Warner Home Video now distributing Sesame Workshop DVDs

[minor muppetz]

I wonder if maybe this release will include some Twiddlebug sketches (besides their cameo in "Elmo's World: Bugs"). I figure the CGI sketches have a better chance than the classic Muppet ones. I am less excited about this than other upcoming releases (which I am debating over whether to buy). Aside from the Twiddlebug segments I can't think of many other classic segments that would qualify (there ar ethe first season "F-fly" and "f-fly and frog" segments).

Well, The Muppet Newsflash has some more info, and it's confirmed that it will indeed have one Twiddlebugs sketch, the one where the Twiddlebugs find a catepillar.

You know, ever since the first Sesame Street DVD to have bonus segments, I've been hoping for the bonus clips to become a trend, and they haven't, but there have been times when I thought they would become more common, only to not. When Kids' Favorite Country Songs was released with 8 bonus skits I was really confident that all future DVDs would contain bonus skits. After Elmo's Springtime Stories came with one bonus clip I was once again hoping for a new trend of new DVDs containing classic bonus skits (but more than one). Though I am surprised that the 40th anniversary DVD actually had bonus skits (they very well could have been part of the main program, and I guess you could say that about the DVDs that heavily feature street stories, since there's no longer any corresponding VHS release).

And having said that, it would have been cool if this one had some bonus classic Twiddlebug sketches (I'll just randomly say five). Of course I'm not too big of a Twiddlebug fan, so my interest in this DVD is the same either way (though I would probably buy it if it had "Sherlock Hemlock's Twiddlebug Mystery" or "Kermit Counts Twiddlebugs").

But it would be cool if the newer ones would have bonus clips focusing on Old School characters (especially ones left out of the 40th anniversary DVD... and unless you count the sesamestreet.org promo the Twiddlebugs are among those). Heck, just the other night I was thinking of how cool it'd be if there was a DVD about magic, pairing Mumford with Abby, and featuring five bonus classic Mumford clips.

 

[minor muppetz]

I saw a copy of The Best of Elmo 2, but didn't buy it (I think I'll wait and save some money). But looking at the box, the run time listed is 49 minutes. Looks like it has Elmo's tricycle song, and something called "Elmo's Ducks" (not sure if that's an insert or part of the linking material). Didn't see any signs of it including any pre-2000 segments, though.

 

[Oscarfan]

"Elmo's Ducks" is a season 39 insert where Elmo sings about subtraction.

 

[minor muppetz]

Muppet Wiki now has a full listing of segments in The Best of Elmo 2, including celebrities who weren't mentioned previously (such as Ray Charles and Jack Black). Only a few non-celebrity clips are included, most of which sound disapointing.

I wonder what the next-to-be-announced release will be, after Firefly Fun and Buggy Buddies.

 

[Drtooth]

Well, the program is at least over 45 minutes this time. If it was exactly what they originally planned (just under a half hour) it would have been a total waste.

But I see we're back all the way to Sony Wonder's NO Special Features days again. Not that I was dying to buy a "Best of Elmo" DVD anyway. but I still gotta get that Ernie and Bert one.

 

[minor muppetz]

But I see we're back all the way to Sony Wonder's NO Special Features days again.

Sony Wonder did include special features on a number of DVDs, though most of them were either "kiddie fluff" or bonus sketches (I don't object to bonus clips from the show... the more inserts released commercially the better!). From the Sony Wonder days there were quite a few features on the Do the Alphabet, Peter and the Wolf (I think), Happy Healthy Mnonsters, and What's the Name of That Song? DVDs (should I count Old School: Voluem 1 in this grouping?). All-Star Alphabet also had a few features, and A Celebration of me, Grover had a Grover matching game (it should have had bonus Grover segments).

I think Genius also had quite a few releases without bonus features. I'm not as knowledgeable on what Genius releases had bonus features as I am Sony, but I think Genius did have more releases with bonus clips, though most weren't "classic clips". The 40th anniversary release probably had the most appealing features to adult fans.

But you do have a bit of a point with Warner Bros. Out of the four releases (not counting last year's "Follow That Bird" release), only one of them has had bonus features. I hope that Warner decides to release something for the fans soon (considering their comment in the online chat about classic Sesame Street being available in the Old School releases, I'd be pleaseantly surprised if we were to get anything big this year).

Maybe someday there'll be a "Best of Elmo 3", and maybe that time they'll ge *** right ("Third time's the charm!"), though the first "Best of Elmo" didn't have anything wrong with it (besides not having any of Elmo's team-ups with Kermit).

 

[Drtooth]

Sony Wonder did include special features on a number of DVDs, though most of them were either "kiddie fluff" or bonus sketches (I don't object to bonus clips from the show... the more inserts released commercially the better!). From the Sony Wonder days there were quite a few features on the Do the Alphabet, Peter and the Wolf (I think), Happy Healthy Mnonsters, and What's the Name of That Song? DVDs (should I count Old School: Voluem 1 in this grouping?). All-Star Alphabet also had a few features, and A Celebration of me, Grover had a Grover matching game (it should have had bonus Grover segments).

I think Genius also had quite a few releases without bonus features. I'm not as knowledgeable on what Genius releases had bonus features as I am Sony, but I think Genius did have more releases with bonus clips, though most weren't "classic clips". The 40th anniversary release probably had the most appealing features to adult fans.

I don't see why extra clips will break the bank. Really. At this stage in the game, if you can't put bonus features on a DVD that exist (understandably, there are times when older footage is long gone) you just don't care, or you're cheap.

Like about 3 extra older Elmo skits without celebrities that they'd have to pay.

I mean, NO ONE wants to pay 10+ bucks on something that scrawny nowadays.

Plus, I wish they kept what Genius was doing, combining 30 minute VHS tapes into a full hour DVD for the same price. I never bought any SS DVD's because I didn't feel like spending the same amount for 30 minutes of footage that i can for a whole movie or 3 hours of a cartoon series.

 

[minor muppetz]

Well, it's been announced that a new video, Preschool is Cool: ABCs with Elmo, will be coming out on july 6. It appears to be part of a new series of Sesame Street videos.

It was announced that African Alphabet will be included as a bonus feature. That's not much of an incentive (it's been released on video twice... Give us bonus Typewriter/Harvey Kneeslapper segments!). Since it was just released on the 40th anniversary DVD I think "ABCs of the Swamp" would have been preferred instead (and man, why do they have to rerelease so many things form the 40th anniversary DVD so soon after it's release?). I hope that some classic sketches appear in the main feature, but have a feeling they won't (All-Star Alphabet didn't have any classic alphabet segments outside of the bonus clips). If there are no other classic clips included then I hope it at least has the "Super K Cereal" commercial.

I'm also hoping it has Monsterpiece Theater: The Old Man and the C, or Monsterpiece Theater: ABCD Blue. There aren't enough Monsterpiece Theater sketches on DVD.

More info: http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Preschool_is_Cool:_ABCs_with_Elmo

 

[minor muppetz]

It was announced that African Alphabet will be included as a bonus feature. That's not much of an incentive (it's been released on video twice... Give us bonus Typewriter/Harvey Kneeslapper segments!). Since it was just released on the 40th anniversary DVD I think "ABCs of the Swamp" would have been preferred instead (and man, why do they have to rerelease so many things form the 40th anniversary DVD so soon after it's release?).

Now that I think about it, the "African Alphabet" clip could be the version performed by Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, though that's shorter (it's pretty much just them reciting the alphabet and I think LBM singing the same closing line). But I guess if it was the announcement would have mentioned them.

After reading the Muppet Wiki article and the Muppet Newsflash article it looks like the plot will pretty much be similar to Learnign About Letters. Too bad a run time hasn't been announced yet (though past press releases have given wrong information). That would clue us in as to whether there'll be segments for every letter (like the last two alphabet releases) or just select letters (like the first three alphabet releases).

And you know, considering Lena Horne's recent death, I feel it should include her recitation of The Alphabet Song as a tribute. I don't know how much of the program has been completed or if there's time to add it to the program, but I have a feeling it'd be too late to include it unless it's a bonus clip.

Also, assuming I'm correct that it's the "African Alphabet" with Kermit, I guess this will be the first Sesame Street DVD since Warner Home Video got the license that includes Kermit (not counting reissues of past releases). And it's also the first to include a bonus Kermit clip (not counting the Old School releases). I wonder, if Kermit is only in the bonus clip (and we currently don't know whether he'll be in the main program as well), I wonder if the character trademark credit will appear after the bonus clip (like what was done in the Batman and Superman clips in Old School: Volume 1) or if they'll just put that credit in the actual credits. It would look weird to me, but then again, it's not like there's going to be a corresponding VHS release without the bonus clip, the Kermit trademark credit appeared in all episodes on the Old School releases (even episodes that don't feature Kermit), and all of the Play with me Sesame DVDs had trademark credits for Kermit (and only one of the five released in North America included Kermit).

 

[minor muppetz]

Recently I went to the official Warner Home Video site to ask if there's plans for any nostalgic Sesame Street releases (and to possibly influence Warner if there's no current plans). The response I got back was a standard "we can't comment..."-type reply which doesn't acknowledge what I asked about. Oddly enough, when sending the question I had to click on a topic, and I picked "other", yet the response acted like I asked about Warner Archives (I don't like the "burn-on-demand" idea and don't support it).

Just thought I'd mention this in case anybody else wanted to contact Warner about it (then again, maybe if enough of us asked Warner would see demand for new nostalgia sets).

I have noticed that we seem to be getting one new release per month, and the announcements tend to get made one month before release. It would be cool if we got an official announcement for a collectors set one month or two before release, because there'd be less time to be excited and speculate about contents.

I also noticed that most of the releases from Warner have been different from each other. Here's what we've gotten (or wil be getting) so far:
Februrary 2010: Elmo's World - Can't remember the title, but it was a release of three Elmo's World episodes.
March 2010: Elmo's Rainbow - Three street stories, plus inserts.
April 2010: Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures - a release of 13 Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures episodes.
May 2010: The Best of Elmo 2 - Warner Home Video's first SST release of a DVD with original linking material.
June 2010: Firefly Fun and Buggy Buddies - Similar to the "Elmo's Rainbow" release, only with two street stories and an Elmo's World (and additional inserts).
July 2010: Preschool is Cool!: ABCs with Elmo - The first in a new series of Sesame Street DVDs, with at least new footage (I assume it will have inserts as well, besides the bonus "African Alphabet" skit).

I guess it's exciting to think that the release schedule is rather unpredictable. I hope we can get a new Play with me Sesame release, and maybe we'll get a rare Sesame Street special (20 and Still Counting doesn't count, since it'll be released by Lionsgate).