| Sesame Street | |||||||||
| Slimey to the Moon: Slimey returns from the moon | |||||||||
| Air date | May 15, 1998 (season finale) | ||||||||
| Season | Season 29 (1997-1998) | ||||||||
| Written by | Tony Geiss | ||||||||
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| Picture | Segment | Description |
|---|---|---|
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SCENE 1 | Gabi makes her way over to Oscar's trash can from the yard to see what Oscar is doing. In preparation of Slimey's return from the moon, he's getting Slimey's bed ready. Gabi bets that he's excited, but Oscar counters that it's just Slimey: his "little mud button," his "little space hero back from the universe at last." Oscar's spent a lot of time planning his return with a mint laid out on the bed, and a fresh apple to eat. Gabi gets that he's secretly happy to have Slimey coming home today, but reminds Oscar that he still has to get from space back to the Earth. |
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SCENE 1 cont'd |
Just then, Gordon, Susan, Miles, Bob, Maria, Luis and the Kids walk by headed for WASA control to watch the worms land; Slimey's coming down any minute. Gabi and Oscar follow them. |
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Cartoon | In an homage to the musical cartoons of the 1930s, Cab Callomouse attends a revue at the Lunar Lounge. (First: Episode 3713) |
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Muppets | The Two-Headed Monster looks at a star and sings "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." (First: Episode 2737) |
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Film | The floating kids form H. (First: Episode 3118) |
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Animation | H / h (space paint) (First: Episode 3218) |
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Animation | H in space (with astronauts) (First: Episode 3697) |
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SCENE 2 | Elmo, Zoe, Gina, Rosita, Telly, Mr. Handford, Linda, Carlo, and Celina join the group Around the Corner where the training officer is running the show from mission control. Although the Wiggleprise crew isn't quite ready to land yet, she has prepared a posterboard presentation to recount the adventure that took worm astronauts where no worm had ever gone before. She explains that a capsule ejected from the ship will land in the Atlantic Ocean, its fall softened by a parachute and the open seas. At the news of this splashdown event, Oscar recalls that Slimey didn't take any water wings with him. |
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Cartoon | Alien parents tuck their child in at night, and he counts 13 spaceships. Artist: Bill Davis (First: Episode 3729) |
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Film | Milo Counting #13 (First: Episode 3553) |
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Cartoon | The number 13 is seen as a birdhouse, in a tree, and in the sky. Artist: Joey Ahlbum (First: Episode 3276) |
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Song | "I'm a Little Airplane," with film of kids pretending to be airplanes. (First: Episode 3266) |
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Cartoon | Geronimo 10-0: Instead of a parachute, the girl has a helicopter propeller. (First: Episode 2262) |
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SCENE 3 | The training officer announces that the worms are on their way down, and asks whether there are any last questions. Zoe wants to know what it means to "land." After a brief explanation, Oscar theorizes what would happen if they miss the water and realizes that the WASA lady's technical explanation of what would happen would basically constitute a "crash." Oscar is assured that Slimey won't get hurt; the Atlantic Ocean is so big, who could miss that? |
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SCENE 3 cont'd |
Once more, The Count is brought in to count down the re-entry process. Only this time, his thunder and lightning cause the capsule to stray off course, and the worms are now headed directly for Sesame Street. |
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SCENE 3 cont'd |
As all but Oscar look up, they can see that the capsule is getting closer and that their parachute has opened. Professor Albert Einslime says that they need to secure a portable mini splashdown facility; translated: a washbucket. Gordon, Maria, Gabi and the WASA training officer hurry over to the Sesame Street garage to acquire one. |
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Cartoon | Flash Gizmo, Space Cadet Here and there (First: Episode 3697) |
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Film | A girl narrates a segment about how astronaut Mario Runco visited her school and answered kids' questions. (First: Episode 3696) |
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Animation | Planet H / h (First: Episode 2851) |
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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) |
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Song | Soul H! (First: Episode 3368) |
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SCENE 4 | Commotion ensues as the capsule falls closer and closer toward the ground. Grundgetta, a lamb, Ernie, Bert, Lexine, Baby Bear, Snuffy, Big Bird and Ruthie have joined the growing crowd, all of whom are excited and panicked at the oncoming potential disaster. Gordon, Maria, Gabi and the WASA training officer furiously struggle to align themselves to catch the capsule, and finally the worms achieve a safe splashdown. Slimey emerges for the first time as Selma Worm (with a parachute of her own) quietly slips away. |
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Cartoon | Zork and his friend Marge Dinkle attempt to go on a picnic in space. She packs him a healthy lunch, but once they're out of Earth's atmosphere, the contents of the picnic basket get all over the inside of the spaceship. Artist: ArtistMike |
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Film | Joe Raposo sings "Everybody Eats." Re-filmed version (First: Episode 2855) |
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Muppets | Cookie Monster sings "If Moon Was Cookie." (underscore added to intro) (First: Episode 1789) |
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Cartoon | Suzie Kabloozie and Feff appear to float around in outer space, but at the end of the sketch, it is revealed that they are just pretending to be astronauts. Artist: Mo Willems (First: Episode 3701) |
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SCENE 5 | Sesame Street News reports on the return of the worms, with Kermit the Frog covering a celebratory parade held in honor of the Wiggleprise crew. The Sesame Street Space Kids Band plays marching band music, ticker tape falls to the streets (mostly on Kermit), and the crowd cheers as the parade is about to begin. |
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SCENE 5 cont'd |
Everyone is confused to first see a proud chicken strut down the street, and the farmer (Joey Mazzarino) gloats that he knew all along that his chicken was on the ship. As the crowd continues to cheer, a giant parade float coasts down the center of Sesame Street carrying Legusano, Squashimi, Squishta, Spaghettini and Slimey: the five very brave, very smart, very cute worm astronauts who went to the moon. Feeding off the energy and excitement, Elmo and Zoe argue that they're going to be astronauts when they grow up, as Maria proudly cedes that she chose toaster repair. |
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SCENE 5 cont'd |
Kermit (buried in ticker tape) signs off, and Selma Worm tells her farmer that she wants to lay eggs on Jupiter. |
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Cartoon | A little girl sings "There Is Only One Me." (First: Episode 1942) |
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Muppets | Muppet & Kid Moment — At night, Grover asks Samantha whether 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 (First: Episode 3698) |
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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) |
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Muppets | Muppet & Kid Moment — Samantha is still counting to 100, and has gone past 40. Grover says they'll be back later. Part 2 (First: Episode 3698) |
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Song | A voiceover sings about "Big Bigger Biggest" using clocks, ducks and saxophones to illustrate the concept. (First: Episode 3731) |
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Muppets | Muppet & Kid Moment — Samantha is still counting to 100. Grover advises the audience to get a cup of coffee. Part 3 (First: Episode 3698) |
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Film | Fay Ray dresses up as a "green elephant," a moose, and "Kermit the dog." (First: Episode 2864) |
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Muppets | Muppet & Kid Moment — Samantha finally reaches 100, and Grover cheers. Part 4 (First: Episode 3698) |
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Animation | Cecille sings "Up Down In Out." (First: Episode 2746) |
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Muppets / Celebrity | Angel Corella dances the Ballet Alphabet, while Telly, Zoe and Elmo name the letters. cut from the Max version |
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Cartoon | How they say "good night" in Haiti and in India. (First: Episode 1824) |
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SCENE 6 | At night, Oscar reads Slimey a worm version of Goodnight Moon, happy that his worm is back on Earth. He admits that for the first time in his life, he was happy that Slimey was back and also happy that Slimey was happy. Oscar asks Slimey what he wants to do tomorrow on their first full day back together, and Slimey proclaims that he wants to go to Mars. Oscar suggests they go to the worm playground first, and then to Mars. Slimey drifts off to sleep and Oscar looks at the new picture Slimey brought back. It's of the Earth, here where we live -- he saw it for the first time all the way from the moon. |
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SCENE 6 cont'd |
As he sleeps, Slimey sings "I'm an Earthworm" in his dreams (with Martin P. Robinson's vocals un-altered), over a montage of highlights from the past season. |
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SCENE 6 cont'd |
Kermit announces the sponsors. "Special Imagery Courtesy of NASA" |
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Still | A moment of silence, followed by a full credit crawl. |
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COMING SOON | Coming soon on Sesame Street: Big Bird encounters a little boy who is sad because he's moving to Sesame Street. |
Alterations[]
| Picture | Segment | Description |
|---|---|---|
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INTRO | In the 1999 rerun, the season 30–32 intro sequence is used in place of the season 29 opening. |
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Cartoon | A ball goes up and down a musical staircase. (First: Episode 2151) This segment replaced "Up Down In Out" in the 1999 rerun. |
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COMING SOON | When this episode was shown near the premiere of Season 30, the "Coming Soon" segment was replaced with a sneak peek of episode 3786. |
Notes[]
- Some changes from the original script include[1]:
- While setting up Slimey's bed, Oscar also lays out his worm dolly, Tiny Mud.
- The WASA Training Officer is addressed as a male character and reveals their name to be "Buzz Houston." When the Wiggleprise capsule is thrown off course, Telly cries, "Mr. Houston, we have a problem!"
- Rather than a washbucket, the street residents catch the capsule using a child's wading pool.
- The celebratory parade route is Around the Corner by the park. The child marching band was instead a band consisting of worms and other insects. A Wiggleprise float instead carried the WASA worm technicians, and a separate float boasts the worm astronauts.
- Mr. Handford makes his final appearance in this episode.
- Cheryl Henson appears in a crowd scene in this episode.[2]
- This is the last street story to feature Ruthie, although she continued to appear in costume as other characters through season 32.
- After this episode, Around the Corner was dropped. As a result many of the characters that were introduced to populate the area are dropped as well, such as Celina.
- 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 December 3 and December 24.
Sources[]
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| Episode 3784 | Episode 3786 |