Previously on the Muppet Central Forums…
I guess I’m the only one still willing to watch. This gives me an idea…
I’m gonna reboot my episode reviews for the new HBO Max era. Starting this fall, CoolGuy Reviews will be dedicated to seasons 51 onward. I’ll still review the rest of the HBO era, just under the new title “CoolGuy’s Other Reviews”, and the Max era will be my priority for this, randomly reviewing seasons 46-50 episodes when I feel like it.
With that said, see you whenever Season 51 starts.
Well, Season 51 has started. Better get to work.
Welcome to the first edition of the all-new “CoolGuy Reviews”! As I said, this show will now be focused on the HBO Max episodes premiering each Thursday until July 8. I decided to review them as quick as possible, so I don’t have a huge backlog. With that said, Ramp Racers. Is this gonna slide into the good episodes, or am I gonna race away from it? Let’s find out.
So the episode (and by extension the era) begins with Elmo and Rosita excited for today’s episode and all the ramps. Not much I can say, but I did find it cute that they were excited for all the ramps, even though neither of them knew what a ramp is.
The episode proper begins with the same duo having a basket of ping-pong balls for some reason. They try to play catch with one, only for it to roll down a nearby ramp into a box, to Nina’s surprise. The monsters are impressed by their Dude Perfect trick shot, and do it again with the same result. After this, they finally learn what a ramp is, a slanted surface used to transport things. They decide to race their balls on it, but in turns out the ramp is being used. They decide to make their own ramps out of cardboard, and set them up to race, with Nina as the referee, which doesn’t make sense as she was busy moving stuff just a minute ago. Also, Julia is there for some reason. Oh well, it’s nice to see her in the majority of an episode besides one of the Autism Awareness Month ones focusing on her.
Anyway, the monsters race their balls, and find that Elmo’s went faster than Rosita’s. It turns out her ramp was built at a lower level than Elmo’s. They raise her ramp, and the balls now land at the same time (it’s not much of a race in it’s an intentional tie, but I digress). The two of them decide to make their ramps even bigger, and race the balls on the bigger ramps. They do, but this time Rosita wins. Julia sees Elmo put bumpy cardboard in his ramp, which slowed down his ball. I feel this was kinda forced, as we never see any bumpy cardboard in the pile, but I digress. They fix it, another tie happens, and the two invite Julia to race with them. And then the story ends abruptly.
Overall, this was a flawed, but fun Street story. The bumpy cardboard seemingly came out of nowhere, I don’t get why they wanted to tie on purpose, and it just ended abruptly. That said, I liked seeing Julia outside of one of the Autism Awareness episodes, the ramps themselves looked pretty cool, and it served as a good introduction to their “I wonder… What if? Let’s try.” theme.
Anyway, the story is followed by a pointless bit where Elmo watches 2 kids make a ramp, then make it higher. Not much to say, but I did like how at the end Elmo heard the music for his LOTD song, and left to sing it. Clever tie in. And speaking of that song…
Jump up, get down. Come dance with CoolGuy. We’re moving our bodies to the ABCs. OK, I’m not gonna sing the whole song. But I am gonna talk about it. If you read my old reviews and seen the episodes I was reviewing, you’d recognize that song. And in season 50, they remade it with some added characters, a flashy background instead of the plain black one from the original with new graphics for the Letter to match, and what appears to be a marching band-style melody. Overall, I think I like this version better than the original.
But back on track, the Letter of the Day is R, and they air another pointless film about the episode’s topic disguised as one about the Letter. Nothing else to say, moving on.
But next is one of those Magical Car Race videos from the Sesame Street YouTube channel. Oh boy. I’m not even gonna describe the segment because you can watch it at the top of the page, but since this is the first review of an episode where this happened, I
will complain about it.
I really don’t like it when Sesame Street takes videos from their YouTube channel and airs them on the show. It always reeks of “last minute decision because we ran out of ideas”. It’s one thing for them to upload a clip from the show onto YT before it airs, but when it’s part of a YT series of sketches like this one was, the problems begin. It especially feels insulting because with their STEM movement from a few years ago, I’m honestly shocked they didn’t just pull a segment involving ramps from there and air it here. Or, perhaps another option I’ll mention later…
But back to reviewing the show. Elmo watches a girl pull a wagon up a ramp in another pointless bit. Also, he introduces Abby’s Amazing Adventures. Honestly, these bits where Elmo introduces the next segment kinda remind me of how characters like Big Bird, Ernie, And Zoe introduced segments during season 30 and such, as well as what Murray did when he was a character. The only difference between this and Murray is that Elmo stops after this part instead of introducing the NOTD and his own segment. Oh well, speaking of Abby’s Amazing Adventures, this is my first time reviewing that segment, so let’s begin.
The segment begins with Abby and Rudy racing their toy cars down a ramp, when Basket shows up to take them to their occupation of the week, ride designers (and yes, this is technically the
second time they were ride designers in an AAA segment). Anyway, their task is to build a giant slide for an amusement park. They use the biggest platform with a slightly amusing line from Abby about Rudy’s idea (“He’s gonna pick the big one.”). They test the ride, but don’t find it very fun. Abby decides to put a shorter platform under the one they already had, and Rudy gets an idea to put an even smaller one under that one with some good old physics-defying cartoon logic (oops, I forgot to mention this is a cartoon). They test it, like it, but Abby gets an even better idea to turn it into an even bigger and cooler slide with magic. This scene infuriated me when I watched it because it begged the question, “
WHY THE HECK DIDN’T SHE JUST DO THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE?” No joke, this pretty much undoes all the duo’s hard work because now we know it could’ve just been built in seconds with magic. I’m not even gonna finish reviewing this segment. Next!
Alright. Time for the number of the day. I’m not gonna sing the sing, and just cut to the chase here. It’s 16, and we get no segments (as you’d expect from modern SST). However, this is one of the times it feels extra insulting. Remember when I said this?
Or, perhaps another option I’ll mention later…
Well here’s the other solution I foreshadowed. If they just cut that Magical Car Race Cartoon, there would easily have been time for a number segment. Why couldn’t you have thought of something? It doesn't even have to be about ramps. Remember all the times in the HBO era where the NOTD segment didn't fit with the theme? Just do that here.
Ugh, I’m frustrated again. Let’s wrap this up as soon as possible.
Finally, Elmo’s World. But not just Elmo’s World. No, this is Elmo's World:
Monster Edition. This is only the first installment, so don’t quote me on this, but I think this is gonna replace the Elmo’s World reboot I haven’t reviewed yet (I’ll get to it soon, though). Is it good? Let’s see.
So the segment begins with Elmo imagining Rosita roller skating down a ramp, and decides to learn more about ramps. Enter Cookie Monster, who believes ramps are a kind of cookie. When he learns they aren’t, he tries to leave (this part reminded me of the classic Mystery Box segment). Before he goes, Elmo shows him a video about ramps and their uses. Cookie is intrigued, and the two monsters play a game. The game features an ant needing a ramp to get down to store cookie crumbs, and the options the monsters have to make the ramp are a marble, a twig, and some chocolate chips. They try the marble, but it doesn’t work. Cookie wants to save the chips for the crumbs (I found that amusing), so they try the twig. It works. Lastly, the two ask Ms. Noodle if she knows about ramps. She tries using a ramp as a bed and a table, before finally realizing it’s a slide and sliding down it. This part was fun, and the monsters dance to end the segment.
Wow, this is the first time I reviewed an episode with a closing scene. In it, Elmo, Rosita, and Julia continue to play with their ramp racer and say goodbye. Not much else to it, but I liked it anyway.
So that was Ramp Racers. I thought it was good. The street story, EW: ME, and a few other parts had their moments, and despite a few things that annoyed me, I still feel comfortable with giving this a 7/10. With that said, see you next week when I review whatever the next episode is called.
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