Don Pimpón



Don Pimpón is one of the main muppets from the Spanish version of Sesame Street, having appeared from 1983 to 1987.

A monster from an unknown species, Don Pimpón had been living at the Barrio Sésamo for some time when Espinete moved there on 1983. Other people in the Barrio do not seem to consider Pimpón strange, although he is a great, brown-furred monster, strong enough to break a wall when simply leaning on it (About this special effect, even children understood that it was a fake wall made of paper). Fan theories suggest that he could be a sasquatch.

Don Pimpón, who is a male (Spanish prefix "Don" can only be used with males), behaves as an adult, becoming one of the father figures for Espinete. Some consider that Don Pimpón feels a certain amount of reject by human characters and can relate more easily with another muppet; however, everybody thought of Don Pimpón as "one of us."

Contrarily to Espinete, Don Pimpón used clothes, that might suggest a humble origin or occupation. Don Pimpón was never seen without any of his clothes, not even his hat.

Don Pimpón did not relate to any other characters from Sesame Street, except for Espinete and the humans in the Barrio. He took part in any collective activity, including parties and songs, usually with him not being the main voice. The exception to this rule was La canción de Don Pimpón ("Don Pimpón's song.")

Etymology
Preffix "Don" was a Spanish honorific initially similar to English Sir or Lord (upon some, similar to The Honourable), to be used only by kings, noblemen and certain important ranks from the Roman Catholic Church. It was also applied to Jesus Christ and the saints, and later by holders of doctorates (In Don Quixote, it is specified that Quixote did not have any right to be called Don). It had its origin in Latin word domĭnus (owner). Female form for Don is Doña.

Currently, however, anybody can use the preffix Don, attached to the Christian name (never to the surname), and in some situations protocol asks to use it.

Pimpón, of course, is not a Spanish Christian name, aiming only to rhyme with Don. This word might have its origins in the sport ping pong, although Don Pimpón has never expressed any interest in table tennis.

Behind the Scenes
Don Pimpón was performed by actor Alfonso Vallejo.

After 1987, Barrio Sésamo was replaced on Televisión Española by officially unrelated program Los mundos de Yupi. Los mundos used, however, a similar premise with an adult-sized but childlike muppet (Yupi, an alien) relating with humans. Alfonso Vallejo played Astrako, a non-muppet alien character with big nose and ears. Astrako related to Yupi in a similar way to Don Pimpón relating to Espinete, although Astrako was officially responsable for Yupi (He was his commanding officer), while Don Pimpón only related to Espinete because he liked him.