Where are all these classic Sesame Street episodes coming from?

[ssetta]

As some of you know, a lot of rare old episodes have been turning up lately. A bunch of episodes from Seasons 1, 10, 12, 20, and now Season 22. I have to say this is one of the greatest things that's ever happened. As a lot of our questions about the old days have been answered, and one of the episodes that recently turned up is one I've actually been searching for years. But there's one big question I have about all of this:

Where are all these episodes coming from????

Just wondering, because I know that the normal Sesame Workshop policy is that they do NOT send out tapes. So I'm wondering if maybe there's someone who works for the company or something. I do know of someone who claimed that he got all of episodes 1 - 3005, but promised that he would not distribute them. So I wonder if this is him, but I'm not sure.

The thing is, Why do you think that some episodes have seeped through and not others? For instance, we got about the first 15 episodes of Season 1, and then a bunch of scattered episodes throughout the season. We also have scattered episodes from season 10 and season 20, but the episodes we have from season 12 and season 22 are all right in order. And some of them have the Time Code reading on them and some don't. I noticed that it's the scattered ones that have the TCR. So I wonder if maybe they could even be from different sources, but I'm not sure.

So anyway, I really would like to know the source of these episodes, and who got access to the library. If anyone here knows anything about it, please let me know.

 

[Oscarfan]

 

[MuppetSpot]

Why ask just enjoy the rare content.

 

[minor muppetz]

There's an episode of Mister Ed where Wilbur says "when a miracle happens, you don't question it". We could take that advice for how we've gotten these recent episodes.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Speaking of recently discovered classics,here's a newly resurfaced season 1 episode.

 

[D'Snowth]

Gosh, I remember that Swing on a Star song from an old Little Lulu cartoon from the 40s.

 

[mr3urious]

More and more we're seeing all this old, long-considered-lost material spring up, even stuff that didn't air on the show proper. The days of solely having to rely on rapidly-deteriorating tapes are a thing of the past.

I'm still hoping for the unaired version of "Imgination" to pop up someday, or the Wicked Witch episode, or even Snuffy's parents' divorce!

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

I do know of someone who claimed that he got all of episodes 1 - 3005, but promised that he would not distribute them. So I wonder if this is him, but I'm not sure.

Where did you read about that? I remember someone once posting a thread demanding all of the first 3005 episodes (which I still to this day find quite ridiculous), but someone actually GOT A HOLD of all those episodes? Hmmm...

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

More and more we're seeing all this old, long-considered-lost material spring up, even stuff that didn't air on the show proper. The days of solely having to rely on rapidly-deteriorating tapes are a thing of the past.

I'm still hoping for the unaired version of "Imgination" to pop up someday, or the Wicked Witch episode, or even Snuffy's parents' divorce!

The Wicked Witch episode and the divorce episode are high on my list. I also really want to see the season 7 episode where Big Bird runs for president and the introduction episodes of Linda, Olivia and Buffy.

 

[D'Snowth]

I'm still hoping for the unaired version of "Imgination" to pop up someday

Oh, where we actually see Ernie's nightmare about dark shadows, spooky things, and monsters? I've been curious about that as well. "Imagination" is certainly my absolute favorite Sesame moment; I already love it for what it is: Ernie having a legitimate reason for waking Bert, and Bert - while frustrated that Ernie woke him again - actually helping him overcome his feelings of fear by imagining something that he likes. However, I do wonder what the entire version would be like as whole: would actually experiencing Ernie's fear and seeing his nightmare add more emotion to the bit? Would it make Bert's resolution and Ernie's new dream of a balloon-covered street more powerful? The only way I could say for sure is to see it for myself.