Sketches and Songs on Sesame Street videos

[GonzoLeaper]

new review

Here's my review of "A New Baby in My House" (a 1994 "My Sesame Street Home Video" release-according to the VHS box, though actual end credits list copyright as 1993. Run time of 30 minutes.)

After the good old CTW logo and Cookie Monster eating the Sesame Street video logo (Seems even through this release it was still under Random House. I guess Sony Wonder must have taken over sometime around 1995 or 1996 or so.)
Then we see the video title and it sounds like it may be Alice reading the title, but I'm pretty sure it's actually Elmo. (I don't think Kevin Clash does Alice- who performs her?)

Plot- Snuffy and Alice are playing in their cave and Alice breaks one of his toys. (Snuffy's mom actually addresses him as Aloysius! )

Song- Snuffy sings a song about the frustrations of having a sister and his mom joins in, singing about how good it is to have a sister.

Snuffy's mom then reads the kids a book to explain why it's good to have siblings. (The book's called "Prince Firstly's Little Surprise") The scene jumps to a palace to show us the events of the book, with a few scenes jumping back to Snuffy's mom and kids every now and then.
Elmo and 2 Anything Monsters are on hand as lords, serving as palace servants.

Song- Elmo and 2 AMs and Prince Firstly sing a song about how there will soon be someone new in the castle.

(Elmo is addressed as "lord Elmo")
King and Queen tell Prince about new brother or sister coming and they go to the hospital to have the baby. Elmo suggests Prince talk to Katie and Stevie about having a baby.

Live action clip- Young sister and brother (Katie and Stevie) make a card for their mom and go to visit new baby brother Michael in the hospital. (I remember this one running some in the '80s. That's probably when it was made too ;-))

Queen Quinella and King Goodheart bring new Princess Azalea baby home. Prince wants to teach her how to play "Dragon tamer" but the baby's too young. All the lords are too busy with the baby to play with the prince. The King and Queen find the prince in his old crib in the baby's room and they try to explain to him that he'll get used to a new baby (though he wants a pet!)
They then tell him about Lillian.

Cartoon- Lillian tells about the good and bad of having a little sister. (Animation looks similar to the "Hey Arnold" cartoon- perhaps this is another by the same company.)

People come to see the baby including the Royal Fairy Godmother, Royal Count (played by Count von Count, of course! - who still manages to count up to 3 quickly before he leaves), Royal Cookie Taster (that'd be Cookie Monster of course!) and the Royal Grouch ( played by Oscar.they have a Royal Grouch? LOL- they could probably say he's a royal pain!)
Prince Firstly starts being naughty to get attention, as he's jealous of the attention the baby's getting. He puts a bone on the throne, a wig on a pig (which is reminiscent of the wigged pigs from the "Staying Alive" number on The Muppet Show), and an ape under the king's cape. (ape played by Joey Monkey). (Note how all these things rhyme- I think another subtle lesson they managed to slip in, while focusing on dealing with new babies.) Elmo and lords get upset with Firstly because of his misbehavior, and so he runs away. Everyone looks for Firstly and the Queen finally finds him hiding in a room. She has to explain to him that she loves both her kids equally.

Song- Queen sings about how she loves both kids in different ways. (This song has a kinda haunting melody- kinda reminds me of "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce- I was kinda freaked out by it at first, but after listening to it a few times, realized that it was a very beautiful song.)

Firstly now knows he's loved and goes to see his sister and holds baby and gives her her bottle. Baby wets the prince and Snuffy's family has a good laugh about this. Parents tells Firstly that his sister will always look up to him just like Tony, Tasha and Carla!

Song- I'm The Big One Now (live action kids take care of little baby brothers and sisters)

Elmo announces the Royal Fairy Godmother is visiting and she offers Firstly a wish. He wishes that he and the baby will always be brother and sister and love each other lots (and since Godmother says that's already pretty much a given) she offers him another wish and so he wishes for a pet dragon. (Much like Pete's ;-)) But instead of Elliot, he names it Spot! (Dragon is the same one from Ernie's "Imagine That" song) End of story.

In the cave, since Alice broke Snuffy's toy, she offers him her doll. Snuffy says they can both play with it and he realizes she is pretty cute and learns to get along.

Song- Snuffy, Alice and their mom sing a song about being good big brothers and little sisters. (And they dance, which makes a crashing noise!) (This is the same song as the first one sung, but with different lyrics)

Snuffy and Alice got play and Alice breaks another toy but this time Snuffy readily forgives her, since "these things happen". Credits roll with instrumental version of last song just sung over scenes from video.

Concluding thoughts- This is a great video for its purpose- which is to acclimate kids to having a new baby brother or sister. Perhaps there are other songs that could have been used- might have been nice to see Kermit's "Get Along" song, since that also seemed to be a theme in the video. There's nothing terribly memorable in the way of classic clips, though I do remember the "Katie and Stevie" clip pretty well and the "I'm The Big One Now" song.
There were a few nice original songs though- as I mentioned earlier, I particularly liked the Queen's song to her son.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Start-to-Read this review and then finish!

This is a review of the 1991 Sesame Street 'Start-to-Read' video called
'Don't Cry, Big Bird and Other Stories'. It has a run time of approximately 25 minutes. This is a Random House and Praxis Media production. The title screen says that it features Caroll Spinney as Big Bird. ( And in fact, he does the narration and voices for all characters on the video)
These videos always start with the 'Start-to-Read' theme song sung by Big Bird. (Characters from the end cover of many Sesame Street storybooks of the 1980s appear on the screen throughout song.) Big Bird reads all 3 picture books for us as text appears on screen so viewers can read along- and Big Bird always talks in 1st. person, of course, though I'm pretty sure the books are all written in the 3rd. person.

1st. story- 'Don't Cry, Big Bird' written by Sarah Roberts and pictures by Tom Leigh

Big Bird is in the park with friends complaining that while he likes to play with his friends (Grover, Farley, Cookie Monster, Herry, Prairie Dawn, Betty Lou, Bert and Ernie are all there), sometimes he feels he's too big to play with his friends. Snuffy finds Big Bird crying and tells him not to because he's not too big- the games are too little. But Snuffy can't play right then because he has to take a nap. Big Bird goes to his nest wishing he could be smaller. Bert and Ernie are thinking the same thing out at the park, but realize it's not possible. So they decide to make the games bigger! They send Grover to get Big Bird. Bert and Ernie tie 2 jump ropes together and Big Bird can use it now! Betty Lou drawas a huge hopscotch court for him and Big Bird decides to be 'IT' in Hide and Seek because he's too big to hide. Big Bird gets on one end of the seesaw and all his friends get on the other and they're able to make it work. Then they fly Betty Lou's kite, but it gets stuck in a tree. Betty Lou cries because she can't get to it, but Big Bird can! 'Hurray for Big Bird,' everyone cheers. Then they play Big Bird's favorite game- 'Giant Steps'!

2nd. story- 'Wait for Me!' written by Molly Cross and pictures by Joe Mathieu

Elmo and his friends (Bert, Ernie, Big Bird and Grover) live on Sesame Street. But Elmo is younger and smaller than his friends and can't always keep up with all they're doing. They all go roller skating and see the ice cream man. Elmo can't keep up as they skate over to him and Grover goes back and offers his hand to help him. They fall and Elmo scrapes his knee. They run into Big Bird and Bert and Ernie already eating ice cream as they head towards Grover's house. They invite them to go biking but first Grover has to take Elmo to get cleaned up at his house. Once that's done, Grover says he's going to ride his bike, but tells Elmo he can't come because he's too little. Elmo's sad- but cheers up when Grover's grandpa comes out and offers to take him to the zoo. (He would've taken Grover, but he'd left already) Elmo can easily keep up with Grover's grandpa. On the way, they get ice cream, window shop and listen to a band. They take their time to see all the animals. Elmo wants a piggyback ride home, but Grover's grandpa's too tired. Elmo sits on his lap at home and he reads him 'The Three Bears'. Grover comes home just then and Elmo tells him about going to the zoo. Grover's upset that he missed out and asks his grandpa to 'Next time, please wait for me.'

3rd. story- 'Grover and the New Kid' written by Jennifer Smith and pictures by Tom Cooke

A new kid, Barry, comes to Grover's school. Grover decides to help him and be his friend. Grover shows him around and shares his cookies and toys with him. But Barry won't share his toy car with Grover or be quiet during story time when "Goldilocks" is being read. He doesn't say "Thank you" or "please" and on the playground, he cuts in line and slides down the slide in front of Molly (who looks a lot like Betty Lou!) She's upset at Barry but Grover says he's new and they should give him a break. Then Barry fights with a kid over a puzzle. Grover's the only one who will eat with Barry at lunch, while the other kids talk about him. Then they do paintings- Grover compliments Barry but Barry says that Grover's painting needs a fire truck- and proceeds to add one to the painting without asking Grover. Grover finally has had it and tells Barry he's not nice and goes off by himself. Finally Barry apologizes to Grover and offers to let him play with his toy car. Then everyone cleans up the class and Barry helps everyone. Barry and Grover walk home together and wave goodbye. Barry says he's glad Grover's his friend. (He should be- Grover might be his only one they way he's been acting! )

-End credits roll, starting with a note that says that Big Bird is performed by Caroll Spinney. The background is once again the same storybook endcovers. (where everyone is sitting around the 123 stoop, reading something. On hand are Cookie Monster, Bert, Ernie, Herry, Grover, Sherlock Hemlock, The Count, Betty Lou, Little Bird, Big Bird and Oscar. ) The "Start-to-Read" theme song plays over credits.

Also, a note at the end of the tape reminds you of other "Start-to-Read" titles like- "Ernie's Little Lie and Other Stories", "I Want to Go Home! and Other Stories" and "Ernie's Big Mess and Other Stories" and after this entry, all of which have now been reviewed!

Concluding Thoughts-
I noticed in the storybooks that Herry is still sporting his pink and white striped pants (though I've never seen him with these pants- or any pants that I recall on the Sesame Street show itself.)
Caroll Spinney does an interesting take on the other characters. I think his Herry sounds more like Grover though.
Grover's house looks similar to the 123 stoop apartments.
Very cool thing to note about the "Wait for Me!" book- Caroll Spinney returns to voice Elmo on this video!
(As some may know, he was the original voice for Elmo-back from 1979 or so when he was a background character known as "Baby Monster".)

 

[minor muppetz]

Very cool thing to note about the "Wait for Me!" book- Caroll Spinney returns to voice Elmo on this video!
(As some may know, he was the original voice for Elmo-back from 1979 or so when he was a background character known as "Baby Monster".)

I wonder if he used the same voice that he used for Elmo. But he's probably just impersonating Elmo's current voice. We may never know what Baby Monster sounded like*.

*Here that, Sesame Workshop? Put some Baby Monster sketches on Old School Volume 2! Or make them available in some way that's easy for the fans to access!

 

[GonzoLeaper]

A nice review of the new "Sesame Street: Kids Favorite Country Songs" video has been posted to the Muppet Central site by our own Phillip Chapman so I'm just going to put the link to it here.
http://www.muppetcentral.com/articles/reviews/dvd/country_songs.shtml

Of course, I'd still like to check it out myself at some point too- from the review I saw though, it looks like there's a lot of good classics on it!


I have to agree that I would buy the DVD just for the inclusion of that one great song "There's a Hole in the Bucket"! I loved that one as a kid- I used to be able to sing both Henry and Liza's parts all the way through! Maybe we'll see this one on Old School Volume 2!

 

[GonzoLeaper]

A few comments on "Do the Alphabet"

I just got around to watching the "Do the Alphabet" video the other night. It's been covered on here already, so I won't go into great detail, but I thought I'd comment a bit about it. I appreciated seeing some classic stuff in there- mainly the "J Friends" song and "D (Dee Dee Dee)"- that was great! And Billy Joel singing the alphabet- that was fun! I could also tell that Baby Bear was still at an early stage at this point as well. It was also neat to see a video focus on him, Big Bird and Zoey and I do believe the other main character was good old Betty Lou! Wow- haven't seen her in quite a while. Seems she's shown up in a few videos from the 90s- mainly this one and "Fiesta!" I wonder if Betty Lou made a comeback to the Street at some point in the 90s that I missed? The voice seemed a bit different from earlier versions- but it was cool to see her included again. Betty Lou can usually be counted on to make plenty of appearances in those "Start-to-Read" videos and the storybooks they're based on.
Anyway, I found the "Do the Alphabet" video to be pretty enjoyable- especially the Boogie Pigs Alphabet number. Would have been cool to see either of Kermit's alphabet songs (African Alphabet or Swamp Alphabet or whatever you call that other one.... you know- "and now my alphabet's complete in the swamp")
Oh well- at least I can watch that one on "The Alphabet Game"!

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Just a little bump for this thread so I don't lose it in amongst the others. And by the way, yes- I do have some new reviews coming quite soon. (Probably up by tomorrow evening or so.) And if anyone else wants to participate, feel free to chime in with comments or reviews on videos yet to be covered or whatever anytime.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Stop, drop and roll- and check out this new review!

Well, here's my review of Sesame Street Home Video production-
"Elmo Visits the Firehouse" (a 2002 video with approximately 45 minutes run time)

(Interesting to note, the fire truck Elmo rides in the opening logo- and later on shows up on the "Elmo's World" segment- looks very similar to characters in "Cars".)
Let me also go ahead and point out that this video guest stars the real life New York City Fire Department- Captain Bill Walsh, Firefighter Richard Gleason, Firefighter Susan Blake and Battalion Chief Brian Dixon are all listed in the credits.

Plot- The video starts out with Elmo and Maria at Hooper's Store ordering lunch from Alan. Elmo is taking Maria out to lunch because they're special friends. (I guess Elmo has a generous allowance for a 3 1/2 year old! )
The smoke alarm goes off and Alan takes the fire extinguisher to it and Maria calls the fire department (Elmo is visibly shaken as this is going on. -We also get to hear Maria say her full name again- Maria Rodriguez calling from Sesame Street.) It turns out that it was only a grease fire and only the grease caught fire and it's quickly put out. (And the real New York City Fire Department comes to put the fire out.)
Elmo says he doesn't ever want to go back into Hooper's Store. Firefighter Bill comes to explain to Elmo what his equipment is for. Then he offers to show Maria and Elmo around the firehouse. Once there, Elmo gets to go down the pole and sit in a fire engine. And he gets to try on some equipment- and then he tells Bill that he was scared before, but isn't anymore. Then they go to get some food at the firehouse. And then we see Elmo and Maria back with Alan at Hooper's Store with Elmo feeling better and playing with toy fire trucks.
-Live action kids segment talking about firefighters and what they do
-On the street Elmo and real life firefighter Susan Blake talk about what to do in a fire.
-Cartoon -looks like CGI version of Firefighter wolf singing a song with three pigs about what to do in a fire. (The brick house should be okay, but who really builds houses out of wood and straw anymore? LOL)
-Muppets segment- Ernie is hiding something behind his back (Hint- It's not Big Bird, a banana or a lemon- as we see their pictures flash on the screen) It's Fire Chief Rubber Duckie! He gets his water from the tubby!
-Cartoon- another CGI-type segment with a firefighter being drawn in an outline on sand (looks like new version of the classic 80s sketch of an astronaut being drawn on a computer screen with the adult voice asking questions on how to draw it (and getting it wrong) and the kids yelling out how to correct it.) Hadn't seen this before- cool!
(Dogs chasing fire engine cartoon is used as a bumper between segments)
Live action song- kid sings about his dad who is a fireman during a live action video of the dad and his kid
Elmo's World segment- (Oh boy, here we go! Sorry, but this is the portion of Sesame Street I generally tune out at. Nothing against Elmo, but I just don't care much for the format of this segment. Nonetheless, I have watched my share of Elmo's World segments and for completeness' sake, here's an outline of this one.)
Well, Elmo is thinking about firefighters today (naturally) And as he says this, Muppets firefighters and a fire engine race through his door.
-Live action clips of firefighters and kids.
Dorothy, of course, has been thinking about firefighters too. Dorothy asks what firefighters wear to keep safe. The shade sounds like a fire engine when it goes up as Elmo goes to ask Mr. Noodle. Turns out it's Mr. Noodle's sister- Ms. Noodle! (whoa! A Ms. Noodle? Who's pretty good-looking, I might add- ha! played by Kristin Chenoweth) At first she thinks firefighters wear football uniforms and then tries a suit of armor but finally gets it right. Then kids show Dorothy what firefighters wear. Then Elmo asks a baby (who actually does have a toy helmet and so Elmo tells us that firefighters wear helmets too) Then we get to count 12 firefighters in the fire truck that goes by. The computer (sounding A LOT like Martin Robinson- the voice of Snuffy) says Elmo has email and it's from Oscar who shows Elmo the smoke coming out of his trash can. (He's burning toast) The firefighters come over to put out the fire. Oscar decides he likes the burnt, wet soaked toast but doesn't like that he actually wound up helping Elmo with his topic. Then the drawer opens up to show us stuff that can and can't burn you. (Baby Bear shows up to point out that bowls can't burn you unless there's hot porridge in it. A wolf comes to blow it off, but blows Baby Bear away instead.)
-Live kid Sabrina shows us her family's fire drill and escape plan.
Then Elmo practices how to "get low and go". Elmo then watches the Firefighter Channel to learn more. We see a cartoon about Mike the firefighting dog who puts out a fire on a doghouse. Turns out he was dreaming. (And then the announcer says, "Coming up next- "Flaming of the Shrew" with Carol Burnett". Cute. Nice play on words and cool that Carol Burnett actually has shown up in person on Sesame Street- and The Muppet Show too, for that matter.)
The TV is practicing how to "get low and go" too. And then Firefighter Richard Gleason shows up at the door with the Muppet firefighters and the fire engine to talk about firefighters. Dorothy imagines Elmo as a firefighter and he rescues a kitten from a tree and helps a kid hurt on a skateboard. And then we get to sing the "Firefighters" song (to the tune of "Jingle Bells")
(Not to be confused with the "Balls" song, or the "Dogs" song, or the numerous other songs Elmo's sung on here.)
Then everyone says "Goodbye!" and that's Elmo's World!

Then a screen comes up saying-
"Special Thanks to- The City of New York, New York City Fire Department, Engine Company 58, Ladder Company 26- In Loving Memory of Lt. Robert Nagel"

And you might think the video's over- BUT WAIT!

And now- a BONUS Hero Guy segment! (which sometimes can be kinda cool, but probably really aren't my favorite either- though I like them a lot better than Elmo's World)
Baby Bear starts it out singing the theme song while drawing Hero Guy and a kitten in a tree. Hero Guy flies up to the kitten but can't get her to come down (she's scared of seeing him fly) Hero Guy then turns himself into a trampoline (Just like Plastic Man! Cool! I didn't know he could do that!) Unfortunately, the kitty jumps down and bounces right back into the tree. Hero Guy's about to give up, but Baby Bear convinces him to keep trying. (After all, he IS Hero Guy!) Hero Guy turns into stairs and the cat gets down. Way to go, Hero Guy!
And then the end credits run- with the same Dalmation dogs and fire engines cartoon bumpers from before running by.
(Oh, and an animated Elmo reminds us about SesameStreet.com)

Concluding thoughts-
Well, this video felt almost like an episode of the more current show. In fact, it may very well be the street plot at least of a more recent show. I'm not sure. But I'm not sure I care for the style of putting the street plot all together in one segment instead of breaking it up with "commercials" (which is what the cartoons and Muppet segments were originally supposed to be fashioned as) and spreading it out throughout the show.
But it was nice to have the Ernie sketch included. And a few cartoons, though nothing really classic or anything. But it get the message across pretty well. It's been done before with the 1990 "Sesame Street Home Video Visits the Firehouse" video- which ironically, also starred Elmo, along with Gordon and Big Bird- but this probably went into a bit more depth. Both are pretty good really- and they will help you "be cool about fire safety" as the PSA used to go.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

A Musical Adventure Review!

Okay, here is my review of the Sesame Street Home Video production of-
"Elmo's Musical Adventure- The Story of Peter and the Wolf"
(2001 video- approximately 45 minutes run time)

(This video has special guest stars! - Keith Lockhart (the conductor) and The Boston Pops Orchestra)

(This video is based on the classic "Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev, both the story and music- copyright 1937 and 1940, G. Schirmer, Inc.)

-Starts with the animated Elmo, Zoe, Cookie Monster, Ernie, Snuffy and Big Bird hanging up the "Home Video" under the Sesame Street sign. That's cool, though I always liked Cookie Monster eating the Sesame Street sign on the 80s videos.

---Note- there are a few bonus features on the DVD menu, so I'll address those now.

-Menu has options for "Watch the Movie", "Favorite Parts", "Games and Music" and "Just for Parents". And a man's voice keeps instructing you on what you need to do at each screen (who gets to be kinda annoying)- and classical music plays throughout. And it seems you have to hit every selection twice.
It is nice that they worded the menu choices in language that kids would readily understand.

"Just for Parents" just has options to change the viewing with Englisn and/or Spanish subtitles, as well as previews for other Sesame Street videos.

For the "Games and Music" section, there's 5 choices-
Choose which instrument makes the music, Choose which character goes with the music, Meet the Muppets- learn more about The Two-Headed Monster, Big Bird, Elmo, Baby Bear, Zoe, Oscar, Telly and the Wolf,
See how the characters are represented by different instruments and see how the music tells the story,
and choose a scene and listen to the music that tells that part of the story.

OKAY-
Actual video-

Elmo's voice announces "Sesame Street's Peter and the Wolf" in the title screen. On the street, we briefly see Oscar in his can and an AM sitting around. Elmo is walking down the street with his violin and says he's going to be in a band with his friends. And he demonstrates (pretty talented for a 3 1/2 year old!) Big Bird comes by with his drum that he plays loudly- and he sings a song with Elmo. (Each of the gang sings a verse as they come up) Telly plays the tuba (and true to his nature, he worries at first that they won't be any good, but Big Bird and Elmo reassure him) Then they find Zoe tickling the ivories on the piano in the arbor area. And then Baby Bear comes up and they finish up the song they'd been singing. They didn't play too well together and try to figure out what happened. Baby Bear's dad shows up and comes to take him to see the Boston Pops Orchestra play "Peter and the Wolf". (And the gang commissions Baby Bear to go figure out what they have that their band doesn't)
Baby Bear's dad takes him backstage to meet the orchestra and show him how music can tell a story. Keith Lockhart, the conductor, shows Baby Bear how a violin piece sounds like Peter walking through a village (and as Baby Bear imagines it, we see Elmo as Peter and Ernie and Rosita in the background, as well as The Count and Buster and Cathleen- the black and white cow.) The French horn sounds like the big bad wolf (and we see the wolf coming out) and The Count warns Peter to run home and hide from the wolf. The kettle drums sound like the hunters (portrayed by The Two-Headed Monster, arguing about which way to go) The bassoon sounds like Grandfather (who is played by Big Bird) He takes Peter home- but Peter decides to go hunt the wolf. The flute is played next and Baby Bear tries to guess the animal it represents. And it's a bird, played by Zoe. Then we have the oboe to represent a duck, played by Telly. And then we have the clarinet to represent a cat, portrayed by Oscar. Baby Bear and his Papa return to their seats then, as others sit down.
(I'm not sure who all of them are, but one cool cameo I noticed is Caroll Spinney sitting down two rows behind them! - who of course, is the voice of Big Bird and Oscar -We continue to see him and the rest of the audience throughout the video, shushing Baby Bear on occasion, when he yells out loudly after getting caught up in the story. Caroll particularly seems to get upset at some points.)
Then it gets dark in the audience as the show gets ready to start and Baby Bear yells out to Keith, but gets shushed by a dude in the orchestra and his dad. Baby Bear is told he has to be quiet during the show and he apologizes saying, "I'm sorry. I didn't know the protocol." (LOL- I'm surprised he knew that word!) Now it's time to listen to the orchestra and picture the story in your head. Peter (Elmo) goes out to hunt the wolf and notices the orchestra members playing their instruments as he goes off. (They are right there with him in the village, in Baby Bear's imagination.) A bird (Zoe) shows up and goes with him. Suddenly they hear a loud noise- and Baby Bear (loudly) asks if it's the wolf and gets shushed again. Peter and the bird find out it's a duck (Telly) and then all 3 run into a cat (Oscar) who scares them. Telly says he's always a grouchy, grouchy cat. Grandfather (Big Bird) then catches Peter out there and tells him to get back in. Baby Bear yells out "Grandfather" and gets shushed again. All of a sudden the French horn is played and all the other instrument players run away. The wolf is creeping up on the animals as Peter tries to warn them from behind the gate of his house. (Baby Bear continues to yell out every now and then and gets shushed throughout the video)
At this point, the narrator tells us that the cat and bird got up a tree, safe from the wolf, but the duck was captured and eaten by the wolf. Telly, as the duck, breaks the 4th. wall and starts going off, telling the narrator that no one told him he was going to get eaten, and so he quits, yanking off the bill and stalks off. The wolf tries to climb the tree but can't. Peter climbs the fence and gets into the tree. Peter sends the bird down to the wolf to distract him. Peter makes a lasso with his rope and lowers it down when the wolf's not looking. He snags him by the tail and all 3 of them (Peter, bird and cat) try to haul the wolf up. The wolf tries to grab the branch over the fence and breaks it off- so now Peter is stuck up in the tree with the bird and cat. Then the hunters show up (and Telly has joined the Two-Headed Monster as a hunter now) and they throw their nets on the wolf and tie him up. All the musicians show up again too. And Peter, the bird, cat and hunters realize that they all worked together to catch the wolf. And Peter goes to show Grandfather the tied up wolf. He's upset with him for disobeying him ( and of course the cat (Oscar) is loving this and eggs the grandfather on) but Peter apologizes and Grandfather forgives him. Then they show everyone in the village that Peter caught the wolf. And everyone cheers at the end of the orchestra.
Baby Bear goes back to Elmo and the band on Sesame Street and tells them about the orchestra. And he tells them that they have to work together and listen to each other in order to sound good. Baby Bear offers to be their conductor to help them. And then Baby Bear leads them in playing their song together beautifully! (which, by the way, is called "The Music That We Play")
And the end credits roll over scenes from the ochestra playing as we see Baby Bear and his dad in the audience.
-And at the end of it all, Maria's voice reminds us to visit Sesame Street on the Web at www.sesamestreet.com

Concluding thoughts-
This was a pretty fun video. No real classic clips or anything, but a very classic story and music. I think this is the kind of thing Jim Henson would have been all over, so I think they made a good choice in doing this. Helping kids learn about music and how it can tell a story is definitely a cool theme for this video. And it's also neat that Sesame Street has in fact done a special before with The Boston Pops Ochestra back in the early '70s.
I also thought it was interesting that "Peter and the Wolf" came out around 1937. I wonder if Disney's "Fantasia" got some inspiration from this, which came out in 1940. Anyway, another fun Sesame Street video here with a pretty good mix of characters.

 

[minor muppetz]

Concluding thoughts-
Well, this video felt almost like an episode of the more current show. In fact, it may very well be the street plot at least of a more recent show. I'm not sure. But I'm not sure I care for the style of putting the street plot all together in one segment instead of breaking it up with "commercials" (which is what the cartoons and Muppet segments were originally supposed to be fashioned as) and spreading it out throughout the show.

I am surprised that you didn't know that this is the street story from the season 33 premier (you weren't living in a cave back in 2002, were you? ). It was produced in response to the september 11, 2001 attacks, and I believe that there was a bit of publicity on this episode. I guess the shows producers thought this episode was important/ popular enough to release on DVD. I think that most of the segments on this video were also included in that episode, though I'm not sure about the Fire Chief Rubber Duckie segment. The Elmo's World segment definately premiered in that episode.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Okay, didn't realize this. I kinda gathered that it was in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks- though I thought that the Hurricane episodes were also meant for that. (Which have also been released- in a compacted format- on the "Friends to the Rescue" video- which I have a copy of and do want to review some time.)

It's been a while since I've had time to regularly watch Sesame Street on PBS, but I do catch the ocassional episode on Sprout every now and then.

I'd also still like to track down "Zoe's Dance Moves" to get a review of that. I think that will cover most of the Sesame Street videos released that might have any classic clips from the show.
And of course, I'll have to check out the new "Ready for School" video when that comes out.