Play With Me Sesame DVD's in October

[minor muppetz]

I have just read at Muppet Wiki that these two releases have already been released outside of america. Does anybody know what skits are included in the international releases (assuming that the american releases have the same skits)?

 

[minor muppetz]

Well, I bought Playtime with Grover today. I haven't played the bonus CD-rom, but the main program doesn't disapoint (though there are some things I would have done differently if I was in charge). It seems like every other sketch originated on Play with me Sesame, while the others originated on Sesame Street, though there are some that I don't ever remember seeing or hearing about before (I assume that the segments with computer-animated backgrounds are the only ones produced for Play with me Sesame).

Grover is in every sketch shown, which is good, though I would have liked it if a few non-Grover sketches were on there. There are a lot of non-Grover skits that fit the theme of "playtime", including ones with Ernie and Bert. Of cours,e with Grover's name in the title, it's more understandable that Grover is in everything, and there are quite a few sketches where Grover plays a supporting role, rather than a host or lead character.

All of the sketches are good, though it doesn't havce anything from before 1980 (and there are sketches that I thinka re from either the 1980s or 1990s, but can't really tell, so there might not be any 1980s sketches).

Here is a sketch listing. PWMS denotes that the sketch is from Play with me Sesame. The order migth be a bit different (I only watched it once so far).

• PWMS: Super Grover Says
• Zoe and Grover demonstrate short and long (I've never even heard of this sketch before, but I assume it's from Sesame Street)
• PWMS: the cast sings "when we say 'play with me', you say 'sesame'"
• Grover the waiter: spaghetti
• PWMS: Grover has the audience pretend to be cars, while "Let's Go Riding in an Automobile" plays on a video screen
• Elmo, Zoe, Telly, and Grover demonstrate four friends
• Kermit and Grover on light and dark
• PWMS: Ernie (and Grover, and Prairie, and Bert) Says
• Grover delivers pizza
• PWMS: Grover and Cookie Monster sing "A Very Simple Dance"
• Super Grover helps Elmo get an apple from an apple tree (Super Grover openign sequence is cut, assuming that this sketch originally had an opening sequence)
• PWMS: "When We Say 'Play with Me', you say 'Sesame'" (the cast sings quietly)
• Grover gets 30 seconds to show what surprise means
• PWMS: the cast pretends to be a train
• Prairie Dawn directs Grover in "Singing in the Rain"
• PWMS: "When we say 'play with me', you say 'Sesame'" (the cast decides to reverse the activity)
• Fur with Zoe, Herry, Grover, and Elmo
• Grover helsp Fat Blue get warm on an airplane
• PWMS: The Groverelli

Not a bad selection of clips. It's great that Sesame Workshop (or Genius) was able to secure the video rights for use of the song "Singing in the Rain". It is a bit disapointing that Grover is superimposed during the clip of Let's Go Riding in an Automobile, especially since he talks when the others are singing (I guess it's not too different from Murray's voice-overs being added to sketches in the Sesame Street Podcast). Considering the usage of Grover, it would have been great if Grover's "Beat the Time" appearance and "Near and Far" were included. But we get a Kermit sketch, and three Fat Blue segments.

The DVD features previews for Kids' Favorite Country Songs, Ready for School, and Goodnight Sesame. It looks like Goodnight Sesame has at least one skit that's also on this video (the cast quietly singing "when we say 'play with me', you say 'Sesame'"). I was hoping that this release would have a preview for Old School Volume 2 but it doesn't (though I didn't start to hope for this until today). And I finally got to hear John Tartiglia's Ernie voice, and while it does sound like a good Ernie voice (compared to Steve Whitmire's Ernie, not Jim Henson's), it also sounds like a cross between Scooter and Bear.

When I watched the short and long sketch, I expected it to be a remake of the one with Kermit and Grover, and it seemed to start out that way, though hopping is the only thing repeated from that sketch. Afterwards, Zoe gave Grover a short hug, but then Grover wanted a long hug (so unlike the original, this one has a hapy ending for Grover).

So, has anybody watched Goodnight Sesame yet?

 

[minor muppetz]

I just played a bit of the CD-ROM, and it is better than I'd expected. It has both games and video clips. There are three sections: Grover clips and games, Food-a-Rama, and dance-related clips and games. I think all of the games were originally online games. The video clips all have a "sesamestreet.org" logo in the corner of the screen.

The Grover section includes the skit where Grover plays guitar in the park, a song with Elmo and Super Grover chanting "Go! Go! Go!", a Global Grover sketch (taking place in trinidad), and Grover and Rosita getting 15 seconds to demonstrate the meaning of the word "love". Games include "Super Grover in The Nick of Rhyme", "Dress Grover", and "Greetings from Grover".

Dress Grover isn't much of a game. Players just click on Grover's body, putting him in various outfits until Grover decides that he doesn't need to wear clothes, but it is really cool. The bedroom is designed like the one in Monster in te Mirror, though the bed's closer to the dresser. When Grover is dressed, the setting briefly changes to match what he's wearing. When he's dressed like an astronaut, the setting becomes a space setting, and one of the Martians makes a cameo.

The Food-A-Rama section focuses on food sketches and games. It includes Cookie Monster's song "The First Time Me Eat Cookie", but the rest are hard to describe and (in my opinion) mostly unforgettable. There's a clip combining animation with live action involving a strawberry, and a cartoon about carrots, and a film about italian foods. The games include "Cooking with Rosita", "Oscar's Trash Colection", and "Cookie Check-Out". The Oscar game is the funnest. Oscar has viewers put fruits on one shelf, and baked goods on the other. I purposely put foods on the wrong shelves, to see what kinds of responses Oscar makes (though not as good as I'd hoped).

The dancing one includes "The No-No-No!", featuring Oscar, Elmo, and the Grouchkateers, a sketch where Zoe does a banana dance, a film narrarated by a boy who describes a day at his mother's dance class, and a film that I think was originally part of the "This is the Game Today" segments. Games include "Zoe's Dance Moves", "Egg Counter Elmo", and "Limbo Elmo". I haven't played any of those.

 

[sesameinsider]

11 PWMS DVD Titles

There were 11 PWMS DVD titles originally released in Australia and later sold around the world. Don't know if they are all coming to the US, but definitely 5 of them are. You can see all 11 at http://search.abc.net.au/search/sea...ries=off&query=play+with+me+sesame&meta_f=dvd

 

[minor muppetz]

I've noticed that the title "Playtime with Grover" is a little bit misleading, since many of the skits don't seem to follow a playtime theme. Many of the skits involve teaching concepts, opposites, and problem solving, but very few non-Play with Me Sesame clips involve anything that I would call a playtime activity. There are three sketches where Grover works, but he's working, not playing.

 

[minor muppetz]

After I watched Playtime with Grover, I was hoping that there would be a Playtime with Ernie and Bert, or at least two seperate releases for each one, and then I looked at the videography at Mupet Wiki and saw that there is a Playtime with Ernie, a Playtime with Bert, and even a Playtime with Prairie Dawn release. I hope that those get released here in the united states, and soon.

 

[a_Mickey_Muppet]

I bought the "play time with Grover" dvd at walmart lastnight. There was also a "Bed Time" one but i didnt get that... I'll just stick with the one for now. So glad a Kermit sketch made it in there. light, dark, light, dark, lol.

 

[minor muppetz]

Well, I caved in and bought Goodnight Sesame. It's good, though not as good as Playtime with Grover, but there are some good skits with Jim Henson as Ernie.

I put a listing of the contents at Muppet Wiki. However, some of the segment sincluded on this release include:

• If Moon Was Cookie
• Ernie preparing for bed
• I Think That it is Wonderful with Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, Prairie Dawn, and Herry
• Dance Myself to Sleep
• Ernie reads a guny, sad, scary story before bed
• The Two-Headed Monster sings "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"

Although there aren't any Kermit segments included, there is still a trademark credit for Kermit (I wonder why). It's a shame that neither of the Newsflash segments with Sleeping Beauty were included. Same with the Princess and the Pea Newflash segments.

The CD-Rom contents aren't as good as on the Playtime with Grover CD-ROM, and some of the same games are included (Egg Counting Elmo, Cooking with Rosita). Some of the clips include The Count counting robins, Bert singing "In my Book", The Letter of the Day segment for M, and the Spanish Word of the Day segment for Gato, plus several forgettable live action segments.