Original TMS Zoot Ending Found on YouTube!

[Whatnot1988]

I do apologize if this is old news to anyone, but we should consider ourselves fortunate that someone on YouTube uploaded the closing credits to the Cleo Laine episode with the original Zoot ending intact ! Click here and fast-forward to 0:51:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LradMwhpGlw

On a side note, this reveals that the British versions of the episodes, which featured the left-alligned credits, had the ATV logo in place of the ITC logo. (Compare this video with the still found on the TMS season 1 review).

 

[beakerboy12]

Cool entry. The credits and Zoot ending was awesome. Thanks!

 

[Whatnot1988]

Cool entry. The credits and Zoot ending was awesome. Thanks!

Thanks. I think everyone will agree with me that seeing the original Zoot endings caught on tape is a rare treat--though VCR's did indeed exist in the late 70's, very few people had them (they were EXPENSIVE). I hope that one day the Zoot endings from the other seasons will turn up on YouTube as well.

 

[terrimonster]

Thanks. I think everyone will agree with me that seeing the original Zoot endings caught on tape is a rare treat--though VCR's did indeed exist in the late 70's, very few people had them (they were EXPENSIVE). I hope that one day the Zoot endings from the other seasons will turn up on YouTube as well.

One of these days I'm going to check through my old VHS tapes and find some ITC endings (and beginnings, with the space diamonds that got me so excited as a kid). I recorded TMS every Saturday morning at 6am on a local station in the mid-80s, and they ran with the ITC Zoot ending. I'm sure I taped over most of them, but I'm also fairly sure some survived.

 

[Eaglekiller]

Nice find. I was always bothered by the Zoot at the end that looked nothing like him!

 

[David French]

I do apologize if this is old news to anyone, but we should consider ourselves fortunate that someone on YouTube uploaded the closing credits to the Cleo Laine episode with the original Zoot ending intact ! Click here and fast-forward to 0:51:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LradMwhpGlw

Very good find. Interesting to note that Louise Gold is credited as a performer which seems to confirm the theory that she *was* credited on the Season Two episodes she worked, albeit only on the left-hand credits.

 

[SeanC]

It's strange that a mere logo could do this... but seeing that just gave me a serious nostalgia buzz. Just for an instant I was 5 years old again

 

[Whatnot1988]

Since I was technically too late to see the original endings before they were replaced, I was so anxious to see them. But there's one more essential question I need answered.

Were these changes to the Zoot endings made over the years made into the original production masters? In other words, were the old ITC/ATV Zoot endings (metaphorically) snipped off the old masters and thrown away, not thinking there would be some frustration among TMS fandom?

Also, terrimonster, someone uploaded the original ITC opening ident on YouTube. Was this what yoy were talking about?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5ep_6Iw1Z8

 

[terrimonster]

Also, terrimonster, someone uploaded the original ITC opening ident on YouTube. Was this what yoy were talking about?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5ep_6Iw1Z8

Yes, that's it. It still gives me chills of excitement. When I was a kid, that was the unmistakable indication that The Muppet Show was about to start*. I'd like to upload (or see uploaded) some TMS openings with the ident followed by the cold open.


*Once or twice I saw it before something else produced by ITC, and it really confused me.

 

[David French]

Were these changes to the Zoot endings made over the years made into the original production masters? In other words, were the old ITC/ATV Zoot endings (metaphorically) snipped off the old masters and thrown away, not thinking there would be some frustration among TMS fandom?

Good question; I once emailed Granada International (the current owners of the old ITV archive) and queried whether they still owned the masters. The response was "We don't own the rights to that show anymore." However, I strongly suspect that the masters *do* still exist at Granada International; the episodes that have been commercially released don't have the original commercial bumpers and if they were the masters then they should still have them intact.