Movie DVDYes, Virginia, there was a Sesame Street before the Age of Elmo. This 1993 collection highlights the role of music in the long-running series from Children’s Television Workshop, and reminds us that such Jim Henson creations as Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster, and Ernie and Bert were once part of a true ensemble of Muppet superstars. Nothing against Elmo, of course: kids adore him and he makes enough appearances in this anthology (including the show-stopping “Happy Tappin’ with Elmo”) to keep today’s tykes happy. Also included is Ernie’s classic “Rubber Duckie” (really, who doesn’t know the words to that?), Oscar’s anthemic “I Love Trash,” you-know-who’s “C Is for Cookie,” and Big Bird’s Big Finale, a rendition of “Sing” that includes the entire cast. There are 27 tunes in all, and they don’t all involve singing puppets: Ladysmith Black Mambazo turns up for one track, and the “Sesame Street Jam Session” includes some actual playing of instruments. –Tom Keogh
Rating: 
(out of 139 reviews)
List Price: $ 12.93
Price: $ 6.64
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on 25th
July 13, 2010
#1
Review by Michele S. Hays
Rating:
Both my toddler and I loved this video. For my toddler, it has several advantages: one, it’s an hour long and can replace Sesame Street itself if you missed it that day (just get an Elmo’s World tape to follow up). Two, it has a full cast that includes the newer characters who weren’t around in my day: Elmo, Telly, Prairie Dawn and many others make an appearance. Third, the celebrity cameos are few and serve the storyline well.As a former puppeteer and avid Sesame Street fan, I really enjoyed watching it myself. It has old clips that have almost disappeared: the original “Rubber Ducky” with the floating bubbles, “C is for Cookie,” “I’m an Aardvark, and I’m proud,” and some of the letter and number clips you might remember as a kid. I also liked that the storyline was filmed outdoors, making the production values somewhat better than other Sesame Street videos. Having a store of all the “important” songs is really useful, too.Enjoy this video with your kids – and tell them about the “olden days” when Snuffy was an imaginary friend of Big Bird’s and Ernie grew critters – what were those things called? – in his window box.
July 13, 2010
#2
Review by Amy Z, Afterschooler
Rating:
Watching this video is very similar to watching an episode of Sesame Street on PBS…only not exactly the same Sesame Street that’s on the airwaves today. It has musical clips from various episodes throughout the lifespan of Sesame Street and contains more clips of Bert & Ernie and Grover than you will see in a typical episode in 2001.It’s not just a series of old clips, however. The clips and new material are woven into a story of Big Bird looking for LaLa-ers for the show that the Sesame Street characters are planning. Not everything fits just right, but it is fun to watch and sing and dance to.The most important reason for my high recommendation of this video is the fact that my 22-month-old son is FACINATED by it. It may not be teaching him his numbers or his alphabet, but he is starting to try to sing along.Not the absolute Best Video out there, but thoroughly enjoyable and worth the price.
July 13, 2010
#3
Review by
Rating:
The plot is simple and silly: Big Bird, Prairie Dawn, and Telly decide to put on a show, and look for singers, dancers, and “la-la”-ers. Big Bird runs into some trouble finding the “la-la”-ers, but everything works out, and it’s really just an excuse to show musical clips from the first 25 years of “Sesame Street”, bringing back great memories for anyone born in the mid-1960s and after who grew up with “Sesame Street”, and entertaining our children who are about to grow up with “Sesame Street”. This tape is better than “Elmopalooza” because the song clips are the originals, not new versions done by celebrities (with one exception: “Sing” performed by Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the “Sesame Street” cast with lots of children), and this tape is lighter than “Elmopalooza”, in which everything goes wrong and the characters freak out. My son is 14 months old, and has watched this tape more times than the Count can count.
July 13, 2010
#4
Review by
Rating:
When I saw this DVD available, I thought I’d found a sort of “Greatest Hits” compilation. It lists the featured songs on the back, which include manu Sesame Street classics. It failed to mention that all of the Rubber Duckie songs are cut short and mashed into an unsatisfying medley. The songs are all showcased within a story about Big Bird looking for “la la-ers,” which makes this feel like a bad clip show. I realize that this was a TV special, but the way that the …story cut into classic songs grated at me. To top it off, this DVD does not include menus or anything to help viewers navigate the disc (of course, it is an older DVD). I really hope that someday soon they decide to release a real “Best of” Sesame Street DVD, with each segment shown in its entirety. I would love to see these classic songs along with some of the great non-musical moments. Unfortunately, in this time of Elmo-centric releases, it doesn’t seem likely to happen.
July 13, 2010
#5
Review by
Rating:
My kids and I LOVE this video. Starts out with En Vogue signing “Adventure” which is a great song to bounce around to. Big bird goes on a quest to find people to who can sing and in the end, learns that everyone can sing!Musical Celebration’s got some oldies but goodies, Kermit signing “Bein’ Green”, Bert “Doin the Pidgeon”, Ernie driving Bert nuts signing “Dance Myself to Sleep” in the middle of the night and some fun new stuff like “Happy Tappin with Elmo”. Also four fun rubber duckie songs that are great to sing in the bath.”I’d like to visit the Moon”, (sung by Ernie) is such a great song I memorized it and sing it to my 3-year old when she fusses in the car, she loves it. “Beautiful Skin” is a peppy song and ,true to Sesame Street style, this video features all skin tones from white to black to blue to green. This is a bright, fun, colorful, musical video, with not too much storyline to weigh it down. At the end of the video Big Bird, Elmo and a whole slew of muppet animals sing “We are all earthlings” which is a very pretty song.Then Big Bird realizes that in his quest to find singers he has been surrounded by them the whole time. A huge group of kids, adults and muppets (including Maria, Gina, a fabulous group of African singers, and two tapdancers) “Sing a Song”.This is not so much an education video (as far as learning ABC’s etc.) but it has a good message – That we are all one on this big, beautiful Earth and that if you look around, you’ll find all the friends you need. Babies and toddlers will enjoy this video for the bright colors and fun, upbeat songs, especially if you sing along with them!