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Sesame Street's most disturbing bits

SesameMike

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On the D for Dart sketch, I think what happened was that the dartboard was in his thought balloon; since darts are pointy, he ended up "popping" that balloon.

Always thought the background jazz riff was cool, as was its timing with the shifting background. Like how they alternated between panels and letter D's to depict the guy's forward motion.

For another example of a disturbing sketch, who remembers an animation where a baby climbs up to a high pedestal to retrieve an errant ball? After the route back down has been eliminated, the child imagines what would happen if he jumped/fell off the pillar, and sees himself breaking into pieces!! If that's not disturbing... Of course the solution, where a giant clown appears, rescues the baby and then vanishes into thin air, is really not much better.
 

Flaky Pudding

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On the D for Dart sketch, I think what happened was that the dartboard was in his thought balloon; since darts are pointy, he ended up "popping" that balloon.

Always thought the background jazz riff was cool, as was its timing with the shifting background. Like how they alternated between panels and letter D's to depict the guy's forward motion.

For another example of a disturbing sketch, who remembers an animation where a baby climbs up to a high pedestal to retrieve an errant ball? After the route back down has been eliminated, the child imagines what would happen if he jumped/fell off the pillar, and sees himself breaking into pieces!! If that's not disturbing... Of course the solution, where a giant clown appears, rescues the baby and then vanishes into thin air, is really not much better.
I've seen that clown one. Yeah, it's hard to watch.
 

dvakman

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I vote for the Raposo film of lions feeding on a carcass. I know it's part of nature and what lions do, but I'm surprised that it ran for as long as it did.
 

Foodie

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That
I vote for the Raposo film of lions feeding on a carcass. I know it's part of nature and what lions do, but I'm surprised that it ran for as long as it did.
That's just a slice o' life.
:smirk:
 

dvakman

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Of course. It doesn't help that I'm vegetarian...
 

YellowYahooey

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On the D for Dart sketch, I think what happened was that the dartboard was in his thought balloon; since darts are pointy, he ended up "popping" that balloon.

Always thought the background jazz riff was cool, as was its timing with the shifting background. Like how they alternated between panels and letter D's to depict the guy's forward motion.
Speaking of the letter D, there was a segment about a building being constructed by workmen which is said to be filled with every item beginning with D. The creepy part about it is when two of the men stand on the bottom of a steel lowercase d which is supposedly being raised, and the guys were riding it without wearing safety belts. It makes sense as to why the segment was discontinued after 1993. However, the segment was kept intact on three, maybe four classic episodes presently offered on HBO Max.

I only saw it once on Sesame Street. I don't remember much about this specific sketch, but man, it was NUTS!!! I was very young, watching this particular sketch in the living room of my mom's house, and by the time "Nobody" had said "Now watch your screen and we will try to count dots going by", I ran out of the room, scared as heck. The end part was really scary for me at a young age. I don't know who came up with the concept, but it was odd.

However, the other one "A count of 4" isn't as scary. The sound effects on that one I could've really liked when I was young, compared to the sound effects used on "A count of 10". I'm so used to seeing this particular sketch on YT often enough now that it doesn't scare me at all.
"Scanimate #10" looks so creepy to me because of the floating face (Limbo) and the way it moves its mouth. I could handle the sound effects no problem. Regardless, that segment still creeps me out to this day, despite that I am a mature adult. And what Limbo said before the dots started flying by was "Watch the screen and we will try to count how many dots go by."

Jim Henson was involved in this segment, and I was unaware that this segment, along with "Scanimate #4", were produced in Denver, Colorado until I saw it on Muppet Wiki.

However, I agree that "Scanimate #4" is not scary, all because of the absence of the creepy floating face.

And speaking of Scanimate, I find a few seconds of "Scanimate H" quite scary - the one with Maria's cameo, to be exact, as the off-camera kid was identifying head and hair and Luis said off-screen "Surprise me.". Maria's cameo still scares me to this day (scarier than the floating face in "Scanimate #10"). I have no problem with that H segment from the hand illustration onward, though.
 
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Flaky Pudding

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I've been watching a lot of old Sesame Street episodes on YouTube at night. It helps clear out the negative thoughts in my head before I go to sleep. Whenever this sketch comes on, I always skip past it.


It just gives off such an eerie and disturbing vibe. The distorted music, the creepy visuals, the loud roar at the end, and the overall surreal atmosphere make me feel uncomfortable. I normally love anything with cats and most Sesame Street segments featuring those animals are almost always instant favorites of mine. I draw the line at this one, however.

I could probably handle it during the day but it's not something I want to watch while I'm alone in the dark.
 

MineMan3295

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I’m probably the only one who found this one scary…

In my opinion, the scariest sesame street segment has to be The journey to ernie jungle segment.
 

YellowYahooey

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After going through several sketches on YouTube today, I found a segment that I didn't view until today, due to my loss of interest in the show in the mid-1980s. It was a segment in the "Kermit's Lectures" series that debuted in 1987, and one which the frog discusses same vs. different with two balls that grow, and then talk, and then disappear abruptly, and Kermit disappears abruptly in the end. This goes down in my books as one of my top three scariest segments for sure due to the ending.

Luckily, the segment was shown four times - three instances in 1987, and its final airing eleven years later in 1998.
 

GizmoAkimbo

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After going through several sketches on YouTube today, I found a segment that I didn't view until today, due to my loss of interest in the show in the mid-1980s. It was a segment in the "Kermit's Lectures" series that debuted in 1987, and one which the frog discusses same vs. different with two balls that grow, and then talk, and then disappear abruptly, and Kermit disappears abruptly in the end. This goes down in my books as one of my top three scariest segments for sure due to the ending.

Luckily, the segment was shown four times - three instances in 1987, and its final airing eleven years later in 1998.
Just imagine trying to give a simple lesson lecture, all the while inanimate objects are growing, talking to you suddenly, and disappearing. It really is creepy when you think about it, lol.
 
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