Episode 3697

Sesame Street
Slimey to the Moon: Slimey enrolls with WASA
Air date	January 13, 1998
Season	Season 29 (1997-1998)
Written by	Luis Santeiro
Production October 9 & 20, 1997 Sponsors H, 8

Picture	Segment	Description
	COLD OPEN	Big Bird greets the audience to say that today is the day Slimey travels to WASA to test for the Worm Space Mission. This scene was cut in the 1999 rerun. See below.
	SCENE 1	Oscar and Slimey have arrived at WASA and are waiting in a room full of other worms who are all warming up for the test.
	SCENE 1 cont'd	A training officer enters the room and explains the process the worms must go through to qualify for the space program. Before they begin, she notes that there are worms here from all over the world, and calls the roll to make sure that everyone is present. In addition to Slimey from Sesame Street, there's Spaghettini from Italy, Squishta from Romania, Legusano from Colombia, Squashimi from Japan, Slogoshki from Poland, other worms from Puerto Rico and Zambia, and Selma Worm, who is actually a chicken dressed as a worm. The worms head into the next room, leaving Oscar behind to watch the tests from the window.
	Cartoon	A St. Bernard helps Zork down a snowy hill, later finding out that Zork wanted to go skiing. Artist: ArtistMike (First: Episode 2738)
	Muppets	Telly sings "My Outer Space Friend" as he gazes out his bedroom window, musing about space travel and his "outer-space friend." (First: Episode 3645)
	Film	Olivia sleeps over at Iesha's house, and spend the morning together. Olivia is white and Iesha and her family is black. Next time, Iesha wants to visit Olivia's family. (First: Episode 2756)
	Cartoon	Flash Gizmo, Space Cadet Here and there
	SCENE 2	The WASA Squiggle-robics Tests will determine who will fly to the moon. The first test is called the Worm-O-Hold-On-Tight-O test. The worms are placed on a disc and spun around at a high rate of speed; whoever can hold on despite the centrifugal force, passes the test. "Stickability is very important in space," says the officer. She starts up the machine, and as the disc spins faster, worms begin to fly off. Oscar cheers Slimey on, and Selma gets nauseous from watching the disc spin.
	SCENE 2 cont'd	Out of the 15 worms taking part in the test, 9 pass (Slimey included). The training officer thanks those who didn't make it; they tried, and that's what's important. Oscar feels proud of Slimey, but becomes worried when he hears there's a second test coming up.
	Cartoon	"Captain Spacey" counts 8 planets until the 25-cent rocket machine runs out of juice. (First: Episode 3554)
	Film	Milo Counting: 8 (First: Episode 3554)
	Cartoon	Clown Honking #8 (First: Episode 3224)
	Film	A girl named Shirley performs in the circus; her father is Ringling Bros. clown David Larible. Other acts in the circus include elephant training and elephant jumping. (First: Episode 3529)
	Muppets	Muppet & Kid Moment — Grover and Patrick observe that the moon doesn't talk.
	Animation	Cecille sings "Up Down, In Out, Over and Under." (First: Episode 2746)
	SCENE 3	Moving on to the second test, the worms have been fastened to a rig in which they are suspended from a swinging apparatus. The Upsy-Downs-Every-Way-Aroundsy-Wormsy-Bouncy test is meant to determine which of them will be able to handle the lack of gravity in space. The training officer's assistant (David Rudman) furiously jiggles the rig, after which the worms must walk along a straight line.
	SCENE 3 cont'd	Only five worms can be admitted into the space program; making the cut are Spaghettini, Squishta, Squashimi, Legusano...and Slimey! Selma walks off, insulted, and Oscar feels proud again.
	Cartoon	An arrow doesn't know which way is up. Artist: Fred Garbers (First: Episode 3681)
	Muppets	Farmer Ernie sings "Grow High Grow Low" about how some plants grow high while some grow low. (First: Episode 2448) cut from reruns
	Film	Fireworks Alphabet (First: Episode 1104)
	Cartoon	Where does the cow live? (Maria voiceover) (First: Episode 3396)
	Film	Dory and her mom learn how to rollerblade. (First: Episode 3270) cut from reruns
	Cartoon	Noodles & Nedd make the bed. Artist: John R. Dilworth (First: Episode 3663)
	SCENE 4	That night, back on Sesame Street, Oscar's neighbors come by to congratulate Slimey. Having heard the news on the radio station WORM, Ruthie, Bob, Carlo, Zoe, Elmo, Gordon, Susan, Maria, Miles and the Kids gather around Oscar's trash can. Elmo and Zoe are excited for Slimey, but they don't know what space is. Susan suggests they let Gordon, their resident science teacher, explain. Gordon describes space as all that's "up there" beyond the confines of the Earth and even the sky. The further out you go, you find the moon; further, the planets and stars. Elmo thinks that space is a very interesting place.
	Animation	H in space (with astronauts)
	Muppets	Spaceship Surprise: The Next Generation The crew lands on Planet H. They are greeted by Hopalong Hamster, and see Happy Harry the Hopping Haystack and hula dancing hens. (First: Episode 3195)
	Animation	Planet H / h (First: Episode 2851)
	Film	Two sisters make their own buildings, both with paper and blocks. (First: Episode 3686)
	Cartoon	Jerry Nelson sings "Moonshine." (First: Episode 2775)
	SCENE 5	Everyone reflects on the fact that soon Slimey will be the first worm on the moon. Maria recalls that she was a teenager when the first man walked on the moon, and Gordon cites that moment as what initially interested him in science. He explains the first moon mission over footage provided by NASA of Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong preparing to go to the moon. When they were ready to leave in the spaceship, there was a countdown, which Elmo practices.
	SCENE 5 cont'd	As Gordon recounts the event, Oscar begins to realize that it's going to take a long time for Slimey to get to the moon because it's very, very far away. Since Slimey is actually leaving tomorrow, Oscar tells everyone to scram so he can get some sleep. Showing some signs of worry, Oscar makes sure that Slimey really wants to go through with his long trip, since they're going to be apart for a long time.
	Film	Alphaquest: H Heading over the hills in a helicopter to a hippo's house. (First: Episode 2741)
	Animation	H / h (space paint) (First: Episode 3218)
	Film	H for Hat - kids try on different hats as camera shutters go off. (First: Episode 3292)
	Muppets / Celebrity	Denyce Graves tucks Elmo into bed and sings him an Operatic Lullaby.
	Film	A visual representation of the nursery rhyme "To Market" with Wegman's dogs. (First: Episode 3543)
	Muppets	Two-Headed Monster: One head wants to play the trumpet, but the other head wants to sleep. (First: Episode 1390)
	Cartoon	Mr. Tweak can't sleep because his neighbor above snores, and his neighbor below sneezes. (First: Episode 0528)
	SCENE 6	Oscar wants to know what it is about the moon that has him so interested. Slimey lets him look through his tiny worm telescope so he can get a better look. Oscar says that it's beautiful because it looks like it's full of potholes, admitting that it looks much better up close. He figures that if the astronauts left trash on the moon, Slimey can bring some of it back for him ("Space trash...it could open up a whole new world!").
	SCENE 6 cont'd	Oscar looks through the telescope again, and mentions the sponsors (which appear in the stars).
	COMING SOON	Coming soon on Sesame Street: The Count counts down from 10 to 0 as the space shuttle smokes and shakes ...

Alterations

Picture	Segment	Description
	COLD OPEN	In the 1999 rerun of this episode, the cold opening is replaced with a Star Wars-esque introduction, titled Star Worms, Episode II: WASA Tests the Worms.
	INTRO	The season 30–32 intro sequence is used in place of the season 29 opening.
	Muppets	Big Bird talks about between by showing that he is in the middle between Zoe and Radar. (First: Episode 3500) This segment appeared after the Fireworks Alphabet in the 1999 rerun.
	Muppets	Ernie & Bert — Before going to bed, Ernie prepares a long list of items he may need in the middle of the night. However, he covers his bed with so many things, there's no room for him to sleep, so he pushes Bert out of his bed. (First: Episode 3829) This segment replaced the film about rollerblading in the 1999 rerun.

Notes

• This episode was among a select group of Season 29 episodes that were reran during the last few weeks of 1999, shortly before Season 31 began airing the following January. This particular episode aired on November 16 and December 7.

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