Ten favorite clips

[clipjj27]

Hi, everyone:

I just wondered if anybody out there could think of the ten favorite clips (or series of clips/segments) that they remember form Sesame Street when they watched it. For me, that time would be the years from 1975 to 1981 (roughly). Again, this is just a quick 'what stands out in your mind most fondly' poll. For me, the 'top ten' I remember (in terms of my liking, though not necessarily in this specific order) would be:

1. 'Do You Know What Backwards Means?' - the catchy electronic score ALWAYS puts me in good spirits.

2. 'Flying' - this Raposo tune indeed soothes the soul, even on the most hectic of days.

3. 'Everybody Run' - another Raposo tune that lifts my spirits with its upbeat swing.

4. 'J - Jump For Joy' - 'Big J swinging, flying, singing,' plus the kids jumping on the beach bring tears to my eyes. Joe Raposo - you're a genius!

5. Imagining Shapes - 'Zap, Zap, Zoodoo!' is what stands out in my mind the most, followed by 'I know WHO a square is!' Hilarious muppet action!

6. The gymnast series - six clips featuring her using several apparata to demonstrate certain words - music very mellow.

7. The number song series (aka 'Baker') - 'And that's the song of...' While I was always amused by the baker falling down the stairs at the end, I liked one scene from #5 the best - (glass breaks) '5 - whatever they are!' (Monsters!)

8. 'Up and Down' - Herry and Cookie Monster are at it singing with groovy brass music playing in the background.

9. 'In Search of 20' - a man is given an assignment to look for a 20. He finds the numbers 11 through 19 along the way before running into...a gorilla!

10. Animation #5 - '1, 2, 3, 4, 5!' This line is constantly repeated in song as the numbers from 1 through 5 appear on the screen in 'paint-like' fashion. Uplifting music indeed!

As most of you know, of the above, #1 through #4, #6, #7, and #9 are all live-action non-muppet scenes, #5 and #8 are muppet scenes, and #10 is animated.

Again, this is by no means an easy task. There are several others that could just have easily made my list. One of the most emotional episodes in Sesame Street history - Thanksgiving Day 1983 - would have probably made it, since it deals with Mr. Hooper's death, but, unfortunately, this was after I stopped watching Sesame Street regularly.

So, anybody out there who would like to share the 'top ten faves' that come to your head immediately whenever you remember your Sesame Street 'viewing days'? Thanks.

 

[ISNorden]

I was born in 1969, so my memories of Sesame Street may sound like a track listing from the Old School DVD sets to some of you. Here are my top ten moments, in no particular order:

1. Ernie bringing half a dozen unrelated things with him to take a bath...and turning out to need them all, when one bizarre thing after another goes wrong.

2. Ernie singing "Rubber Duckie" the way he did in Season 2.

3. Ernie explaining to Bert where he put the cookies, the sugar, the flower, the milk, the soda...and the fish, leaving Bert to play cowboy with a pot on his head.

4. Grover being "secretly" told the alphabet, and ordered not to spread it around; when he figures that telling one person won't hurt, the whole neighborhood eventually knows.

5. Cookie Monster imagining a special birthday cookie at the bakery, then eating his visualization ("even imaginary cookie taste good").

6. Big Bird singing "ABC-DEF-GHI" the way he did in the early seasons; I must have driven Mom crazy singing it myself!

7. "A loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter": the fact that a cartoon about memory is so unforgettable shows that the CTW producers knew what they were doing!

8. Another memory cartoon, with the bicycling boy lost in a very strange neighborhood until a stranger appears and helps.

9. "Would You Like to Buy an O?" I couldn't get this one out of my head when I was a girl, according to Mom.

10. The Jazz Numbers cartoons, especially #8 for some odd reason...

I could go on listing the great clips I loved years ago, but the thread did say "top 10 favorites!"

 

[Son of Enik]

My top 10 in no real order:
1-Kermit singing "Being Green". I still get choked up every time I see the original clip.
2-"Hey Cow, I See You Now". Not only is it my signature here on MC, but I always sit and feel ultra-relaxed when watching this gem.
3-Falling Baker, doesn't matter which one either, almost 40 years later, I STILL crack up watching those...classics!
4-"Fireman", leave it to SS to portray a fire with all it's intensity and action set to folk music! I find myself singing this one often.
5-"The Count vs. Cookie Monster" as chronicled in the Unpaved book, it was the meeting of 2 obsessions and 2 classic characters. The Count was still slightly eerie at this point, but irresistible anyway!
6-"Love, Amy" Grover gets a postcard and as he tells what it says, the longer the bit (and song) goes on, the sillier it gets. (Best line goes to Herry, "How's Your face?" )Hilarious!
7-Just about any skit with the Yip Yip Martians...I used to drive my mom nuts impersonating those guys.
8-Ernie and Bert's Rhyming game. Poor Bert, he never wants to play but Ernie cons him every time...and just when Bert's getting into it, Ernie bails! Bert tries though, "Hey there lamp, that's a nice shade!"
9-Snuffy exposed! I was SOOOO glad the adults finally got to see the big guy! Weren't we all just as frustrated as Big Bird?
10- And finally..."Ma-Nah, Ma-Nah". Need I say more?

 

[fuzzygobo]

My fave raves

This is not an easy task, and out of the thousands to choose from, it's hard to narrow down to ten. But here goes:

1. The same/different clip performed by the Mummenshanz, posted the other day on youtube. A thousand thanks, Nanto!

2. The boy, the girl, and the jellybeans. Someday will see the light of day again.

3. 12 pebbles in the desert. Jim's stop-motion masterpiece.

4. Spanish "O" cartoon featuring Olga, Oscar, and un horrible Ogro!

5.Roosevelt Franklin's Days of the Week. Even Sly Stone would've been proud.

6.The bus driver clip, when fares were only 25 cents, your credit was good enough to pay tomorrow, and nice views of a pre-Starbucks Seattle. The jazzy score is fantastic!

7. "WALK" cartoon featuring various people and animals' feet, set to a killer Hammond B-3 groove. Billy Preston eat your heart out!

8. New York City alphabet, zooming in on various letters in different fonts, locations, etc. Again, the jazzy score does me in.

9. Since I'm on a jazz kick, there's the jazzy triangle and the very square square.

10. Up, Up, and Away. A boy and girl Muppet tackle this 5th Dimension classic.

Thanks to those of you who posted most of these on youtube for everyone's viewing pleasure, especially mine.

 

[clipjj27]

Thanks

To those of you who replied so far:

As you see, this is no easy task. The number-one reason for this is that (at least for me) I tend to feel 'sorry' or 'bad' for those clips which I felt I should have included on my list. It's like sending out so many invitations to a party and then realizing 'Oh, yeah, I should have invited...'

While we're at it, some of the clips which I ignored (but yet would 'break my 10-quota rule' if included) are: Scanimate H (video animation), 'Dee-Dee-Dee' (Ernie and Cookie), E imagination (animation, from the very first episode), WALK (animation, like fuzzygobo mentioned), 'Fat Cat Sat Hat' (Bip and friends), 'A-B-C-D-E-F-Cookie Monster!' (Kermit and Joey), the typewriter (animated series, Frank Sinatra sung through the nose 'noo-nee-noo-nee-noo' - no offense, I hope!), 'Circles' song (Cookie and Herry), A Count of 10 (video animation), and 'Subway' (Bert, Kermit, and muppets).

So, there, I just made my list 20, and who knows, in a few seconds I'll be thinking 'Gosh, I should've...' But let's stick to ten for now!

BTW, does anyone have the clip of the man looking for a 20 or any of the gymnast clips beside 'between'? From my 'original 10' list, those are the only ones not on YouTube yet! I also understand that these are popular with several others as well! It's like I've got this 'burning itch' I can't control...

Take care.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Hey buddy. With a thread like this, you'll be giving people a mental workout to try to pick ten.

I know there are a lot of others I could've included, such as whole series, like the painter clips, the baker clips, anything that came from the Hubley studios, etc. But then you might never be able to stop with ten.

It's kind of like "if you were stranded on a desert island with only ten clips" you would have to get very selective. The ten you pick you must REALLY want.

But I'm with you. I would love to see the clip of the man trying to find a 20 again. Did you know that's Joe Raposo himself that's doing the search? Yes, besides scoring all those clips, he got to ham it up in front of the camera sometimes as well.

There's another one of him posted on youtube a while back of him climbing a long flight of stairs dribbling a basketball, only to have the ball get away from him and bounce back down to the bottom. This one would've been #11 for me.

 

[Muppet Frog]

My ten favorite Kermit clips

Here's a list of my ten favorite Kermit clips.

1. I Love my Elbows-I like the lyrics and the jazzy beat.
2. It's Not Easy Bein' Green-I thought it was a lovely song.
3. African Alphabet-I thought it sounded beautiful.
4. Caribbean Amphibian Kermit & Jimmy Buffett version-Jimmy & Kermit have fantastic singing voices.
5. Doo Wop Doo Wop Hop-I like the funky beat and lyrics. Kermit jumping upside down at the end is thrilling.
6. Kermit talks about a live hand-I thought the live hand and Kermit fighting was funny.
7. Kermit talks about in and out-I loved when Kermit got steamed to the confused monsters.
8. Kermit talks about the letter W- I thought the letter W and Kermit fighting was hillarious.
9. Kermit's news flashes: Hickory Dickory Dock-The horse running through the clock was hysterical.
10. Kermit's news flashes: Alhie Bahba-Alhie Bahba and Kermit predicting the magic S word was very humerous.

 

[superboober]

As has been noted, it can be hard to narrow it down to 10, but to give it a whirl:

1. the Falling Baker Series, of which #9 stands out the most. I would love it if someone released transcripts of the pitch session where they developed the concept; I'm sure most of us would love to know how it all came together

2. the Pinball series, of which #11 with the jungle animals was the best. Exacty how learning's supposed to be

3. #3 Superball. The track was so inventively built, and the music wonderful. If Frank Oz by chance still has this in storage somewhere, I'd pay him whatever he'd accept for it (a note, I do prefer the sundae ending over the powder version; ice cream's so much sweeter a fate for the ball

4. Nephew Brad (I thought in the early years he was "Bread") takes a bath. It's so much like Ernie to want to make a bath a total experience, and some of the things he throws in a very amusing (love Brad's reaction at the shark). Meanwhile Bert's slow burn makes it all the funnier

5. Super Grover and the nonfunctional computer. Who hasn't learned to fix computer problems by hopping up and down and yelling "Wubba wubba?"

6. J in the trainyard. "J-J-J-J-J..." an interesting way of teaching the letter, and the train backgrounds are wonderful in their simplicity. A bit depressing, though, the J has to end up j-j-j-junk

7. 5 ladybugs and lizards. The best addition/subtraction sketch, and the colors make for a wonderfully vibrant background, although the final lizard/alligator/whatever coming after the final ladybug can be a little unnerving the first couple of time you see it due to how quickly it happens and how close they come to the camera. It doesn't really detract, though

8. News Flash: Little Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe. Kermit's highest moment, you have to love how deftly he can handle the bizarreness of having to meet the Young Man Who Lived in a Glove and the Young Woman Who Lived in a Hat, and then suffer the final punchline of being roped into babysitting (hope they're paying him overtime)

9. Fireworks alphabet. Inventive and attractive. And the voiceover people seem excited to be reciting it, which makes it all the better

10. H on Bert's TV. Another bizarre situation made interesting plausible, educational, and entertaining. Don't we all wish we could just remove unwanted content from our televisions by reaching through the screen and taking it out? Have to love the ad libbing Henson does halfway through by having Ernie pose the hat on Bert

HONORABLE MENTION:

-Honk Around the Clock. The best pure song, and you've got to love the clock lighting up repeatedly
-Kermit on subtraction. Another example of him nicely handling a strange situation. I'd love to know how they managed the smoke and fire effects with the 4 and 1, pretty impressive for their time
-Beat the Time with Cookie. The end joke of him driving the train into the studio is a classic
-Animals escape from the zoo. A very good example of how cooperation can work positively (certainly ice cream always make for a good motivator), and the concept just seems to work well on its own, given how zoos at the time probably did seem a lot like pseudo-prisoners to the animals in them.
-Sounds around the house, urban version. Nice and relaxing, and smart in able to get its message across without any dialogue. Also works well as a good time capsule of what the New York of early Sesame was like for today's viewers. Did I also mention the young woman listening to the record was technically speaking my first crush?
-What's inside Herry. X-ray machines were always favorite devices of mine, and this one works to good effect. Love Herry's ad libs about his muscles too
-Sneak Peak previews. A concept that worked well in repackaging older material. Oscar and Telly made a hilarious duo in this. And haven't we all loved waiting for the exact moment Telly would fall and spill the popcorn?

 

[clipjj27]

Yes, fuzzygobo, I remember being told that Joe Raposo is the star in the 'finding a 20' clip as well as in the one with the basketball (i.e. 'Up, Down, Up'). The one with the basketball is on YouTube, but, like I mentioned, the one with the 20 is not (as of yet). Thanks for contributing.

 

[minor muppetz]

Here are my tne favorites from my childhod. I am not sure if I should count what were my favorites from 1984-1991 or 1984-1994. But here they are:

1. Monsterpeice Theater: Chariots of Fur
2. Rubber Duckie (the season 2 version)
3. Do De Ruber Duck
4. The Two-Headed Monster sees a cardboard cut-out of itself.
5. I Love MY Elbows
6. Sesame Street News: Alice in Wonderland
7. Sesame Street News: Humpty Dumpty
8. The Coutn counts Snuffy jumping on Big Bird's trampoline
9. Pinball Number Count
10. The Miami Mice segments