the chorus sings “Shopkins” over and over again until they reach the rest of the song.
 * Both major segments have credits.
 * Even the closing countertop still has credits, using an instrumental of the Shopkins theme song.
 * The dialogue in the movie-within-a-show Rainbow Kate watches was mixed around a bit, not pitched up, and also recorded in a different session.
 * The assistant says, "Master, it can't be done," in a lower and breathier voice.
 * He says, "Oh, my goodness!" before the scientist's exclamation that Frankenhand has come to life.
 * The assistant also says, "Look how big it is! I didn't realize it when it was lying down! It's standing up!", whereas the scientist didn't say "Stand!" until the retail version of the episode was released.
 * Also, the assistant says, "Oh, look at it going!" before the scientist says, "No, this way."
 * The scientist's dialogue is slightly different after the point where he says, "Frankenhand, where are you going?"
 * The opening dialogue for The Water Buffalo Song was also recorded in a different session.
 * QWERTY doesn't have designated sound effects.
 * There are a several other minor differences in the audio and uncut footage.
 * Like the older VHS tapes, there is a pamphlet explaining what Shopkins is.
 * The shadows on the television show and the pupils are done by motion capture from real-time tracking of a mouse being operated by Tyler Vischer.
 * Tyler came up with the idea of the Daniel story as a musical after watching Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
 * The lines the Shoppets said while taunting Daniel were improvised by Brad Nawrocki and Brad Sage.
 * On the commentary, Brad Nawrocki said that they should redo the episode with new animation and voices, just with the same script. However, little interest in the episode and a halt on any Shopkins-related media for the time being makes this very unlikely.
 * According to Tyler Vischer's autobiography, before production on this episode, he tried to sell the show with a little animation test called Shopkins Promo: Take 38 to Christian video distributor companies in hopes that he'd get the money to make it, but was told they might sell had he made a completed product. Tyler managed to get the money from a man at his church who dipped into his retirement funds and gave him $60,000.
 * The 2003 promotional 10th anniversary DVD of this episode and the 2004 VHS version of the Shopkins Classics release were the only Shopkins home videos that includes Shopkins Promo: Take 38, as well as other early animation tests (including Mrs. Apple's Screen Test) as a bonus feature.
 * The 2004 VHS went out of print in mid-2006 (along with the rest of the Shopkins shows on VHS due to the general death of the format).
 * The 10th anniversary promo DVD from 2003 was only available through a magazine and has become extinct.
 * In an ad for the episode in a magazine, a character lineup is visible with a conspicuous toaster who never appears in any Shopkins episode allegedly because he was too difficult to animate.
 * During the making of second segment, the animators panicked about making animated lions in the scene where Daniel is thrown into the den as they thought it would be expensive. They decided to go with just making yellow eyes for lions and animate them.
 * International dubs of this episode except for the Arabic dub have Apple's song about her fearing the lions spoken rather than sung.
 * On a similar note, the Slovenian dub has Fear Not, Daniel spoken rather than sung.
 * This is the only episode of the entire series whose prototype video cover had made it into the final print. This does not happen with Are You A Shopkin? onwards.

Remarks

 * The visual quality on most re-releases is poor compared to other episodes, only the picture blur is worse than that of the other two episodes it precedes. Tyler apologized about this, stating that it's been re-compressed over the years. The 15th anniversary release tried to fix this by color saturation with mixed results.
 * This could possibly be because the original project files of Where's Apple When Frightened? have been lost/deleted, or Big Worldd didn't want to go through the trouble of re-rendering the whole episode in high quality (with the exception of the footage for the The Water Buffalo Song strangely being re-rendered in high quality for The Ultimate Shopkins Song Countdown). It is possible, given that the lightning that strikes (when the tall Wiseman says anyone disobeying their new law will be thrown into the Lions' Den) was an error, Big World has never bothered trying to recreate that scene.
 * On the 2003 and 2004 DVD releases as well as most international releases, the video cropping was bizarrely zoomed in a bit, possibly to remove the small white film dots moving on the bottom of the screen. The 15th anniversary DVD reverted the video cropping back to its original state (just like in the original 1993-1994 VHS versions), except that a small, black bar at the bottom of the screen cut off a bit of the bottom of the screen for some reason.
 * When the episode was remastered for the show's 15th anniversary, the audio gets more restoration, as a 5.1 surround sound audio track was included and the songs also get remastered with more instruments.
 * The Water Buffalo Song also uses a re-recording from Shopkins Live! (with the exception of the beginning and end) having Apple Blossom's current voice, but resulting in some of Slick Breadstick's dialogue getting cut off.
 * However, most of the music is placed on the vocal track as it was only in MONO, while the music for the songs get placed in the backing track but with clearly-heard vocals applied to it.
 * The next episode didn't have this treatment in its DVD releases.
 * The original 1993 VHS of this episode is one of only three 1993-1997 Shopkins VHS tapes (the other two being the original 1994 imprint of Apple Wants Me to Ride With Them!?! and the 1996 VHS of Dave and the Giant Robot) that have a different sticker label aside from the rest of the tapes from 1993-1997. The 1997 Lyrick Studios VHS of Are You A Shopkin? didn't count.
 * The 15th anniversary DVD falsely advertises DVD-rom features which don't actually exist.
 * The first episode features little to no texture mapping. Tyler Vischer said on the DVD audio commentary that someone actually called him and asked him why he didn't use texture maps.
 * Tales from the Small Mart appears to revolve around an incredibly weird storyline:
 * Three characters that are in this universe the equivalent of grown women, somehow knowing Rainbow Kate is frightened, break into her bedroom uninvited to tell her a story. Were Jessicake and Apple Blossom watching her without her noticing, and does Phil Winkelstein have enough time on his hands he can break into children's bedrooms as requested?
 * Rainbow Kate talks about calling the police on monsters that pop up in his room yet doesn't bother to do anything about the grown characters showing up to her room with no regard for her space.
 * It's unexplained how Jessicake, Apple Blossom, and Phil disappeared at the end of "God is Bigger." It is possible they phased through the ceiling the same way they came in or were products of Rainbow Kate's imagination the whole time.
 * Duncan comes in and asks Rainbow Kate what the racket is, only he does it after "God is Bigger" concludes. Surely if he or Bunny Bow could hear it, wouldn't either one of them have walked in when Rainbow Kate screamed either time, when Jessicake sang alone, anytime any of the four characters raised their voices, during the thud from Jessicake and Apple Blossom or from Phil, or while the four characters were all singing together, and see three grown strangers in Rainbow Kate's room?
 * Rainbow Kate has a Shopkins poster on his bedroom wall with Jessicake and Apple Blossom on it even though she has never seen them before.
 * During the first half of the Daniel story, King Darius is seen without his monocle. He later regained it the next morning, though he might be possible that he only wears it during the day or to perform magisterial duties, like how many people rarely wear glasses in the evening or to read or drive.
 * Upon arriving with the Wisemen at the Lions' Den, Daniel states he can see his house from there, which is impossible since the Lions' Den is the only thing he could logically see.
 * Apple Blossom mentions that she has slippers. But since she is a Shopkin, she has no feet.
 * King Darius is the king of Babylon, but in the original Bible story he is the ruler of Persia and Nebuchadnezzar is the king of Babylon.
 * Duncan comes in after Rainbow Kate sings, which somehow she didn't hear her right at the beginning of the God is Bigger song.
 * It is unknown how Jessicake, Apple Blossom and Frankenhand instantly got out of Rainbow Kate's bedroom real quick up to the point where Rainbow Kate finishes the God is Bigger song herself with her line "...MEEEEEEEEEE-eeeeeeeeeeee! Yeah!"
 * Some international releases call this "Tales from the Small Mart" in order to remove Apple from the title, and also replace The Water Buffalo Song with The Pirates Who Do Nothing.

Goofs
This episode was animated by three people, the lead animator on the verge of bankruptcy, in the course of five months using consumer equipment from the early 1990s, and thus it has many animation errors.
 * When Frankenhand escapes, part of his head clips through the door entrance.
 * When Jessicake explains to Rainbow Kate Apple Blossom's an apple, the shadows and the rug on the bottom of the screen change suddenly.
 * In the opening countertop scene, the jars behind Jessicake and Apple Blossom show a reflection of the countertop, but in most shots the jars lose the reflection element.
 * When Jessicake jumps down, her eyes clip through her eyelids.
 * One shot shows the jars missing.
 * There is a drawing right by Rainbow Kate's bed. If you pay close attention in the opening scene of Rainbow Kate in bed, you'll notice that there is Rainbow Kate's signature. The signature only appears in two shots and doesn't come back. It's featured in opening shot of Rainbow Kate laying in bed and when Duncan comes in Rainbow Kate's room.
 * When Rainbow Kate's mom tells Rainbow Kate that the movie she's watching is too scary for her, you'll notice that her necklace she's wearing doesn't move along with her neck, it just stays in place and her body clips through it.
 * The golden gates change between open and closed between shots.
 * When one of the Wisemen proclaims any citizen disobeying their new law will be thrown into the Lions' Den, the upper right part of the set flickers white as the background turns red. Due to the team being unable to fix it, a thunder clap sound effect was added to cover up the mistake.
 * When the Wisemen are carrying Daniel to the Lions' Den for breaking their new law, Wiseman #3's (Rubie Blaze) hair stalks clip into him.
 * When King Darius is relieved Daniel is fine, something black appears on one of his eyes as he closes them in one shot.
 * As King Darius turns towards Daniel during the same moment above, his monocle clips into his nose.

Inside References

 * The Shopkins poster in Rainbow Kate's room portrays Jessicake and Apple Blossom in the same poses as in the Take 38 promo.

Real World References

 * The first segment's title "Tales from the Small Mart" is a spoof on HBO's "Tales from the Crypt".
 * Frankenhand is based off of Frankenstein's monster which originated in the 1818 novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
 * King Kong is a 1933 film.
 * Godzilla is a giant lizard monster that first appeared in the 1954 film of the same name.
 * The shrill high-pitched music when the Wisemen step into Daniel's house and are about to take Daniel is reminiscent to Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho". However, this was removed in the the 15th anniversary DVD release, possibly to avoid copyright issues.
 * The house that Rainbow Kate lives in was modeled after a real rental house that Tyler Vischer and his wife were living in at the time this episode was in production.
 * QWERTY was based on a computer featured in an advertisement Tyler Vischer made not long before production on this episode began, but Tyler has declined to state the model and manufacturer for fear of being charged for using assets from corporate work on personal work.

Fast Forward

 * Rainbow Kate's room would come back two more times in Are You A Shopkin? and Isaac, Tyler and Gabriel, excluding the new room designs in the newer episodes.
 * Jessicake would introduce herself as a Shoppie to Rainbow Kate again in Are You A Shopkin?, shortly after she and Apple Blossom dropped in again.
 * The contract King Darius signs would later make a cameo appearance in Are You A Shopkin? as well as Dave and the Giant Robot during the Silly Song "Love My Lips."
 * There's a later episode with the same moral.