Aristotle finally in action at sesamestreet.org!

[minor muppetz]

Today sesamestreet.org has FINALLY added some clips with Aristotle. We can all finally hear his voice and get to know his personality.

http://www.sesamestreet.org/video_p...-49b8-9871-b3968fa7dcc1/aristotle_makes_lunch

http://www.sesamestreet.org/video_p...f-2fec-412d-84e9-e593c07e47b4/reading_lessons

 

[CensoredAlso]

Yay finally! Thanks for letting us know, I've always wanted to see these.

"Hero sandwich," very New York/New Jersey, lol.

Ari's pretty amazing; it looked like he was reading the same line at the bottom of the page over and over again, yet somehow coming up with different lines every time, hehe.

 

[zns]

Richard Hunt is one of the best Muppeteers. His performance of Aristotle is pure gold.

 

[Dearth]

Okay, I have to admit... I had no idea who Aristotle was when I opened this thread and followed the link to the sandwich video.

And up until now, nothing that I saw in this thread or in that particular page mentioned what was unique about the character.

But within the first TEN seconds of the video, I could already tell by Richard's performance.

If I'd clicked on the other link first (which only shows "...eading lesson" on my screen), the full description at the Sesame site would have spoiled the magic of discovering for myself what Richard was able to do so subtly.

I generally think of Richard more as the brash, over-the-top characters. It's nice to be reminded his range included a lot of gentle nuance as well.

Alex

 

[minor muppetz]

Okay, I have to admit... I had no idea who Aristotle was when I opened this thread and followed the link to the sandwich video.

And up until now, nothing that I saw in this thread or in that particular page mentioned what was unique about the character.

Well, Aristotle is one of those characters who until yesterday was so rare that none of us had any video footage of the character. Though I suspect he might have been a major character during his time, it seems nobody recorded any episodes with him, none of his appearances aired on Noggin, and as far as I can tell none of his segments have surfaced anytime recently on the international Sesame Street shows (which often show rare clips, albeit dubbed).

It's interesting how many recurring characters aren't listed under the "featuring" part of the video pages (though the videos do show up in searches for the characters), yet Aristotle is listed under "featuring" (Gladys the Cow isn't even listed under featuring on the pages for her videos). Aristotle has been listed in the "More Characters" box on the "by characters" page ever since the site's relaunch four years ago, so it's great that he's finally on the site.

EDIT: I was surprised when I finally heard his name pronounced. I was expecting it to be pronounced "Aris-total".

 

[Drtooth]

I generally think of Richard more as the brash, over-the-top characters. It's nice to be reminded his range included a lot of gentle nuance as well.

Somehow the performance seems a bit like Scooter, only less nerdy.

I've noticed some subtlety as well... when he looks at a character talking, there's something to the tilt of the head that suggests his eyes aren't focusing on them, really giving the illusion that he's facing them based on the sound of their voices.

 

[mr3urious]

Since they've had a deaf character on the show, it would make just as much sense to include a blind one, too. And, of course, if it weren't for Richard Hunt's performance (seems like there's a lot of ad-libbing, too), he would just be another bland, one-dimensional handicapped character.

Also, in the second vid, when Big Bird says "bump bump bump..." when feeling the Braille, he predicted the Family Guy cutaway gag where Peter speaks Braille to a blind man in a similar way.

 

[Drtooth]

Since they've had a deaf character on the show, it would make just as much sense to include a blind one, too. And, of course, if it weren't for Richard Hunt's performance (seems like there's a lot of ad-libbing, too), he would just be another bland, one-dimensional handicapped character.

I really think adding one-dimensional characters who are all about the handicap is more offensive than ignoring them outright.

A character all about a handicap does not do service to people with actual handicaps. Everyone I've ever met has a PERSONALITY! I blame the writers, living in constant fear that if they add any personality traits or character flaws or anything that makes great character would lead to a letter writing and finger pointing campaign.

 

[minor muppetz]

A character all about a handicap does not do service to people with actual handicaps. Everyone I've ever met has a PERSONALITY! I blame the writers, living in constant fear that if they add any personality traits or character flaws or anything that makes great character would lead to a letter writing and finger pointing campaign.

In the clip where Aristotle helps make lunch, he mentioned having a food collection, before deciding to start a baloney sandwich collection. I wonder if having weird collections was a regular thing for the character (I wonder what he'd think of Bert's paperclip and bottlecap collections).

I wonder if they ever had any encounters between Aristotle and Snuffy. After all, Aristotle wouldn't be able to see Snuffy (would he believe in Snuffy if he felt Snuffy?).

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

That is something to think about since I know other Muppets have interacted with Snuffy before. (Ex: Dr. Nobel Price discovering Snuffy's cousin, Oscar and Telly seeing Snuffy before he was revealed) I wonder about Barkley as well. He couldn't talk so even if he did believe Big Bird, he wouldn't have been able to tell anyone. Just a thought that's been running through my head.

Anyway, back to the Aristotle thing. That was very good. It was interesting those days that not only did they have a deaf character (Linda), but a blind character as well. Plus, I liked his voice, very Scooter-like. It would be nice to see him make a comeback some day. Of course he'd have to have a new puppateer, but still it would be neat to see that.