| Sesame Street | |||||||||
| Big Bird and Luis convince Hans that he's not an ugly duckling | |||||||||
| Air date | December 2, 1993 | ||||||||
| Season | Season 25 (1993-1994) | ||||||||
| Written by | Joey Mazzarino | ||||||||
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| Picture | Segment | Description |
|---|---|---|
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COLD OPEN | At the playground, Big Bird cues the kids to help announce the sponsors by displaying them on cards. He then introduces a small duckling named Hans (a reference to Hans Christian Andersen), who says goodbye and zips away. This piques Big Bird's curiosity, and he and the kids run after him. |
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SCENE 1 | Big Bird and the kids catch up with Hans (Martin P. Robinson), who reveals that he's the titular character from the story "The Ugly Duckling." He's worried he'll get the same treatment from everyone on Sesame Street as his fowl brethren, but Big Bird and the kids don't think he's ugly, nor would they say such mean things. Big Bird and the others invite him to stay, and Hans accepts... on the condition that he finds a way to make himself "less ugly," and he runs off again. |
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Cartoon | At the Pride Day Ceremony, Donald is waiting to describe his proudest accomplishment, and is initially unsure of himself next to other impressive students. He finally proudly acclaims his achievement, tying his shoes all by himself. Artist: John Korty (First: Episode 2085) |
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Film | Letter Garden: F (First: Episode 3048) |
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Animation | F candles (First: Episode 3081) |
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Film | Alphaquest: F A faucet finishes a fire, and flood of freaky fish. (First: Episode 2759) |
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Animation | Stop-motion: a bunny tries to make a bench with blocks, but needs a chick's help. (First: Episode 1463) cut from the Noggin version |
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Muppets | Kermit and some Anything Muppets sing "I Wonder 'Bout the World Above." (First: Episode 2679) |
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Cartoon | A boy learns to play his violin by practicing. (First: Episode 1513) cut from the Noggin version |
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SCENE 2 | Big Bird and the kids find Hans in the yard wearing a YOU sign in front of his face; that way, instead of seeing his "ugliness," all they'll see is YOU. However, not only does this present a bit of pronoun trouble, but Hans can't see a thing with the sign in his face. |
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Cartoon | "Animal Elevator": 1-10 (First: Episode 2530) |
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Film | "We have a nice school"... with ducks. |
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Muppets | Muppet & Kid Moment — Grover instructs Caroline to read the word you, and acts crazy when she keeps telling him to read it. (First: Episode 2730) |
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Cartoon | Christopher Clumsy demonstrates shapes. Artist: Cliff Roberts (First: Episode 0416) cut from the Noggin version |
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Film | Kids rehearse a large group African dance in the park, get their faces painted, and perform. (First: Episode 3079) |
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Cartoon | L for Lion (poem) Artist: Jeff Hale (First: Episode 1149) |
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Muppets | Ernie sings "Dance Myself to Sleep." (First: Episode 1705) |
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Cartoon | A schoolyard of gloves invites other gloves to join them. (First: Episode 1481) cut from the Noggin version |
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SCENE 3 | Hans now shows Big Bird a set of feather wigs he got from Sy Duckling, who is the president (and client) for the Feather Club for Birds. Gordon and Susan come by and think that the addition of toupees wouldn't make him any more or less better; Susan makes it clear that bald can be beautiful. Hans still isn't convinced, and leaves to consult an expert. |
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Animation | El numero tres (Luis V.O.) (First: Episode 2119) |
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Cartoon | Three computer animated fish. (First: Episode 2792) |
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Film | Number Three Ball Film: A red ball follows a rollercoaster-like track through checkpoints (each, a set of three) that are counted in voiceover. At the end, the ball is ground up into a powder. (First: Episode 0254) |
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Celebrity | Take 6 sings "Take 6," a song about themselves that counts to the number 6. (First: Episode 3001) |
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Cartoon | A ball goes up and down a musical staircase. (First: Episode 2151) cut from the Noggin version |
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Film | A group of people form a human pyramid to illustrate top and bottom. |
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Cartoon | Find the camouflaged parrot. Voice: Paul Dooley (First: Episode 0516) cut from the Noggin version |
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Muppets | How Now Brown and the Moo Wave perform the song "Danger's No Stranger". (First: Episode 2030) |
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Cartoon | A man encounters someone with a DANGER sign hanging on the end of his nose, and doubts there's any danger until the character sneezes. (First: Episode 1125) |
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SCENE 4 | Hans goes to the Fix-It Shop, thinking Luis will be able to fix his "ugliness." Big Bird explains to Luis the situation, and Luis thinks he has just the remedy to help Hans. He reads him the story of Gregory the mouse, who is tired of being called "Little Squeaky" by the other animals he lives with in the barn. He tries to be a lion and dresses up in a mane, but only emits a small squeak when attempting to let out a roar. Hans doesn't find the story particularly helpful so far, but Luis says it isn't over. |
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SCENE 4, cont'd |
In the next part of the story, the mouse uses his loud voice and wakes all the animals up when there's a fire in the barn, and everyone gets out safely. They're grateful the mouse had saved their lives when Gregory vents on how mean they've been treating him, and they agree to stop calling him names and disrespecting him. Transformed by the lesson, Hans decides to stop believing he's an ugly duckling. He also learns that he loves stories, and asks Luis to read the book again. |
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Animation | A Navajo blanket is formed as tribal music plays. (First: Episode 2963) cut from the Noggin version |
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Muppets | All types of wild animals that lay eggs sing "Let's Lay an Egg." (First: Episode 3060) |
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Cartoon | A song about a very curious cat, who explores until it rains pots and pans. (First: Episode 2238) |
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Film | A man (voice of Jim Thurman) finds a magic remote control that makes things go up and down. He tests it on various objects. When he presses "down" for a bridge, it crumbles and falls into the water below, prompting the man to abandon the remote and slink away. A girl then finds the remote and makes the bridge go back up. (First: Episode 2614) |
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Cartoon | "L Look Around Song" Artist: Bruce Cayard (First: Episode 1483) |
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Muppets | Caveman Days King Ernie needs to clean his yucky teeth. The Royal Smart Person brings a big brush (used for sweeping), then a middle-sized brush (used for brushing hair), then a smaller brush (used for painting), and finally a really small brush (a toothbrush). Just as Ernie proclaims that he'll "brush every tooth in the entire kingdom," a saber-toothed tiger comes in, seizes the toothbrush, and begins to use it himself! (First: Episode 1388) |
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Cartoon | A story/song about a duckling who wants to join the others playing at the water's edge. (First: Episode 2852) |
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SCENE 5 | Hans happily sings "I Feel Pretty" to himself while playing with Big Bird on the seesaw in the playground, but says there's still one thing he'd like to change. Big Bird questions what else he could change, and Hans admits that he wants to do something else besides playing on the seesaw, since his end won't come down. Luis announces the sponsors as Hans attempts to dismount. |
Notes[]
- This episode was later re-aired in Season 27 as Episode 3436.
- Additional performers during Luis's story include Peter Linz (Gregory the mouse), Fran Brill (chicken), Pam Arciero (cow), Jim Kroupa (donkey), and Joey Mazzarino (horse).
- Peter Linz would go on to perform another small blue mouse character similar to Gregory - Tutter, from Bear in the Big Blue House.
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