Recap / Sesame Street E 3785

The finale for Season 29 of Sesame Street. Oscar's pet worm, Slimey, is returning to Sesame Street after his trip to the moon. However, The Count and his comedic real-life special effects get in the way, and accidentally put the Wiggleprise's reentry capsule in jeopardy...

Sponsor:

• H
• 13

Segments includes:

• Street Scene 1
• Cartoon/Song: At the Lunar Lounge
• Muppets/Song: The Two-Headed Monster sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
• Insert: Floating kids makes the letter H.
• Cartoon: Space Paint - H
• Cartoon: H in Space.
• Street Scene 2
• Cartoon: An alien kid counts to 13.
• Film: Milo Counting 13.
• Cartoon/Song: 13 in the birdhouse, tree and sky.
• Film/Song: I'm a Little Airplane
• Cartoon: GEROMINO - Helicopter hat
• Street Scene 3
• Cartoon: Flash Gizmo Space Cadet - Here and There
• Film: A girl narrates how astronaut Mario Runco visited her school and talked about what it's like to be in outer space.
• Cartoon: Planet H
• Muppets: Spaceship Surprise: The Next Generation - Planet H.
• Cartoon/Song: Soul H
• Street Scene 4
• Cartoon: Zork goes to the picnic.
• Film/Song: Everybody Eats (Refilmed version)
• Muppets/Song: If Moon was Cookie
• Cartoon: Susie Kabloozie and her cat, Feff, pretend to be astronauts.
• Street Scene 5
• Cartoon/Song: There is Only One Me
• Muppet/Kid Moment: Grover and Samantha count to 100 (Part 1)
• Cartoon: Noodles and Nedd - Feed Noodles some cat food.
• Muppet/Kid Moment: Grover and Samantha count to 100 (Part 2)
• Cartoon: What's above the table and below the table
• Muppet/Kid Moment: Grover and Samantha count to 100 (Part 3)
• Film: Fay dresses as different animals.
• Muppet/Kid Moment: Grover and Samantha counts to 100 (Part 4)
• Cartoon/Song: I'm Going Up and Down, In Out, Over and Under - Cecille the Ball.
• Muppets/Celebrity Moment: Angel Corella dances the alphabet.
• Cartoon: Mr. Twig tried to sleep. But the man above him will snore and the man below him will sneeze.
• Street Scene 6.

Extra notes:

• This was the final episode to feature the Season 24 opening theme song, though the animated Friday closing will still continue to be used until 2007.
• The 1997-1998 season was the final 130-episode season. The next several seasons had 65 episodes, while more recent seasons had as few as 26.
• This was the last episode to feature the "Coming Soon on Sesame Street" bumper since Season 27. Two versions exist:
  • The original, as part of the season finale aired in May 1998, was a preview of a rerun of the Season 29 premiere (episode 3656, where a little boy is sad about having to move).
  • When the rerun aired in November 1998, the "Coming Soon" clip was a preview of the Season 30 premiere, introducing Alan as the new owner of Hooper's Store.
• The final episode to use the Around the Corner set.

This episode provides examples of:

• Chekhov's Gun: A group of children are shown at the very start of the episode playing with a washbucket full of water. Later in the episode, The Count's thunder and lightning throws the rocket's recovery capsule off-course, towards Sesame Street. Unfortunately, there's no water there. Guess what's instrumental in saving the capsule from crashing?...
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: The final episode to feature David Langston Smyrl as Mr. Handford, Annette Chaud as Celina, Ruth Buzzi as Ruthie, Jou-Jou Papailler as Jamal, Angel Jammot as Angela, Synve McDaniel as Kayla, and Lexine Bondoc as Lexine. We don't know where they went after Season 29.
• Diegetic Visual Effects: Done for both a dramatic and comedic purpose at the same time. After helping WASA count down to fire the capsule's thrusters, The Count's thunder and lightning (even in daytime) rocks the reentry capsule enough to divert it off-course from the Atlantic Ocean... ...toward Sesame Street!
• Grand Finale: To the "Slimey To The Moon" story arc, and Season 29 as-a-whole.
• In Memoriam: This episode pays tribute to the memory of writer Jon Stone (who passed away in March 1997).
• Nobody Can Die: Somehow, Selma Chicken, after the audience has forgotten about her from the time the Wiggleprise lifted off from the Moon, is able to make it down to Sesame Street safely, with her own parachute.
• Rule of Three: For the third and last time, we have Lynne Thigpen portraying the WASA Training Officer/Commander.
• Running Gag: That stupid chicken AGAIN. Somehow she makes it down to Earth with another parachute, and even crashes the celebration parade, and again, no one believes that she went into space.
• Special Guest: Lynne Thigpen, known for her portrayal of The Chief in Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego and Where In Time Is Carmen Sandiego, portrays a WASA Training Officer/Commander here.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Invoked for comedy, twice, as some of the words would be known to normal adults, but not to preschool children.
  • After Oscar asks what happens if the reentry capsule will miss the ocean:
    WASA Commander: Oh, well, we call that a "High-Impact Non-Aqueous Encounter".
    [the rest of the citizens of Sesame Street converse amongst one another, confused]
    Maria: Well, we call that a "crash".
    Telly: [slightly horrified] A smashdown!
    WASA Commander: Yes, you could call it that...
  • When the reentry capsule goes off course, and is headed for Sesame Street(!):
    Oscar and Telly: Think fast, Dr. Einslime!
    [Dr. Einslime speaks to Oscar]
    Gordon: What did he say?
    Oscar: H-he says "Get a 'mini portable splashdown facility'!"
    Telly: What does that mean?!
    WASA Commander: A washbucket.
    Maria: [realizes] There's one by the garage! Hurry!
• Stock Footage: In Slimey's dream at the end of the day, he sings I'm an Earthworm over a montage of his training, the rocket launch, his time in space, time on the moon, and the return to Earth. All the footage is from Season 29.
• Tickertape Parade: Slimey and the rest of the worm astronauts get a genuine one of these, but Kermit the Frog, who is reporting on it, somehow gets covered in a mountain of the stuff.
  Kermit the Frog: Agh... guys...! Could you please throw the ticker tape toward the parade?! ...Sheesh!
  [...]
  Kermit: [shakes off and spits out a pile of ticker tape] This is Kermit the Frog, live in tape, returning you to the program already in-progress. Ergh... [A wad of ticker tape falls on him to cap it off] AAGH!