Sesame Street Episode 847 with Margaret Hamilton

[gravy]

notice that her old lady disguise was also the costume she had when playing Ms Eldels in Sigmund and the Sea Monsters

Interesting... and that was 3 years prior!

 

[LittleJerry92]

Yo guys, this is freaking creepy

Dear god..... looks like one bad acid trip.

I didn't think we'd ever get anything more from this episode, especially after the aftermath of the MOMI screening. However, reading through that review of the episode in its entirety, I think now even more people will be desperate to see the episode (somehow).

Oh, they certainly will. They’ll look for an excuse to become a member at the workshop to get into the vaults.

 

[LittleJerry92]

Okay, so……. In spite of the fact that I’m not happy with the fact that this episode was leaked on the internet all for the sake of chasing clout, especially knowing very well where it came from….. I did give the episode a fair watch because I have been very curious to see it.

Honestly, as a big lover of the Wizard of Oz since childhood, I was actually pretty impressed with it. Seeing Margaret Hamilton reprise her role for this episode was an absolute treat, and just how much of a butt monkey David was throughout the episode was pretty funny. The ending was honestly very humorous, and I was pretty impressed with the effects for its time.

That being said, I do think the parents overreacted and I also think this episode is way too overhyped in the fan base. But again, it was nice to see after 40+ years of being shelved away.

That also being said, if the episode gets taken down rightfully so, I’m all supportive of it. My only worry is if it ends up being removed off the AAPB library for on-location viewing knowing the fact that the Workshop very well knows how this episode lives completely rent-free in the fanbase.

 

[wiley207]

Yep, I too watched it as well. While the Wicked Witch does seem more comical compared to her truly frightening portrayal in the 1939 movie, I can see why this scared little kids; stuff like that would fit fine in a Sid and Marty Krofft Saturday morning TV show, but not a PBS preschool show like "Sesame Street!" A lot of it also still reminded me of "The Paul Lynde Halloween Special", of course, especially the magic "poof" effects, a bit of the background music (even the heavy metal guitar when the Wicked Witch enters the scene at first), and the Wicked Witch masquerading as a sweet old lady represented by Margaret Hamilton appearing as herself. Also, I found those "zapping" effects when the Witch tries grabbing the broom as one of the good guys holds it to look like something out of an 80s pop music video, or from late 90s-early 2000s digital video editing software. (I remember the pre-Pro version of Adobe Premiere having such an effect.)

 

[minor muppetz]

I must have overlooked it in the guides, but I had not realized that David was only refusing to give the broom back until she gave him some respect. All this time, I thought he was just afraid of what she would do with the broom (and he does seem that way when she finally gets it back), I thought him making her, in her old lady form, say "please" was more to see if that was actually her (thinking she would not say the word).

I also thought that the characters recognized her from the movie, but there's no such fourth wall breaking there.

In the last few days I had been thinking about how back then, The Wizard of Oz was not available on home video (which was not much of a thing back then) and only broadcast once a year. Maybe there was some Super-8 releases, but really, now the film is a lot more easily accessible to the public than it was in 1975, so maybe back then kids were a lot less used to the witch (though it was prominent enough to be the focus on an episode of Mister Rogers Neighborhood to show how it was done).

Kind of weird at the end, the broom falls back on Sesame Street, and David is crying because he knows he'll have to go through it all again, even though he did get her to say "please" and saw that if he had just given her the broom she would have left. I mean, when she comes back, just give her the broom immediately! Kind of hilarious (or harsher) in hindsight when the witch says she'll never come back to Sesame Street, considering they chose not to rerun it and it's only now available for fans to watch.

 

[YellowYahooey]

I can see a likely reason why parents overreacted about the episode. Their children were so scared of certain scenes because of the Scanimate outline effects. The same kind of effects were also used on a Pigs in Space sketch on the Alice Cooper episode of The Muppet Show (and I still find that sketch creepy to this day).

 

[YellowYahooey]

I did download that rare and banned gem just now. I did skim through the episode, and it seemed as if the witch was being aggressive towards David and even decided to electrocute David (hence the white Scanimate effects and the accompanying electricity-crackling sound effects). No child in any era should be exposed to such aggression on a show that's designed to be educational for preschoolers. I seem to be unoffended by such scenes, but that's because I am a mature adult (have been for some time now).

I'm really glad the Count didn't use such effects on Grover in the counting hot dogs sketch.

 

[minor muppetz]

I can’t remember if I have brought this up before, but there must not have been any problems when they tested the episode to the kids.

 

[YellowYahooey]

I am thinking that the people who complained was just one or two angry mothers who complained about the scene's content (in which the witch's meanness and disrespect towards David could badly influence children. But then again the letter by one angry mother stated that her child was quite scared (supposedly at the witch's behavior, and/or maybe the Scanimate outline effects) and was so scared she may never have wanted to watch Sesame Street again. The Workshop responded, and banned the episode from being reran during the summer months. I wouldn't be shocked if the ban also applies to HBO Max too.

 

[LittleJerry92]

I mean realistically if it were to appear on HBO Max, I think putting a disclaimer regarding its controversial status would be fair. But then there’s also the estate for Margaret Hamilton which requires negotiation deals.

But at this point, with the fact that the episode was taken advantage of twice with leaks in 2019 and 2022 just for the sake of gaining popularity, I‘d say any chances of that one getting official releases have now been flushed down the toilet.