did these Monsterpeice Theater openings have alternate intros?

[minor muppetz]

At one point, the intros and outros of the Monsterpiece Theater segments were replaced so that Alistar Cookie no longer had a pipe. I don't know exactly when this happened, but I think it would have been when the opening was remade. I think Alistar Cookie stopped using a pipe for a few years before these sequencews were reshot. I think The Tamming of the Shoe, The King and I, and Guys and Dolls, made from the late 1980s (though I think Guys and Dols might be from 1990) all originally did not have on-screen pipes. It seems like the reshot intros and later intros used different lighting in Alistar's room, and a different colored chair, which helps show when a particular sketch might have originally been made. The 1988 special "Sesame Street, Special" featured the original intros and outros for The 39 Stairs, and Alistar Cookie was scene with a pipe there (though he didn't eat it), so the pipe must have at least been shown as late as 1988 (even if not in new sketches). I think Upstairs, Downstairs was in an epsidoe from the 1988-1989 season.

However, I have been wondering if Me, Claudias, Upstairs, Downstairs, and Chariots of Fur ever had reshot intros and outros. The last two mentioend can be found on the web video player, and I think those are the only ones found there that have the pipe. Other 1980s sketches available use the remade scenes. I remember feeling like it was a treat whenever Chariots of Fur was shown, and I don't ever remember seeing Upstairs, Downstairs or Me, Claudias on the show, and I've seen pages at Mupet Wiki for episodes made after I was born that feature those segments. And I don't think Mupet wiki has any post-1980s episode pages that mention those segments being included.

Although Me, Claudias was shown in an episode form the 1987-1988 season, I have a feeling that that sketch was dropped before the pipe scenes were reshot. Either that, or Kevin Clash redubbed Elmo's dialogue in that sketch.

 

[minor muppetz]

I just saw Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, and now I wonder if that whole sequence was remade. The whole segment takes place in Alistar's living room, and the cast appears in an on-screen circle. Maybe footage of those "circles" were reused while the rest was reshot, or maybe it was completely remade if shown again. It would have been hard to edit, since it's all in one take and the pipe appears in the segment.