Your Thoughts: Sesame Street 40 Years DVD Box Set

Phillip

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"Sesame Street – 40 Years of Sunny Days" will arrive on DVD this Tuesday November 10. Here's our review of this anticipated DVD box set. Check it out and let us know what you think.

Since most of us will be getting "Sesame Street – 40 Years of Sunny Days", we'd like to mention that if you order the release from Amazon using this link, that a small portion of your entire order will go to Muppet Central to help keep the site, forum and radio running smoothly. It's a great way to help MC and get a great price on the DVD with a low-price guarantee. We greatly appreciate each person that helps support MC by placing orders through Amazon links on our site.

Once you receive your "40 Years of Sunny Days" DVD box set, post here and let us know your thoughts on this anticipated release.
 

Phillip

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There was a glitch that prevented this thread from being open for posting. Sorry for the inconvenience. It's open now...
 

minor muppetz

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This is a good set. It's great to have a mini-version of the new 40th anniversary book, but I wish it was in paperback. It's hard to pull the disc packages and book out when all three are jammed inside.

It looks like Bein' Green must have had some restorations done. The coloring on Kermit looks much brighter than on Old School Vol. 1. The background in Mad looks more blue than the green it looked on youtube.

It's a shame that the pop-up facts aren't as frequent as on The Muppet Show: Season 1. There are quite a few segments (especially animated ones) that go by without pop-up facts.

Some inserts are edited slightly. The opening wide shot in Put Down the Duckie is cut (the same edit made when it was released in Sing Yourself Silly). The final line in "Invisible Ice Cream Cone" is cut. The "Newsflash" logo in both Sesame Street News segments are replaced with the late-1980s logo. Thankfully, the original Monsterpiece Theater title card is included in The King and I.

"Bring Your Own Can" is hilarious, though the title is misleading. It should have been given a title like "Cha-Cha Palace" or "Oscar at the Movies" or something. It has nothing to do with bringing cans. The behind-the-scenes footage is also cool, though it's a shame we don't see behind-the-scenes footage of the cast sticking their heads out of the can. Who's that performing the grouch (I suspect either Michael Earl or Brian Meehl)?

It's great that Martin Robinson didn't dub over Robert Payne's voice as Telly (and great that Kevin Clash didn't dub over Elmo's dialogue in "Me, Claudias"). That voice sounded a bit like Beauregard. It's a shame we also didn't get any of Brian Meehl's Telly performances.

I've noticed that many of the pop-up facts seem to be copying information from Sesame Street Unpaved and Muppet Wiki.
 

boostboy

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40th anniversary dvd set

I got up early this morning, I was all excited I couldn't wait to get to my nearest wal-mart to pick up my copy of this dvd set. I watched some of it today, it was a good one. will this ever be on tv? A look back on sesame street, I didn't like the street gang book. It was boring. I wonder if gorden is the same one from the very first episode it doesn't look anything like the very first episode. I really like muppet central. I print every blog out. Thank you for a great 40th anniversary,
boostboy
 

minor muppetz

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This set has two easter eggs. They can be viewed by clicking on the Sesame Street logo in the "Bonus Features" menu. They aren't that special... Disc 1 has a camera pan of the street (I think a portion of this appears in the A&E Biography), while the other disc has fast-motion footage of the street set being built. I would have rather the extra space be used to include a Jazz Numbers or Harvey Kneeslapper sketch. Or the Mystery Guets game show (which features three characetrs who don't appear at all on this set -- Guy Smiley, Sherlock Hemlock, and Don Music).

For those wondering, Put Down the Duckie is the celebrity version, while Monster in the Mirror isn't (I should have figured that when I saw the credits in the book and saw no trademark credits for The Simpsons).

Some comments and observations on some of the included material:
  • "If I Knew You Were Coming" - Is that the same background used for most season one sketches with plain-colored backgrounds? We see a few walls there, and most of the season one sketches in question just show one view of that background. And is that meant to be Ernie's kitchen (at least before season 9's "slice of pie" sketch)? And listen at the end... That's Happy Birthday playing!
  • I had wondered if Bienviendo Song would be sung by Luis, Maria, or Rafael, and was hoping it'd be Rafael (though it got me wondering, did Rafael, Molly, or Tom ever sing?). It's sung by Luis and Bob during a big street party, but Rafael does appear in the background.
  • The People in Your Neighborhood - I had hoped form the time this set was announced that the original version would be included. While it's not the original, it's still quite enjoyable. It's the only time I know of when Linda signed the song. I wonder how she knew to speed-up her sign language when the elevador operator sang "And an elevador operator is a perosn in your neighborhood"). When I saw the beginning I wondered if this would have been the Bruno sketch pictured on the cover (the walls look kind of similar).
  • When I saw a chapter referred to as "Clips from Hawaii", I expected this to at least be a few different clips as opposed to one (pretty much every street story represented is just one clip). After all, it's the only street story/ storyline to be titled "clips from..."
  • "Mr. Rogers Returns"... Title is sort of confusing when we not only don't see his earlier appearance in the episode (it's a shame we don't hear Michael Earl's Snuffy voice), but the clip shown doens't seem to reference him being there earlier.
  • "Bring Your Own Can Night"... At first I didn't notice that the humans were talking to Oscar from inside the can at the beginning, and when I first heard them yelling, I thought that was Oscar's pets, though I noticed that some sounded like some of the humans (I assumed it was just the actors doing voices). And on first viewing I thought Oscar was just trying to sneak them into the movies without paying, but noticed that they bugged Oscar into telling them how many there were. This confused me, until it hit me that maybe Oscar was trying to hide the embarrassment of going to the movies with them. It's a shame, though, that in Barkley's only appearance on this set, we only see his paw. I wodner if Brian Meehl performed the paw or if Caroll Spinney did it.
  • In the clip from Luis and Maria's wedding, is that Linda Bove singing when her thought's are heard, or was that somebody else?
  • I guess Telly's original spiral eyes were made from a seperate material, as opposed to beign drawn onto his eyes. I thought the whole eyes were able to spin.
  • When The Muppet Movie was made during a break during production of The Muppet Show's third season, Henson started making Kermit with a new material, with less noticable felt texturing. So I was surprised to see that a Kermit with more noticable felt was still used in season 11 (unless the DVD compilers made a mistake regarding the season "Kermit News: Foot Snuggies" was made).
  • Kermit News: Sleeping Beauty is the one where Prince Charming falls asleep. I was hoping for the other one. Oh, well.
  • "Bert and Ernie: Banana in Ear" is just part 1. I was hoping that parts 2 and especially the rarely-seen part 3 would be included (as far as I know, fans only have access to a swedish dub of that one).
  • Both News segments feature the later opening from the 1980s. I was hoping for the openings originally used in their respective airings (and sesamestreet.org shows the Sleeping Beauty sketch with the original opening). Thankfully, Super Grover and Monsterpeice Theater are both presented with their original openings.
  • While it's great that the "OOO-Klahoma" sketch is included (especially sicne the song wasn't written for SST... I assume the song is still under copyright), I would have preferred a different Forgetful Jones segment. I would have preferred one which also had Clementine and Buster, like the "brushing teeth" sketch. Or the song "Write It Down". Or Kermit's demonstration of using a telephone. I just don't think of this as one of Forgetful Jones' best sketches (I know others may agree). But I guess it is an important sketch... Either Kevin Clash or David Rudman said in an episode of The MuppetCast that Richard Hunt didn't really like Forgetful Jone suntil this sketch was made.
  • Sigh... "Talking Loud/ Talking Soft" is indeed a Roosevelt Franklin sketch that was released in Old School Vol. 2. Considering the small number of RF sketches available on DVD, I would have preferred a different one (but at least he's included at all on this set, since many other old school characters aren't). Like one of his season 1 appearances, or his "Same Soudn Brown" poem, or his story of two dogs and a bone.
  • I was surprised that the post-season 33 street stories were just presented as just one clip. I expected the whole stories to appear (I'm not complaining too much, since two of them can be bought commercially). I think the Texas Telly one is the only street story on the set to have multiple clips (I didn't pay too much attention to this DVDs presentation of "Fire on the Street").

Additionally, it's a shame that disc 2 hardly has any Ernie and Bert on it (it's pretty much jsut a Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures sketch, a cameo by Ernie in Sing, and backgroudn appearances in Gospel Alphabet). I've said it before but it's a shock that none of Jim Henson's last performances are on disc 2 (unless he performed the letter I or a right hand). Ditto for Richard Hunt's last performances (though I think he did perform one of the monsters in "Monster in the Mirror").

However, pretty much every Ernie and Bert sketch chosen is a true classic, with the possible exceptions of "If I Knew You Were Coming" (I guess that's the weakest link of Ernie sketches on this set) and the claymation sketch (are any individual ones considered "classic" by fans?). And pretty much every Grover sketch chosen is a true classic (with the possible exception of "Grover's Restaurant: Most Important Meal").

While the special features I have seen are good (it's a rare treat to see Carol Spinney in the Bruno costume without wearing the mask), if I was in charge I'd choose stuff like This Way to Sesame Street, A Walking Tour of Sesame Street, and Sesame Street Unpaved. I was surprised by how many of the featurettes are old (I expected the Jon Stone interview to be from the past, but not the Caroll Spinney interview). I wonder if any of these were tapped for any kind of documentary.

Another interesting observation: Despite this seasons focus on the environment, this DVD surprisingly does not have any environmental sketches. Interesting.
 

BIGMuppetFan

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I went after school to walmart and bought this DVD set, My Dad and I were watching this together and were laughing at all the great moments that we saw, I did not get through Disc 1 or look at disc 2 or any of the bonus features yet, It was just nice to Watch some of Disc 1 and see No Elmo moments, don't get me wrong I like Elmo but sometimes its nice to have a break and bring the classic back!

One thing to point out is, You might read what clips are on these Discs but you don't always know What version it is so its pretty nice when you think its going to be one version and you get another.

I heard People in your Neighborhood was on here and I thought it was one of the original ones but I got a pleasant surprise when I saw it was Bob and Linda doing sign language and it elevator operator and it cracked me and my Dad up to see Linda trying her hardest to keep up with the music and then she start laughing and giving up trying it was a fun.
treat

The Book is fun to look at, its tiding me over until Christmas when I am getting the Real 340 page Big Book with everything I ever wanted to know!

I have to say the Clip with Ernie and Cookie baking the Cake and Ernie the invisible Ice Cream had me Laughing! :stick_out_tongue:

Over all I am pleased at what I saw and I can't wait to watch more clips and memories and the Bonus features.:wisdom: :super:


Monsterpiece Theater, Cookie Has Pipe and googley Eyes!
 

ferrell

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This set was NOT a best of compilation but it was an overview of each season which left alot of stuff off HOWEVER Disc #1 didn't repeat alot of the stuff on "old School" 1&2,just a small handfull,which makes this disc very complimentary to the "OS" sets ,of course I could barely get through disc #2,it was very boring and seemed to have WAY too many celebrities and tv/movie parodies and not enough of the classic characters other then in the background,only 1 bert and ernie claymation skit and only one count skit,the grover stuff was cool from the early 90's but also they focused alot on the healthy cookie monster after the first half of the disc you see him a couple times but other then that he was background,the only celebrity thing that was somewhat enertaining was the robert denero one,the rest of them just parodied their own songs and for the most part were lame,I'm glad the second disc was only half the length of the first one because I barely made it through it as it was..there wasn't as much Elmos world as I thought there would be,which is a good thing,the mr noodles segment was kind of funny, the only real street scene where you see the humans interact with the muppets in a real way was the hurricane scene..as far as the bonus features both discs has some cool behind the scenes stuff..all in all I give the first disc a 4 star rating the second disc a 2 star rating..
 

JJandJanice

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I'm really loving this set so far. When I went in to Wal-Mart today, I was actually planning on buying the Disney Pixar Up DVD with digital download, but that costs a little more, so I'm saving up for that one at the moment. But I went ahead and treated myself to this set, glad I did. I'll make a list of postives and negitives here...

Postives
Rare SS clips
Lots of Bonus features
cool book

Negitives
Character mistake on the back of disc one, it calls Bruno-Biff.
It's a bit hard to get the discs and the book in the box set

Some of the clips though do feel a bit imcomplete like Big Bird's home being destory by the hurricane. It just seems a bit odd that it ends with Big Bird crying. I also found it funny in disc one where you see Elmo and yet he doesn't sound anything like Elmo.
I haven't been able to watch all of disc one or two yet, but I'm looking forward to it.
 

GonzoLeaper

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Yes! I was so excited to get this set from Wal-Mart the other day- even though it was late at night- I drove out to the 24 hour one to pick it up!
And from what I've seen of it so far, it's great! There's lots of good Sesame Street clips included from all 40 Seasons so far- and I like that. I would've liked to have seen more actual episodes- but I'm so glad that we at least got clips from some of the really important and memorable episodes of the 1980s- the Hawaii episodes, Mr. Hooper's death, Snuffy's reveal, Maria and Luis' wedding, and Gabi's birth. I only wish they could've included a scene from Miles' adoption. Of course, I would have really loved to have the actual full episode for those ones mentioned there, but oh well. Maybe in the future.
For now, I'm really happy with all the scenes selected and to see Kermit and Roosevelt Franklin and Dr. Nobel Price and other rarely seen characters on there.
And the behind the scenes stuff sounds great too. I'm looking forward to fully exploring this set soon.
And I love the book included- it's great to have a mini version of the huge-40th.-anniversary-book-that-just-came-out-recently- that-I-really-can't-afford-so-I-just-stayed-4-hours-in-Barnes&Noble-reading-so-I-didn't-have-to-buy-it! lol.
Hooray for 40 years of sunny days! Here's to many, many more! Everything's A-okay on this sunny day on Sesame Street!:wisdom::super::smile:
 

zns

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Definately going to buy this with whatever money I get from relatives this Christmas. Looks like Sesame Workshop is really keeping fans like us on the edge of our seats right now.
 
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