Your Thoughts: The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss

beakerboy12

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2010
Messages
1,049
Reaction score
160
In honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday today, I thought we should relive that wacky Henson production The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss. Now I've seen about 5 episodes of the show but I believe that it was a really fun show and captured the whimsical-ness of Dr. Seuss, as well as the mayhem of the Muppets. The puppets are very well done too and their respective performers make sure they are in character. What were and/or are your opinions of this show?
 

Hubert

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2012
Messages
5,791
Reaction score
2,216
Yeah, I'll basically say the exact same thing. I haven't seen that many episodes (though I have a bunch on DVD I have to watch), and I agree, it did a great job of representing Dr. Seuss and the Muppets. I really enjoyed the episodes I've seen.
 

Oscarfan

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 2, 2008
Messages
7,528
Reaction score
3,961
I've been watching some of the episodes on Netflix and I have issues with both seasons. I wish there was some sort of happy medium between the two, with one long story, but more involvement from the Cats. Most of the time, the Cat in the Hat only appears the beginning and after the break and that's it. I do prefer his characterization in the first season; he was witty, clever, mischievous and unpredictable, like in the book. In season 2, he's relegated to a Bear-like host with no personality. Not dissing Marty's performance though, but the Ernie and Bert (uptight and easy-going) thing they tried with Terrence and the Cat isn't very interesting. I can tell they were trying for something like him and the fish in his debut book, but it doesn't work the same way. I also wish there was some more speaking in rhyme, as per the books, but I understand that would be very hard to tell the kind of stories they want to tell like that.

The puppets are gorgeous though and very Seuss-like. I still wonder why it took them 'til season 2 to put Sam-I-Am in the show.
 

Drtooth

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2002
Messages
31,717
Reaction score
6,707
I've ONLY seen clips. That's it. From what I've seen, it's much more Seussian than the current PBS Cat in the Hat show. But then again, it is kind of a strange concept to have a series center around learning about real life animals and their habitats from the world of someone who created Barbaloots, Wockets, and Foo Foo the Snoo.

I'd love to actually see one of these someday. Seuss is one of my favorite kid's book authors.
 

Hubert

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2012
Messages
5,791
Reaction score
2,216
I've ONLY seen clips. That's it. From what I've seen, it's much more Seussian than the current PBS Cat in the Hat show. But then again, it is kind of a strange concept to have a series center around learning about real life animals and their habitats from the world of someone who created Barbaloots, Wockets, and Foo Foo the Snoo.

I'd love to actually see one of these someday. Seuss is one of my favorite kid's book authors.
Surprisingly, Wubbulous World DVDs seem to be pretty easy to find in stores, yet at the same time, hard. If I'm looking for them at regular stores that sell DVDs, I never find them, yet they show up at stores you'd never expect.
 

a_Mickey_Muppet

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2004
Messages
2,151
Reaction score
118
i remember seeing a few eps. when it was on Nick Jr., I own a vhs and a dvd (one I found this past halloween cause its a halloween themed disc) like someone else said Marty is a GREAT muppeteer and the puppets are cool to but after watching ONLY half of em I kinda remember why i never really cared for the show (got too pre-schooly for me!!)
 

Oscarfan

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 2, 2008
Messages
7,528
Reaction score
3,961
I've ONLY seen clips. That's it. From what I've seen, it's much more Seussian than the current PBS Cat in the Hat show. But then again, it is kind of a strange concept to have a series center around learning about real life animals and their habitats from the world of someone who created Barbaloots, Wockets, and Foo Foo the Snoo.

I'd love to actually see one of these someday. Seuss is one of my favorite kid's book authors.
This is the only free full ep. I could find online for ya':

http://www.veoh.com/watch/v18586432CJM7sh6a
 

Drtooth

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2002
Messages
31,717
Reaction score
6,707
This is the only free full ep. I could find online for ya':

http://www.veoh.com/watch/v18586432CJM7sh6a
Thanks for searching for that one.

That is a very solid kid's show. Pretty much one of the best things Nick Jr. had as far as original programming went, from the looks of things. Those are some of the most amazingly fanciful puppets Henson ever produced. It wall to wall looks like a Seussian show that holds the integrity of his kid's books. Liked the snide dig at record companies in that one.

Much more entertaining than, like I said, the current PBS series. Seems like they were trying primitive CGI backdrops, not quite Big Big World, but considering this was the late 90's. Yertle kinda sounds like Crocker for some reason. Morton and Horton were very endearing. But I LOVED the look of that light purple camel/dog faced phoney friend of Morton's. That's a very manic puppet design.

Surprisingly, Wubbulous World DVDs seem to be pretty easy to find in stores, yet at the same time, hard. If I'm looking for them at regular stores that sell DVDs, I never find them, yet they show up at stores you'd never expect.
They kept popping up in Marshalls and places like that, then they just stopped popping up altogether. Looks like Lionsgate was going to release some more of them, and then they stopped altogether either. Too bad they just didn't keep making more DVD releases.
 

basicallygood

Active Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2012
Messages
34
Reaction score
34
I remember getting a few episodes on DVD for my birthday a long time ago and I'd watch it practically every day, but I only found out that the Jim Henson company was behind everything around a year ago when I found the Henson website. I loved the show so much, and it made me even happier to know it was made possible by my favorite puppeteers. :smile:
 

animalrescuer

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2008
Messages
1,162
Reaction score
658
I liked the show when I was a kid. Personally, I liked Marty Robinson's performance of the Cat in the Hat better than Bruce Lanoil's, but both are excellent performers. I found the Cat's interactions with Terrence funny most of the time. But for some reason, my favorite characters of the show were Fox in Socks and Mr. Knox, I'm not sure why though. I think they should've used some of the characters from the first season for the second season as well. The other characters from the other locations could have used more screen time for the second season just like they had in the first season. Overall, I thought it was a pretty good show for the Henson Company.
 
Top