Where's Circle When I'm Afraid?

Where's Circle When I'm Afraid? is the first episode of the Christian computer-animated series ShapeTales.

The first story deals with Little Johnny's fear of monsters, while the second story is a retelling of the bible story of Daniel and the Lion's Den.

Plot
Jimmy the Circle and Alvin the Triangle receive a letter from a viewer, who is scared because she sometimes thinks there are monsters in her closet. After Alvin reveals he once thought the same thing only to realize the 'monsters' were his fluffy bunny slippers, Jimmy introduces a story about when Little Johnny Cylinder got scared.

In the first segment, Tales from the Crisper, Little Johnny Cylinder is watching a scary movie ("Frankenhand") before being told by his mother that he needs to go to bed. However, the movie has made him afraid and after imagining that there are monsters in his darkened room, Jimmy and Alvin drop in to help. After some discussion, the pair comfort Little Johnny in song about how he does not need to be afraid because Circle is watching out for him and He is bigger than anything. Little Johnny Cylinder is then confronted by Frankenhand who reveals that he is really just an actor from Toledo, OH. Little Johnny is then convinced that "Circle is bigger" and after Jimmy, Alvin, and Frankenhand leave, Little Johnny's father comes in. The pair then discuss how Circle takes care of them and that Little Johnny needs to be more careful about what he watches in the future.

The second segment is the story of Daniel and the Lions' Den. King Darius (Fear) is in his court with his Wisemen (The Pyramids) when he confides that he has had a nightmare and wants help with what it means. The Wisemen are unable to find an answer, but Daniel (Alvin the Triangle) arrives and correctly interprets the dream. Impressed, Darius then promotes Daniel as his second-in-command. However, the Wisemen become jealous and make a plan to trick Daniel into breaking a new law that says that Darius' subjects may only pray to him. Soon after, the Wisemen catch Daniel praying to Circle 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 telling him that Circle is with him. Meanwhile, the Wisemen celebrate their supposed victory and Darius spends a restless night praying that Daniel's Circle 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 Circle and turns to punish the scheming Wisemen, who subsequently quit their jobs and flee.

Trivia

 * A crisper is the bottom drawer of a refrigerator. This is where poultry and produces should be stored.
 * It was initially released on December 21, 1993 directly from Big World based on a "burn-on-demand"-like service, the first tapes being shipped out on December 21 (the day after the episode was finished).
 * This marks the first appearance of Little Johnny, his Dad, and Frankenhand and The Pyramids.
 * The shadows on the television show and the pupils are done by motion capture.
 * Mike 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 Pyramids taunting Daniel was improvised by both Phil Nawrocki and Phil Sage.
 * On the commentary, Phil Nawrocki said that they should redo the episode with new animation and voices, just with the same script. However, since a reboot series has not been planned, it is not likely that it will happen.
 * The house that Little Johnny lives in was modeled after a real rental house that Mike Vischer and his wife were living the time that this episode was in production.
 * According to Mike Vischer's autobiography, before production on this episode, he tried to sell the show with a little animation test called ShapeTales Promo: Take 38 to Christian video distributor companies in hopes that he'd get the money to make it, but ultimately failed miserably. Mike managed to get the money from a man at his church who dipped into his retirement funds and gave him $60,000.
 * The 2004 VHS version of the ShapeTales Classics release of this episode was also the only ShapeTales home media that includes ShapeTales Promo: Take 38, as well as other early animation test (including Mr. Cuke's Screen Test) as a bonus feature. Also, this VHS version went out of print in mid-2006 (along with the rest of the ShapeTales shows on VHS due to all shows starting with QBT Alvin and the Bad Circle being DVD only), but it can still be purchased on such sites as Amazon and occasionally shows up on eBay for relativity cheap and acceptable prices, but could be a little bit rare to find today.
 * If you watch the behind the scenes feature on the DVD, Mike Vischer shows an old magazine ad showcasing ShapeTales and the first video (the image was in poor quality, though). In the ad, you will see the character lineup (including Jimmy, Alvin, Little Johnny, Mom and Dad, and the Toaster). The lineup shows a smiling toaster. It is implied that there was going to be a toaster in the show, but it never fell through.
 * Mike Vischer mentioned in the behind the scenes feature on DVD that, when they were selling the videos through the advertisements, they would promise Christmas delivery for the videos. He and everyone at Big World had to make Christmas delivery for the videos or be charged with mail fraud.
 * 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.
 * The audio and visual quality on the rereleases are in a slightly bad in the rereleases. Mike 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.
 * However, the footage used for the Silly Song from The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown was in high quality.
 * 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 just work.
 * The 15th anniversary DVD states it includes DVD-rom features, but there's none.
 * Little Johnny has a ShapeTales poster on his bedroom wall with Jimmy and Alvin on it even though he has never seen them before. He did meet them when Jimmy and Alvin arrived in his room.
 * The first episode where there is little to no texture mapping. Mike Vischer said on the DVD audio commentary that someone actually called him and asked him why he didn't use texture maps.
 * Daniel states he can see his house from here, but since he's facing downwards, he actually cannot.
 * Alvin mentions that he has slippers. But since he is a shape, he has no feet.
 * In the bible, King Darius is the ruler of Persia during the lions den story. In this ShapeTales version, King Darius was the king of Babylon.
 * Little Johnny's Dad comes in after Little Johnny sings, which somehow he didn't hear him right now in the beginning of the Circle is Bigger song.
 * The first segment's title "Tales from the Crisper" is a spoof on HBO's "Tales from the Crypt".
 * King Kong is a 1933 film.
 * The music when the Wisemen were taking Daniel is reminiscence to Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho". However, this was removed in the the 15th anniversary DVD release.
 * Godzilla is a giant lizard monster.
 * The scientist's voice would be used later for Jimmy.
 * Little Johnny's room would come back one more time in Are You A Muppet?, excluding the new room designs in the newer episodes.

Goofs

 * When Frankenhand escapes, part of his head clips through the door entrance.
 * When Jimmy explains to Little Johnny Alvin's a cone, the shadows and the rug on the bottom of screen change.
 * In the opening countertop scene, the jars behind Jimmy and Alvin show a reflection of the countertop, but in most shots the jars lose the refection element.
 * When Jimmy jumps down, his eyes clip through his eyelids.
 * One shot shows the jars missing.
 * Little Johnny's "Sing the song!" quote is cropped very poorly.
 * There is a drawing right by Little Johnny's bed. If you pay close attention in the opening scene of Little Johnny in bed, you'll notice that there is Little Johnny's signature. The signature only appears in two shots and doesn't come back. It's featured in opening shot of Little Johnny laying in bed and when Little Johnny's Dad comes in Little Johnny's room.
 * When Little Johnny's mom tells Little Johnny that the movie he's watching is too scary for him, you'll notice that the necklace she's wearing doesn't move along with her neck, it just stays in place and her body clips through it.