Barrio Sésamo



There have been three versions of Barrio Sésamo, the Spanish Sesame Street co-production.

The show originally aired in Spain in the late 70's, as a dubbed version of the American Sesame Street. In 1979, they created their own characters -- Caponata, a red chicken with curly hair (a full-body Muppet), and Perezgil, a green snail (a Muppet permanently on a wall) -- while retaining the American characters for scenes where they did not interacted with Humans (Ernie and Bert, Kermit and Grover, etc).

American puppets would be renamed so that Spanish-speaking child audiences would not get confused with English writing norms. Later on, a list of Spanish names is provided.

The original show wasn't successful, and it was cancelled in 1980.

In 1983, they gave it another try with Espinete (a hedgehog) and Don Pimpón (a friendly monster). Both characters were full-body Muppets. A Human character which gained notoriety within this version was Chema, an adult baker. Again, it retained American Muppets-without-Humans scenes. The show only aired until 1986, although it's still famous and loved by the generation that watched it.

It would be replaced by a similarly-oriented series, Los Mundos de Yupi (Yupi's worlds), which featured Spanish puppets and recliced actor Alfonso Vallejo (Don Pimpón) to act as Astrako, a similar character on a Buzz Lightyear-like spacesuit (not a muppet). Los Mundos de Yupi lasted from 1987 to 1989.

In 1996, the show returned with more new characters: Bluki (a blue full-body catlike Muppet), Vera (a yellow monster), Bubo (an owl) and Gaspar (a human Muppet).

Spanish names for American muppets

 * Kermit: La Rana Gustavo ("Gustaf the Frog").
 * Ernie: Epi.
 * Bert: Blas.
 * Grover: Coco (Later, slang for "brain").
 * Cookie Monster: Triqui, el monstruo de las galletas ("Treekee, the Cookiee Monster").
 * Count von Count: El Conde Draco ("Count Draco", because of phonetic similitude with "Dracoo-la").