Some observations on Episode 2096

[minor muppetz]

I haven't actually seen the full episode 2096. The full street scene where the adults meet Snuffy is on youtube (featuring more than what the 40th anniversary DVD included), and looked a tthe Muppet Wiki page, and there are a few things I noticed, that sort of struck me odd...

First, in the scene leading up to the adults meeting Snuffy, they initially all refuse to go through Big Bird's doors to see him, even though Big Bird was yelling the secret word, and they supposedly had an agreement on this arrangement. Another thing thats odd about the adults hesitation: Just moments later Gordon points out that he, Linda, and Maria beleived Big Bird, and it's been said that Uncle Wally had always beleived Big Bird, claiming to have met other Snuffleupaguses... So why do these four hesitate to try to see Snuffy at this point? And I do wonder why Gordon didn't mention the fact about Uncle Wally (hmm, maybe he was lying about meeting Snuffleupaguses...).

This seems to be an error, but in the 40th anniversary book, it's said that the adults only saw Snuffy right after accepting Big Bird's word... This is obviously a mistake, considering what I had just said above.

At one point in the 40th anniversary book there is a small section on a film seen in the episode, in which kids form letters of the allphabet, pointing out that the episode was so plot heavy that it didn't have as many inserts, before listing other films and cartoons from the episode. Oddly enough, all of what was mentioned were in the Noggin broadcast, and it seems like Noggin never removed any Muppet inserts from it's broadcast, so I guess Noggin must have cut some of the street scenes (then again, it's possible that researchers looked at the Muppet Wiki page as opposed to screening the episode or looking at show information... I guess that would be easier). I wonder what all could have been cut... I know that Sesame Street Unpaved mentions that the adults suggest that Big Bird get somebody to help make sure that Snuffy doens't get away, while it looks like the episode just shows Big Bird telling Elmo about the plan without the suggestion.

I wonder if Noggin cut a near-miss.. In the youtube clip, it seems like Gordon says "Three strikes and you're out!", implying that they missed Snuffy when Big Bird said his secret word twice, but judging by the Muppet Wiki page it looks like they only miss him once.

Regarding the secret word, I wonder why Big Bird had the adults rush in when the word was said. Shouldn't the secret word have been between Big Bird and Snuffy, maybe with Snuffy being told to come out when Big Bird said the word, so he wouldn't have to suffer the embarrassment of trying to convince the adults to see him only for them to miss him?

Street Gang mentions that by the late-1980s, Northern Calloway had trouble remembering his lines... I wonder if David struggling to finish his "you did, but..." sentence might have been a result of this.

Man, I feel like there was something else I wanted to bring up, but I can't quite remember what it was right now.

 

[minor muppetz]

After watching what was on youtube again, I must say, when Snuffy first meets Elmo, Big Bird doesn't seem to make a big deal out of it. He just sees it as just another thing, unlike a few minutes later when the adults finally see Snuffy. And Elmo doesn't have a shocked look on his face when he first sees Snuffy like the adults do.

Also, the adults all seem to walk in one by one and then have shocked looks on their faces... I wonder what it would have been like if we saw their reactions when they first saw Snuffy (we don't see them seeing Snuffy until Big Bird sees that they all finally saw him). Some of them seemed to be farther than others, and they all seem like they were in a trance. It's a wonder that we didn't hear any of them make shocked reactions towards what they saw.

Big Bird can't decide at first if he should go in and finally see Snuffy and his other friends face-to-face. But what difference would it have made? Even if he didn't go through the doors, the adults would have still seen Snuffy, and they all could have talked to Big Bird about it regardless.

It's interesting how Elmo is able to keep Snuffy there by holding his snuffle. Snuffy is shown lifting Elmo off the ground as Elmo holds on... Snuffy still could have left.

And I wonder if it would have been more appropriate for Herry to have held onto Snuffy's snuffle, since Herry is so strong. Would it have still been as funny? I guess Snuffy might not have been able to lift Herry off the ground (and besides, Herry usually doesn't have legs... And I guess a lighter puppet would have been better for Snuffy to lift). Of course there's always the possibility that Jerry Nelson was busy working on Fraggle Rock when this episode was made.

 

[minor muppetz]

Just thought I'd point out that the street stories have been uploaded at sesamestreet.org - http://www.sesamestreet.org/video_p...a3-4fd9-918e-83a32dac3b5e/snuffy_becomes_real

I've noticed quite a few similarities between Phil Donahue's scene here and his scene in Sesame Street, Special, especially when Maria tells him he doesn't need to use his microphone (which Maria reminds him she said in that later special).

I wonder if all this was in the Noggin broadcast. There are quite a few things not mentioned in the Muppet Wiki page (the clip montage of scenes where the adults mention Snuffy being imaginary, Elmo suddenly appearing and volunteering to help, Big Bird and Elmo practicing with a human child named Zoe... In fact while that part's not mentioned on the Muppet Wiki page I feel like I've read about that detail online before), but that doesn't mean they are cut.

And that ending is interesting... At the end before Phil Donahue meets Snuffy Big Bird says that Snuffy's met all his friends... But everybody who was there when they met him were still there when Big Bird made that remark, with no additional characters seen.

I find it interesting that Olivia was in one of the clips, but not in this episodes story. I almost wish they'd have shown a clip of Mr. Hooper remaking that Snuffy isn't real, though I guess that would have reminded us that he died before the adults met Snuffy. I also almost wish they'd shown a clip from Snuffy's first appearance, though people might have wondered who Matt Robinson's Gordon and Rafael are. Also interesting: One of the clips features Adrianne, who also appears in that clip where Telly sees Snuffy after Snuffy finds Fluffy.

I'd also never thought about "food" being the secret word. Never thought it was strange. I knew (but often forget) that the sketch where Cookie Monster eats that word was in the episode (could THAT have been the main significance of "food" being the secret word?). It's funny how Big Bird says he thought of using "food" as the secret word: "It just came to me while I was eating".

 

[minor muppetz]

Also interesting: One of the clips features Adrianne, who also appears in that clip where Telly sees Snuffy after Snuffy finds Fluffy.

Oops... Watching again, her name was Akeem, not Adrianne. What a stupid mistake on my part.

 

[minor muppetz]

Watching this episode, it seems like Bob doesn't believe in Snuffy more than any of the others who don't believe in him. And there's something about his disbelief here that has a sinister quality to it. Maybe it's just me, but in this episode Bob seems like the kind of person who would find out before the others that Snuffy isn't imaginary and go to great legnths to prevent the others from seeing him. I also noticed that when the adults finally do see Snuffy that Bob has the least-shocked look on his face. Considering all this, perhaps it is best that Bob was the one who told Big Bird that they would start believing anything Big Bir dsays at the end of the episode.

I kind of thought up two alternate scenarios involving the scene where the adults hesitate to go through Big Bird's doors. I'm sure that the ending as broadcast was the best choice, but here's a few alternate things that would have also been interesting:

• The adults say that this is the last time they'll come through Big Bird's door after saying the secret word, they go through, and Snuffy has managed to leave. Big Bird s devistated. But then when they are on the street they just happen to see Snuffy walking around the street.
• Big Bird keeps shouting "FOOD" and the adults all reconsider the plan and decide not to come through the doors, but then Snuffy walks out Big Bird's frotn doors, and the adults finally meet him.

It's also interesting how the only characters who consider "food" to be a silly secret word are those who by that point had not believed Big Bird. Also interestign how they tell Donahue about the secret word but never really say what the secret word is for.

 

[StreetScenes]

Watching this episode, it seems like Bob doesn't believe in Snuffy more than any of the others who don't believe in him.

yeah, i don't think that episode was written very well. it's probably hard because all the grownups are so nice that they often have to write some of them out of character when there's a conflict. but bob does the least believable stubborn/dismissive of all the grownups. he's just too understanding and go-with-the-flow normally not to believe big bird. judging from their characters on regular episodes, maria would be much more likely to roll her eyes and be sarcastic at big bird.

what seems to be lacking is any grownup who thinks it's a harmless game and doesn't mind playing along, but big bird knows they don't really believe it. that seems a more likely scenario for a nice grownup's reaction, & they could leave the mean disbelief to oscar. anybody know anything of the preceding episodes--how did half the cast start believing him in the first place?

 

[minor muppetz]

anybody know anything of the preceding episodes--how did half the cast start believing him in the first place?

I have read that Uncle Wally (who was introduced one year previously) had always believed in Mr. Snuffleupagus, as he made the claim that he had met Snuffleupaguses in the past. Of course given the fact that he hesitated to go through the doors that last time along with the others plus his shocked facial expression upon seeing Snuffy, I wonder if his claims weren't really true.

And somebody once mentioned seeing an episode where Big Bird got really upset over the fact that the others don't believe him that Maria decided to believe Big Bird. I don't know if Gordon or Linda made the same decision in that scene or not.

A number of fans have mentioned that they saw an episode before this one in which Oscar saw Mr. Snuffleupagus. I'd like to see that one.

Two weeks ago when sesamestreet.org added "Goodbye, Mr. Hooper" they also added other Mr. Hooper clips. When this was added I was hoping they'd add a few more "snuffy is imaginary" clips. They didn't, but what I really hoped would have been added were the clips I'd just mentioned, and maybe also a clip I once read about where Ernie saw Mr. Snuffleupagus but Bert convinced Ernie that he was imagining it. Maybe someday they'll be added....

Of course I've also thought it would be neat if Sesame Workshop put out a DVD compiling Snuffy's "imaginary" years, from his first appearance to the street scenes of episode 2096.