Little things we've noticed

[D'Snowth]

I can't quite figure out if the green Reader of the Open Range is supposed to be male or female . . . appearance-wise, it looks like a female, and has a really high-pitched voice, but not only was it performed by a male performer (Kevin), but Vern (the leader) refers to both of his fellow Readers as "boys."

 

[LittleJerry92]

Vern probably is just doing it as a gender neutral term. I call alot of my female friends "dude."

 

[D'Snowth]

I suppose "dudette" does sound a little too Michelangelo.

 

[LittleJerry92]

On that subject though:

I've honestly wondered about the blue drummer in "Movin' On." It looks female, but the voice is a very gruff voice from Marty Robinson. Maybe it's a trans character?

 

[D'Snowth]

It's like I said earlier, even the Monotones seemed to be gender-ambiguous before their personalities were solidified, because there's been occasions where some of them, particularly Chrissy, may have been female. But even Little Jerry was performed by Fran on one occasion, but it's really ambiguous, because it was just one line, "Big deal," said in a really deadpan and flat voice, so it's really hard to discern.

 

[LittleJerry92]

Speaking of the Monotones....

Anybody noticed how Big Jeffy is the only member that doesn't wear a scarf when they all got their primary hippie garb by the song "Sad"?

Little Jerry wears an orange scarf, Chrissy wears a pink one, and Rockin' Richard has a golden patterned one. Then again, Jeffy has a boned necklace.

 

[OscarandTelly]

I've noticed that many SS characters have rarely mentioned other characters with whom they share a performer. It's obvious that these characters don't share scenes together very often, but still...back in the day, it was rare to see pairings like Big Bird/Oscar or Biff/Herry Monster in the same scene with dialogue, but it was just as rare for one to even reference the other. Even into the 2000s, Elmo rarely talked about Natasha or Wolfgang the Seal (all three were performed by Kevin Clash), and Cookie Monster rarely talked about Baby Bear (both being performed by David Rudman).

That's true that it didn't happen too often but it happens in episode 3256 Elmo mentions preposterous, another Kevin Clash character. https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=272s&v=-z-iYY61YLU

 

[cjd874]

Speaking of the Monotones....

Anybody noticed how Big Jeffy is the only member that doesn't wear a scarf when they all got their primary hippie garb by the song "Sad"?

Little Jerry wears an orange scarf, Chrissy wears a pink one, and Rockin' Richard has a golden patterned one. Then again, Jeffy has a boned necklace.

Honestly, I still am confused about which Muppet is Chrissy and which one is Richard. I have always thought that Rockin' Richard is the Lavender Muppet, and Chrissy is the Pumpkin Muppet. In "Telephone Rock," it sounds like Richard Hunt is performing the Lavender Muppet, and Chris Cerf voices the Pumpkin Muppet, which supports my thoughts.

But things got confusing when I watched the video for "Proud." Chris Cerf voiced the Lavender Muppet who I thought was Rockin' Richard. Then...guess who! Jerry Nelson voices Chrissy, who I thought was the Pumpkin Muppet. Just to be sure: is Chrissy definitely the Lavender Muppet, and is Richard the Pumpkin one? Or has it always been ambiguous over the years?

 

[LittleJerry92]

Honestly, I still am confused about which Muppet is Chrissy and which one is Richard. I have always thought that Rockin' Richard is the Lavender Muppet, and Chrissy is the Pumpkin Muppet. In "Telephone Rock," it sounds like Richard Hunt is performing the Lavender Muppet, and Chris Cerf voices the Pumpkin Muppet, which supports my thoughts.

But things got confusing when I watched the video for "Proud." Chris Cerf voiced the Lavender Muppet who I thought was Rockin' Richard. Then...guess who! Jerry Nelson voices Chrissy, who I thought was the Pumpkin Muppet. Just to be sure: is Chrissy definitely the Lavender Muppet, and is Richard the Pumpkin one? Or has it always been ambiguous over the years?

That used to bother me, but now I just try not to think about it.

Personally, for me, the fact that the lavender puppet was referred to as Chrissy, ignoring the fact that the Pumpkin puppet had Big Jeffy's voice (pre-recorded music, and this seemed to be roughly around the time the actual Big Jeffy puppet was being used for Little Chrissy, which, as a result, the pumpkin puppet was just used as a filler character) is good enough for me. But at the end of the day, I think the best thing to do is just believe who you think is who so you don't give yourself a headache over it.

 

[Froggy Fool]

Don't know if anyone else noticed this, but I've noticed that Jerry Nelson had a very distinguishable style of puppeteering, specifically in Gobo and Robin the Frog, but also in the Count and Herry Monster.

I don't really know how to describe it except it seems like he is moving the mouth less than other puppeteers; he fits many more syllables in each mouth movement.

For example, when Robin says "Gee, Uncle Kermit", instead of saying in 5 syllables, he might only say it in 3. I know Muppeteers aren't supposed to puppeteer to every syllable, but in Jerry Nelson's performances, it seems more noticeable.