Episode 3698

Sesame Street
Slimey to the Moon: Slimey goes into space
Air date	January 14, 1998
Season	Season 29 (1997-1998)
Written by	Judy Freudberg
Production October 6, 16 & 21, 1997 Sponsors G, 5

Picture	Segment	Description
	COLD OPEN	Big Bird finishes a phone call at his nest by thanking the person on the other end of the line for helping him to spell "aardvark." He moves on to other important matters like telling the viewer about today's sponsors, and that today they're also going to see Slimey and four other worms get into a spaceship headed for the moon!
	SCENE 1	Everyone on Sesame Street (including Maria, Luis, Big Bird, Snuffy, Herry Monster, Telly, Elmo, Zoe, Rosita, Tarah, John Tartaglia, Ruthie, Gina, Gordon, Susan, Miles, Irene Simon, Lexine, a Honker, and various other residents) has gathered in front and around the yard for the space shuttle launch.
	SCENE 1 cont'd	The training officer from WASA addresses the crowd to commemorate the historic occasion and introduces the five worms who make up the crew of the space mission: Spaghettini from Italy, Squishta from Romania, Squashimi from Japan, Legusano from Colombia, and Slimey from Sesame Street. To define their mission, the training officer shows an animated film (produced by Joey Ahlbum) illustrating what will happen on their trip.
	SCENE 1 cont'd	Opening up the floor for questions, Telly wants to be clear on what's going on: these five very brave, very smart, very cute little worms are going to get into a tin can-looking thing, lift off the ground and go up, up, up as high as they can get. His rather excitedly posed question is: "Why would anyone do this? WHY?!" The training officer launches into an inspirational speech about doing it because it's there, because they want to explore space and the moon. To explore means that they're going to travel into space and land on the moon to see what it's like. The training officer says that they're going to be gone for many weeks. This again sparks Oscar's previous concerns about how long Slimey's not going to be with him.
	Song	"Explore Calypso Song" (First: Episode 3531)
	Animation	Pencil box G / g (First: Episode 3042)
	Film	G for go, girls, guitar, goldfish, etc. (First: Episode 3269)
	Animation	Computer G / g (First: Episode 3112)
	Muppets	Muppet & Kid Moment — At night, Grover asks Samantha if she can count to 20, and she says she can count to 100. She starts counting, and Grover says they'll be back in a moment. Part 1
	Film	Wegman's dogs: Little Jack Horner (First: Episode 3460)
	Muppets	Muppet & Kid Moment — Samantha is still counting to 100, and has gone past 40. Grover says they'll be back later. Part 2
	Song	Leon Redbone sings "Blueberry Mouth." (First: Episode 3300)
	Muppets	Muppet & Kid Moment — Samantha is still counting to 100. Grover advises the audience to get a cup of coffee. Part 3
	Cartoon	Christopher Clumsy jumps over a hole, and falls into another hole. Artist: Cliff Roberts (First: Episode 0439)
	Muppets	Muppet & Kid Moment — Samantha finally reaches 100, and Grover cheers. Part 4
	Cartoon	Flash Gizmo, Space Cadet Over, under, around and through
	Song	"Would You Like to Go Over?" (First: Episode 3034) cut from reruns
	Cartoon	Mary Shaboom reluctantly moves to a new house, and muses about the consequences. (new sound effects and music tag added) (First: Episode 2959) This segment was put right before the Two-Headed monster sketch in the 1999 rerun.
	SCENE 2	The mission control announcer (Jerry Nelson) comes over the loudspeaker to announce that the team is getting ready to board the ship. Oscar is adamant about Slimey not leaving until he's sure that his worm has everything he's going to need in space. He gets to see inside the ship and accounts for chairs with seatbelts, beds to sleep in, freeze-dried pizza, a library of books, and even a bowling alley. Oscar notes that they don't have any water wings packed, but he's told that there's no water on the moon and no pool in the ship. Appalled, Oscar decides that Slimey's not going if he can't swim.
	SCENE 2 cont'd	Maria interjects since she recognizes that Oscar is making excuses for how sad he's going to feel with Slimey gone for such a long time. She convinces him that he wants Slimey to go to the moon more than he doesn't want him to go, and assures Oscar that Slimey will be back before he knows it. Oscar realizes how selfish he's being and agrees to let Slimey go to the moon. Mission control announces a final inspection of the spaceship before boarding.
	Cartoon	Bobby's dog narrates why Bobby is sad. (First: Episode 3455)
	Muppets / Celebrity	Ernie and Aaron Neville sing "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon." (First: Episode 3242)
	Cartoon	Noodles & Nedd eat lots of chocolates, but they don't litter. cut from reruns
	Song	"Papermaking Song" (First: Episode 3563) cut from reruns
	Animation	Portraits of kids display the alphabet. Artist: Lisa Crafts (First: Episode 3203)
	Muppets	Two-Headed Monster: Twinkle, Twinkle — The monster sings "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." (First: Episode 2737)
	Cartoon	Various alien creatures perform in an other wordly music performance conducted by a trumpet-nosed creature. (re-recorded soundtrack) (First: Episode 1181)
	SCENE 3	As the inspection crew readies the ship for take-off, it's time for the families to say goodbye to the astronauts. Dusty and Eartha hug their son and Sloppy says goodbye to her big brother. Oscar wants to say goodbye too, saying he's part of his family: "I'm his Grouch!" exclaims Oscar when pressed. He gives Slimey a tiny framed photo of himself so that he doesn't forget him, and Slimey likewise gives him a large portrait of himself. They share a goodbye kiss and Slimey boards the ship. "What a worm," sighs Oscar.
	Song	John Pizzarelli sings about feeling "happy and proud" on your birthday. (First: Episode 3421)
	Cartoon	A girl thinks she hears a monster doing a cha-cha outside her window, but it's only the wind and crickets. Her snores frighten the real monster. Artist: Deanna Morse (First: Episode 2951) cut from reruns
	Muppets	Kermit Lecture: Inside Herry Monster — Kermit has Herry step behind an X-ray machine to show what's inside his body. (First: Episode 1974)
	Song	"They're Not Alive" (First: Episode 3661)
	Film	Paper crumples to reveal G, g, and Gg. (First: Episode 3128)
	Film	Kids on a jungle safari spot an ornate G swing through the trees. (First: Episode 3498)
	Animation	Planet G / g (First: Episode 2844)
	SCENE 4	The time for the countdown to lift-off has come. The training officer makes sure the worms are in lift-off position, and the WASA countdown specialist is called in to count down from 10 to 0: Count von Count! He is very proud to be a part of this noble project (as well as anything that lets him count in any way) and as he counts down, the shuttle smokes and shakes, but does not achieve lift-off. The training officer assures everyone that the highly trained worm technicians are going to find out what went wrong. Oscar can't stand the suspense!
	Cartoon	Geronimo 10-0: Instead of a parachute, she has a helicopter propeller. (First: Episode 2262) This was switched with the below segment in the 1999 rerun.
	Song	"I'm a Little Airplane", with film of kids pretending to be airplanes. (First: Episode 3266) This was switched with the above segment in the 1999 rerun.
	Muppets	Super Grover asks Baby Natasha, as Super Baby, to help him demonstrate big and little. But Super Baby won't sit still long enough -- she keeps flying around, and ends up crash-landing on his head.
	Film	A boy narrates a film of what happens when it changes from fall to winter. (First: Episode 2459)
	Cartoon	5 of various things found in space including 5 spaceships on Mars.
	Animation	"Five Waltzing Chairs" Artist: Jane Aaron (First: Episode 2983)
	Animation	The number 5 in space (with astronauts)
	SCENE 5	After the worm technicians finish fixing an oscillator that was not oscillating, it's time for the countdown again. The Count is hopeful that it will not work so he can count down from 10 once more.
	SCENE 5 cont'd	On the second countdown attempt, the ship smokes and shakes but still doesn't seem to have enough power; it looks like Slimey won't be leaving after all. Concurrently, the smoke is starting to irritate Snuffy's snuffle. He huffs and puffs and finally lets out a huge sneeze that sends the ship rocketing into the air, giving it the boost it needed! Everyone waves goodbye to Slimey as the ship leaves Sesame Street, while Oscar exclaims in wonderment, "My worm is in space?!"
	SCENE 5 cont'd	As the ship continues taking off, a farmer (Joey Mazzarino) arrives and claims that his chicken was on that ship, which the training officer brushes off since only worms are going into space. Indeed, as the ship soars it is revealed that Selma Worm, the chicken that had tried out at WASA yesterday, is onboard as a stowaway!
	SCENE 5 cont'd	As the ship leaves the Earth's atmosphere, the announcer orates their mission in a direct take-off from Star Trek. It is at this time that the name of the ship is revealed: the Wiggleprise. Fittingly, the announcer also mentions the sponsors as the Sesame Street and WASA crew continue to celebrate.
	COMING SOON	Coming soon on Sesame Street: A lady must wait for her beloved Georgie under the Sesame Street sign... but where is it?

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 III: The Launching of the Worms.
	INTRO	The season 30–32 intro sequence is used in place of the season 29 opening.
	Song	"Shadow Show" (First: Episode 3699) This segment replaced the Wegman Dogs sketch in the 1999 rerun.
	Film	A child performs a poem called "Night" in sign language. (First: Episode 3807) This segment appeared after "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon" in the 1999 rerun.
	Cartoon	Noodles & Nedd: Noodles tries to get Nedd to feed him while Nedd is fixated on looking at the stars through his telescope. (First: Episode 3701) This segment appeared before the "Alphabet Photo Booth" film in the 1999 rerun.
	Cartoon	In an homage to the musical cartoons of the 1930s, Cab Callomouse attends a revue at the Lunar Lounge. (First: Episode 3713) This segment replaced the alien symphony cartoon in the 1999 rerun.
	Muppets	Muppet & Kid Moment — Grover and Patrick observe that the moon doesn't talk. (First: Episode 3697) This segment appeared after "Birthday Emotions" in the 1999 rerun.
	Animation	An Elvis Presley-type man sings "Rockin' Rockets" as he blasts off into space. (First: Episode 3805) This segment appeared before the Kermit and Herry sketch in the 1999 rerun.
	Muppets	Elmo sings about the "Planets, Moon and Stars." (First: Episode 3782) This segment replaced the Super Grover and Natasha sketch in the 1999 rerun.
	Film	A girl narrates a segment about how astronaut Mario Runco visited her school and answered kids' questions. (First: Episode 3696) This segment replaced the film about fall and winter 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 17, December 8, and December 28.
• A rendition of "Mars, Bringer of War" from Gustav Holt's "The Planets" orchestral suite is heard during the launch.

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