"Follow That Bird"

[erniefan1]

Follow that Bird is a Great Movie. Does anyone know if during the Upside Down World song does Big Bird think that Ernie and Bert are Miss Finch and that's why he runs when they stear the plane towards him? Also does anyone know if there were any deleted scenes from the film or plans for Ernie and Bert to tell Big Bird if they were the ones in the plane?

 

[muppetmonster]

I like the entire film, but my favorite moments are:

Anytime with Miss Finch
Cookie Monster eating the car
Grover doing his superhero routine
Kermit the Frog interviewing the dodos
When we first meet the dodos; any scene with Big Bird and dodos
Seeing the living room of the Count
The Grouch restaurant
Chevy Chase news-casting
Ernie and Bert traveling by airplane

I think there are more moments, but these particularly are my favorite scenes.

- Muppetmonster

 

[SSLFan]

I know I posted in this thread already, but to elaborate some more, here are my favorite scenes:

• "Easy Goin' Day" song. To me it really defines the childlike wonder of Big Bird.
• "Upside Down World" - I crack up everytime I see this scene, since Bert's reaction to when Ernie turns the plane upside down is priceless!
• The opening scenes showing SS in action. LOVE the realistic feel. And Barkley, lol.
• As I mentioned in my earlier post, any scene involving the Dodo's, espicially Donny. The side comments he make (which are almost split-second and you have to REALLY be into it) are priceless.
• The Grouch Diner. I just loved the whole night-setting.
• Cookie Monster eating the car, LOL.
• "One Little Star". It's really a sweet song & you can tell how homesick Big Bird is & also how is friends are willing to get him back home.
• The big rescue, when Big Bird leaps from the truck. LOVE how Gordon handles the whole thing.

Basically, the whole movie was great.

 

[minor muppetz]

I recall reading an interview with Ken Kwapis last year when the movie was rereleased on DVD, and that didn't provide very much behind-the-scenes information (I recall him saying there was some debate between himself and I think WB on whether a crane shot would have been used when the Sleaze Bros. drove Big Bird into their tent). Considering that and the fact that Caroll Spinney didn't talk much about the movie during his interview on the DVD, I wonder if there might not have been very many interesting behind-the-scenes stories regarding the movie. Thankfully the 40th anniversary book acknowledges the film, even if it doesn't provide any behind-the-scenes info.

I recently noticed (actually it was last year I noticed but haven't brought it up until now) that one of the people listed under "stunts" was "Lex Byrd". I wonder if he was Big Bird's stunt double...

 

[minor muppetz]

At one point in the movie when Big Bird is out in a field, before imagining that Snuffy is there, Big Bird says "Still no sign of Sesame Street. I think I'm lost." But he had been on his way home for only two days so far. Did he forget that it would more likely take him three weeks instead of three hours to get back?

Also, it seems Big Bird leaves the Dodos at night, and when it's reported on the news, it's night at Sesame Street (maybe even darker), but it's clearly daytime when it's reported on the news, and presumably it's live (otherwise they would have cut Kermit's joke he makes before realising he's on camera... Uh, right?) and at the end we see Big Bird watching it on TV, and it's also nighttime at the location Big Bird watches it on. I would assume that the report was made shortly after Big Bird ran away (maybe within an hour), and as Big Bird leaves he is just barely missed by Miss Finch, who had just taken off from the Dodo's (so either Big Bird wasn't too far away from the dodos, or it was pre-recorded... and it must have been a fast news day). And then the next day he finds out that it'll take more than three hours to get back to Sesame Street. Could it be that Big Bird can't tell time very well?

 

[ConsummateVs]

Bumping this thread up because why not.

I absolutely loved Follow That Bird when I was younger, and I still do to this day. I've probably watched it about a hundred times (it got to the point that I would even have dreams about it sometimes!).

It's just such a wonderful movie that has this old-school charm to it. I love that it's a deeper and more profound SS production, yet it still keeps the same overall lighthearted and childlike feel of the TV series.

My favorite parts would have to be...

• Oscar's line "What is the capital of South Dakota?"
• The news reporter mispronouncing Sesame Street as "Se-same Street"
• The Dodos running away from the lawnmower
• The "Upside Down World" song and Bert losing his bottlecap collection
• "Easy Goin' Day"
• The "Don't Drop Inn" scene with Maria and Oscar getting salad catapulted at them
• Cookie Monster eating Gordon and Susan's car
• Oscar taking Maria to a junkyard, aka "Grouch Paradise"
• "One Little Star"
• "I'm So Blue"
• Umm... basically all the songs. They're all so good/catchy.
• Grover struggling to pull the cage bars open
• The Sleaze Bros. getting arrested ("Be a man." "*sniff* I don't wanna be a man!" "SHUT UP, SID!")
• The Count counting the credits.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Huh, I didn't know there was a thread for this, but since I talk about this movie, pretty much on a daily basis...

Can I just say that this is one of my favorite movies ever??
I first found out about it when I was five, when the DVD caught my eye at a library. I didn't realize it was a feature length movie, I just saw that Big Bird was on the cover, so I checked it out. And so, me, being the Big Bird obsessed freak I was (and still am) flipped the **** out when I brought it home and my mom told me it was an actual movie and not just some straight to video thirty minute special. Watching it, I was immediately hooked and it was the only thing I would talk about for weeks!

Anyway" this movie has everything you could possibly ask for in a SST movie. All the major characters got their chances to shine, the songs were amazing (seriously, I get Easy Going stuck in my head almost every day), and it has action. Nowadays, if the characters get into any kind of danger, parents would have a coniption, but the scene with Big Bird jumping out of a cage on a moving truck is still thrilling. Best of all, the scene doesn't feel out of place, but totally in character for Big Bird. And the scene before it, when Maria is trying different keys to open up BB's cage without waking up the Huxley brothers is still soooo freaking tense! I love it! The overall 80s aesthetic of the whole film, and especially the more realistic SST set make this movie feel classic, yet timeless at the same time. The directing is good, the cinematography is beautiful, the guest cameos are enjoyable. It's just such an exciting ride, and probably the reason I love road trip movies.