Welcome to the Muppet Central Forum!
Back to the Rock Season 2
Sesame Street Season 54
The Muppets Mayhem premieres
Bear arrives on Disney+
Sam and Friends Book
BEAR
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 21, 2005
- Messages
- 7,368
- Reaction score
- 35
I just purchased A Sesame Street Christmas Carol today at Wal-Mart (hey, atleast there's one good thing about that store!) and couldn't wait to watch it. I was so excited to hear of this DVD special coming out. I'd like to give my thought on the program and then open up the thread to those of you who'd like to give your opinions.
It starts out with a Narration by the brilliant Tim Curry talking about Sesame Street and what a wonderful place it is at Christmas time. As he is talking, flashback clips from past Sesame Street Christmas specials are shown (The opening from Elmo's World: Happy Holidays, and a scene from Elmo Saves Christmas). It was nice to see Susan and Mr. Handford again even if they were in old clips. Then leading into Oscar's introduction, we see a nice quiet snow-covered evening on Sesame Street. It was such a beautiful setup, I knew it would be a great show! That feeling didn't last long.
A Delivery Man names Joe Marly comes to deliver junk mail to Oscar. It is actually an old can of baked beans which Rhubarb, the Grouch Ghost of Christmas Past pops out of. He shows Oscar old home movies of Christmas pasts. The first one was Gift of the Magi starring Bert and Ernie. They played Bert and Ernie's subplot from Christmas Eve on Sesame Street and we got to revisit an old dear friend. I won't tell you who. I'll leave you all to be as surprised as I was, though I'm sure you know exactly who I'm referring to. Along with that, it was lovely to hear Frank Oz and Jim Henson again as the 2 buddies. Gave me chills. The next homemovie features Big Bird from Elmo Saves Christmas. It's the scene where he misses Snuffy and sings "All I Want For Christmas Is You".
The next Ghost is Christmas Carole as the Ghost of Christmas Present. She is a very perky CGI Christmas Tree/Anything Muppet voiced by Kristin Chenowith. She is there to show Oscar the glory of the Christmas in the now and that Christmas is more than just decorations and Christmas trees. She shows a clip of Elmo and Santa Claus from Elmo's World: Happy Holidays. The next clip is one from Elmo Saves Christmas in which Elmo (along with Lightning the Reindeer) sings the reprise of "Everyday Can't Be Christmas". The third old clip is one from Elmo's World: Happy Holidays with kids talking about how they celebrate Hannukah and Kwanzaa. Carole then pulls out her finale with a clip featuring "Keep Christmas With You" (It is the version from Elmo Saves Christmas. (which can hardly be considered "Present" since Mr. Handford is in it.) Finally, Christmas Carole must leave because she left Christmas dinner cooking in her oven.
The next ghost to arrive is the ghost of Christmas Future in the form of a futuristic robot named Sam (voiced by Kevin Clash). He shows an new animated film showing what Christmases will be like in the future --houses that decorate themselves, weightless Christmas dinners in the form of tablets.
Oscar then wakes up and is greeted by a boy that bears a striking resemblence to the Delivery Man. This is wear Oscar's change really shows and where all this past 45 minutes makes sense. Possibly the best part of the show.
I left some details out as I don't want to give too much away for those of you who wish to watch it. My opinion, however, is that it was highly disappointing. I, who always supports and celebrates anything Sesame Street, found this program to be disappointing and a waste of time. It was cute, but really nothing but rehashing all old clips from past Sesame Street Christmas specials. There was nothing too original about this. They could have stuck Oscar in the clips from the past and had him comment on it. He didn't seem to care much about them at all. There was so much that could have been done to make it a wonderful adaptation, but it was as if they didn't even try in my honest opinion. I might as well have watched all my other Sesame specials instead. About 5 out of 45 minutes was new material and it didn't even have any other familiar characters besides Oscar.
That is my review. I give it 1 1/2 out of 5 stars because some of Christmas Carole's and Rhubarb's writing was cute. That is it though.
It starts out with a Narration by the brilliant Tim Curry talking about Sesame Street and what a wonderful place it is at Christmas time. As he is talking, flashback clips from past Sesame Street Christmas specials are shown (The opening from Elmo's World: Happy Holidays, and a scene from Elmo Saves Christmas). It was nice to see Susan and Mr. Handford again even if they were in old clips. Then leading into Oscar's introduction, we see a nice quiet snow-covered evening on Sesame Street. It was such a beautiful setup, I knew it would be a great show! That feeling didn't last long.
A Delivery Man names Joe Marly comes to deliver junk mail to Oscar. It is actually an old can of baked beans which Rhubarb, the Grouch Ghost of Christmas Past pops out of. He shows Oscar old home movies of Christmas pasts. The first one was Gift of the Magi starring Bert and Ernie. They played Bert and Ernie's subplot from Christmas Eve on Sesame Street and we got to revisit an old dear friend. I won't tell you who. I'll leave you all to be as surprised as I was, though I'm sure you know exactly who I'm referring to. Along with that, it was lovely to hear Frank Oz and Jim Henson again as the 2 buddies. Gave me chills. The next homemovie features Big Bird from Elmo Saves Christmas. It's the scene where he misses Snuffy and sings "All I Want For Christmas Is You".
The next Ghost is Christmas Carole as the Ghost of Christmas Present. She is a very perky CGI Christmas Tree/Anything Muppet voiced by Kristin Chenowith. She is there to show Oscar the glory of the Christmas in the now and that Christmas is more than just decorations and Christmas trees. She shows a clip of Elmo and Santa Claus from Elmo's World: Happy Holidays. The next clip is one from Elmo Saves Christmas in which Elmo (along with Lightning the Reindeer) sings the reprise of "Everyday Can't Be Christmas". The third old clip is one from Elmo's World: Happy Holidays with kids talking about how they celebrate Hannukah and Kwanzaa. Carole then pulls out her finale with a clip featuring "Keep Christmas With You" (It is the version from Elmo Saves Christmas. (which can hardly be considered "Present" since Mr. Handford is in it.) Finally, Christmas Carole must leave because she left Christmas dinner cooking in her oven.
The next ghost to arrive is the ghost of Christmas Future in the form of a futuristic robot named Sam (voiced by Kevin Clash). He shows an new animated film showing what Christmases will be like in the future --houses that decorate themselves, weightless Christmas dinners in the form of tablets.
Oscar then wakes up and is greeted by a boy that bears a striking resemblence to the Delivery Man. This is wear Oscar's change really shows and where all this past 45 minutes makes sense. Possibly the best part of the show.
I left some details out as I don't want to give too much away for those of you who wish to watch it. My opinion, however, is that it was highly disappointing. I, who always supports and celebrates anything Sesame Street, found this program to be disappointing and a waste of time. It was cute, but really nothing but rehashing all old clips from past Sesame Street Christmas specials. There was nothing too original about this. They could have stuck Oscar in the clips from the past and had him comment on it. He didn't seem to care much about them at all. There was so much that could have been done to make it a wonderful adaptation, but it was as if they didn't even try in my honest opinion. I might as well have watched all my other Sesame specials instead. About 5 out of 45 minutes was new material and it didn't even have any other familiar characters besides Oscar.
That is my review. I give it 1 1/2 out of 5 stars because some of Christmas Carole's and Rhubarb's writing was cute. That is it though.
