What sketches scared you as a kid?

[Piggy The Frog]

All I remember about this sketch is that it involved three people (Gordon was definitely one of them, but I can't remember the other two). They were wearing Victorian era clothing and each doing something different in fast-forward. I seem to remember someone eating a lot and then getting fatter. I know this is vague, but all I know is that it terrified me when I was younger. Weird, since I like watching things on fast-forward now!

 

[Plaid Fraggle]

Man, there is no way I'm looking through all 52 pages of this thread, but among the ones that scared me were the Bert and Ernie in Egypt one (though I simultaneously thought that one was cool at the same time), and absolutely ALL the sketches with Cecille the singin' stop-motion ball with the gigantic mouth.

And I was also scared of Kermit. But that's another story. And I've come a long way there

 

[Frodis]

One of the creepiest segments that I remember was where David is dressed as a snake charmer with a turban and all. He is sitting Indian-style between two wicker baskets. The background is that typical gray one they used for many non-street segments. He starts playing some type of musical instrument, like a clarinet, and this haunting Middle Eastern music plays while out of the left basket appears an animated wiggly number 1 and from the right basket a similar number 2. Once the number 12 fully emerges, David simply says "Twelve!". I believe he goes back to playing his music, while slowly he disappears/fades away and is replaced by some type of painting of an outdoor scene with cows and a farmhouse. The other disturbing aspect is that David just sits there staring at the screen without speaking, but for that one line. Hopefully, one day this clip will surface as it was originally a mid 70's clip that was shown well into the 80's.

 

[Mokeystar]

One of the creepiest segments that I remember was where David is dressed as a snake charmer with a turban and all. He is sitting Indian-style between two wicker baskets. The background is that typical gray one they used for many non-street segments. He starts playing some type of musical instrument, like a clarinet, and this haunting Middle Eastern music plays while out of the left basket appears an animated wiggly number 1 and from the right basket a similar number 2. Once the number 12 fully emerges, David simply says "Twelve!". I believe he goes back to playing his music, while slowly he disappears/fades away and is replaced by some type of painting of an outdoor scene with cows and a farmhouse. The other disturbing aspect is that David just sits there staring at the screen without speaking, but for that one line. Hopefully, one day this clip will surface as it was originally a mid 70's clip that was shown well into the 80's.

Frodis? As in "I don't wanna fight any more.....I just want to lay down in the grass and be cool" Frodis? If so, you've got an old school Sesame/Monkee freak here, too.

Man, that clip FREAKED me out as a kid. I can still hear that tune in my head to this day. The whole clip was freaky. From David's deadpan creepy expression (remember how he just said "12" in that monotone voice?) to the end when the scene faded into the multicolor-changing wiggling 12 that seemed to go on and on forever. I would try to get that tune out of my head each time I saw that clip, but even 35 or so years later, I still remember it. Didn't the background picture change color, too when David faded out? I do remember the scene having cows and such, like a village scene. I kind of remember it looking almost like a fabric pattern or something. Anyway, I'm sure one of these days, it will show up as everything tends to do.

 

[Frodis]

Frodis? As in "I don't wanna fight any more.....I just want to lay down in the grass and be cool" Frodis? If so, you've got an old school Sesame/Monkee freak here, too.

Man, that clip FREAKED me out as a kid. I can still hear that tune in my head to this day. The whole clip was freaky. From David's deadpan creepy expression (remember how he just said "12" in that monotone voice?) to the end when the scene faded into the multicolor-changing wiggling 12 that seemed to go on and on forever. I would try to get that tune out of my head each time I saw that clip, but even 35 or so years later, I still remember it. Didn't the background picture change color, too when David faded out? I do remember the scene having cows and such, like a village scene. I kind of remember it looking almost like a fabric pattern or something. Anyway, I'm sure one of these days, it will show up as everything tends to do.

Yeah, that's the Frodis that I'm referring to. Got my tickets to their show next month. I remember this swami clip being rather lengthy. I also seem to remember that when David wasn't playing his instrument, there was some type of ambiance noises, maybe cymbals chiming, in the background. I think David's outfit was a combination of gold and red colors, although that memory is a bit fuzzy. All I know is that it was pretty creepy and after all these years, it's still one of the first things that come to mind when I think of old school Sesame Street. Hope I can see it again (and be disturbed by it again) someday. By the way, I find it interesting that the animated clip of the 4 armed swami counting to twenty also has him morphing into flowers, and in the bit with David, he morphs into some type of outdoor scene. Is that a common thing for a swami to do? heh.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Hey Frodis! I see you hooked up with my best friend/fellow Monkee freak Mokeystar!(One tangent here, I never thought I'd see the day Mike Nesmith would put on his wool hat and call himself a Monkee again, but there you are).

The David/12 clip didn't scare me, it actually had me mesmerized (maybe the music almost hypnotized me?) but what used to scare me more was that it usually segued into the clip of the 12 rocks in the desert (the little rock that rolls out, sprouts a smiley face, says "Twelve" and sinks into the ground actually freaked ME out).

You'd have to go back a number of pages on this thread to my story involving the Scanimate/floating face 10 clip, and a can of paint. It's one for the ages. Ask Mokeystar, she'll be the first to tell you.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's amazing how so many clips on Sesame Street gave us psychotic nightmares, yet a clip that scared you might not scare me, and vice versa. And no matter how often we got the pants scared off us, we were right back there ready to watch the next day. We just kept coming back for more, scary bits and all. This would make a great college thesis for somebody.

 

[Mokeystar]

Yeah, that's the Frodis that I'm referring to. Got my tickets to their show next month. I remember this swami clip being rather lengthy. I also seem to remember that when David wasn't playing his instrument, there was some type of ambiance noises, maybe cymbals chiming, in the background. I think David's outfit was a combination of gold and red colors, although that memory is a bit fuzzy. All I know is that it was pretty creepy and after all these years, it's still one of the first things that come to mind when I think of old school Sesame Street. Hope I can see it again (and be disturbed by it again) someday. By the way, I find it interesting that the animated clip of the 4 armed swami counting to twenty also has him morphing into flowers, and in the bit with David, he morphs into some type of outdoor scene. Is that a common thing for a swami to do? heh.

I, myself, am deeply jealous. I've seen the 3-kees many times over the years, but never with Nez. I hope you have a blast!
You inspired me to google "morphing swamis" to see if there's a common pattern, however I'm sad to report they only morph on Sesame Street. It would be a great name for a band, though. I really wish I could remember more about the clip, but I do know it seemed to go on and on forever. (It's amazing how they had our attention back then!) It seemed like in that era, they were really into the wiggling numbers, too. (Refer to the end of the clip of Cookie Monster and Count where they count cookies. There you'll find a wiggly, color changing seven, I believe.)

 

[Mokeystar]

Hey Frodis! I see you hooked up with my best friend/fellow Monkee freak Mokeystar!(One tangent here, I never thought I'd see the day Mike Nesmith would put on his wool hat and call himself a Monkee again, but there you are).

The David/12 clip didn't scare me, it actually had me mesmerized (maybe the music almost hypnotized me?) but what used to scare me more was that it usually segued into the clip of the 12 rocks in the desert (the little rock that rolls out, sprouts a smiley face, says "Twelve" and sinks into the ground actually freaked ME out).

You'd have to go back a number of pages on this thread to my story involving the Scanimate/floating face 10 clip, and a can of paint. It's one for the ages. Ask Mokeystar, she'll be the first to tell you.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's amazing how so many clips on Sesame Street gave us psychotic nightmares, yet a clip that scared you might not scare me, and vice versa. And no matter how often we got the pants scared off us, we were right back there ready to watch the next day. We just kept coming back for more, scary bits and all. This would make a great college thesis for somebody.

"Hook up"? Huh. Okay, anyway, I LOVED the 12 rocks clip, and especially the little guy who would pop in and say "12"! It was so artsy. However, as we've discussed in the past, we always felt nervous when certain numbers or letters were featured because we KNEW they'd show certain clips. If, back in the 70s, you saw the girl pumping up the letter S or saw the animated clip with the guy who screams "STOP!" at the end, you just knew Sammy the Snake (my biggest childhood nightmare behind Beautiful Day) was just around the corner. They would always show the "B" clip with Kermit and B-Day after "Jack and the land of B" clip. An-tic-i-pa-tion gave us heart palpitations but kept us coming back for more. I don't remember what was right before "Nobody" would come on. He was kinda random.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's amazing how so many clips on Sesame Street gave us psychotic nightmares, yet a clip that scared you might not scare me, and vice versa. And no matter how often we got the pants scared off us, we were right back there ready to watch the next day. We just kept coming back for more, scary bits and all. This would make a great college thesis for somebody.

Yeah I mean every single day I knew Sesame Street was going to scare me at some point and I was always on guard for it, but at the same time I never wanted to stop watching it, lol.

I think that kind of thing happens a lot with more (for lack of a better word) "crude" forms of animation or live action camera work. There's just this inherent roughness that can unintentionally cause unnatural, unsettling images.

Early Sesame Street cartoons also had a "Yellow Submarine"-esque look to them where humans have very bizarre movements and unusually long limbs which have a bit of the uncanny valley effect.

 

[Drtooth]

Yeah I mean every single day I knew Sesame Street was going to scare me at some point and I was always on guard for it, but at the same time I never wanted to stop watching it, lol.

I was more annoyed by the boring stuff (instrumental classic music set to pictures of pretty flowers... It's relax-o-vision, and it's supposed to be relaxing, but it got me more worked up waiting for it to be over). But for the longest time, I almost swore the horrifying bird animation was either some sort of I dreamed it moment. Nothing could be that freaky and have a purpose. Add to the fact I only saw it once when I was a kid, and never saw it again. Almost seemed like a hallucination.

While I can't justly remember if this skit scared me (I don't think it did), there was something about it that disturbed me on some level:

It's probably the pug fugly animation and the REALLY fug pugly expression on the kid at the end.