Your Thoughts: A Special Sesame Street Christmas DVD and CD

[SuperGzilla12]

I finally recieved my copy of A Special Sesame Street Christmas. As I said when I recieved the broken copy (that this free one replaced), I unknowngly ordered the two-disc set that also includes the soundtrack album CD.

The packaging is horrible - Not only does the cover art look awful, and not only does it smell like home printer ink, but the case isn't very good either. It's very hard to remove the discs properly. Thankfully, I have a few spare two-disc DVD cases (And not those thin ones - Normal DVD cases), so I swapped the artwork and discs into there, and threw this one into the recycling bin.

The menus plesently surprised me. They're in widescreen (Unlike the actual program and special features, which are full screen), and feature actual animation of snowflakes in the background, alongside some nice instrumental Christmas music.

The show itself looks pretty good, though a little faded. Sound is pretty good, too, with a few minor flaws. I should also note that the same music that plays on the menus also replaces the end credit's music, which was originally an instrumental Christmas rendition of the Sesame Street theme song.

All of the "bonus tracks" that are on the album are on the DVD as well. Over the Merry Mistletoes songs, the same snowflake animation from the menus is used over a blue background. The picture they use for the Michael Jackson remix... well... you've all seen it.

Has anybody before me mentioned that the cut-outs of Oscar and MJ wiggle around on the screen?

As for the soundtrack album - Yes, it is just the audio ripped right from the special. There's really no reason to want it. Another thing to note - iTunes has NO information on the CD at all, so you'd have to fill it all in yourself.

Just watch: the copy you get comes damaged AGAIN. Or when you try to rip it to your computer, the audio is out-of-sync just to spite you...

Neither thing happened, John!

SuperGodzilla12 is not only the most amazing YouTuber in history, he is also the angel of God who brought Jim Henson to heaven. He is also very attractive and I would gladly give him my first born child if he wanted it. I love him more than anything else on this world... except for waffles.

That's better. You may kiss my hand.

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

That's better. You may kiss my hand.

SG, are we really going to bring this little "war" we have on YouTube here? And besides, you of all people know there's someone I love more than you and waffles but we're not talking about her in this thread.

Speaking of which, I'll tell you guys right now: SG and I have a bet going right now that involves someone I know personally (and unfortunately) who I worked with over the summer. If he ends up coming back to work at the same spot again this coming summer, I'm buying this DVD. I'm trying to be optimistic I don't have to buy a DVD that smells like printer BO and encourages me to go firing my ima-gin-a-tion.

 

[SuperGzilla12]

SG, are we really going to bring this little "war" we have on YouTube here? .

No we are not. But I had to do something! After all... it's CHRISTMAS!

And besides, you of all people know there's someone I love more than you and waffles but we're not talking about her in this thread.

Oh, come on now! I'm sure the good people would LOVE to hear about your mother!

Speaking of which, I'll tell you guys right now: SG and I have a bet going right now that involves someone I know personally (and unfortunately) who I worked with over the summer. If he ends up coming back to work at the same spot again this coming summer, I'm buying this DVD. I'm trying to be optimistic I don't have to buy a DVD that smells like printer BO and encourages me to go firing my ima-gin-a-tion.

Also keep this in mind, buddy:

If you do have to buy the thing, no matter how much you spend on it, you'll have spent more than I did to own this classic!

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

Also keep this in mind, buddy:

If you do have to buy the thing, no matter how much you spend on it, you'll have spent more than I did to own this classic!

And because everyone knows this DVD is going to be in the deep discount bin come May.

 

[SuperGzilla12]

And because everyone knows this DVD is going to be in the deep discount bin come May.

If they don't suddenly burst into flames before then...

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

If they don't suddenly burst into flames before then...

Buy me a flamethrower and they'll burst into flames earlier.

 

[SuperGzilla12]

Buy me a flamethrower and they'll burst into flames earlier.

Deal!

 

[minor muppetz]

I found a copy at Wal-Mart today, so I'm watching this for the first time. It's decent so far, though obviously not the greatest.

I didn't notice a bad smell at first, but as I walked around Wal-Mart carrying it, I kept smelling a number of strong smells. Not sure if it was certain sections of the stores (I noticed an extemely strong car place-like smell when at the Christmas supplies section) or the DVD, though I'm sure smells can't just keep getting more and less noticable on their own (and I didn't smell it in the car). I did notice a car-like smell on the disc, though. I wonder if maybe sniffing/inhailing the disc/packaging while watching the special makes it more enjoyable (no, I don't suggest doing this).

It's probably a coincidence that this was released on the same day as Old School Volume 3 (though maybe Sesame Workshop rushed to get it out on that day as competition, which might explain the lack of theme song). But considering this DVD has bonus features, I think next year Warner Home Video should release a special edition of Christmas Eve on Sesame Street with bonus features (it's ony fair). I'm sure the cast would be willing to do interviews or provide commentary for that special (and as a bonus it could have both of the newsflash segments involving Santa Claus).

It's interesting that all of the music rights (except for the Sesame Street theme, which was mentioned in a previous post but not in any of the reviews I've seen) were cleared for this.

 

[minor muppetz]

Well, I just finished watching the special, and I didn't think it was too bad. Of course I knew what to expect (and I was online while watching as well).

I found it funny when Ethel Merman enters greeting people with Merry Christmas and the others don't respond. Almost as if they have the same opinions of her as most forum members seem to have (at least regarding her in this special).

At times I thought the singing and acting was a bit bad. I can't believe the times when the cast was laughing at things that shouldn't be laughed at (like Oscar's comment about never missing Leslie Uggams' specials or Leslie and Maria coming up with the same name for the cat). I usually find it annoying when works of fiction depict characters laughing at funny things that are said (though I like it when characters laugh obnoxiously at embarrassing/unfortunate things that happen to other characters). I know that in the 1970s they tried to save tape by having each street scene done in one take and as a result characters would react to their own mistakes on-camera, but I wonder if they also tapped every scene from this special in one take. After all, this was a one-shot special produced for commercial television by a company that wasn't Sesame Workshop (in other words, a company that wasn't non-profit), so there should have been a budget for more takes (maybe they did it all in one take to save money after paying for all those celebrities and music rights). I would have thought that the cast would have put in as much effort as they normally do on the show and specials.

Somebody had mentioned that the packaging doesn't acknowledge Sesame Workshop as the copyright/trademark holder for Sesame Street, but I was surprised that the special itself didn't acknowledge that elements of the show were owned by the Children's Television Workshop (or even put in a credit saying that the Muppets were trademarks of Muppets, Inc. or Henson Associates).

And I was surprised to see three chapter menus. That's a lot of chapters for this special. I have not yet watched any of the bonus features. I'll do that later.

 

[Drtooth]

And because everyone knows this DVD is going to be in the deep discount bin come May.

...except I've never actually seen Holiday related DVD's sold in the off season unless you go to very specific stores or look online.

I think we can all agree on this... the real travesty is that, as far as Muppet Specials owned by Third parties that center on celebrity appearances go, THIS got released instead of The Great Santa Claus Switch. We're chomping at the bit to see GSCS. We'd sell our collective kidneys to see GSCS. How come we never get GSCS?