Thoughts on Shalom Sesame?

[scarletjul]

Hi. I hope I'm posting in the right forum.

My apologizes if there's a thread about this already

I've just re-discovered clips of "Shalom Sesame" on youtube and I want to learn more. I'm pretty sure I watched the episodes when they ran in the US, the title sequence and the Hebrew dubs of "I'll Love You in Springtime" and "It Sure is Hot" seem really familiar but nothing else is ringing bells for me at the moment. (Plus, I really liked the dub of "It Sure is Hot.")

I've also looked at the article on the muppet wiki but I'm still curious.

While I was looking online, I noticed the DVDs and put them in my netflix queue. But, I was wondering what other people's opinions were. The only reviews I could find online said they were rather dated but I love vintage Sesame Street so I don't think I'd see them as dated. So, I thought I'd look to Muppet fans. What do other people remember about the specials?

And what are your opinions on the original Shalom Sesame?

Thanks!

 

[Drtooth]

I'll say this, I haven't seen it in years, mainly because I was traumatized by the horrid job they did with dubbing Pinball number count... it is really clumsy sounding because the numbers have too many syllables in Hebrew for it to work smoothly. And I wonder why they bothered attempting it... I remember the Jazz numbers dubs were much better fitting. You'll see. It just didn't work.

But I think the dubbed segments, while interesting, are NO where near as interesting as the original footage they filmed (or actual international footage of their own skits). I liked watching it because of the culture... seeing how another country lives and even learning a bit about Judaism. And even the fun little bits with American actors learning about their culture. I wish I saw more of those and less dubbed material I already have seen. But I did enjoy this series. I really wish that they'd do different ones about other co-productions all over the world as well. Meeting their characters in English was the most fun I've had. Why, Moishe Oofnik is one of my favorite international characters of all time. Right up there with Zeliboba, Pancho, and Mojambo.

I hope with the 2010 series we see some merchandise of him in the US. I'd LOVE to have a plush doll or PVC of him.

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

I'll admit, this is one of Sesame Street's most underrated gems. Probably because the Shalom Sesame videos aren't distributed by Random House/Sony Wonder/Genius/Warner Home Video but rather by a tiny Jewish entertainment company, they always seem to be ignored. I haven't really seen too much of Shalom Sesame, the local video store that closed years ago had the Chanukah and Passover videos and I rented those a view times and I've taken a three episode tape out of the library once. For the most part, it's a fairly entertaining show. It's so interesting to see the different Israeli culture and get to know the Rechov Sumsum characters. I can't wait to see the new series in 2010.

But, if I may rant for a second: why are the Shalom Sesame DVD's so darn overpriced? Perhaps I was spoiled by the Fraggle Rock season sets which are also five discs. But come on! On Sesame Workshop's website it's $74.99 and on the distributor's website the list price is $99! Even used copies are ridiculous high prices! In the words of קרמית הצפרדע: "What the hey?"

 

[Drtooth]

You answered your own question, I must say... the fact that it is distributed by a small independent company means they're dealing with a different business model than if Genius, Sony or (ugh) Warner Bros. was distributing them... Even Fraggle Rock, as you mentioned, was distributed by a larger company.

There's a lot of rights and revenues when it comes to putting something like this together (i.e. celebrity residuals), and while they are working with SW, SW does need someone else to help distribute any release, so SW makes a part of the profit, but they don't quite have the funds to just release these themselves... Again, dealing with an indie company means that we'll see less of these in big box stores. The Hanukkah program seems to be the only one I've actually found, once at Best Buy and once at Barnes and Noble. So, I'm guessing a lot of this company's business is local places, i.e. Jewish Bookstores... and as they don't plan on selling all that many copies (compared to typical releases that are sold everywhere), they have to adjust the price of each individual release so they can profit from selling small amounts of something that needs a lot of money to back it up.

But hey, I saw a teacher's edition copy of ONE episode of Bill Nye the Science guy retail for over 50 bucks. ONE episode.