Oh... Steve, where to begin? This was probably one of my fave episodes, sending Season 2 of the MuppetCast off to a roaring start.
Thoughts...
1 As far as SST releases go, I'm waiting for Abby in Wonderland myself.
2 Huh... FR Season 4 released on Halloween week? Guess that means most of us will probably kill two birds with one John Stone and get FR and SST Old School Vol. 3, should it be announced this year.
3 Did you know... *Cue up either the ESPN "Did You Know" musical sting, or the one from Disney's Mousercise (yes, that's probably dating my television-viewing knowledge). John Stone made a cameo of sorts in the Muppet Show world. In a Muppets book titled The Phantom of the Muppet Show (not refering to Uncle Deadly this time) found on Muppet Wiki, it turnsout that the Muppet Theater was built in 1802 by a John Stone whose ghost now lingers and watches over the current cast of performers, helping them when in trouble from time to time.
4 That version of ABCDEFGHI was from the Alphabet Album, wasn't it? It lacked the intro and outro with Susan heard on the version here on MCR.
5 That tribute to Jim was wonderful and funny and all sorts of great.
6 Kermit on the Daily Show... Ah yes, I remember that well. That took place on a Monday, the same Monday after Jon was one of the ten contestants on Celebrity Millionaire 2, where Kermit also made a guest appearance helping answer some of the lower-level questions.
7 Fran's interview... Aargh! That was for the MuppetCast? Didn't know... Missed out on another opportunity. But you said she'd answer remaining questions via email, so does that mean we can submit some questions for her too?
If so, here's the main one I have for her. She said the reason Zoe was named "Zoe" is because she didn't want to have a Muppet character named after herself, Fran. So the little orange monster's name came from a poem by J.D. Sallinger. And yet, there now exists a Muppet character named after her, from Season 37, Fran who works as David Letterguy's stage manager/assistant. How did that decision/accord come about? Was she no longer hesitant to have a Muppet namesake?
8 The goth Muppet she mentioned from The Jim Henson Hour was named Zondra, from the Gorilla TV segments. Ask KermiClown for Episodes 05: The Ratings Game and 12: Food to get those bits.
9 According to the Wiki, Fran did indeed perform the Solid Foam's Female Drummer. Perhaps you should get both the audio and video of the song "The Music Keeps Rolling Along" from Episode 08: Musicians, along with the image on the Wiki to Fran, admissible as an exception to the rules against hearsay as it would be used to refresh her memory.
Follow That Bird.
Oh, so many happy memories...
10 Though Oscar is the first Muppet we see, Big Bird is part of the opening too... At least, an animated version of Big Bird who presents the sponsors in typical SST style, the number 1 as this was the first SST movie and the letters W and B which float upwards forming the iconic Warner Bros. shield logo.
11 Listening to the intro with the Board of Birds I realize Minor Muppets was right... Kevin's voice is heard coming from the parrot, preceeding the Hoots puppet who says Big Bird looked happy to him instead.
12 Something that marks my particular current condition... If I were to watch this movie now, when María reads the postcard from Big Dodo, Big Bird, I'd be concentrating on her reading exclusively. I say this because having seen the movie when I had better sight, if I were to watch it now, I'd miss out on Ernie's face lighting up upon hearing of the riding lawnmower the Dodos own.
13 Something only us long-time fans would sort of remember... Big Bird is painted blue, becoming the Bluebird of Happiness. Parts of that puppet were used when BB's superhero alter-ego appeared on a couple of sketches on Sesame. That hero identity? Blue Bird. His armor suit was the blue Big Bird puppet, though he retained the traditional yellow-feathered head and beak and hands.
14 Thought we wouldn't catch that mention of An American Tale during Big Bird's stay with the Dodos huh? Sneaky...
15 Another interesting factoid. In this movie, Gordon's VW beetle was yellow and Big Bird was painted blue. Later episodes after the movie then showed BB back in his normal yellow and the car painted a sort of similar powder blue. Interesting little yuxtapositioning role-reversal there.
16 That M*A*S*H star you're thinking of was Loretta Swit, from Episode 502 of the Muppet Show. That's Season 5 for you to look up later.
17 Love the sweeping circular panorama motion when they're enforcing the family circle around Big Bird at the end.
18 You mentioned the street looked more real than on the show. Yeah, that's something I kinda know of. Some TV shows air their first episodes in what looks like a more real or open-air setting when compared against later season episodes, it feels like a layer of plasticity covers the atmosphere of the world from that point onwards. Compare Season 1 episodes of The Legendary Journeys of Hercules and Xena Warrior Princess against Season 4 episodes and you'll see what I mean by this.
19 Not sure how much I would like to go into this for fear of the conversation spilling into negative territory, but if you look at the movie's underlying storyline, one could make an argument that there exists a degree of disassociation or division between the bird family—Big Bird's ideals—, and the family he shares at Sesame Street.
20 But wait, no! Don't leave yet! You'll miss the best part of the movie! We'll let you off with a warning this time since you did have a Prairie/Count sketch as part of the true montage immediately following the bird... And if you're in the mood for something exotic for lunch, might I recommend the clam chowder with marashino cherries? No? Then perhaps a simple toss salad.
*Fires salad at Steve from behind the kitchen counter.
Great job, hope the next one's as good as this.
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