Ugliest International Sesame Street Muppets

[MikaelaMuppet]

He could look way worse? What do you mean by that?

 

[Sgt Floyd]

He could look way worse? What do you mean by that?

He's pretty much Big Bird, just a different color. The quality of the costume build could be way worse. Like it could look like it was a cheap knock off made in someone's garage.

 

[SSLFan]

Well, the newer version of Vila Sesamo and the Japanese version of Sesame Street also had their own Big Birds. That's the newer version of Garibaldo.

And that's Japan's Big Bird from Sesame Street (Japan).

Most of the international co-productions of Sesame Street didn't have their own Big Bird. They usually had original Muppets exclusive to the international co-productions like Abelardo, Lola, Samson, Kami, Zeliboba, and Moishe Oofnik.

It's crazy because wasn't there a time when CTW/SW didn't allow other international co-productions to have an exact replica of the Big Bird puppet?

 

[D'Snowth]

It's crazy because wasn't there a time when CTW/SW didn't allow other international co-productions to have an exact replica of the Big Bird puppet?

That's exactly what I said twelve posts ago.

 

[Drtooth]

It's crazy because wasn't there a time when CTW/SW didn't allow other international co-productions to have an exact replica of the Big Bird puppet?

Except they technically aren't and have microscopic details different from Big Bird. in fact, they're closer in style to the Journey to Ernie version of Big Bird than the one used most on the show. Not to mention the fact that they aren't the character Big Bird, but rather his "cousins." they did consider new Garibaldo to be blue, just like the original one, but they went with Yellow because he'd look better.

However, that doesn't quite explain the Elmos, Grovers, Cookies, and Ernie and Berts they're starting to let other countries use. It's cool and all, but it really takes away the individual identity of original characters.

 

[SuperGzilla12]

However, that doesn't quite explain the Elmos, Grovers, Cookies, and Ernie and Berts they're starting to let other countries use. It's cool and all, but it really takes away the individual identity of original characters.

I guess that because those characters have become international stars now, it makes sense that the co-productions are using these US characters. That wasn't the case at the beginning.

Compare this to the two co-productions of Barney: the Israeli version had to fight to change the name of Baby Bop to Buba Bon. The South Korean version did have two original characters (Coby the Kowla and Dedeu the Mouse) to replace Scooter and Mrs. Etta, but they couldn't even interact with the main cast.

 

[mupcollector1]

Where the first international Sesame Street Muppets build by the production crew and then later The Jim Henson workshop made better versions for them later? A lot of the early international characters don't even have that Muppet style but in later years from the late 70s, 80s and 90s they developed looking more like Muppets. It's kind of interesting that some of the classic Sesame Street Muppets are on the other versions of Sesame Street in street scenes like Grover, Ernie and Bert, Elmo and Big Bird.

 

[SuperGzilla12]

Where the first international Sesame Street Muppets build by the production crew and then later The Jim Henson workshop made better versions for them later? A lot of the early international characters don't even have that Muppet style but in later years from the late 70s, 80s and 90s they developed looking more like Muppets.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if that was the case. The budget for the US Sesame wasn't very high in those early days... imagine the budgets in these other countries.

 

[Drtooth]

I guess that because those characters have become international stars now, it makes sense that the co-productions are using these US characters. That wasn't the case at the beginning.

As per my understanding, the US characters were always a huge hit overseas. Ernie and Bert were huge in Germany and the Netherlands, and released a bunch of albums in both countries. I don't know the exact deal between Sesame Street and international markets, but it seems that every country wanted their own stars to represent their countries. Those are usually the equivalent of the street stories, sometimes inserts. Any non-locally produced segments come from the American show (though, strangely Plaza Sesamo had Canadian segments dubbed). Essentially, the international characters have a sort of hosting role.

I don't know how they twisted the arm of SW, but now the actual US characters have popped up in co-productions (very much so with Ernie and Bert in Germany). The short lived Japanese co-production had a balance between American characters and original ones. Since then, Grover and Elmo popped up in Israel, and Elmo's also in the African one, among others. All in original, specific sketches.

 

[mupcollector1]

I wouldn't be surprised at all if that was the case. The budget for the US Sesame wasn't very high in those early days... imagine the budgets in these other countries.

Plus I think the other reason was quality of Jim's work because Jim like many artists strongly felt quality being a priority. There's been stories I've read in Street Gang regarding merchandising and even on Jim's Red Book Blog there was this situation over the milk carton advertisement for Sesame Street with this creepy drawn Big Bird and it took awhile for the Milk Company to stop printing that image on the milk cartons.