Muppet Wiki

Kermiteye Welcome to Muppet Wiki!


Please visit Special:Community to learn how you can collaborate with the editing community.

READ MORE

Muppet Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Radar
Follow That Bird plane

Follow That Bird

1339 05

Radar becomes a patient in Episode 1339.

2243c

Radar's jammies in Episode 2029.

Radar-BBNest

Radar perched in front of Big Bird's nest.

Big Bird hugs radar

Radar is Big Bird's teddy bear on Sesame Street. He is a brown stuffed bear with a red ribbon around his neck, who was given to Big Bird as a gift from Mr. Hooper.[1][2] Much like Ernie's Rubber Duckie, Radar is Big Bird's most treasured possession, and Big Bird often confides in the bear.

Big Bird's teddy bear appeared unnamed as early as Episode 1000 (1977). The stuffed toy wears a red ribbon around its neck and stands approximately three feet tall. The same bear, still nameless, also appears in Episode 1211 and Episode 1217. The first use of the name Radar occurs in Episode 1255 (1979) when Big Bird learns he's going to have to spend some time in the hospital. Radar is a smaller bear at roughly a foot and a half with a lighter midsection, and wears a golden ribbon around his neck. His style and minimalist attire (typically just a ribbon) would change slightly over the years, but he essentially remained a basic teddy bear.

Big Bird sang "More Than a Toy" as an ode to Radar in Episode 3606; a story in which his Auntie Audubon tried to replace Radar. He also accompanied Big Bird on a week-long stay at Camp Echo Rock. Other storylines over the years have involved Radar being ripped (Episode 3922), having gone missing (Episode 3884), or accidentally being sold (Episode 4174). Radar has more often served as a source of comfort not just for Big Bird, but his friends as well: he's loaned out to Baby Natasha in Episode 3651, and stays overnight with Maria at the hospital in Episode 3526. As one of Big Bird's most treasured possessions, Radar even holds the power of restoring his memory when Big Bird contracts the memory flu in Episode 3396.

A rejected, multi-episode story arc would have seen Radar venturing into space, coinciding with the prop's inclusion in a launch on the real Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986. The unused proposal later found life twelve years later for a season-long arc in which Slimey went to the moon.

Radar has often been depicted in Sesame Street coloring books and illustrated books over the years, and in the early 1980s, a stuffed toy Radar was marketed. Radar was also featured in Follow That Bird, where Big Bird sent Radar ahead by "special delivery, bear mail" to keep them from being spotted.

The stuffed bear was named by Big Bird's performer Caroll Spinney as a tribute to actor Gary Burghoff, who played Walter "Radar" O'Reilly on M*A*S*H.[3] The two met at a taping of Hollywood Squares, and the bear's name is a dual tribute, reflecting Burghoff's Radar character, who brought a teddy bear to Korea, and the fact that in his private life, Burghoff is known as a painter of birds and an activist for bird preservation. In Episode 5001, Little Bird's teddy bear is named "Walter," another reference to the M*A*S*H character.

In a Season 39 episode, Big Bird holds a "nest sale" and bumps Radar into the nest where he is selling toys without knowing. Snuffy accidentally sells him to Count von Count who buys all the toys to count them. Kaitlyn then comes back and returns him after the Count gave it to a monster and the monster gave it to her.

Notes[]

Book appearances[]

Merchandise[]

See also[]

Sources[]

Advertisement