FTB and Snuffy

D'Snowth

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By the time I was born in 1989, the whole "Invisible/Imaginary Snuffy" routine had well been played out, and eventually resolved, so as far as I can remember, Snuffy was ALWAYS real, and the grownups ALWAYS knew he existed... even as far as FTB is concerned.

I say that, because FTB had already been on VHS and such when I was a tot, so I watched it all growing up, including the then-current seasons on TV, and various My SST home videos... but, this has got me to wondering... now, often times when TV series like this do a movie based on the series during the run, the movies aren't always completely consistent with the show, and there's a few continuity errors here and there. FTB was released in 1985, the same year Snuffy was finally "revealed" to the grownups... but I can't help but wonder... was Snuffy already revealed in the FTB in-universe, or not?

It's hard to say, because the only character he interacted with in the movie was Big Bird (in person, and through a postcard), and on top of that, when Big Bird released that he still left Snuffy in charge of watching his nest, he simply excuses himself to go check on something, rather than actually say, "Oh, I gotta go, Mr. Snuffleupagus has been watching my nest all this time" and such.

My bet is that FTB had to have been done BEFORE Snuffy was revealed, mainly because of Elmo: that certainly wasn't Kevin doing Elmo for his brief appearance in FTB, but again, because of what I grew up with, it's common acceptance for me that Snuffy was "real" in FTB, irregardless.

How do you guys feel?

"It's Mr. Snuffleupagus! I remember Mr. Snuffleupagus! He's like a big, hairy Dumbo, but with depression! :excited:" ~Nostalgia Critic
 

CensoredAlso

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I never thought about it as a kid, but watching FTB now I do think Snuffy is still supposed to be unknown to the adults. He always appears just after they've gone or hidden somewhere away from them.
 

D'Snowth

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Actually, there's a BIG continuity error with Snuffy in FTB anyway...

On the show, we always knew that Snuffy lived in a cave, but in FTB, he apparently lives in a lush, wooded area.
 

Daffyfan4ever

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I never picked up on that, but it could have been a wooded area near his cave. Just some food for thought.

I believe FTB was in production before Snuffy was revealed but they knew that it was coming so I think they avoided having any imaginary Snuffy references in the film, but they also avoided having Snuffy interact with the adults as well so that people who watched the film when it first came out wouldn't get confused. So it could go either way there. Though if there had been any imaginary Snuffy references, it might have suffered the same fate as 'Don't Eat the Pictures' and not have come out on DVD, so we can all be glad we got that.
 

minor muppetz

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I had noticed this a lot. Big Bird never mentioned Snuffy to the adults, and they never said anything about Snuffy. The only characters Big Bird talked about Snuffy to were the Dodos, who just laughed it off. It's hard to tell if the Dodo's believed Big Bird (and if Snuffy did get to visit the Dodos, I wonder if they'd always just barely miss Snuffy while he was visiting).

I did think it was odd that when Big Bird went to check on Snuffy he didn't ask anybody to come with him. That would have been a good time to reveal Snuffy (and make Big Bird's return home even better). He could have asked Snuffy to come out the doors (the street definately had a big crowd, though I wonder how fast it would have taken for the whole crowd to leave or look the other direction). Or, as Snuffy was sleeping, he could have quickly walked back and asked somebody to come in.

Of course Snuffy did appear in Oscar's car on the poster. But posters shouldn't count as cannon. It probably would have been very difficult to sit in the back of a small car and not be noticed by the driver or passengers (though fans have said that in the last episode of the 15th season Oscar did see Snuffy).
 

GonzoLeaper

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(though fans have said that in the last episode of the 15th season Oscar did see Snuffy).
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Well, my understanding is that it was the humans who never saw Snuffy- not necessarily other Muppet characters. Though that would be an interesting topic of itself- assuming this scene with Oscar is on the level, are there any other Muppet characters on Sesame Street (besides Big Bird obviously:wisdom:) who saw Snuffy before the humans did?
 

D'Snowth

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Though if there had been any imaginary Snuffy references, it might have suffered the same fate as 'Don't Eat the Pictures' and not have come out on DVD, so we can all be glad we got that.
Is THAT why DETP has never been released? I was under the impression because it was either too "dated", or *shocker* NO ELMO... but then again, Big Bird in China is "dated", with no Elmo, and has recently had VHS and DVD releases (even with Marty Robinson dubbing Telly's lines that were previously performed by Brian Meehl).

are there any other Muppet characters on Sesame Street (besides Big Bird obviously:wisdom:) who saw Snuffy before the humans did?
Well, Telly, but like Big Bird, when Telly went to get the adults, Snuffy was gone (playing with Fluffy inside Oscar's can), so they convinced Telly that he too imagined that he saw a Snuffleupagus.
 

CensoredAlso

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but then again, Big Bird in China is "dated", with no Elmo, and has recently had VHS and DVD releases (even with Marty Robinson dubbing Telly's lines that were previously performed by Brian Meehl).
Btw that really annoyed me, heh, it's no better than what Lucas did to Star Wars, lol. Plus them removing the line "Do you speak American?" Why, because it was technically incorrect? It's a joke! Are they so terrified of accidentally corrupting children's minds?

Well I guess it makes sense, I mean, it's not like these kids have PARENTS to explain things to them. Oh wait...:coy:
 

D'Snowth

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Plus them removing the line "Do you speak American?" Why, because it was technically incorrect? It's a joke! Are they so terrified of accidentally corrupting children's minds?
Well, look at Lucy when the Ricardos and the Mertzes were in England...

ETHEL: Excuse me, could you speak a little slower please? See, we're American, we don't understand English.
 

CensoredAlso

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Well, look at Lucy when the Ricardos and the Mertzes were in England...

ETHEL: Excuse me, could you speak a little slower please? See, we're American, we don't understand English.
Oh yeah I remember that, lol.

This kind of spells out to me what's changed about Sesame Street. Even harmless humor is being sacrificed in favor of paranoid political correctness.
 
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