Your Thoughts: Sesame Street Old School DVD

[Zet]

Hi all,
Do the discs credits persons responsible for individual segments, like who performed the song for the capital I animation?

 

[minor muppetz]

Someone on the Square One TV message board said that there's no sound on the right channel in that segment.

What does that mean? What's "right channel"?

 

[Ziffel]

My copy won't reach me until another 3 or 4 weeks. I pre-ordered it with TEC season 2 from Amazon and opted to have them delivered together in November (when TEC 2 comes out) to save on shipping. Now I'm paying the price of waiting an extra month or so, though! It'll be great when I get them and can enjoy those five full episodes of old SS.

 

[mjb1124]

What does that mean? What's "right channel"?

It means that if you have a stereo TV, the sound will only come through on the right speaker. It might be silent for you because the left channel on your TV doesn't work, or because you have a mono TV, or something. I'm not an expert on these types of things.

 

[Censored]

I must point out something. I never said that the Counter of Numbers sketch included that ending in the review. Phillip added that when he edited it. I'm of the belief that that ending is urban legend, so I didn't mention it as being edited.




Greg

Trust me, it's no urban legend. It absolutely DID end that way. I remember it clearly from when I was a kid. Bert banged his head and ran into the camera.

 

[minor muppetz]

It means that if you have a stereo TV, the sound will only come through on the right speaker. It might be silent for you because the left channel on your TV doesn't work, or because you have a mono TV, or something. I'm not an expert on these types of things.

I watch my DVDs on my computer. My parents have a DVD player connected to a TV, but I don't usually watch that TV (unless I am watching something that my parents are also watching).

 

[JoeyMuppet]

I watch my DVDs on my computer. My parents have a DVD player connected to a TV, but I don't usually watch that TV (unless I am watching something that my parents are also watching).

I do the same thing.

 

[minor muppetz]

And now, ladies and gentlemen, her eis my review of disc three.

Episode 406: I really liked the opening sequence where the cast said the letters that their names began with, forming the alphabet. I wouldn't be surprised if this scene was reused as an insert in other episodes (the same could be said about many of the street scenes from these episodes). I remember seeing the D film about various D jobs a long time ago, but I couldn't remember if that was from Sesame Street or Eureeka's Castle. I also liked The Count and Sam the Robots first appearances. I also liked Simon Soundman's song (does anybody know the official title of that song?). This episode also had a skit that I forgot about untill I saw it included, and then I remembered it before it ended (I am referring to the skit with a 0 drill sergeant giving roll call to the numbers 1 through 10).
Season 4 Classic Cuts: These were great.
Newsflash - Rupunzel: I think it's strange that the chapter stop refers to it as Kermit News instead of Sesame Street News. Anyway, this is one of my favorite News skits. Since it was already available on the Big Bird's Story Time DVD, I would have preferred another early news segment, such as Kermit interviewing Cinderella and Prince Charming at the ball, The Count counting the three little pigs, or Kermit's interview with The Pied Piper. However, it is really good to see this one uncut on DVD (Big Bird's Story Time edited the opening logo and the ending). It's funny how Prince Charming behaved at the end, and I don't think Sesame Workshop would approve of a skit like this for newer episodes.
Bread, Milk, and Butter: A good classic. I thought the kid in this skit was a boy, but it's clearly a girl.
Lost Paper Clips: Another good one. It feels weird to see Bert with John John (most anniversary specials and documentaries seem to prefer John John with Grover or Herry). I thought I had read about a skit whereJohn John appeared with Bert and Sherlock Hemlock, and wondered if this was it, but I guess it's not.
Witches Cooperate: I had read about this skit, but I don't remember seeing it (untill now).
The Song of the Count: I guess this was The Count's trademark song before The Batty Bat. I really like the green ligthing effect at the beginning.
Bert's Bust: one of the few skits in my many wishlists to have actually been included as a bonus skit. This skit is ong overdue on video or DVD. One thing that I noticed when watchign this on DVD is the small pin on the back of Bert's nose (watch for it when Ernie puts it on the bust).
First and Last with Beetle Bailey: a good skit, though not the best. It's weird that a copyright credit is shown at the end of the skit. Did other SS skits have copyright credits within the segents?
Season 4 Closing Credits Crawl: The best closing credits crawl on the set. Back when the closing changed in the early 1990s I thoguht that was the best closing, but this one tops it. Too bad this closing isn't still used. Characters could have been replaced for later closings as new characters were added and old ones were dropped. It's great to see Herbert Birdsfoot and Proffessor Hastings illustrated in the closing. Does this mena they were still being used at this point, or that their skits were still beign shown regularly?
Episode 536: This episode has a lot of skits that I've seen many times, especially recently: How Do You Do?, Doin' the Pigeon, Kermit and a girl reciting the alphabet, Fat Cat, and Cookie Monster on Beat the Time, as well as quite a few segments that were in other episodes on the set. But this episode still has some treats. I liked Kermit's interview with a girl. Also, Doin' the Pigeon is finally uncut on DVD. Though it's been released on DVD four other times, all of those releases cut the beginning with pigeon home movies, and most of them began with Bert sayignt hat he likes pigeons (of course, for all of those DVD releases it might have seemed a bit out of place to include the beginning). I rememebred seeing a sketch with Bert in the same settign and attire as Doin' the Pigeon, with film footage of pigeons added, and thoguht that was a different sketch (though my memories are of the footage being in black and white, while the film is clearly in color). The Muppet Central review for Songs from teh Street says that Lena Horne laughing after Grover says "Good kisser, too" has been cut from most television broadcasts. I don't know if this is the original one or not, but that's cut here, too (though this release does include more of the sketch than A Celebration of Me, Grover! did), but I wonder if that part really exists on the show or if it was just included in the album version. I've noticed in Luis' scenes that there is a kid named Krystal. Is this the same Krystal who appeared in the cut segment where she and Big Bird play store? I did like the repalced skit where Big Bird counts Grover doing chin-ups, and I guess I was right about it beign the skit shown in E.T. (I recognise Big Bird's "ladies and gentlemen" announcement anywhere). I noticed that the replaced ending references the chin-ups, so I guess this skit was included in the epsiode that the ending was originally from. I also liked the beginnign and the "follow the leader" game.
Season 5 Classic Cuts: these were also good.
At the Movies with Ernie and Bert: The classic skit where a lady with a very tall hat sits in front of Ernie at the movies.
Nasty Dan: I've been wanting to see this whole song since hearing it in Songs from the Street.
Prairie Dawn's Pageant: I remember the scenes with Bert comming out of the flower pot dressed a sa flower. And it's good to get another Herry Monster skit on this set.
Jazz alphabet: when I first read that this DVD includes a jazz alphabet, I wodnered what it was. I figured it would be an animated skit, though I didn't realize that it's the animated alphabet skit seen in The Alphabet Game.
Going to the Zoo: When I first saw this title listed for inclusion at Muppet Wiki, it didn't mention the Twiddlebugs, and I figured that it would be a film segment about the zoo. I guess I was wrong.
Hamburger Bun factory: I figured that this would be a film segment, as opposed to a Muppet segment. I guess the inclusion of this skti proves that the people compiling the bonus skits cose some random skits in addition to classics.
Madrigal Alphabet: I figured this would be the same skit that was included in Learnign About Letters, and not the one with Judy Collins and Snuffy.
The Monsters Three Wishes: It is good to have finally seen this one. I expected the genie to have been performed by Jerry Nelson instead of Jim Henson.
Super Grover: Telephoen Booth: Was this the first Super Grover skit? Seems like it. Unlike other Super Grover skits, it doens't end with Grover thinking that he has saved the day (the ending is kind of open-ended).
Season 5 Closing Credits Crawl: the same as the season 4 credits, possibly with some different names. I didn't watch all of this, as I expected it to have the exact same illustrations and I didn't have much time to watch it all anyway.

I'll post my comments on the disc art, the booklet, and the packaging soon.

 

[minor muppetz]

And now, some final thoughts. I don't think the review really talsk about the disc or booklet art, but the artwork used in the 35th anniversary merchandise is used. Each disc has a 1970s-style illustration of two characters on each disc: Ernie and Bert on disc 1, Big Bird and Oscar on disc 2, and Cookie Monster and Grover on disc 3. The booklet includes a lot of photos (including both photos representing the early years and photos representing later years)and artwork. I really liked the facts about the guest appearances on the show. I liiked the interview with Grover at the end (though I wonder why a recent Grover photo was used). One thing I didn't likeis that while it points out that Jim Hensonw as the voice of the baker but not the actor portraying the baker, it does not say who that actor was. I also liked the booklet. That large photo of the stree tlooks familair. Is it new or was it included in a previous book (it looks like something from The Sesame Street Word Book)? That photo spread includes some interesting things: Barkly appearing dispite being aroudn later than season five, a group of monsters seeing a movie titled Follow That Monster (could this be a reference to Follow That Bird?), some of the area around the corner of Sesame Street being seen (but not the around the corner part that was later used on the show), and Oscar being carried by a garbage man who isn't Bruno (@*#!%^ it!!!!).

The packaging is also good, if not also misleading. The packaging mentiosn Pinball Number Count being included (this must have been droped at the last minute). It also mentions this being the first DVD release of material from the first five seasosn, but many of the skits included already have been released on DVD.

I think the menus are really neat, though I wish that more clips would be shown on the main menu. For example, in additon to Rubber Duckie, the disc 1 menu could also show clips from Big Bird's first appearance, Let's Sing a Song of Three, and James Earl Jones countign to 10, in addition to Ladybug Picnic, disc 2s main menu could have shown Big Bird meeting Mr. Snuffleupagus, The King of 8, and What's My Part?, and on the disc 3 main menu in additon to showing Doin' the Pigeon it could have shown Bert's Bust, Super Grover: Telephone Booth, and the cast reciting the alphabet.

Finally, it seems like whoever was involved with compiling clips wasn't playing favorites, character-wise. Ernie appears in more bonus clips than anybody else, but he's only in 7 out of 54 bonus sketches. A lot of classics that casual fans would remember are included. I'd been thinking about starting awishlist thread for volume two, but then it would be hard to match the style of whatw as included, as there are a lot of rare sketches included that I previously hadn't heard of (how many of us were really wishing for the set to include Swinging Gibbon, Alphabet Soup, Astronaut Drawing, Listen My Brother: Counting to 20, and Hamburger Bun Factory? And how many of us were aware of their existence?), and to make a wishlist that seemd similar would also be hard for the sake of having a close-to-equal amount of animation and film segments (outside of what's included, there aren't too many more non-Muppet skits from the early years, especially ones that aren't part of any recurrign series of skits, I can think of off-hand that weren't included here, and it's really hard to think of what time period any non-muppet skits that were made between 1974 and 1990 are originally from). Maybe it is good that Sesame Workshop doesn't know what we've all been begging fr (or does SW know?). Otherwise, there'd be a lot of great stuff to include that we wouldn't think of to include in our wish lists.

I can't decide of this set is better than The Muppet Show: Season 1, but it's better than Fraggle Rock: The Complete First Season and Dinosaurs: The Complete First and Second Seasosn. I hope that this set comes out sooner than a year from it's release. Even with the few edits I give it five stars. I hope that this set sells well enough to not only justify the release of a second volume, but also to possibly add another disc and maybe motivate SW to get the rights to some songs that weren't written for Sesame Street (like Lulu's Back in Town, Mahna Mahna, Windy, Octopuses Garden, and maybe also Consider Yourself).

 

[TheJimHensonHour]

so what stores have this set? whats the lowest price anyones seen?
And is it worth getting?