Sesame Street Presents Follow that Bird deserves a re-release

Sesame Street Presents Follow that Bird (which was one of my favorite movies as a kid) is available on DVD but it only has a pan-and-scan transfer (but the included trailer is widescreen!). If anything, this movie deserves a widescreen transfer. I'm sure there's a "making of" that was used to promote the theatrical release somewhere.

I suppose this isn't high up on anyone's list, but it would be nice to see it given a proper release.

Re: Sesame Street Presents Follow that Bird deserves a re-release

Agreed. That old release was brought to you by the letter W, for "What were they thinking?"

I compared the transfer to the trailer and it is indeed pan-and-scan, not open matte. Apparently all the Muppet movies except the first one were shot hard matte, including the two Sesame Street ones.

Re: Sesame Street Presents Follow that Bird deserves a re-release

I remember seeing it on HDNet Movies. Sure enough it was in widescreen, and HD to boot, and really looked pretty good.
I was 8 when it came out and I might have seen in it theatres. I remember loving it. There was just something really cool about seeing the Sesame Street folks out in the "real world", and not confined to the alley.
It's still as enjoyable as ever and passes the test of time. One caveat however, is that it doesn't have Elmo, who didn't join the cast until later. Nonetheless, it's a great movie for young Big Bird fans, and you can't beat those songs that get caught in your head.
By way of IMDB, I just noticed that it was directed by Ken Kwapis, who has since directed a bunch of episodes of "Malcolm in the Middle", "Bernie Mac" and "The Office" (USA).

Re: Sesame Street Presents Follow that Bird deserves a re-release

Actually; Elmo is in the movie, but as a background character.

Re: Sesame Street Presents Follow that Bird deserves a re-release

This was the very first 80s movie I ever saw, and I enjoyed it. I enjoy it even today. The celebrity cameos are hilarious and I really enjoy the interactions of The Sleaze Brothers (played by Dave Thomas and Joe Flaherty). The songs are enjoyable as well.

A widescreen re-release of this would be nice, but the question is how would they promote it? Your average "Sesame Street" watcher can't remember a time before Elmo was a major character, so they might wonder where he is (outside of the wordless appearance at the end of the movie). Maybe they could give this movie the "Old School" treatment and direct it towards older viewers who could rediscover it and possibly share it with their own kids as well.

Sincerely,

John Kilduff...

Just a few random thoughts.

Re: Sesame Street Presents Follow that Bird deserves a re-release

I would buy a thoughtfully approached reissue in it's original ar in a heartbeat.

Re: Sesame Street Presents Follow that Bird deserves a re-release

I bet a cast and crew commentary would be pretty interesting.

Re: Sesame Street Presents Follow that Bird deserves a re-release

To anyone who saw it on HDNet Movies, did you notice any additional picture information on the sides, like the American flag at the beginning?

Re: Sesame Street Presents Follow that Bird deserves a re-release

Great news: Warner is releasing a 25th Anniversary Edition on March 24 in 16x9 with some minor extras. No Blu-Ray, but since they're atoning for a boneheaded mistake, I'll forgive them for that. I'll also forgive them for the fact that the 25th anniversary of this film is next year (perhaps they wanted to get it in time for the 40th anniversary of the show proper). But whether The Count will do so remains to be seen

Also, I rented the film from iTunes, and it indeed has more info on both sides. The globe on the left side when Bert and Ernie watch the news is not cut in half; it is fully intact.

Re: Sesame Street Presents Follow that Bird deserves a re-release

Great news Matt!

I sparingly watch the Old School Vol 1 set. the nostalgia is truly staggering. I really mean STAGGERING. OUt of everything in my collection I haven't gotta such an intense nostalgic jolt out of anything quite like revisiting SS.

Anyway, avoided the other DVD but I'll pick this up soon. Still got to get the Vol 2 SS set. Those are all no-brainer purchases for me.





Here's hoping they will do an adult release of some Mr. Roger's Neighborhood DVDs.

Re: Sesame Street Presents Follow that Bird deserves a re-release

I'll definitely pick this up!!! I remember seeing this in the theater when I was about 7 years old. I'm not sure I'd ever admit owning it to anyone I know, lol, but it will indeed be another piece of nostalgia from my childhood..........and less than 2 weeks until release. Gotta love that.

EDIT: Just saw the cover over at Amazon. Why in the blue hell is Elmo on the cover?!?!? He had a whole 5 seconds of screen time at the end of the movie, and only as an un-named, un-voiced background character. I think that's extremely misleading to customers, especially those who haven't seen the film, and those wanting to pick up a movie for their kids consisting of Emo. They'll indeed be in for a rude awakening.

Re: Sesame Street Presents Follow that Bird deserves a re-release

You mean why the red hell?

Anyone who remembers a non-Elmo-centric Sesame Street is an adult, and while I'm not fond of the cover art, they're selling it primarily to kids, but throwing a bone to adults by retaining the OAR. Like it or not (and I can't say that I like it), the last fifteen or so (about a decade after Follow That Bird's release) years have pushed Elmo from a supporting character into the forefront of the show. Perhaps Jim Henson's death, Carroll Spinney's advancing age, the sale of the Henson family's half of the show back to Sesame Workshop and the deaths and retirements of veterans have contributed to that. Tickle Me Elmo, while I wonder what children actually learn from it, outsold other character toys by a wide margin in late 1996. There were no armed robberies over other Sesame Street toys. This could have been a factor, too.

Despite their nonprofit pretensions, Sesame Workshop IS a business after all. I don't believe they have received federal assistance since the mid-1970s (at least according to the new book "Street Gang"), which is part of why The Electric Company ended when it did. Additionally, if the educational specialists say "jump", Sesame Workshop says "how high". And if they approve of making Elmo the main focus, the Workshop always does what they say. Maybe that's part of why the Old School DVDs had warnings and the DVD release of the 1983 special "Big Bird in China" was edited to remove lines where Big Bird talks about "speak[ing] American" (meaning English).

You have to wonder that perhaps some people expect Sesame Street to be made for generation X adults who watched it in the 1970s, detest Elmo, and blog about minutiae related to all things Muppet. It isn't. While there will always be things that only adults will pick up on and appreciate on a different level (i.e. the reference to a John Steinbeck book in this film), the primary purpose is to educate children ages 2-6. In a couple of decades there will be another generation of adults who hate whatever upstart comes to replace Elmo and lament why the show isn't like it was in the 1990s and 2000s.

But this cover art is going to backfire hard when kids who never saw or heard of this film are disappointed by the absence of Elmo. But they would be doing this film (by far the superior of the 2 Sesame Street films) a disservice.

I'm just glad Warner finally righted a DVD wrong (take that, Sony).

Re: Sesame Street Presents Follow that Bird deserves a re-release

I LOOOOOVE the cover.

I guess I need to pick up the rest of the Muppet stuff I don't have too, like The Muppet Movie itself.

Re: Sesame Street Presents Follow that Bird deserves a re-release

just swap the disc for the old snap cover with the theatrical artwork like I'll surely do.