Sketches and Songs on Sesame Street videos

[GonzoLeaper]

I just finished watching the "Sing, Hoot & Howl" video for myself and I'm glad I got it- there's a lot of cool songs on there that I had forgotten about. I especially remember Ernie's "The Insects in Your Neighborhood" and "Proud to be a Cow"- nice to see Gladys get her own song! And I think I vaguely remember Luis singing "Baa Baa Bamba" on the show. Since this title's already been outlined and reviewed on here, I won't bother to go into more detail on this one. Overall I enjoyed it though.
Anyway- I've got a few others I checked out from the library, so I'll try to have some new reviews up soon.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Better than I expected...

Well, I'm going to do a review now of "Elmo's Magic Cookbook"- a 2001 video with a run time of about 50 minutes. It guest stars Emeril Lagasse and Heather Headley.

I'll have to say- I went into this thinking it would be an Elmo-dominated production (and it was, pretty much- but it wasn't bad). What I didn't realize is that there are actually some cool classic clips on this video too!

Plot-
It starts with Elmo, Telly and a boy and girl looking at old stuff in an attic. (It seemed to be one of the apartments on the side of Hooper's Store that isn't normally seen.) They discover an old book with pictures of food- which they eventually figure out is a cookbook. Elmo holds it and wishes for some food and the genie of the Magic Cookbook comes out. Her name is Jean the Genie, by the way. Elmo wishes for ice cream (upon the prompting of the others) and the genie takes them to a kitchen to show them how to cook for themselves and make ice cream. They see a few live action clips of kids cooking stuff and then they sing an original song about cooking. Jean is tired from the song and has to take a nap, and as her egg timer is ticking- it fades to a Baby Bear skit segment.
*Baby Bear demonstrates the word "hot" by pushing the letters together with his oven mitts on. (It's the first time I've ever seen Baby Bear doing one of these type skits- using the same kind of wall that Kermit, Bert and Ernie and the Two-Headed Monster and others have used for skits so many times.)
-Then we go back to Elmo and all as they try to wak up Jean, who doesn't wake up until the timer goes off. Then she makes the ingredients for ice cream appear. The kids and Elmo and Telly pour the stuff together and Telly is put in charge of mixing up the ice cream. Jean tells Elmo that he can cook anything with an adult's help. Genie goes to help Telly but first bring Alan there to help Elmo. Alan starts off by telling Elmo that they must wash their first before cooking.
*Classic animation ("Wash your hands before you eat- give those germs a clean sweep"- Singing scrub brush and soap bars go into motion scrubbing hands)
Alan and Elmo are going to make a dinosaur out of food and Alan says he doesn't have ingredients but the cookbook provides that. Elmo calls kids over and they make a dinosaur out of sandwich stuff. (i.e.- they use bread for the body, cheese wedges for the spikes of a stegosaurus, etc.)
*animation of sandwich being put together and ending with a bite taken out of it
-Back to Telly and genie as he's mixing ice cream. Genie checks in with everyone else and they show off their dinosaur, boat, caterpillar, etc. all made from sandwich stuff. Alan tells Elmo he has to get back to Hooper's Store, but opts to use the door before the genie can send him back. They let the cookbook decide what to make next and it decides on pizza.
*animation of how to make pizza with kids' voices naming ingredients out loud.
-Back to Elmo and genie- She brings in a a pizza pro to help Elmo- and it's Emeril Lagasse. Elmo, Emeril and kids make pizza (after cookbook provides ingredients). Talking measuring cup asks for some thanks and Emeril acknowledges that dough is made up of ingredients too. Tomato asks for applause because he provides tomato sauce. Glass of milk comes along and they thank him for the cheese. A cow comes along (black and white one- possibly Cathleen?) and they thank her for making milk.
Cookbook brings toppings and they all "bam" them onto the pizza (i.e. slam the ingredients onto the pizza). Then Emeril puts pizza into oven to cook.
*Classic Fat Blue and Grover skit
-Fat Blue orders pizza from Speedy Pizza and Grover delivers it to his house. (By the way, Fat Blue says he lives on #14 Sesame Street). Grover brings pizza without toppings and Fat Blue tells him to put something on top and Grover comes back with a plant on top of his head. Fat Blue tells him he wants something on top of the pizza and tells him he wants sau...and Grover runs off before he can finish and then comes back with pizza and a saw. Then Fat Blue makes him stay and listen to his full request for sausage and mushrooms on his pizza. Grover says it'll be ready in 2 weeks at which Fat Blue starts going crazy and Grover tells him they have to grow the mushrooms, pick them and wash them, etc. and Fat Blue freaks out and passes out. Grover comments that he hopes he'll wake up in 2 weeks because he wouldn't want him to miss his pizza!)

-Back to Emeril, Elmo and kids. Emeril says pizza's almost halfway done.
*cartoon-At Original J's Pizza, a reporter interviews Original J where he shows off original pizzas that talk, do handstands and sing opera.

-Back to Emeril, Elmo and kids who see Jean and Telly come by as Telly mixes ice cream with his pogo stick. Pizza is then done and Emeril brings the pizzas out to the table for everyone. Jean gets a cell phone call with a Minnesota Minestrone problem and asks Emeril for help, which he volunteers for. Genie sends Emeril off for that and then Elmo is left wanting to cook more. Genie pulls the Pocket Queen (Heather Headley) out of her pocket. The Pocket Queen tells Elmo about food pockets and Elmo says, "Get out of town" and she asks the genie to do just that and show them people around the world eating food pockets. They see live action clips of dumplings in China and similar food pockets in Turkey and the Middle East.
Elmo and Pocket Queen then come back to the kitchen to make summer (?) rolls. Elmo's wary of trying it because he's never had it before. But then they sing a song about trying new foods. Elmo then tries it and loves it.
*cartoon about a girl who loves to eat and try new foods. Goes to Italy, India and Japan and then to Brooklyn, NY trying new foods.
-Back to Elmo, Pocket Queen and kids and genie where Pocket Queen leaves. They then go to find Telly still mixing ice cream. Genie lets him know that it's all done finally and Telly wants to know if it was magic but Genie assures him he did it all by himself. Then they all sing another song about all the cooking they did. (vegetables from Cookie Monster's "Healthy Foods" song show up in this song.)
(During the song, they show video clips of them cooking stuff from the video)
They all sit down to eat ice cream then and Elmo wishes for cookies to go with his ice cream. And then Cookie Monster shows up with a plate full of cookies that he promptly eats as the kids all yell out "It's Cookie Monster!"
And then the ending credits display a bunch of Sesame Street characters made out of food that the kids' voices are heard identifying.
(Baby Bear, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Natasha, Zoey, Bert and Ernie, Grover, Telly, Rosita and Elmo are all included.)
-(And then Maria's voice is heard reminding you to visit Sesame Street on The Web at http://www.sesamestreet.com )





Like I said- I was pleasantly surprised- I enjoyed this video pretty well. It was cool to see that Baby Bear sketch. The only things I was really familiar with were the "Wash your hands" cartoon song and the Fat Blue and Grover sketch- but those were definitely worth it!
Since they did mention pizza, I was kinda hoping they might have shown the live action film of pizza being made at a pizza shop that I remember seeing as a kid- but oh well.
It was still a surprise to see that any skits and songs from the show were included at all- and overall, I enjoyed this video pretty well.

 

[minor muppetz]

Though it's not quite the same as watching the show itself, these videos are still neat to watch because a lot of characters sometimes show up in the books that don't show up much on Sesame Street anymore. And Carroll Spinney did the narration for all three stories. So of course his Big Bird voice was dead on- though funnily enough his Oscar voice sounded a little off, but maybe that was just me. He also attempted to imitate Ernie and Bert and Grover throughout the stories and that was pretty funny hearing that. (And he did a pretty decent job with Grover's voice.)

I think that Caroll Spinney was performing Big Bird as the narrarator. If that's the case, then maybe Oscar's voice sounding a bit off was done on purpose, so that kids wouldn't know that Big Bird and Oscar were performed by the same person rather than being real.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

1,2,3, - Count with Me!

Well, here's my review of "1,2,3- Count with Me". This is a 1997 video release that runs about 50 minutes. It's available on both VHS and DVD. (Doubtful on the Beta or LaserDisc )

Note- I'll refer to Humphrey and Ingrid as H and I throughout this review to save me some typing!

Plot- The video starts with Ernie taking a walk by the "Around the Corner" area and he finds a key with a "7" on it that says to return it to The Furry Arms so that's what he goes to do. (This is a great video for the "Around the Corner" fans because most of the video is set in that general area and in The Furry Arms hotel.)
Ernie takes the key to the front desk to return it. Humphrey and Ingrid are going to ask everybody if they're missing a key but Ernie puts the key in the #7 mailbox so the guest can get it later.
-Ernie then leads Humphrey and Ingrid in singing a song about counting. (Benny refuses to join in until the very end and he's still singing even after everyone else has stopped.) A customer interrupts him as he is looking for his key. H and I return his key to him, as it turns out he's in room #7. H and I decide Ernie would be good in the hotel business and teach him all they know about it. ("Ding the Dinger whenever you need something". - That's all they know!) Ernie dings the Dinger (after the Dinger prompts him to ding just one time) and then Benny comes with 1 bucket of ice, explaining that the # of times Ernie dings tells him what Ernie needs.
*Classic clip- Muppet versions of the numbers 1-10 come out on a gold stage and sing Broadway hit "One Singular Sensation".
Ernie dings Dinger twice and Benny brings 2 towels. (Benny is getting upset throughout this video because Ernie doesn't really need anything and is just dinging to see what happens!)
*Live action clip- Song about the number "2". (with a "2" that moves through a city.)
Ernie promises Benny that he won't ding twice anymore. (Instead, he dings THREE times! ) Benny brings him 3 pillows.
*Song- 3 black crows sing a song about 3. They mention going to Mr. Hooper's Store and they are seen at the store counter talking with Mr. Handford, counting 3 salt shakers. Then they go to the Fix-It Shop, counting 3 toasters with Maria. (Note- This is obviously a parody of the band "Counting Crows")
*Animated song- (Man playing guitar sings, "How many elephants can you fit in a room before they fall through the floor? The answer my friend, (at this point 4 elephants join him and crash through the floor) then he finishes the song "is 4 elephants fall through the floor." (This is a parody of "Blowing in the Wind" by Peter, Paul and Mary. - a pretty cool song, by the way)
*Song- Oh my goodness! Elmo raps about "5". I think the song is called "Yo 5". (Elmo calls himself MC Elmo and wears shades and flashy parachute pants. He even says "Elmo time!" It's pretty obvious this is a parody of MC Hammer! LOL!)
- At the hotel, Benny's telling Ernie if he doesn't want 5 bars of the hotel's exclusive soap- don't ding 5 times!
Ernie answer the phone- turns out to be for Humphrey- and it's 6 penguins ordering "fish, fish, fish, fish, fish, fish"
Humphrey repeats the order to Ingrid but Ernie shows them how to count the order and they figure out that they need 6 orders of fish. And then Ernie dings some more.
*Song- Seven fish in a bowl sing about 7. Elmo joins them in the song. (This one sounds like a parody of "Sisters" from that great Bing Crosby movie and just plain great Christmas movie- "White Christmas"!!!)
*Animation of 8 squares with live action kids in them counting to 8.
*animation- "Martian beautie, my number 9 cutie"- definitely a classic!
*Song- The Count is at the beach singing a song about counting things at the beach- He goes scuba diving to count fish (and even counts forwards and backwards) -At end of the song he counts the flowers on his waitress's lei.
- At the hotel, Ernie finds out he gets 10 glasses of milk when he dings 10 times. Ernie finds H and I with puppies chewing up everything. Ernie suggest to "give the dog a bone". But first they have to count the puppies. Ernie cuddles all the dogs so they'll stay still so they can be counted. And H goes off to get 3 bones.
*animation- "11 shapes, 11 hearts, 11 birds, 11 houses, 11 things 11 is for", etc. rap
*Classic Song!!!!- "Honk Around the Clock" (with the Honkers, of course!) I love this song!!! (parody (more or less) of "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and his Comets- the song that is considered to be the grandfather of all rock and roll songs!!! - And it still ROCKS!!!!)
*animation- 13 burgers form the number 13 on a blue screen.(Clip ends with Cookie Monster's tradmark eating noises as clip fades away)
-At hotel, Ernie has already dinged 13 times, so now he tries 14. Benny brings out 14 suitcases. Ernie points out that the Dinger dinged himself when Benny complains.
*animation- animated numbers count to 14. #`1 holds an umbrella in the rain (and it's yellow), #2 wears green boots and taps in the rain, #3 has a face and cat's whiskers, etc.
-Ernie dings 15 times. Benny is smug here as 15 dings brings 14 elephants through the building. He comes to gloat but then the 15th. elephant comes through just then and runs him over.
*animation- people and animals with weird looking masks (African tribal masks perhaps) count to 15, each carrying a number)
H and I check back in with Ernie. H and I are upset because they want more to ****. Ernie then leads them in a song about how you can count anytime and anywhere. Titular song- "1,2,3 Count with Me". Ernie leads H and I out of hotel, knocking over Benny.
In this big finish, Sherry Netherland, Benny, Humphrey, Ingrid, the Dinger, and Ernie are all present, along with goats, penguins, and chickens. There's also an orange girl monster who looks like a slightly smaller version of Ruby with horns in her head. I can't remember her name but I think she maybe was on "Little Muppet Monsters". Or just one of the many whatnot monsters on Sesame Street. Anyway, in the song, they count 2 children riding by and a hero flying high. (At this point we see Super Grover flying in the sky.) And they count lots of other stuff- including the trucks and busses and the Snuffleupaguses (and we see a shot of Snuffy and Alice) They count monsters doing a cheer (The same orange monster though without the horns, Elmo and Zoe in the arbor area) They count Birdkateers- (Big Bird and the Birdkateers by his nest) They count Cookie Monster's googly eyes (and of course we see Cookie Monster standing by the wall used in skits)
There's a big crowd scene at the end with Ernie, hotel staff (Humphrey, Ingrid, Sherry Netherland, Benny, Dinger) and goats and chickens and dogs and hotel guests.
And then the closing credits have Ernie singing the first song again.


Overall, I enjoyed this video the second time around. I saw it once a long time ago and didn't like it much. When I saw it this time, I remembered a lot of the skits and appreciated them pretty well. Most of them were new to me- though there were some real classics like "Honk Around the Clock" and the 11 animation. Those were probably some of the standouts for me. I really enjoyed all the song parodies though- Counting Crows, Peter, Paul and Mary and MC Hammer and that Broadway song ("One Singular Sensation") and possibly a "White Christmas" tune. ("Sisters") Oh yeah- and The Count song was cool too of course.
So there were some good clips on here and the new songs weren't bad either. Lots of good interaction with Benny and Ernie. Though I'm kinda curious as to why Ernie didn't recognize Ingrid as Juliette.
As always, it definitely accomplishes the main purpose of teaching children to count.

 

[minor muppetz]

*Song- Oh my goodness! Elmo raps about "5". I think the song is called "Yo 5". (Elmo calls himself MC Elmo and wears shades and flashy parachute pants. He even says "Elmo time!" It's pretty obvious this is a parody of MC Hammer! LOL!)

I think that song is titled "Five Jive with Elmo Hammer". It's included on the video The Best of Elmo.

*Song- The Count is at the beach singing a song about counting things at the beach- He goes scuba diving to count fish (and even counts forwards and backwards) -At end of the song he counts the flowers on his waitress's lei.

This song is titled Counting Vacation. It was also included in What's the Name of That Song?

Though I'm kinda curious as to why Ernie didn't recognize Ingrid as Juliette.

Was there a skit with Ernie interacting with Juliette? Were they a semi-regular team for awhile, like how Ernie and Sherlock Hemlock (or Ernie and lefty, or Ernie and Cookie Monster) were a semi-regular team?

 

[GonzoLeaper]

I don't know if Ernie and Juliette were really a semi-regular team, but I'm pretty positive that she and Ernie and Bert were in a sketch where they were calling birds and a big ugly vulture wound up coming and sitting on Bert's head. (Of course, maybe she was Ingrid in that sketch. I'm not sure)

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Here's another one

Okay- this video has been mentioned on here before, but since it was done from memory- I'm putting up this review as I just got through watching it again to make sure it was fully covered. So here I give you- "Big Bird's Favorite Party Games". It's a 1988 video that runs about 30 minutes.
I'll mention here that the video starts with an animated Cookie Monster eating a bite out of the "My Sesame Street Home Video" logo. I love little things like that!

Plot- Big Bird and the Sesame Street gang are having a party on Sesame Street and they play a lot of games. (Luis, Maria, Gina, Susan and Bob are all there)

As everyone sets up decorations for a party in the arbor area, Big Bird wonders what game to play first. Gina suggests the "Clap Your Hands" game (which Big Bird says is his favorite). Gina leads them in a song and they all clap, snap and tap at the appropriate times in the song.
Then Susan leads them in another song. (the lyrics go roughly like this- "Point your fingers to the ground, roll your hands over, reach up high and fly." Everyone does the motions along with the song.)

*Classic Clip- Ernie and Bert play a game of "Follow the Arrows". (Unfortunately this clip is truncated as it ends after Bert sees the audience at the end of the game. In the original full clip, Ernie's about to take the arrows down, but then Bert stops him because he wants to play the game again.)

On the street, Oscar invites Telly to play a game of "Oscar Says". Oscar gets Telly out a couple of times but is feeling benevolent so he lets Telly stay in, along with the kids at home. (I'm sure he only said this for the kids' benefit.) And of course, Oscar tricks Telly by saying, "Oscar says, 'Dump confetti on Telly.' " and of course, it magically happens. He does this twice and then Telly wants to play "Telly Says". Oscar objects because he thinks Telly will try to dump confetti on him. Telly promises he won't. While playing "Telly Says"- Telly says "Dump confetti on Telly", which leaves Oscar stymied because he can't dump confetti on Telly or he'll lose. He does it anyway though, and says it was worth it!

*Classic clip- "The Remembering Game" with your host, Guy Smiley! Contestants are Mr. Bill Smith and Cookie Monster!
(Again, this clip is slightly truncated because as the clip fades and the arbor area comes back into view, you can still hear Guy Smiley's voice trailing off.)

(You can compare it with this video here, if you like.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jTZNstei6Mc)

-Luis then leads everyone in singing "Heads and Shoulders, Knees and Toes"
-Telly then suggests "Wheels on the Bus" and they form a bus out of the boxes so they can sit in "the bus" and sing the song.
Bob then leads them in "The Cabin in the Woods" song. (By the way, this is the same song Rowlf sang on the "It's Not Easy Being Green" video- a 1993 music video of Muppet songs)

*Classic clip- Grover talks about his shadow and then sings a song about it. (As far as I can tell, this one does seem to be the full thing.)

-The Dinger and Honker then join the party. (Possibly the Honker is Homer? Looks like him anyway) (Big Bird says he can speak Ding and Honk, so he translates) Together they all play "Stop." When the Dinger dings, everyone pretends to be swimming or a monster or a bird (according to the song they're singing) and at the honk everyone freezes and stops. After this Maria asks Big Bird what his favorite game is and he thinks and then says he doesn't know, and asks if they can play them all over again, garnering the expected groans and laughs and then the video ends.
(An animated Cookie Monster holds the chalkboard for the credits to display in as it goes off.)

-This was a pretty enjoyable video. It's unfortunate that a lot of the classic clips used were cut. The video was also pretty heavy on the new footage made for the show and kinda light on the classic clips. (Unless the "Oscar Says" and "Telly Says" game was a clip used on the show- but it looked like it was made brand new for the video to me.)
The video also seemed to be heavy on the humans and light on the Muppets. Besides Bob, Susan, Luis and Maria and Gina and some kids, Big Bird and Telly were the only other ones there until the Dinger and Honker joined them at the end. Oscar only showed up in that one "Oscar Says" segment. But on the whole, it wasn't too bad.

 

[minor muppetz]

Bob then leads them in "The Cabin in the Woods" song. (By the way, this is the same song Rowlf sang on the "It's Not Easy Being Green" video- a 1993 music video of Muppet songs)

The clip in that sing-along video originally came from the 1988 video Sing-Along, Dance-Along, Do-Along, which, like Big Bird's Favorite party Games, was released in the same year. I wodner if that song was written especially for either production?

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Here's another review for you!

This time I am covering the Sesame Street Home Video- "Kids' Favorite Songs". (Note- this is the first one. I believe there is a second volume as well.)
The video is copyrighted 1999 and has the Sesame Street 30 years anniversary logo on it. It has a run time of about 30 minutes.

Plot- Starts in the arbor area with kids actually playing basketball with the old basket that used to be up there. Miles and Gordon are working on Miles' bike and on Zoe is playing with a toy train. On Zoe's radio, "Old MacDonald" is playing and then it jumps into "I've Been Working on the Railroad", which Zoey, a Honker (Homer?- he's green with blue hair) and Miles and Gordon sing along to. The announcer then says that Elmo will be doing his top ten countdown later on. And Gordon explains this concept to Zoe as being like counting from 10 backwards to 1.
-Animated clip- counting backwards from 10 to 1 on a blue background with a yellow shape in the circle that changes from triangle to circle, etc. with the appropriate number of people with tribal masks surrounding it counting down.

-Back on the street- Elmo is practicing counting backwards and runs into the Count, who is happy to hear that Elmo is practicing counting backwards for the radio. Count then sings one of his favorite songs for Elmo with his bats. And Elmo joins in.
Song- "This Old Bat (This Old Man)"
Elmo heads off past Hooper's Store and just misses Telly, who's trying to think of songs for Elmo to play on the radio. Telly then leads us in "The Alphabet Song", with a swirling background of letters- including Muppet "A" and "Z" characters that sing with him.
Elmo is now near the 123 stoop and Snuffy comes by asking if we've seen Elmo and then he sees him. Snuffy then tells him his favorite song that he wants for Elmo to play on the radio.
Song- "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"- Elmo and Snuffy sing it, with Elmo riding on Snuffy's back, pretending Snuffy is a rowboat.
Snuffy then goes off to tell Big Bird about the radio countdown, as Elmo goes off to practice more.
*Animated clip- underwater counting clip, going from 10 to 1 with different sea animals revealing different numbers. Starts with a skin diver's mask on the screen, and then goes to 10 fish, 9 little fish, 8 clams, etc. ending back on the skin diver's mask again.
- On the street- Telly tells us his favorite song might actually be "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and leads us in singing that one.
(The background again changes to an outer space backdrop and a Muppet "star"- (literal star, that is) joins him in singing.)
Telly goes to tell Elmo about his favorite song, but then a black sheep comes by who tells Telly, "Baa Baa Telly" (as in "Bye Bye Telly") and then Telly gets his trademark worried look- thinking that maybe "Baa Baa Black Sheep" might be his favorite song.
Back to Elmo in the arbor area, who's hiding among the boxes trying to practice counting, while Prairie Dawn leads a group of kids singing "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt" because it's their favorite song. They run into Elmo, who joins in singing it with them.
Then after they leave, Elmo counts down from 10 to 1, using the same tune of "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt".
Back to Telly, who's decided that "Baa Baa Black Sheep" might indeed be is favorite song. The background changes to a farm with three sheep singing the song with Telly.
Telly is still undecided after this song, of course.

Back to the street, where Elmo greets a kid named Tucker and adult man walking by named Vicki! (That seemed to be rather random)
Then Elmo tells us that Big Bird has said he can practice in his nest, so he heads over there where Big Bird and the Birdkateers bust out their favorite song on him too.
They all sing "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain".
Elmo then goes off in search of a place to practice. He goes to rest on one of the boxes in the arbor area, because he's tired from all the singing. He then dreams that the Honker Sisters are singing "This Little Piggy Went to Market" to him and they all join in singing the song. (Elmo actually identifies them as the Honker Sisters- so that's pretty neat).
Back on the street, Gordon and Miles wake Elmo up so he can get to his radio top ten countdown. They ask him if he knows what songs to play, but Elmo explains that all he's doing is actually counting and not picking the songs. He leaves to go to the radio and Telly comes up to Gordon and Miles looking for Elmo, because he's finally decided on his favorite song.
*Animated clip- Counting backwards from 10 to 1- a machine with robotic hands sends letters through on conveyor belts as the numbers are counted down.
On the street, tons of kids, Big Bird and the Birdkateers, Prairie Dawn, Zoey, Miles and Gordon and the Muppet "star", as well as a sheep and Muppet "Z",
have all gathered to hear Telly's favorite song. Prairie Dawn plays it for him on the piano.
"The AlphaBaaBaaTwinkle song"-
Telly then sings it by combining lyrics from all three of his favorite songs (which all have the same tune, of course). Gordon and Miles say that they like it and everyone joins in singing the song with Telly.
Then we jump to the radio studio, where Elmo is there with Wolfman Jack (with the WCTW logo in the background) - Elmo counts down from 10 to 1, with everybody on the Street counting with him and cheering at the end. Wolfman Jack congratulates Elmo on a job well done and then the closing credits roll with clips from the video playing throughout it.

(And hey! Then Maria's voice reminds us to visit Sesame Street on the Web at http://www.sesamestreet.com !)

(Interesting to note- there are lots of commercials for other Sesame Street videos- most, if not all of which were produced in 1999, but only 1 is specifically mentioned as being part of Sesame Street's 30th. anniversary celebration and this is "The Best of Kermit on Sesame Street" video! Wish they didn't refer to Kermit as a famous guest star though- I always consider him a part of Sesame Street as much as anybody else! )

Concluding Thoughts- Well, this is a great video for children to sing their favorite nursery rhymes and songs. In that respect, Sesame Street came through, as always. If you're looking for lots of great classic songs and animations and such- there's not much here, though there are a few select animated counting clips that you might remember. The only one I recognized was the underwater sequence. But it's also nice to see Prairie Dawn and Snuffy and Big Bird and Telly and Zoey and Elmo all featured on there. And even a Honker (who I think is Homer) and the Honker Sisters show up!
And there you have it.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

A new review!

Here's a review of "Elmocize"- a 1996 video with a 30 minute run time. Interesting to note- the back of the video lists the songs, but doesn't list them in the order they come in!
And guess what? The video lists Cyndi Lauper as the guest star!!!! (I'm only familiar with "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"- but it's just funny to see her on a Sesame Street video)
(There are a few commercials for other Sony Wonder Sesame Street Home Videos at the start, and I like the little live action clip where a woman gets into a taxi and tells the driver to take her to Sesame Street on the double!)

The video starts with the classic animated Cookie Monster eating the Sesame Street Home Video logo- cool!)

Monty is hosting a show about Elmo's exercise camp, with Rosita helping coach. The camp takes place in a park and everyone has blue shirts with a red "E" on it.
Coach Elmo tells Monty that everyone is happy because exercise makes you strong and feel good about yourself. Elmo explains that you need to practice to be good at exercise. Elmo says that one kid, Michael, helps with hopping and jumping. Rosita helps with twisting. Tara (the girl in the wheelchair you might remember) helps with arm exercises. And Slimey helps with bending. Monty asks for an example of what they do and so Elmo gives out the call to "Elmocize"!!!

*New song- "Elmocize"

Elmo, Rosita and the kids get Monty into exercising- and Elmo tells us to go visit the gym where one of their instructors will be right with us.
*Animated clip- green female caterpillar with red hair and with a striped red and white outfit on sings a song about exercising.

Back at the park, Monty shows up with his blue shirt on and introduces some of the recent graduates of Elmo's camp.
*-Live action clip of little kids jumping and moving around to the beat of a pretty funky little tune.

Monty is then found by Elmo (who had been hiding from exercising) and then Monty goes off again and Elmo introduces some more instructors.
*Animated clip- live action person and animated cat do exercises like toe touches and aerobics stuff

At the park, Monty still refuses to exercise. He doesn't think he needs to, but then Elmo and the kids tell him that he needs more strength. Monty thinks it's too hard to exercise, but then Elmo shows him another example.

*Song- "Workout in a Chair"- The Asian woman on Sesame Street who runs the aerobics place (sorry, I don't remember the name) is seen in her dance/aerobics studio (whichever it is) with Tara and other kids doing a workout in a chair. And Big Bird is there too doing the workout with them.
(I wonder if this video clip is maybe taken from the "Get Up and Dance" video.)

Back at the park, Monty is doing "Workout in a Chair" and then Elmo teaches him some new exercises because he needs to exercise his whole body. Elmo shows Monty a video to explain about the different body parts.
*Animated clip- arrows point out parts of the body on pictures of live people.

Elmo tells Monty it's time to learn how to bend.
*Classic song- "Elbows and Knees" (with live kids doing plenty of bending elbows and knees)

Elmo leads kids in bending, with even Slimey and Monty joining in.
*New Song- "Comin' Round the Bend" (to the tune of "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain")

Monty then wants to take a rest, but Elmo tells him it's time for the hopping lessons.
*Song- "Do the Benny Hop"- Benny Rabbit (looking a bit different without his bellhop uniform on) leads kids and the same Asian woman from earlier in the courtyard area of Sesame Street in a hopping song.

Benny then shows up in the park, where he informs Monty that he does the Benny hop, not the bunny hop.
Then Michael shows Monty how he jumps, with a video.
*Song- "Jump"- live action clips of kids and a few older people jumping around

Then back to the park where Monty is enjoying jumping. Rosita then tells Monty it's time to learn to twist.
And then Cyndi Lauper shows up with the Twister Sisters!!!! (Apparently she's part of the group) And Elmo introduces them to Monty.
(The Twister Sisters? I'm guessing obviously a parody of 80s rock band- "Twisted Sister"- hmm, why didn't they get Dee Snider to guest star? )
*New Song- "Twister Sisters" (by the way, the song also mentions another classic 80s band- (accidentally, I'm sure)- Mr. Mister!)

Monty is still singing the song even after the song stops and Monty says he feels stronger and very good and says he even likes to exercise. Elmo then says it's time to say goodbye and tells Monty to stop to say goodbye. And Monty says "Don't forget to Elmocize" as all of the cast jumps and twists and bends as they sing a reprise of "Elmocize". And then the credits roll.

And then there's a special offer for parents to subscribe to Sesame Street Magazine, as well as Sesame Street Parents magazine!

Concluding Thoughts- As always, Sesame Street accomplishes its purpose of educating children about exercise. The new songs are pretty catchy and there's even a surprise appearance by Cyndi Lauper!!! One of my favorite songs is on here- "Elbows and Knees"- one I remember seeing on the show a lot when I was younger. And Benny shows up- so this is a good video for "Around the Corner" character fans.
Not a whole lot as far as classic stuff goes- but not too bad either.