| Elmo's World | |
| Written by | Judy Freudberg |
| Book | Wheels! |
| Video | Elmo Wonders |
| First Appearance Episode 3840 | |
| Picture | Segment | Description |
|---|---|---|
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Guess what Elmo's thinking about today? | Drawer, Shade, and Door make transportation sounds such as an airplane zooming by, a train's horn, and a truck's horn. Elmo at first calls these "things that take you places" and a train pushes in to make an impression on the door of itself. A montage of all kinds of transportation follows. |
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Dorothy's Question | Dorothy has a bicycle decoration in her fish bowl; she wants to know how you go places. |
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The Noodle Family | Mr. Noodle tries rowing in a canoe on the floor. Since he doesn't have any water, he gears up to go skateboarding but the skateboard doesn't move when he tries to ride it. He then decides to use his legs to go places, and after walking in place at first he finally starts moving, but ends up bumping into the screen.
On the DVD version, the skateboarding portion is cut. |
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Kids and Baby | Kids ride a tricycle, a wheelchair, and rollerblades, and a baby gets around in a baby carriage. Musical cues of "Daisy Bell," "The Wheels on My Chair," and "Skater's Waltz" accompany the scenes. |
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Elmo's Question | Elmo counts the wheels on an animated car - there are four, but the steering wheel makes five. The car pulls away doing a wheelie. |
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Quiz | Elmo asks yes and no questions to determine what else can take you places. Cows can't unless you're a bird. Birthday cakes can't, but you can ride a bike to a birthday party. Spaceships can - to the moon. Big Bird (Matt Vogel) can't... unless he has a wagon. |
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Film | Elmo narrates about the time his friend Mark and his mother rode a train to visit his grandfather, underscored with "Down By the Station," and a mixture of "Take the A Train" and "Chattanooga Choo-Choo." (Cut from the DVD release due to music rights). |
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TV Cartoon | The Transportation Channel has the Lecture Lady narrate Getting There is All the Fun, a story about a girl who rides various forms of transportation, such as a bus, a train, a plane, a camel, etc. Coming up next: My Mother the Car. |
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Interview | Elmo talks to an Airplane who explains how planes work, and how they need a pilot to fly them. |
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Tickle Me Land | Dorothy imagines Elmo piloting a plane (underscored in the broadcast version with "Linus and Lucy"; replaced on DVD with an instrumental version of the "Sesame Street Theme"), as an engineer driving a train full of Elmos (underscored with "Chattanooga Choo-Choo"; also replaced on DVD), and Elmo rowing a boat and singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." |
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Home Video | Elmo plays his video Ernie Pretending to Be a Plane, where Ernie pretends to fly around like an airplane. |
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Song | Elmo sings "The Transportation Song," singing the final lyric as "... in a one-horse open sleigh!" noting said sleigh is another mode of transportation as he's pulled by a Muppet horse (Vogel). |
Notes[]
- An instrumental inspired by the Steppenwolf song "Born to Be Wild" plays when Mr. Noodle tries skateboarding. "Strolling Through the Park One Day" also plays as he walks.
- This segment debuted in season 30 and was in rotation with other Elmo's World episodes until season 32 (2001) when the segment last aired. It was the only Elmo's World segment to not be included on any video release until 2016's Elmo Wonders.
- The train featured in the film segment was a Long Island Rail Road train headed by an EMD MP15AC, with an EMD GP38-2 at the rear, bracketing PT 75 coaches, which were former electric multiple units that were de-motored. By the time the sketch last aired, these rolling stock had been retired from regular passenger service.
- This is the only time in Elmo's World where the announcer on the TV explains to Elmo what the topic word is.