Changes: Bert Through the Years

Revision as of 07:37, 8 June 2020

The evolution of Bert.

Image	As seen in / Year	Notes
	Sesame Street early Season 1 (1969)	The original Bert had an immobile unibrow and his hair appeared to be unkempt in some sketches. Early during season one, Bert's eyebrows get slightly repositioned losing him his grumpy facial expression for a more neutral one.
	Sesame Street later Season 1 - Season 2 (1969-1971)	Bert's head shape is more refined, with a more flexible neck. He can scrunch his mouth. His eyebrows do not cover his eyes.
	Sesame Street Season 3 (1971-1976)	Bert gets an eyebrow mechanism, allowing his brow to move up and down. His head becomes slightly more teardrop shaped. His eyes become slightly smaller, and his colors are more vibrant. By Season 4, his eyebrow becomes considerably thinner.
	Sesame Street Season 6 (1974-1976)	Bert's skin is more golden. His eye focus is not as strong seemingly due to slightly smaller pupils. His eyebrow is much straighter.
	Sesame Street Season 8 (1976-1977)	Bert has paler Antron fleece skin. He also has a much taller and rounder head. His eyebrow becomes immobile, and his eyes are smaller.
	Sesame Street later Season 8 (1977-1982)	Bert's skin is darker. He has also regained his eyebrow mechanism, and the down motion is improved. His head and hair are slightly thinner, and he has sturdier shoulder joints.
	Sesame Street Season 14 (1982-1989)	Both skin and clothing colors are brighter. Also, Bert's nose is smaller and his head is more rounded.
	Sesame Street Season 21 (1989-1996)	Bert's head is slightly wider with even smaller, more separated eyes.
	Sesame Street Season 28 (1996-1998)	Bert has a taller head, his hair is most often combed upward (rather than messy like Ernie's hair), and he has a more rounded eyebrow.
	Sesame Street Season 30 (1998-2001)	Bert's head is shorter and a bit thicker than the previous version. His eyes are positioned closer together and his nose is longer.
	Sesame Street Season 33 (2002-2011)	Once again, Bert's head is taller, much like the 1996-1998 puppet. His antron fleece skin appears smoother and lighter yellow, and his nose is more red-orange in color.
	TomTom promo (2011-present)	Bert's head becomes thinner and his eyes are farther apart.
	Sesame Street Season 44 (2014-present)	This version of Bert is interchanged with the previous version. Bert's head is wider and slightly shorter. His nose is higher up, and his eyebrow is thicker.
Predecessor Puppets and Planning
	Design sketches for Sesame Street (circa 1969)	Early sketches immediately established the contrast between Ernie's horizontal stripes and general look and Bert's vertical stripes and leaner appearance.

Chroma key shirts

In order to accommodate Chroma key (i.e. blue or green screens), the stripes on Bert's shirt occasionally change color as to not be keyed out.

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 |-
-| [[Image:Bert1971-1976version.jpg|250px|center]]<br>[[Image:Bertearly70's.jpg|250px|center]]
+| [[Image:Bert1971-1976version.jpg|250px|center]]<br>[[Image:Bertearly70s.jpg|250px|center]]
 | align=center | ''[[Sesame Street]]''<br>[[Season 3 (1971-1972)|Season 3]]<br>(1971-1976)
 | Bert gets an eyebrow mechanism, allowing his brow to move up and down. His head becomes slightly more teardrop shaped. His eyes become slightly smaller, and his colors are more vibrant. By [[Season 4 (1972-1973)|Season 4]], his eyebrow becomes considerably thinner.
@@ Line 32: / Line 32: @@
 |-
-| [[Image:Bertmid70's.jpg|250px|center]]
+| [[Image:Bertmid70s.jpg|250px|center]]
-| align=center | ''[[Sesame Street]]''<br>[[Season 9 (1977-1978)|Season 9 ]]<br>(1977-1982)
+| align=center | ''[[Sesame Street]]''<br>later<br>[[Season 8 (1976-1977)|Season 8]]<br>(1977-1982)
 | Bert's skin is darker.  He has also regained his eyebrow mechanism, and the down motion is improved. His head and hair are slightly thinner, and he has sturdier shoulder joints.
@@ Line 57: / Line 57: @@
 |-
-| [[Image:Bert2000's.jpg|250px|center]]
+| [[Image:Bert2000s.jpg|250px|center]]
 | align=center | ''[[Sesame Street]]''<br>[[Season 33 (2002)|Season 33]]<br>(2002-2011)
 | Once again, Bert's head is taller, much like the 1996-1998 puppet. His antron fleece skin appears smoother and lighter yellow, and his nose is more red-orange in color.
@@ Line 76: / Line 76: @@
 | [[Image:BertErnie1.jpg|250px|center]]<br/>[[File:Bert-and-Ernie sketch.jpg|250px|center]]
 | align=center | Design sketches for ''[[Sesame Street]]''<br>(circa 1969)
-| Early sketches immediately established the contrast between [[Ernie|Ernie's]] horizontal stripes and general look and Bert's vertical stripes and leaner appearance.
+| Early sketches immediately established the contrast between [[Ernie]]'s horizontal stripes and general look and Bert's vertical stripes and leaner appearance.
 |}