Your Thoughts: Sesame Street 50 Years and Counting DVD Set

[Blue Frackle]

For the amount of people saying to temper your expectations, I feel like this was a let down in regards to stuff we would actually care about. To some random person picking it up at the store, it's probably nice though.

 

[MuppetSpot]

I might pick it up, and do my own review however, there will be obviously some comparisons to the 40th anniversary set

 

[hooperfan]

Hate to sound like an ungrateful fan, but it seems to have very little from the first 20 years. And those that are featured, it's only a few sporadic clips. Looks like no "new" footage of Mr. Hooper, David, Olivia, and a lot of the other cast members. In comparison, the 40 Years release seemed to really bring on some gold.

But that's just my 2 cents. I will still purchase it of course, but it seems like it didn't delve deep at all

 

[D'Snowth]

So, in other words, the format of this is more-or-less like the 40 years set?

 

[datman24]

*waits patiently for someone to throw a temper tantrum because they did not get the DVD set that they hoped for*

 

[DePingPong]

I wasn't expecting anything rare, but I was expecting things that haven't been released before or things we haven't seen. Disappointed but I'm still gonna get it for the collection.

 

[minor muppetz]

The review says to think of this set more like a sampler than a full course meal. Couldn't you say the same about most of the other collectors-market Sesame releases?

It's said in the interview that there should have been a Mr. Hooper-focused street story. While the set lacks one, Mr. Hooper does appear at the end of "Somebody Come and Play", and appears in animated form in "I Can Remember" (which is a real cool segment... I can see why they've supposedly decided to move it from season 49 to 50).

I've noticed that Don Music's "Twinkle Twinkle" has a little extra footage at the end then I'm used to, I guess a post-roll. I also feel like The Subway ends a little longer than usual, maybe it's just me.

I feel like the order could have been better in some cases. For example, they should have played Brad's bath, "I Like to Sing", and "Do De Rubber Duck" back to back to back.

I suppose the song is pretty overplayed, but if the original version had been on the DVD it would've been a nice way to not only include a famous song, but to also give the fans something rare.

Of course this set does include the original C is for Cookie, which has been released on video more times than Rubber Duckie. C is for Cookie has been released on video seven times, plus as part of a mash-up of the various versions of the song. The season two Rubber Duckie has only been released on video four times, plus a clip as part of a montage of Rubber Duckie songs.

It would have been cool (maybe for the next collectors/big anniversary release) if all the best-known songs were included but they weren't the most iconic "go to" versions of the songs. Like the season 1 or 30 version of Rubber Duckie, or the season 30 C is for Cookie.

I saw Joe say on the Tough Pigs forum that some of the content wasn't selected by him. I've suspected Joe wasn't the only one involved, but I wonder if a lot of plans were changed after it was announced. He said there'd be some overlap with the Old School and 40 Years of Sunny Days sets, but it seems like it includes a lot more repeats from those than I would have expected. And there's also a lot of repeats from other video releases (outside of those sets), though interestingly a lot of it is stuff I would have included on the 40th anniversary set (some of it stuff that was already on video pre-2009, some that first came to video in the time between the 40th and 50th anniversary sets).

I am at a loss on the inclusion of Song of One - on one hand, it was among the big holy grails of rare Sesame Street clips, and it is genuinely one of my favorite Baker films, but on the other, it has been released by now, and I would have preferred a previously-unreleased baker clip. Could this one have been included because of the outtakes (I'm not sure if all the outtakes are just from the One segment or multiple segments). On a similar note, all of the film/animation segments come from the first 12 seasons, and all have been included in either an Old School set or 40 Years of Sunny Days (unless you count the original version of Number Three Ball Film as different). To bad there's no Jazz Numbers, Mad Painter, Geometry of Circles, Teeny Little Superguy, or Fay Family. In fact, the majority of clips seem to feature the same main characters, even most of the ones with more "old school-era" characters co-star one of the more current main characters.

Still, there is a lot to like. I feel the version of "I Love Trash" from 1911 as a big treat (and not just for the sake of a pun).

The upcoming 50th anniversary special will be getting a DVD release. Maybe that will have more anniversary-worthy bonus features, or maybe even some great bonus clips that didn't make the cut (though it seems like Sesame releases from the last few years haven't been having bonus clips besides a street story or Elmo's World).

 

[Phillip]

Some interesting numbers...

Here is an overview of songs and sketches from Disc 1 broken down by decade according to their original broadcast dates.

1. 1960s - 1 segment - 1.33%
2. 1970s - 31 segments - 41.33%
3. 1980s - 23 segments - 30.67%
4. 1990s - 4 segments - 5.33%
5. 2000s - 5 segments - 6.67%
6. 2010s - 11 segments - 14.67%

And here is an overview of the episodes from Disc 2 broken down by decade according to their original broadcast dates.

1. 1960s - 0 episodes - 0%
2. 1970s - 0 episodes - 0%
3. 1980s - 4 episodes - 44.44%
4. 1990s - 2 episodes - 22.22%
5. 2000s - 1 episode - 11.11%
6. 2010s - 2 episodes - 22.22%

 

[minor muppetz]

Some interesting numbers...

Here is an overview of songs and sketches from Disc 1 broken down by decade according to their original broadcast dates.

1. 1960s - 1 segment - 1.33%
2. 1970s - 31 segments - 41.33%
3. 1980s - 23 segments - 30.67%
4. 1990s - 4 segments - 5.33%
5. 2000s - 5 segments - 6.67%
6. 2010s - 11 segments - 14.67%

And here is an overview of the episodes from Disc 2 broken down by decade according to their original broadcast dates.

1. 1960s - 0 episodes - 0%
2. 1970s - 0 episodes - 0%
3. 1980s - 4 episodes - 44.44%
4. 1990s - 2 episodes - 22.22%
5. 2000s - 1 episode - 11.11%
6. 2010s - 2 episodes - 22.22%

I'd been thinking about that as well. Though I put 1969 with the 1970s.

Seems like most of the celebrity guests appeared in widescreen HD segments. The only ones in fullframe segments, not counting street stories, are Madeline Kahn, Patti LeBelle, and REM.

So, in other words, the format of this is more-or-less like the 40 years set?

I don't think so. They're not presented chronologically, year-by-year, or even by decade. In terms of repeats, I have counted only five segments (counting Put Down the Duckie, which is the original celebrity-free version) and four street scenes. I feel that was a lot more collectors-friendly.

I wonder if pre-2008 clips are in high definition. I feel like that was done with the recent release Awesome Alphabet Collection, but even without HD, I noticed that when Sesame Workshop makes old clips officially available, they usually look really great, and even rare clips that have surfaced from the vaults (that weren't intended to be seen by the general public) look great, especially clips from the '80s and '90s (I feel like they have a "crisp" bright picture). Here, they look good, decent, but not as great (though "Everyone Likes Ice Cream" looks great, I think it looked that way when clips were in I Am Big Bird). I feel like "Gordon and Snuffy run the marathon" doesn't look as great as on Old School Volume 3 (I feel like it had a blue tint there and a green tint here), though "Remembering Mr. Hooper" does look great.

Everyone Likes Ice Cream has the "ya sissy" line cut. Actually, it sounds like it's (badly) replaced with "birdies". I've watched the clip online and thought it was just muted. Though in the last year, I learned that they censored the line in broadcasts after season one, the previously-available censored version was from a Noggin broadcast of a first season episode, which likely edited it differently than how CTW edited it in the past.

With the Forgetful Jones scene from episode 1839 excluded, I was expecting the scene with Jason Kingsley to also be edited (as it was on Noggin, the official upload of the street story, and Old School Volume 3), but lo and behold, it actually is included! A new screenshot to put on the wiki!

 

[wiley207]

I like how one of the categories was for minor/obscure Muppets.
But I was surprised by how the "Monsterpiece Theater" segment "Little House on the Prairie" had the "green curtain" intro, from what I heard, rather than the "Library" intro it originally had (as it was produced for Season 25.) Maybe they used that print because of its' shorter length (as we know how long the "Library" intro is.) And I was also surprised that they used the 90s edited version of the "Rapunzel" News Flash, but I guess this was also aimed with young kids in mind, unlike "Old School Volume 1" including the original unedited 1972 version (as THAT set was aimed at Gen-Xers who grew up with that era of "Sesame Street", and other teen-to-adult fans of classic Sesame/Muppet material.)
But regardless, it's amazing how there's a lot more old-school material than new!