Your Thoughts: Sesame Street 40 Years DVD Box Set

[minor muppetz]

Though, since it's been forever since I've seen the celebrity version of "Monster in the Mirror," I kinda wanted that version, instead.

Yeah, I was hoping for that one. In my mind, the set should have either had celebrity versions of both Put Down the Duckie and Monster in the Mirror, or it should have just had the original celebrity-free edits of both (the celebrity version of Put Down the Duckei was released on two previous videos, but not the version without celebrities, except mayeb on a Shalom Sesame release). I'm convicned that Sesame Workshop couldn't clear up the appearance of the Simpsons or maybe some other celebrity/celebrities. But I don't know for sure.

But you can watch the celebrity version at both sesamestreet.org and hulu. sesamestreet.org doesn't have any title differences between the celebrity and non-celebrity versions, but I think the description for the celebrity one does mention celebrities (and if in doubt you can make a search for one of the featured celebrities and it'll show up). At Hulu the main image used shows several celebrities (I can't remember whetehr it's listed under "Muppets" or "celebrities").

 

[minor muppetz]

One thing that I noticed is that while the set includes stuff that was released on the ld School sets a few years ago, it doesn't really have anything that was released on DVD this year (unless you count the Fairy Shoe Person, which was released on Elmo and Friends: The Magical Quest, which was released on the same day as this). I guess I should be thankful, though I'd rather see repeats of more recent stuff on DVD than classic material that's been on DVD. But some of the stuff that was released on DVD this year on other releases (Furry Happy Monsters in Elmo Loves You, Sleep! in Bedtime for Elmo) would have been worthy of inclusion. Another somewhat interesting fact is that hardly anything that was included on long out-of-print videos that never got DVD releases were included, with the main exception of African Alphabet, which was on The Best of Kermit on Sesame Street.

 

[minor muppetz]

There's a joke in "The People in Your Neighborhood" that I don't quite get. When Bob meets the pharmacist, he asks, and I could be wrong with the spelling, "Are you a piskal packing mama?" I don't get this joke... can somebody explain it to me?

 

[Oscarfan]

It's not "peskal", it's "pestle". It's a pun on the phrase "pistol-packin' mama". A pestle is used to grind up things, including things for medicine.

 

[zns]

I actually got this for Christmas, even though I didn't ask for it. I can't wait to start watching it. Whoopie!

 

[minor muppetz]

It's not "peskal", it's "pestle". It's a pun on the phrase "pistol-packin' mama". A pestle is used to grind up things, including things for medicine.

Hmm, well, I never heard of the term. I hope that's not why the clip was such a rarity until now.

 

[D'Snowth]

With the thanks of the $20 gift card my aunt and uncle gave me (and a little extra cash I just happened to have), I got my hands on a copy of the 40 Years DVD set!

I got finished watching disc one, and I'll probably watch disc two tomorrow when I won't be preoccupied with other things like my Saturday night IM rituals, lol.

Like others have said, I like how the content is set up - it's almost as if you're watching a clip show with no interruptions, and they certainly had great moments, a lot of which I had seen, some of which I actually hadn't, but really enjoyed (like all of Luis and Maria's wedding or the celebrity version of "Put Down the Ducky"). The behind the street featurette was really nice as well, great archival interviews with Jon Stone, Caroll Spinney, and it was interestingly fun to watch Cheryl Blaylock transfer the large lavendar AM from a woman to Dr. Nobel Price. The behind-the-scenes footage was really fun as well, especially with Jerry and Richard taping the featured Two-Headed Monster telephone skit. Tomorrow, I think I will watch the clips again with the "Fun Facts" mode on; I'm assuming this is similar to the Muppet Morsels of TMS Season One.

That said and done, I'm rully digging this set thus far, with only one minor quibble... I sure do wish Mr. Hooper would've kept a shirt on...

 

[D'Snowth]

OMG the new Zoe really IS hideous! ! !

Lol, I mean I knew that before hand, but this was really the first time I got a good look of her on a TV screen, interacting with other characters... she's just... ugh... poor Zoe... poor Fran... poor everybody...

Anyway, yeah, I just got finished watching disc two, and first thing's first, I was disappointed that they didn't use the celebrity version of "Monster in the Mirror"... that seemed a little odd to me, because they used the celebrity version of "Put Down the Ducky", and a celebrity version of "Sing", so to NOT use the celebrity version of "Monster in the Mirror" on this set, was more than a minor quibble... but I'll live.

As for the content, a lot of this stuff I remember, because 1989 - 2009 is my era since I was born in 89, lol. So, this was more of an actual trip down memory lane, because of lot of this I saw growing up (more so than repeats of the content from disc one).

The behind the street footage for disc two was a lot better than disc one, because we're treated to more of actual behind-the-scenes footage and less interviews (save for the ending interview with Jim which was really great to watch). It was also interesting to watch how Abby was born from conceptual designs to her finalized puppet.

I have a question for others - did anyone else encounter this little glitch: disc one has the pop-up facts automatically turned off, but disc two seems to have the pop-up facts automatically turned on... did this happen with your copies?

 

[dwayne1115]

I got the set last night and I loved it. I really wish we could have seen all of the strom, and the fire and Mr. Hooper's death, but the parts that where shown really touched my heart.
I love when Sesame Street dives into the harder subjects that youngsters have to deal with. To me it makes a Muppet like Elmo more likeable, when we see that he is not so one dimintional.

Ernie and Bert are really the best comic duo out there hands down!

You could really see how David was slowly starting to slip away, and you could tell he was gaining a lot of weight as well. Northern could have still been on Sesame I think, but life has it's ways.

I also want to say the interview with Jim really touched my heart, when he said he loved doing the show and would do the show as long as it lasted or as long as they wanted him.

I miss Lidia! I would have loved to see her and Bob get maried!

 

[Oscarfan]

I've only watched a few select segments, but as an overall, this DVD is awesome! My only problem: I don't really like that the photos appear while the segment starts, so we don't get to the first few seconds of them.