Old School DVD set ideas

[ISNorden]

I don't remember there being a Bellhop 'toon for # 6, though I did have a dream that there was in which the bellhop had to deliver 6 presents to a little girl having a party for her 6th birthday. You also left out # 14, which is a real one in the series, where the bellhop has to carry some heavy weights to a man in Room # 14, but it turns out the man in Room # 14 could've carried the weights there himself.

BTW, you wouldn't happen to have "40 Dots", would you? I'd really like to see it again to see how freaky it was 'cuz I love SS skits like that (coincidentally, #'s 2 and 8 in the Bellhop series were freaky to me when I was a kid).

Oooops, pardon me for remembering a couple of numbers wrong... *blush* I don't have the "40 Dots" clip in my collection, although I know the one you mean. (That hyperventilating and screaming "Thirty-nine...thirty-niiiiine...thirty-NIIIIINE..." as all the dots shook, I swear it scares the heck out of me still!)

To get back to the thread topic, though--if the Old School DVDs had used my approach, a disc for "20 and Beyond!" in the numbers set would include that "40 Dots" for sure!

 

[ISNorden]

If there was an "Old School" sub brand, it could include books. Rereleases of several early 1970s books, and maybe new books done in the style of old books, with illustrations like the retro artwork done for season 35 anniversary products. Maybe there could be books similar to the Sesame Street Library books.

It'd be cool having a version of the Sesame Street Dictionary redone under that sub-brand. I imagine illustrations for the two definitions of "mouse": one with the town and country mice from the old Muppet retelling, and one with Telly Monster at the computer, the way he was in Episode 1933.

 

[PinballStewie]

Oooops, pardon me for remembering a couple of numbers wrong... *blush* I don't have the "40 Dots" clip in my collection, although I know the one you mean. (That hyperventilating and screaming "Thirty-nine...thirty-niiiiine...thirty-NIIIIINE..." as all the dots shook, I swear it scares the heck out of me still!)

To get back to the thread topic, though--if the Old School DVDs had used my approach, a disc for "20 and Beyond!" in the numbers set would include that "40 Dots" for sure!

Yeah I've heard "40 Dots" is one of the "scariest" SS clips ever made. How does it compare to classic "freak-out" skits like "Red-Hot I" and "Count to Ten With Nobody"? (both of which I now like by the way ) Surprisingly, the latter skit (about counting to 10) never scared me 'cuz I loved the font of the numbers.

 

[ISNorden]

The "I-beam" and "Nobody" sketches were creepy by accident; CTW probably didn't intend for those to scare kids. But "40 Dots" was creepy on purpose...so in a way, I'd say it ranks higher on the scariness scale.

 

[ISNorden]

Letter and number box sets would be good. Maybe each disc could have one complete episode that focuses on the alphabet or counting, or individual letters or numbers (though in the years before the format change, I would imagine it being hard to focus on the whole alphabet and select one or two letters to be the sponsors).

Good ideas; I could easily see Big Bird's "Number 4 Show" on the disk that covered #2-4, or the "B-Word Treasure Hunt" episode on the disk for A-D. As for old-school episodes that had a plot based on the whole alphabet...you'd have to go with some of the late 80s/early 90s material to do that (which would be the tail end of "old school" in my opinion).

There could also be a boxed set on learning concepts (disc 1 could be about shapes, disc 2 can focus on colors, disc 3 can revolve around opposites, and so on). A box set about daily activites would also be good, including a disc on meal time, school, sleeping, and bath time. And a set on the body would be great. Disc one could include parts of the arm, disc two can be parts of the leg, disc three could be parts of the head, and disc four can be miscellaneous body parts.

Some body parts have no skit to match (or at best, only one...like Kermit's song about loving his elbows). But a set on health and the body (with one disk focused on body parts in general, one on specific body care, one on overall health needs) wouldn't be half bad as a learning-concept package.

 

[minor muppetz]

Some body parts have no skit to match (or at best, only one...like Kermit's song about loving his elbows). But a set on health and the body (with one disk focused on body parts in general, one on specific body care, one on overall health needs) wouldn't be half bad as a learning-concept package.

Actually, there are other elbows sketches, like the Jasper and Julius skit where Julius thinks he has lost his elbows, and the song Elbows and Knees (though elbows share the song with knees).

 

[minor muppetz]

I made a similar post in the thread about Kosch Records getting the rights to release Sesame Street albums, but it would be great if there was a four-disc colection of Sesame Street songs from each decade, with no linking footage.

Here is an ideal listing of contents (a little bit simialr to my album idea, and a little bit not):

Disc 1: 1969-1979

• Rubber Duckie (the true original version)
• Chickety Chick
• Feeling Groovy
• If I Knew You Were Comming, I'd've Baked a Cake
• Mahna Mahna
• Everyone Likes Ice Cream
• Windy
• Nine Song (Song of Nine)
• The Peopel in Your Neighborhod (original version)
• Roosevelt Franklin's Days of the Week
• Octopuses Garden
• Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
• Jazz #6
• Lulu's Back in Town
• Somebody Come and Play
• Everyone Makes Mistakes
• I'm Pretty
• Mad
• What Do I Do When I'm Alone?
• Up and Down
• I Love Trash
• I'm an Aardvark
• Sing
• X Marks the Spot
• Funny Farm
• C is for Cookie
• ABC-DEF-GHI
• Candy Man
• Everybody Eats
• Doin' the Pigeon
• The Ballad of Casye McPhee
• Proud of Me
• I Wish It Would Rain
• Bein' Green (with Lena Horne)
• I Can't Help It
• What's the Name of That Song?
• I'm Square
• I Want a Monster to be my Friend
• Nobody
• One and One Make Two
• Count it Higher
• This Frog
• Count Up to Nine
• Admiral Bird
• Breakfast Time

Disc 2: 1979-1989

• I Like to Sing
• Born to Add
• Believe in Yourself
• My Pollywog Ways
• Wheels on my Feet
• My Furry Little Shadow
• Cocanut Counting Man
• Do You Like Me?
• Fuzzy and Blue (and Orange)
• Hola
• U Really Got a Hold on Me
• That Grouchy Face
• I Can Do It By Myself
• The Frogs in the Glen
• D-U-C-K-I-E
• Dance Myself to Sleep
• The Batty Bat
• Proud to be a Cow
• One Fine Face
• A New Way to Walk
• Best Friends Blues
• Uno, Dos, Tres
• Excersize
• You're Alive
• It's Alive
• Splish Splash
• Up and Down Opera
• Monsterpeice Theater: Guys and Dolls
• I Wish I Had a Friend to Play with Me
• Danger's No Stranger
• Just the Way You Are

Disc 3: 1989-1999

• I Love My Elbows
• One Small Voice
• Monster in the Mirror
• Sesame Street News: They Live in Different Places, But They Both Love Me
• Elmo's Song
• Air
• Down Below the Street
• Adventure
• Just Throw it My Way
• I've Gotta Be Clean
• Counting Vacation
• This Song is For the Birds
• Elbows and Knees
• The Island of Emotion
• What is Friend?
• Two Princes
• Big Bird's Song
• Dancing Shoes
• Fiesta
• Things That I Remember
• Imagination
• Furry Happy Monsters
• You Tickle Me

Disc 4: 1999-2007

• Sing (with the Dixie Chicks)
• Ev'rybody Be Yo'Self
• A Cookie is a Sometimes Food
• Opposites
• Monkey's Under My Bed
• Every Kitty Sleeps
• Don't Know Y
• Together We'll Make Music
• Sleep!
• Because We're Friends
• My Triangle
• Bein' Green (with Oscar)
• Pride
• In My Animal Book
• The First Time Me Eat Cookie

 

[minor muppetz]

Here is an idea for the numbers box set: Disc 1 could be titled "from 1 to 5 (plus 0)", disc 2 could be "from 6 to 10", disc 3 could be "The Teen Numbers (along with 11 and 12)", and disc 4 could be "20 and higher".

Or, if it's a three-disc set, disc 1 could have the numbers that go up to 10, disc 2 could be numbers that go up to 20, and disc 3 could be numbers higher than 20.

Or if it's a two-disc set, then disc 1 could be numbers 0-10, and disc 2 could be numbers 11-20, with no higher numbers.

For volumes/ discs involving letters, there could be bonus sketches involving the entire alphabet.

 

[ISNorden]

Here is an idea for the numbers box set: Disc 1 could be titled "from 1 to 5 (plus 0)", disc 2 could be "from 6 to 10", disc 3 could be "The Teen Numbers (along with 11 and 12)", and disc 4 could be "20 and higher".

Or, if it's a three-disc set, disc 1 could have the numbers that go up to 10, disc 2 could be numbers that go up to 20, and disc 3 could be numbers higher than 20.

Or if it's a two-disc set, then disc 1 could be numbers 0-10, and disc 2 could be numbers 11-20, with no higher numbers.

For volumes/ discs involving letters, there could be bonus sketches involving the entire alphabet.

I see the letter/number disk sets as four-disk packages, organized similarly to your three-disk ones plus another with a full episode that fits the theme. For Letters, the organization might look like this--

• Disk 1: An hour of A-H sketches, plus 20 minutes of whole-alphabet bonus tracks up to Season 5
• Disk 2: An hour of I-P sketches, plus 20 minutes of whole-alphabet bonus tracks up to Season 10
• Disk 3: An hour of Q-Z sketches, plus 20 minutes of whole-alphabet bonus tracks up to Season 15
• Disk 4: "Alphabet Scavenger Hunt" episode from the 1990s, plus 20 minutes of whole-alphabet bonus tracks from Season 16 and later

For Numbers, it might look like this--

• Disk 1: An hour of 0-10 sketches, plus 20 minutes of general math/counting bonus tracks up to Season 5
• Disk 2: An hour of 11-19 sketches, 20 minutes of general math/counting bonus tracks up to Season 10
• Disk 3: An hour of "20 and beyond" sketches (I'd include anything that taught the concept "numbers go on forever" here!), plus 20 minutes of general math/counting bonus tracks up to Season 15
• Disk 4: "The Count gets The Counting Flu" episode (I forget when it aired, but it seems appropriate), plus 20 minutes of general math/counting bonus tracks from Season 16 and later

With that kind of layout, all the letters and numbers which got their own sketches on Sesame Street would get covered; there'd also be a broad range of material, and evidence that letter/number episodes existed as part of the normal programming.

 

[Drtooth]

I must admit one thing. Having all the variations on a theme segments like Pinball Number Count and Jazzy Spies is a double edged sword. One way, you have only one- three of each, and they're incomplete, or we have them all, and it gets repetitive seeing them all at once. I would vote, clearly for the latter... but when you have almost 40 years worth of original footage to choose from, I'd love to see a lot more variety.

A numbers set is a great idea. So isn't a letters set. But then the numbers would have a lot of similar segments as such. I think with the 1980's/90's counting to 20 segments (the ones that featured the african masks or the Animals shaped like numbers) should just have the 20 segment on them.

A letters set would be pretty cool too. We'd really see a lot of variety with that one.