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No Title Western Animation

Okay, so, this is a really weird one where I'm pretty sure I actually do know what the title is, but please just stick with me, I'm getting something with it.

The show I'm looking for were a series of straight-to-VHS CGI short films that my family owned back when I was very young. We may still own them now but I have no way to tell - they came on bootleg-looking VHS tapes without labels and we still have five VHS tapes in our possession, all label-less, and no VHS player any more to check their contents. The shorts were about a group of toys who would come to life every time the store owner left for the evening and would have little adventures around the store until the owner returned in the morning. Thing is, their nightly escapades would all inadvertently lead to them talking about a Bible story, and the main meat of each episode was one of the characters reading through the Bible story (the store had books as well as toys) while a handful of the other characters acted the story out on a little stage, and the other toys watching for fun and learning. If my memory serves me well its title was either "In the Book" or simply "The Book", in reference to said Bible.

The actual quality of the show is very difficult for me to place in hindsight, obviously, since I was very young when I watched them, but looking back on my memory reserves, I do at least remember the voice acting being competent, the characters having reasonably distinct personalities, and the writing being at least somewhat creative and intelligent, but I also remember the animation being rather wonky and awkward. Then again, it must have been during the early-2000s era of CGI if I could have watched it that young, and given it had a straight-to-VHS budget it could have very well been the best they could do. One thing about the show that was interesting to me is that now and then it would explain nuggets of scientific and historical information to emphasize important parts of the story, such as explaining how David's slingshot worked and why it was so dangerous, and how big Noah's ark would have been using the actual units given in the Bible.

I actually remember much of it in rather distinct detail, as I watched these VHS tapes many many times as a kid, so bear with me as I unearth them here. If you already know what I'm talking about, just skip to the last paragraph.

• The four episodes I remember were the story of David and Goliath, the story of Noah and the flood, the story of Jonah, and a Christmas Episode about the birth of Jesus. I believe they were two episodes to a VHS.

• The catalyst for each episode was, respectively:
  • A new toy gorilla is brought to the store that the owner doesn't like, but he has to leave for the night before he can send it back. All the other characters are scared of it but one of them foolishly begins messing with it and it comes to life. It's much, much bigger than any of the other toys and acts like a savage animal instead of being anthropomorphic like they are, and it captures the toy King Kong-style and they have to take it down by removing its batteries. After the affair the characters start talking about giants and this piques their interest in the story.

  • The toys are stuck alone in the store for a long time because there's a heavy storm outside and they're very bored. Between the storm and their need for entertainment, the

  • The owner installs a fish tank in the store and one of the characters accidentally falls in. He seems fine with it at first and just tries to swim out, but then one of the fish almost eats him and he just barely manages to escape. In a similar set of events to the first episode I talked about, when the affair is over, the conversation turns to the possibility of actually being swallowed by a fish.

  • I'm not quite sure what catalyzes the story of the Christmas Episode but it does take place around Christmastime so imagining a conversation leading to it isn't hard ("What's Christmas all about?" etc.)

• Every episode began with a theme song and even though I do remember what it sounds like, I can't remember hardly any consecutive lyrics, nor can I easily place a genre. I just remember the song repeatedly mentioning something along the lines of "in an adventure/from the book" and "[something]/in the book", always putting emphasis on the latter two words, whilst flying over the Bible which says "The Book" over the cover, prompting me to believe that's what the series is called.

• I can actually remember a few characters by name, and even more by their appearance and voice. Here are all the details I can recall:
  • The most central character was a toy WWII pilot named Pete. They never mentioned he was a WWII pilot by name, obviously, but I know that's what he was because his plane was a Flying Tiger◊. Pete was a friendly guy and he was always the one in charge of reading the Bible stories and teaching the toys their lessons, but he had a sense of humor and a few Not So Above It All moments that kept him from being a standard wise mentor. His plane was also alive and the face could move and emote, but it couldn't speak, only make noises with its propeller blade. I can't remember what the plane's name was but I think it was something like Rex.

  • A toy horse named Gallop, who I'm pretty sure was either a figure or a wooden push puppet, since his legs were made up of little bendable segments. He was a brown horse with a big snout who I remember having a design somewhat similar to Bullseye from the Toy Story movies. He had a goofy, deep Simpleton Voice, appropriate for his role as the Kindhearted Simpleton. Normally he walked on four legs but he could stand up on two if the role required him to, like in the episode about Noah where he played the role of Noah. I remember him briefly getting stage fright during that episode and needing encouragement from his friends.

  • A yo-yo named Texas, often shortened to just Tex. Tex had tiny arms and legs that he could tuck into his body when the night was ove but no head - instead, he had a 2D animated face printed on the front of his yo-yo body. He was a cowboy who would use his string as a lasso and was a bit of a cocky Jerk with a Heart of Gold, making him something of a Foil to Gallop. The two would often butt heads and make fun of each other but not to the point where it felt like they didn't dislike each other. Tex was the one who provoked the gorilla in the beginning of the David and Goliath episode and then later played the role of David during the play.

  • A toy elephant who I can't remember the name of, nor very many details about. The only reason I remember she was an elephant was because I remember a scene where she used her trunk to turn off a fan that Pete accidentally turned on in the Noah episode that was blowing everybody away. I do remember her voice being soft and gentle, kind of like a less exaggerated Lambie from Doc Mcstuffins.

  • A bunch of mostly-interchangeable builder men who were obviously meant to be in the same vein as Lego minifigures. They had comedic personalities and were always in charge of building the sets of the stage plays, but they'd sometimes play other roles as well. Three of them played Noah's sons in the play about him, and in the prologue of the Jonah episode, they helped feed the fish and that's what caused one of them to fall in and almost get eaten.

  • A teddy bear that I also don't remember very many details about. All I remember was him being slightly neurotic and playing the role of Jonah.

  • Some minor characters I remember were a toy clown, who briefly played the role of Caeser in the Christmas episode, a stuffed apatosaurus who played the role of Goliath, some human figurines who played the role of Joseph and Mary, and some army men who I only ever remember helping take down the giant gorilla.

So, if I remember what the title was, why exactly am I bothering to post all this here? Well it's because, for the life on me, I simply cannot find a single scrap of evidence anywhere on the internet that it ever existed. Anywhere. I can't find a single screenshot, a single clip, a single song, a single listing on Ebay, nothing. I even looked on the Lost Media Wiki and couldn't find any mention of it there either No matter how specific I am with my searching, it's like this show was dumped into a few VHS tapes and then suddenly disappeared off the face of the earth. So please, can anyone tell me, did this show actually exist? Does anybody else remember seeing it or at least hearing about it? Is it anywhere online or am I stuck with the task of finding another VHS player if I ever see it again? Am I possibly in possession of an extremely rare piece of media that hasn't yet been archived? Please let me know, it would ease my conscience tremendously.