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Don't Eat the Pictures
After seeing the Nostalgia Critic's recent review of the Sesame Street theatrical movie, Follow That Bird, I was reminded of something that was even more near and dear to me than that movie: Don't Eat the Pictures. This was a mini-movie (only 60 minutes long) that aired on PBS in 1983, back when Cookie Monster still ate cookies, Oscar was still extra grouchy, and Snuffy was still Big Bird's imaginary friend. But it's not the fact that it's old school Sesame Street that makes it special. No. What makes this mini-movie special is that it is utterly INSANE.
Okay, so the Sesame Street creative team have set out to make a neat educational film about art, presented by the Metropolitan Museum. Simple and bland enough, right? Well what if we add in a story about the Sesame Street gang losing track of Big Bird in the museum and ending up locked in the building overnight? That's a sort of okay plot hook, as far as this show goes, I guess. How about having Oscar the Grouch finding a bunch of broken Greek statues and singing about how they're the most beautiful things he's ever seen? Allllll right... Oh, and since this special is about art, we can totally get away with showing nipples and dongs on said Greek statues. Um, cool!
What about having Cookie Monster having to constantly resist the urge to devour all the art pieces in the museum (paintings, mummies, statues, you name it), with that urge culminating in a song about how you totally shouldn't eat pictures and museum stuff, even if it's a picture of a hot chick? What the... I don't get it, but that sounds awesome!
And here's the kicker: what if we have Big Bird and Snuffy find the spirit of an ancient Egyptian prince and his invisible cat, who have both been trapped in this area for millennia, unable to join the prince's parents as stars in the sky (aka: afterlife), and all because the prince can't answer a riddle presented to him nightly by a demon? And if he does answer the riddle, he'll still have to weigh his heart against a feather to see if he's worthy enough to get into the afterlife, same as what's presented in Egyptian mythology? Fucking Osiris himself presides over this weighing, too! Dude! Sesame Street just taught us that Egyptian religion is totally real! Woo polytheism! This is the best movie featuring Big Bird ever!
Seriously, though, this special is highly entertaining even today. I think everyone who has a Sesame Street-loving bone in their body should watch it (or re-watch it with older eyes). Used VHS copies are available on Amazon starting at about $5 ($1.76 for the original 1987 edition). Or you can watch the whole thing on YouTube in eight parts, last time I checked. I normally wouldn't recommend going there, but since Don't Eat the Pictures has been officially out of print for a long time now, it's a bit more justifiable to seek it out online.
Here's a clip of the titular song done by Cookie Monster, for anyone who's curious:
KcQ7m1vFlYI
To anyone who has seen the whole thing: thoughts? Memories?
Okay, so the Sesame Street creative team have set out to make a neat educational film about art, presented by the Metropolitan Museum. Simple and bland enough, right? Well what if we add in a story about the Sesame Street gang losing track of Big Bird in the museum and ending up locked in the building overnight? That's a sort of okay plot hook, as far as this show goes, I guess. How about having Oscar the Grouch finding a bunch of broken Greek statues and singing about how they're the most beautiful things he's ever seen? Allllll right... Oh, and since this special is about art, we can totally get away with showing nipples and dongs on said Greek statues. Um, cool!
What about having Cookie Monster having to constantly resist the urge to devour all the art pieces in the museum (paintings, mummies, statues, you name it), with that urge culminating in a song about how you totally shouldn't eat pictures and museum stuff, even if it's a picture of a hot chick? What the... I don't get it, but that sounds awesome! And here's the kicker: what if we have Big Bird and Snuffy find the spirit of an ancient Egyptian prince and his invisible cat, who have both been trapped in this area for millennia, unable to join the prince's parents as stars in the sky (aka: afterlife), and all because the prince can't answer a riddle presented to him nightly by a demon? And if he does answer the riddle, he'll still have to weigh his heart against a feather to see if he's worthy enough to get into the afterlife, same as what's presented in Egyptian mythology? Fucking Osiris himself presides over this weighing, too! Dude! Sesame Street just taught us that Egyptian religion is totally real! Woo polytheism! This is the best movie featuring Big Bird ever!
Seriously, though, this special is highly entertaining even today. I think everyone who has a Sesame Street-loving bone in their body should watch it (or re-watch it with older eyes). Used VHS copies are available on Amazon starting at about $5 ($1.76 for the original 1987 edition). Or you can watch the whole thing on YouTube in eight parts, last time I checked. I normally wouldn't recommend going there, but since Don't Eat the Pictures has been officially out of print for a long time now, it's a bit more justifiable to seek it out online.
Here's a clip of the titular song done by Cookie Monster, for anyone who's curious:
KcQ7m1vFlYI
To anyone who has seen the whole thing: thoughts? Memories?
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