Your Thoughts: Sesame Street 40 Years DVD Box Set

[minor muppetz]

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.

Me, neither. I wonder if that should count the segments as being "edited" or not.

 

[Bert&ErnieRule]

40th Anniversary DVD Set

I think SW did a great job of going through the archives and picking out the best of the best of each season, especially on the first disc. I just wonder why we didn't get to see Big Bird's first appearance, the morphing alphabet (seen at the end of Learning About Letters), Stevie Wonder's performance of "Superstition"), Ernie & Bert's visit to Egypt, the late 80s version of "Everybody Sleeps" (I feel sorry for the guy that is sleeping on the tires - that's gotta be uncomfortable) and the sparkler alphabet.

As for the second disc: how could they leave out Ernie singing "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon," the original "We are All Earthlings," Little Richard singing about Rosita, "Down Below the Street" by Take6, the celebrity version of "Dance Myself to Sleep," Linda Rondstadt's charro song, and "This is The Street We Live On?"

I DID enjoy seeing Garth Brooks in the celebrity version of "Sing." He's the only country music singer I ever liked.

 

[minor muppetz]

I think SW did a great job of going through the archives and picking out the best of the best of each season, especially on the first disc. I just wonder why we didn't get to see Big Bird's first appearance, the morphing alphabet (seen at the end of Learning About Letters), Stevie Wonder's performance of "Superstition"), Ernie & Bert's visit to Egypt, the late 80s version of "Everybody Sleeps" (I feel sorry for the guy that is sleeping on the tires - that's gotta be uncomfortable) and the sparkler alphabet.

As for the second disc: how could they leave out Ernie singing "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon," the original "We are All Earthlings," Little Richard singing about Rosita, "Down Below the Street" by Take6, the celebrity version of "Dance Myself to Sleep," Linda Rondstadt's charro song, and "This is The Street We Live On?"

For disc 2, are you referring to Ernie's duet with Aaron Neville on Don't Want to Live on the Moon, or the original version? Because the original is from the 1980s, and wouldn't belong on disc 2. But disc 2 sure does have a big lack of Bert and Ernie. Just them in clay form and a few cameos/ background appearances and that's it. It would have been great for the set to have had Jim Henson's last performance as Ernie, or Steve Whitmire's first performance as Ernie, or Things That I Remember, or maybe Eric Jacobson's first performance as Bert.

 

[Bert&ErnieRule]

I think "The King of Eight" and "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon" should have been on disc 1, and I agree with you, minormupettz on the second disc. Here's some more stuff that should have made it on Disc 2

- "I Think That It is Wonderful" (Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, Herry Monster and Prarie Dawn)
- Bert & Ernie skit where Ernie plays drums and Bert knocks the door
- "Do De Rubber Duck"
- "Things That I Remember"

 

[minor muppetz]

I think "The King of Eight" and "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon" should have been on disc 1, and I agree with you, minormupettz on the second disc.

The King of Eight was one of ten segments nominated for voting on amazon back in april 2009. The winning segment was "Bert & Ernie: String Tied", the clip listed as "fan favorite".

But at least both segments can be found on other DVDs. King of Eight is on quite a few DVDs (Old School Vol. 1, Learnign About Numbers, The Great Number Game), while I Don't Want to Live on the Moon is on the 25th annviersary DVD (as well as the long out-of-print Best of Ernie and Bert, which has never been released on DVD).

 

[D'Snowth]

Another little error that just crossed my mind is the mention that Cookie Monster doesn't have a hole in his mouth.

Maybe he doesn't NOW, but he sure did USED to - Christmas Eve on Sesame Street is a prime example of that, as we watch him eat a pencil, later a typewriter (with the ribbon dangling from his throat), and later still a telephone (with the cord from the receiver to the base from inside his mouth).

 

[minor muppetz]

I've heard that distribution has now switched from Genius to Warner Home Video, and now the book is in paperback (it should have been this way in the first place). I've seen copies in stores today and when looking at the side, sometimes it looks like there's no book, and others it can be seen. I guess the company's not consistient on which side the book is presented.

 

[minor muppetz]

I think I have mentioned how disapointing the pop-up facts are, and I've seen others mention their disapointment with them at tough pigs as well, and I have been thinking... Wouldn't it have been great if they at least had the pop-up facts provide episode numbers for the clips that came from street stories? It would be great to know the episode number for Telly's first appearance (the CTW archives do have a planning script for his debut episode, but at Muppet Wiki they say that the script found there isn't good enough to constitute an episode page; it mentions that changes would be made... And somebody said that the CTW Archives don't have program summaries for that episode number).

Obviously, whoever was in charge of the facts looked at Sesame Street Unpaved and Muppet Wiki, and hardly any Sesame Workshop documents. I guess checking those would be easier than checking company files... But it's a shame that they didn't even use a draft of the 40th anniversary book for certain facts. It would have been great to see pop-up facts on the Henson films and Mad Painter and maybe learn what seasons exactly introduced Monsterpiece Theater and Sesame Street News.

 

[D'Snowth]

Someone previously mentioned disappointment about how selective the clip from the hurricane episode was (I wasn't fond of the music that was added either), I thought I'd also add the selectiveness of the Hooper's Store fire clip as well - it starts up after the firefighters had put it out, so we really didn't get to see how the fire got started, and Maria helped rush Elmo out of the store to call 911, while Alan grabbed the etinguisher, or even the fire department arriving, while we watch smoke billow out of the windows.

 

[D'Snowth]

Sorry for double posting, but I was wondering if anyone could do me a favor...

Seeing that my D drive doesn't work anymore, could anyone possibly screencap the behind the street footage of the Friendship Song with Big Bird and Madeline Kahn, with the puppeteers working the Canary Brothers above them? Possibly as jpeg?