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.
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