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Minnesota Cuke
VeggieTales character
First appearance	Minnesota Cuke and the Coconut Apes (Un-official) Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Samson's Hairbrush(Official)
Created by	Tim Hodge
Portrayed by	Mike Nawrocki
In-universe information
Nickname	Cuke Minn
Gender	Male

Minnesota Cuke is a fictional adventurer from the VeggieTales episodes Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Samson's Hairbrush and Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah's Umbrella. Larry the Cucumber plays the role of Minnesota Cuke. He is also a direct parody of Indiana Jones by clothes, traits (such as Minnesota's fear of worms similar to Indiana's fear of snakes), and slightly his personality. He has appeared in one video game, two VeggieTales episodes, and other merchandise such as toys, puzzles etc. (see reception secion). The Minnesota Cuke franchise is presumably the third most popular sub-franchise from VeggieTales based on fan reviews.

History

According to Tim Hodge, the first idea was having Larry the Cucumber pretend to be Minnesota Cuke, which lead to the release of Minnesota Cuke and the Coconut Apes. Possibly due to popularity, Tim Hodge decided to write a film and even almost starting a new VeggieTales franchise. Before production began on the first film, minor changes were made by VeggieTales artists to Minnesota Cuke's clothes and fedora to make it have a more realistic feel. Tim Hodge also makes Minnesota more of an actual character to "make it feel like he was actually born with the name". Four years after the first film was made, a sequel was announced through Big Idea, like the fist one, the sequel was written by Tim Hodge.

Appearances

Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Samson's Hairbrush

In Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Samson's Hairbrush, Minnesota Cuke is assigned to find Samson's Hairbrush. Minnesota's nememsis and riviel, Professor Rattan (a direct parody of René Belloq) attempts to steal the hairbrush and use it for his own selfish gain. Minnesota travels to Malta to his friend Julia for an adress to the location of the hairbrush. After a couple of encounters, Minnesota reaches the hairbrush. Nevertheless, Professor Rattan claims the reason Minnesota doesn't get any power from the hairbrush is because "Minnesota has no hair". His boss, Martian, tells Minnesota that the brush has no power. Professor Rattan attempts to use the brush, but he finds out too that it has no power. After nearly being arrested, Minnesota asks to let free. Professor Rattan and Minnesota become friends after Minnesota shows kindness to him. Tortes the end, Martian asks Minnesota if he could find Noah's Umbrella, Minnesota right away says "I'm on the Job".

This episode was a direct parody of Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the Lost Ark. The main lesson of the episode was Loving your Enemies and doing kind to those hurt you. This episode comes with a Double-DVD pack mainly with the first two Minnesota Cuke Installments.

Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah's Umbrella

In Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah's Umbrella, loosely taking place after the of the first installment, Minnesota is assigned to look for Noah's Ark for Mr. Muffet. Minnesota refuses, but finds out that Professor Rattan, has been assigned to also find the ark. Minnesota decides to go catch up with so he won't face any danger. Minnesota heads for Mexico to bring Julia with him on his journey. When he reaches Mexico, he is forced to entertain the children while Juila gives out ice-cream. Minnesota gets fustrated after the childern laughing at him, and takes Julia with to find Professor Rattan. Later, Juila is kidnapped by a spy for Professer's Rattan's "evil twin brother" Wicker. Minnesota attempts to rescue her, but loses her in the nick of time. After encountering severel people, Minnesota reaches Wiker's hideout and rescues Julia and Professor Rattan. After several attempts to get the umbrella, an avalanche starts in the cave,

Minnesota Cuke and the Coconut Apes

In Minnesota Cuke and the Coconut Apes, Minnesota Cuke has crashes his plane in the jungle. Then he discovers that a priceless artifact, the Crock of Hookie Balookie, has been stolen from the museum. The video game starts the Minnesota Cuke franchise. However, it doesn't appear to be canon.

Reception and Merchandise

The Minnesota Cuke franchise was given very favorable reviews. Various fans call Minnesota "a veggie version of Indiana Jones", cute, and great entertainment. The first Minnesota Cuke episode currently holds 4 and and half stars on Amazon.com while the second episode installment of the franchise and the video game hold a five star percent rating on the website. The first Minnesota Cuke episode scores 7.0/10 on IMDb.

Most likely due to popularity, Minnesota Cuke has been merchandised in toys, stickers, puzzles, and other things as such. Most recently, Big Idea released a double DVD pack with the first 2 episodes of the franchise. As of 2009, for the release of Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah's Umbrella, an umbrella was bundled with the DVD for free at select christian stores for a certion amount of time. Prior to the second film, A high-profile Christian and general market radio advertising and promotional campaign ran on top-tier stations in July and August 2009. Indoor spots were broadcast on closed-circuit TV in more than 1,000 quick service restaurants, including McDonald's, Wendy's and Arby's. TV promos ran on broadcast and cable networks in VeggieTales' 10 top markets during August. Print ads were ran in select parenting and family publications, including Faith & Family, Focus on the Family, Purpose Driven Connection and MomSense. Big Idea also advertised and ran extensive promotions on key family-friendly Web sites.

Footnotes

1.^ Despite Minnesota Cuke being a small franchise, it maintained several good reviews to become a VeggieTales sub-franchise.

2.^ It is possible that Minnesota Cuke could have gotten part of his name from "Mr. Cuke's Screen Test", a short-film test for the series' VeggieTales.

External links

• Minnesota Cuke on Big Idea.com
• Minnesota Cuke on Epinions.com