Master Insert Tapes

[minor muppetz]

I've been wondering about Sesame Workshop's master tapes for the inserts. Could there be multiple master copies of various sketches? There are sketches that seem to be edited or altered in certain broadcasts, and I would expect new masters to be made in these cases.

But I wonder... Could there be at least two copies of every insert? One that fades in from and out to black, and ones that don't? In the old days most skits cut to the next one, with occasional fades to black (and even occasional fades to the next scenes), and currently almost every skit ends with a transition.

The bonus skits on the Old School DVDs and most clips at Sesamestreet.org fade-in and fade-up to/from black. I've seen some that start with some on-screen text information (one example is "At the Coastline") before cutting to black and then cutting to the animation. And after watching some clips that also appear in the episodes features in the Old School releases, when they fade in or out it looks like we see a few extra seconds not shown. Not fading in when the sketch would normally end in an episode, but we see some slight extra movements as the scen fades in or out. For example, in teh skit where Kermit and Joey say the alphabet, at the end we can see Kermit turn his head as it fades to black. Normally, the clip ends right after Joey kisses Kermit on the head. And watching A Song from Kermit at sesamestreet.org it looks like there's a few extra seconds at the beginning and end compared to in episode 1096. And in cases when a clip from a street story or a special/direct-to-video production are on the site, the fades to and from black often don't look as natural when compared to inserts.

I think the Old School DVDs are the only ones where the bonus skits have fade-ins/fade-outs. All other DVDs with bonus clips cut to the clips and then cut out, sometimes cutting to black (Elmo's Springtime Stories just cuts from the menu to the bonus clip and then cuts back to the menu).

On the 40th anniversary DVD, most clips are shown without fades to black, though a few are. And it seems like some of the fades to black happena bit early. For example, Put Down the Duckie fades to black as the ending music begins (at sesamestreet.org it fades to black before the last sound of music), and the "Just Because" clip seems to fade to black early, compared to the clip as seen in the 20th anniversary special (and I've read that the scene actually did fade to black).

Some of the clips on the 40th anniversary DVD were shortened (and not just without these fades). I know that some of the edits (such as Lena Horne's reaction to grover calling her a good kisser and the opening wide shot in Put Down the Duckie) were normally made when broadcast on the show, but I wonder if the others were often cut (I know of times when most weren't edited on the show). While some segments shown at sesamestreet.org are cut (such as the unusual removale of the beginning of The Scale Salesman or the ending of Kermit News: Rupunzel), many of them are shown with extra pre-rolls and post-rolls often cut on the show and video releases (and I'm not just talking about when a director might yell "action!").

 

[D'Snowth]

I think whether or not an insert is cut and out of, or faded in and out of depends on how their edited into the show they're used for... though otherwise, not sure if there are multiple prints of the master tapes, especially back in the older days, because that wasn't common place - both H.R. Pufnstuf and M*A*S*H have at least one episode where the master footage was damaged, and thus the only prints that are available of those specific episodes are poor syndication copies.

 

[minor muppetz]

It is a shame that there's no official sources that mention how the inserts are stored. Sesame Workshop has reportedly remastered every episode a few times over the years (and maybe the copies used for sesamestreet.org are those copies), even before Noggin got started. The CTW archives has files called "First Season Show Content", which lists pretty much every season one segment along with the episodes they appear in. I would assume there were similar files for the other seasons (and I'd like to see scans of later ones if there are such ones, to see if segments from earlier seasons are listed as well). I sometimes wonder if those files are what is used to find the clips that get inserted into other episodes and video releases (and then to just copy the clips as seen in those episodes). But there is a file called "Miscellaneous Muppet Insert Tapes", which implies individual insert tapes.

 

[D'Snowth]

You know, I got to thinking... from time to time, there's obviously at least two different versions of the same sketches that were recorded - biggest evidence is that there's two slightly different versions of the banned "I Want a Monster to Be My Friend" posted on YouTube, as well as the version of Lefty trying to sell Ernie a U (and letter a V) is different that the footage that appeared on the A&E documentary.

 

[minor muppetz]

You know, I got to thinking... from time to time, there's obviously at least two different versions of the same sketches that were recorded - biggest evidence is that there's two slightly different versions of the banned "I Want a Monster to Be My Friend" posted on YouTube, as well as the version of Lefty trying to sell Ernie a U (and letter a V) is different that the footage that appeared on the A&E documentary.

I never noticed that the U/V segment was different in the A&E Biography. And yet Caroll Spinney performed Lefty in both that and the version at sesamestreet.org. And the first season show content doesnt' show any signs of there being two versions in the same year (no "RE-DO" note by the skit, no "#2" version...). I also didn't notice two versions of I Want a Monster to Be My Friend.

 

[dwmckim]

As far as the endings of inserts go, we all know the Muppeteers habitually stay in character once a scene ends. So most of the time, they're probably adlibbing extra lines or doing silly bits of business that make it hard decide "okay, what exactly should be the ending moment of this sketch?" Hence, a situation where a scene typically ends at one spot but may end up running longer another time (or online). Of course if an episode's running long and they need to shave some seconds somewhere, a scene might cut off sooner than where's typical. Add to that scenes that are essentially totally improved like Muppet/kid moments and one could totally end (or start) them anywhere.

I love seeing the clips online because every now and then we get those little extra moments we don't see on the show as a sketch is ending. One of my faves is Bert and John John's lost paper clips talk which typically ends with John John's cutely asking "You're HAPPY?", Bert confirming this, John John saying he's also happy and Bert saying he's happy too. Online they show what happens next: he looks over to someone off camera (a crew member? Family member?) and asks if they're happy and Frank tries to divert attention away with Bert saying "EVERYBODY'S happy!" Of course they can't show that on the show because it breaks the reality of it just being Bert/John John there but it's a great little bonus treat!

 

[minor muppetz]

I love seeing the clips online because every now and then we get those little extra moments we don't see on the show as a sketch is ending. One of my faves is Bert and John John's lost paper clips talk which typically ends with John John's cutely asking "You're HAPPY?", Bert confirming this, John John saying he's also happy and Bert saying he's happy too. Online they show what happens next: he looks over to someone off camera (a crew member? Family member?) and asks if they're happy and Frank tries to divert attention away with Bert saying "EVERYBODY'S happy!" Of course they can't show that on the show because it breaks the reality of it just being Bert/John John there but it's a great little bonus treat!

I never really thought of that. Didn't really think it broke the reality of the scene.

 

[minor muppetz]

Speaking of that Bert and John-John clip, I wonder if the beginning of the Kermit/Shola/Fanny "Next to" clip as seen at sesamestreet.org might be one of those unaired "pre-rolls". On the website it starts with Kermit asking Shola what her name is as if she'd told him and he forgot ("What's your name again? Shola, right..."). That could have been Kermit getting introduced to them before the clip begins, maybe forgetting Shola's name... But the website doesn't show Kermit learning Fanny's name, or learning Shola's name a first time.

But I've never seen that clip on the show, just in specials/documentaries. So I don't know if that was broadcast or not, but it looks like an obvious edit at the beginning is made as well (and the website also edits Kermit's reaction to getting hugged by one of the girls at the end of the clip).

I also wonder about that clip where Grover and John-John count one penny. At sesamestreet.org and in the script provided in Sesame Street Unpaved, it begins with Grover telling John-John he loves him, before John-John asks Grover to count the penny (I assume that was unplanned). But when shown in episode 1096 and the video Learning About Numbers, it starts with John-John reacting to Grover's line. I don't think it makes sense for the clip to start with John-John saying "Grover, you love me?" I think it would seem more natural if the beginning was shown and the "count this penny" part removed.

 

[minor muppetz]

As far as the endings of inserts go, we all know the Muppeteers habitually stay in character once a scene ends. So most of the time, they're probably adlibbing extra lines or doing silly bits of business that make it hard decide "okay, what exactly should be the ending moment of this sketch?" Hence, a situation where a scene typically ends at one spot but may end up running longer another time (or online).

You know for years I had expected the performers to just take down their puppets when mistakes are made and maybe show their heads on camera. So believe it or not I was a slight bit disapointed to learn that they stay in character even after messing up.

Still, with various pre- and post-rolls, regardless of whether they are considered pre-rolls and post-rolls, it is strange how they often seem to be edited the same way many times. I mean, by that logic the ending of Sesame Street News: Rupunzel could be a post-roll that some fans just happened to have episodes that aired it uncut. I still find it weird how the ending of How Do You Do? is cut on all commercial video releases yet uncut online and in audio releases.

And I still wonder if the various small edits of sketches in 40 Years of Sunny Days are postrolls or not. The number of small edits of inserts on that release probably add up to under a minute altogether. I would have happily lived without the easter eggs if they used the extra time to show all the inserts fully uncut.

 

[minor muppetz]

Regarding the pre/postroll thing, it is interesting how there's obviously copies of segments in existience with those extra seconds. Especially when the extra time is of the director yelling "Action!" I wouldn't expect those to be considered part of the sketch and don't call it "edited" due to not hearing that (it would be ridiculous to think so). But it's interesting that sesamestreet.org shows a number of clips with the "action" line at the beginning, yet otherwise the segments tend to be shown the same as broadcast, with the same cuts. What if sometime in the future the website adds a clip that cuts to a few different takes (and not just because multiple cameras were used at once) and immediately after cutting from one angle to the next we hear "action!"?