why were there three gordons?

[BEAR]

Whenever the puppet builders rebuild characters, I wonder if they even try to make them look as close to the previous versions as possible. I think that the most obvious changes (like how orange oscar became green oscar, or gonzos appearance change between the first and second season of The muppet Show) were done on purpose. There was an interview with Jim Henson where Jim Henson said that it is really hard to duplicate a character that has already been made. I wonder if the anything muppets have consistant looks.

I wonder why it is easy for the looks to match when the muppets are in full-body shots. The puppets usually don't havew legs in close-up shots, and they are rebuilt whenever full-body shots are needed, but i think they look the same throughout those productions (for example, most of the main muppets are seen in full-body shots in The Great Muppet Caper, but I don't notice any change in appearance between the close-up shots and the full-body shots).

Oddly enough, with the exceptions of the orang eoscar and the first green oscar (which was shaggier), I can't seem to tell any differences between any of the oscar puppets. Is it really easy to remake oscar?

I've noticed slight differences with the Oscars. Mainly just the shade of green has altered and the size of head.
But this is all kinda similar to the characters you see walking around the Disney Parks. They have changed sooooo much in 50 years. The Mad Hatter even used to be a full costume with a huge weird shapen head. Now he is a face character.

 

[doctort13]

The original Oscar was orange, so I guess that counts as a bit of a change.

 

[BEAR]

Hmm...we oughtta change the title of this thread to Character Changes.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

It's not that unusual to have different actors playing the same characters on a television show with no explanation. Soap Operas do it all the time. Several sitcoms have done it as well, such as the famous change of Darrins on Bewitched, two Marilyns on the Munsters, two Chris Partridges on the Partridge Family and many other examples. Personally, I never thought that a change of actor always needed an explanation. It takes a little while to get used to, but then the new actor becomes the character. On Sesame Street, they probably figured that this was particularly non-problematic since new kids were always starting to watch the show while older kids (supposedly) stopped.

Yeah, I know what you mean after all, it's been done with Colleen on "Dr. Quinn," Morgan on "Boy Meets World" and Hariette on "Family Matters."

I think if I would have been around in the 70s and have seen Gordon changing, I would have been sort of freaked out.

For the most part I'm glad I grew up with only one Gordon. Just my opinion.

 

[Censored]

Whenever the puppet builders rebuild characters, I wonder if they even try to make them look as close to the previous versions as possible. I think that the most obvious changes (like how orange oscar became green oscar, or gonzos appearance change between the first and second season of The muppet Show) were done on purpose. There was an interview with Jim Henson where Jim Henson said that it is really hard to duplicate a character that has already been made. I wonder if the anything muppets have consistant looks.

I wonder why it is easy for the looks to match when the muppets are in full-body shots. The puppets usually don't havew legs in close-up shots, and they are rebuilt whenever full-body shots are needed, but i think they look the same throughout those productions (for example, most of the main muppets are seen in full-body shots in The Great Muppet Caper, but I don't notice any change in appearance between the close-up shots and the full-body shots).

Oddly enough, with the exceptions of the orang eoscar and the first green oscar (which was shaggier), I can't seem to tell any differences between any of the oscar puppets. Is it really easy to remake oscar?

With Ernie and Bert, there were definitely some deliberate changes, such as Bert's nose going from a long oval shape that went past his mouth to a short nose that was practically as round as Ernie's. Herry's nose changed a lot too, going from blue and furry to blue and smooth to purple and smooth to the mashed in type of nose that he has today.

My theory is that there's a tendency to make characters look "cutsie" after they've become popular, so all of the original exaggerations and funny features get modified until they all have "teddy bear like" faces.

 

[BEAR]

Yeah, I know what you mean after all, it's been done with Colleen on "Dr. Quinn," Morgan on "Boy Meets World" and Hariette on "Family Matters."

I think if I would have been around in the 70s and have seen Gordon changing, I would have been sort of freaked out.

For the most part I'm glad I grew up with only one Gordon. Just my opinion.

Also the mother on Fresh Prince. There are also cases (usually with guest stars) where an actor will play a different character every time they appear on the same show.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Yeah. I see what you mean. I also find it interesting that Susan is the only one in Gordon's family who has always been played by the same person. I've been thinking about that so I thought I'd mention it here.

 

[BEAR]

Yeah. I see what you mean. I also find it interesting that Susan is the only one in Gordon's family who has always been played by the same person. I've been thinking about that so I thought I'd mention it here.

Yeah, well Susan (Loretta Long) and Bob (Bob McGrath) are the only actors now that have been on the show since its inception in 1969.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

That's true and I guess that's why you don't see Susan around quite as much as before. I guess the actress is pursuing other projects but still shows up on "Sesame Street" when she can. Unlike Bob, who's still on the show as much as possible. It's great that both of them are still around.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

huuum. haven't noticed to much differences in E&B except Ernie had a different shirt the 1st season.

Sorry. I haven't noticed your post before, but I thought I'd comment here. I haven't really noticed much of a difference in the early Bert and Ernie either considering pictures I've seen and stuff like that. I think it's just something you don't realize unless you think about it. I do notice a bit of a difference in the way Jim's Ernie and Steve's Ernie look. I've noticed Jim's Ernie's hair was quite a bit thicker where Steve's has thinner hair and is sort of a brighter orange. Just thought I'd mention that.