What Does Blue Want to Do on a Rainy Day?

Remember back on October 12, 1998 when Nick Jr. aired yet another marathon for Blue's Clues, but this time it was called "Blue's Big Marathon!" And on that day it aired two new episodes, "Blue's Sad Day," and "What Does Blue Want to Do on a Rainy Day?" Now, I didn't really like "Blue's Sad Day" mainly due to the fact that Blue is just so mopey and depressed over the Green Puppy knocking down her block towers. I may have hated that episode, but 12;30/11:30 central was able to make up for it by showing another new episode, "What Does Blue Want to Do on a Rainy Day?"and I think this one was way better than the previous new episode. It aired after a rerun of my other favorite season two episode, "What Was Blue's Dream About?"Now, with all that off my chest, let's get into this review. shall we?

The plot of the episode is that, well, it's raining, hence the title, but Blue and Steve don't mind it very much, and they're in such a musical mood, that Blue decides to play Blue's Clues to figure out what to do today. Along the way, we tap dance our way into the kitchen, play the water xylophone with Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper, do some clapping rhythms, play a game of "Repeat the Beat" from a video letter delivered by Mailbox, and finally, find the farm animals singing partner for their tunes and rhythm. Now, onto my opinions.

What's fun about this episode is that it's better than Blue's Sad Day, and it has Blue in the Blue's Clues mood, not only that, but the hair stylists in the studio really improved Steve's hair in this episode, it's still short like in "Blue's Sad Day," but it looks quite similar to his earlier Season Two hair style. But anyways, what's also great about this episode was the Open/Close Opera, a parody of the Anvil Chorus, Gonzo, eat your heart out, Mailbox singing along to the Mail Time song, but the best highlight of the episode is the Farm Song, where Steve sings the Birds, Cow, Sheep, Frog, and Pig animal sounds. Jeanne Simpson, who did the choreography for Blue's Birthday, was the choreographer for this episode. She did a fantastic job teaching Steve how to tap dance, hand clap, play the Thinking Chair, as well as the dancing in the skidoo sketch.

Okay, final thought. This is a fun musical, it's funny, visually interesting, and it has a great moral, you can always have fun inside no matter what mood you feel. And this episode really showed us that Steve and Blue didn't mind the rain at all. Same thing with Imagine That! and the Powerpuff Girls episode where they play Powerpuff Girls indoors at home. You can find this episode on the VHS Rhythm and Blue, or on the DVD, "Blue's Big Band," so, get your tapping toes ready for this funny musical episode, that will make you forget all about Blue's Sad Day and remember this episode by heart.

Blue's Birthday

And now, I would like to present a review for the Birthday episode that aired prime-time on Nickelodeon on June of 1998. It aired after "What Does Blue Want to Make Out of Recycled Things?" and before "What Was Blue's Dream About?" Let's give the premise first.

The plot of this special is that it's Blue's Birthday and Steve and the audience are getting ready for the big bash! Along the way, we play Blue's Clues to figure out what Blue wants for her birthday present, also, we finish setting the table, and adding one more balloon to the group, also, we skidoo into the Present Store to buy something for Blue for her birthday. The audience buys her a blue puppy doll, and (spoiler alert) a turquoise turtle named Turquoise, and last but not least, open presents. Everybody was there, including Gingerbread Boy, Baby Bear, Magenta, and many others. Now, let's give it a proper review.

This special is a heck of a lot of fun. It has all sorts of birthday feel to it, comedy, education, and of course, love. Also, I should mention that Mailbox gave Blue a birthday card, and the video letter includes guest stars including Gloria Estefan, who also appeared in Elmopalooza, which came out the exact same year this special did. Other celebrities include, Tia & Tamera Mowry, Amanda Bynes, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Rosie O'Donnell! What a star-studded video letter. Interesting fact: In the video version, the Rosie O'Donnell appearance was cut off for heaven who knows what, and it also had a longer opening and a longer ending with Steve getting a present from Blue, a cookie that thanks him for her birthday.

One thing I should point out by the way is that Steve's hair beginning with this episode is a little bit shorter than last time, in fact the only time in the episode where he retained his longer hair was in this shot right here on the left where he asks the audience if they can help him figure out what Blue wants for her present and to help get ready for the party, and also in the stock late Season One intro. This is strange because the episode that aired after this was "What Was Blue's Dream About?" where he retained the original hair style, I point all this out because Nickelodeon had a very strange airing order. I'd be willing to bet that that shot where Steve gets up after getting the notebook was taped much earlier in production, but that's just me.

Okay, final verdict? It is a good episode, not one of the best, but still pretty good. The highlights are the episode are present time, the video letter, and Pin the Flag on Mailbox, that's big-time birthday comedy right there. But, if I were to re-edit this special and make it into a pledge-drive, I would put in Sesame Street birthday related segments as well, like "A Cat Had a Birthday," Ernie and Bert celebrating the letter U's birthday, Charlie's Birthday at Charlie's Restaurant, "If I Knew You Were Coming," and the biggest highlight of them all, "Put Down The Duckie," the celebrity version, I would also put in the sketch where Kermit talks to Oscar about public television from the Sesame Street pledge-drive special that was also named Put Down The Duckie.

But in the end, it doesn't need to be a pledge drive or have all those things, but that's just me. Go ahead and check the episode out if you want to.

Junior Asparagus in "Bully Trouble"

Yep, I'm back from Christmas vacation to do more reviews. Actually, I didn't go anywhere, I just needed time ti think of what to review next. And I thought of the perfect one. One of my favorite VeggieTales stories from the mid 2000's, "Bully Trouble," starring Junior Asparagus.

The premise of this episode is that the playground Junior and his friends play in is being taken over by a bully named Gourdon the Gourd, voiced by Brian K. Roberts, who has worked with VeggieTales since 2000, he bans the kids from playing in the park declaring that it's his playground and HIS playground only, and anyone who comes across the playground, will get squished. Junior and his friends retreat, and while up in his treehouse/backyard, Junior tries to come up with ideas on how to defeat Gourdon. It wasn't long until his Dad comes along with some advice. Just let the bully pound you, and he'know you're not afraid of him and he won't bother you anymore. In other words, turn the other cheek.

This story is a heck of a lot of fun. It has Junior Asparagus in a situation that he needs to resolve and also gets some helpful advice. The highlights of the episode are the parts where Junior uses his imagination, for example, he imagined to be Robin Hood (no relation to the Disney character), a football player with Mr. Nezzer as the coach, and as a astronaut named Junior Spaceman. These scenes are very imaginative and clever in their own unique way. I also like how Kristin Blegen came back after a two-year absence to reprise her role as Laura Carrot, in fact, this was probably the last episode she ever voiced Laura. Also, I should mention that Annie here is voiced by Mike Nawrocki's daughter, Ally, since Shelby Vischer was reaching puberty, and speaking of Mike Nawrocki, Mike here voices Percy's brother, Li'l Pea, since Lesly Benodin left the company by the end of 1999 to become a fireman. Mike does a perfect Li'l Pea voice. One thing that really bugged me was Tim Hodge as the voice of Scooter, why? Was Jim Poole not available? Oh, well.

So, bottom line, this was a good episode, it has a clever plot, it was funny, and has good imagination sequences, and even a good moral on how to deal with bullies. Did I mention the writer of The Ballad of Little Joe, Robert G. Lee did this?

If you wanna see the story, go watch the Minnesota Cuke episode on DVD, or if you want to see it right now with the Schoolhouse Polka silly song intact. Click here:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5lcdpa

P.S. Just skip the Going Up silent short, it's boring.

Steve Gets the Sniffles

Now, it's time for me to review my last Blue's Clues episode for now, which is actually the first episode on the second season, Steve Gets the Sniffles. In production order, this episode was the last episode to use the audience shouting "Blue's Clues" during the theme song, minus the Blue's Birthday song. The plot of this episode is that Steve has the sniffles, and we play Blue's Clues to figure out what he needs to feel better, along the way, we rearrange healthy snacks with Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper, play doctor with Shovel and Pail, and help Jill finish her story. There will be a few spoilers though, but let's just get to my opinions out of the way, first.

What I like about this episode was that, it's comedic and fun, and something I should mention when I first saw this episode, I thought this was from Season 1, when obviously this was from Season 2, why did I think this? I don't know, perhaps it was made early in Season 2, much like What Does Blue Want to Build?, "Blue's ABCs," and Math!," were. Those four episodes were the only episodes that aired in 1997, the rest was from either 1998 and 1999. And now, back on track, I like the Healthy Snacks songs as well as Steve's dance along with it, and during Steve's verse at the end of the song , he sneezes and says to the viewers, don't you? Another funny thing I should mention is that Jill had a tendency to say a few words two times or even three times, that's pretty funny if you ask me, and perhaps the most funniest, is when Steve sneeze skidoos, and when he returns home, he lands hard onto the thinking chair, because, hey, it was quite a jump. Also, just because Steve's voice was nasally during thinking time, that doesn't mean he couldn't come up with the wrong answer to Blue's Clues. That was the only part of the episode where his voice was nasally, most of this episode, he talked pretty much normally, and he wasn't that infectious or that sick.

The one thing that really baffled my Mom is the fact that the answer to Blue's Clues is vegetable soup instead of chicken noodle soup. I guess the people at Blue's Clues had a grudge against Chicken Noodle soup or something, maybe. Also, here's a fun fact, this was the last episode that was directed by Matt Sheridan, in fact it was the only second season episode he ever directed. He still storyboarded the episode, "What Experiment Does Blue Want to Try?" but he gave his directing job to Paul Zehrer in that episode.

Overall, this episode is pretty fun, It retained the Blue's Clues cheer that the Season one episode "Blue's News" forgot to put in, in production order that is. Anyways, this episode was a clever way to start off the season. And since it reruns quite often even to this day, I recommend you watch this episode if you haven't already.

What Was Blue's Dream About?

Here comes another. This one is my personal favorite season two episode, "What Was Blue's Dream About?" What's strange is the fact that this episode aired right after "Blue's Birthday" where Steve had much shorter hair, minus the intro, I point this out because Nickelodeon had a very strange airing order. But I digress. What's the story? Blue had a dream, and we play Blue's Clues to figure out what it was., along the way, we see what Slippery had a dream about, what Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper dreamed about what Paprika grew up to be, and Mailbox delivering a letter about making dream catchers, and last but not least, Steve and the audience help Sleeping Beauty change her nightmare into a party!

What's great about this episode is that it's fun, it tackles on dreams and how we can use our imaginations to change them. The episode also got funny at times, like for example, Steve mishearing "A clue!" as the viewers telling him to tie his shoes, it's important to note that it's revealed that Steve indeed wears green socks, the other funny part is the part where Steve trips over the second clue, the mat that is, and says :"Oops," as well as him getting the wrong answer about a leotard rolling up and taking a nap. I also like the idea of Slippery Soap's superhero alter ego, which ironically, he would get a superhero alter ego a few years later.

But perhaps the best highlight of the entire episode was of course, the Skidoo segment, where Steve and Blue skidoo into Sleeping Beauty's dream to fix it and make it into a party, changing a monster into a three layered cake (a piece of cake), during scary trees into three balloons, pretty neat, and finally, changing the dark fence into a fence with party hats on them, when all that's done, we get a cool song that unfortunately never released on CD on any of the Blue's Clues CD albums, "Our Dream" a glitzy Disco tune that really helped put Disco back on the map, kind of like how The Angry Beavers' "Beaver Fever" song did. If I didn't know better, I'd say this song looks like something that Christopher Cerf would write, in fact, I wonder if Christopher Cerf actually co-wrote this song with Nick Balaban and Michael Rubin. Oh, well, wild guess or not, we'll never know.

If your a fan of disco, or if your just a fan of Blue's Clues, go ahead and check it out if you haven't already. It's a heck of a lot of fun.

What Story Does Blue Want to Play?

Yep, it had to happen sooner or later. Only this time, I'm going to review this Blue's Clues episode more plain and simple, almost as simple as how co-creator Todd Kessler wrote and directed the whole episode. The basic premise is that episode is that after putting a play of the Three Little Pigs, we play Blue's Clues to figure out what story Blue wants to play next. Along the way, we help some fairy tale characters get back to their own books after a little accident, Mailbox delivering a letter that shows some kids acting out The Three Little Pigs, and a bunny rabbit telling the story of the King and Green-Striped Cookie, complete with Steve imitating Elvis Presley.

What I love about this episode is the fact that the plot is SO simple, too simple, that there's not much dialogue outside of Steve and the audience. Steve's impressions of the Big Bad Wolf and the Giant from Jack and the Beanstalk are funny and not to mention, Mailbox's "Fee fi fo fedder! I think that Steve's gonna get a letter. The only thing that really baffles me is that despite this was from Season 1, they didn't air this episode until October 1998, during the second season for crying out loud! Why did they wait so long to air this episode, I hear you ask? I guess will never know.

The highlight of the episode is the ending where Steve sings the So Long Song, Elvis Presley style, complete with the night time version of the music intact, with the backup chorus, and the standard "We can do anything" chant from the audience. And in airing order, this was the last episode to feature that chant. I also like the background music, especially the saxophone at the very end. Complete with the usual bass solos, clapping and drum playing, and the backup chorus doo-wop singing. Fun fact: This episode was originally shown to the public on video in "Story Time" on June of 1998. The one thing that just baffles me is the fact that they waited so long to air it until October of 1998, and I still don't get that, it's just a strange airing order folks. This aired after "What Does Blue Want to Do With Her Picture?" and before "Blue's Sad Day.": strange airing order, folks.

Oh, well, I still recommend this episode if you haven't seen it already.

Sing Yourself Silly!

And now, let's review my favorite Sesame Street sing-along video

That's right, the ever popular Sing Yourself Silly! Released in 1990 by Random House Home Video and Children's Television Workshop, and re-released several times by Sony Wonder and Genius Entertainment and Warner Home Video, this is one of the best Sesame Street videos out there, period. This video, much like Count it Higher, was written by Christopher Cerf, and directed by Jon Stone as one of his last direct-to-video projects, it also was released April 30, 1990, during Season 21, a month before Jim Henson's death on May 16. I won't exactly spoil the video for you, so I'll just tell you the basic premise.

Big Bird is the host of this particular video showing us eleven silly songs for us to sing-along and say now that was silly! With appearances by Oscar the Grouch, Gladys the Cow, The Count, The Amazing Mumford, Forgetful Jones, The Honkers, Ernie, Kermit the Frog, Hoots the Owl, Maria and Luis, and Elmo to sum up everything that is really a good video. I won't spoil the songs much, but I'll list them anyway.

"The Honker Duckie Dinger Jamboree."

Written by Christopher Cerf and Norman Stiles and sung by Ernie (Jim Henson).

This segment was directed by Jon Stone and was taped on January of 1983, and the puppeteers included Jim Henson (Ernie), assisted by Ed Christie, with Cheryl Blaylock (the Blue Honker), Brian Muehl (the Purple Honker), Martin P. Robinson (The Dinger), and Kathryn Mullen (Mr. Honker) The song takes place on a farm from the looks of the set and the characters costumes and bandannas. This song was from Season 14.

"Ladybugs' Picnic"

A cartoon by Bud Luckey and written by Bud Luckey and Don Hadley and sung by Jerry Nelson. It was from 1971. I think this was one of Bud Luckey's last cartoons he ever did for Sesame Street.

"Jellyman Kelly"

Written and sung by James Taylor, this is one of the few Sesame Songs videos that features celebrity guests, the other was Dance Along. Jellyman Kelly was from Season 14 and it was also featured on the Sesame Street pledge-drive special, Put Down The Duckie. No, not the song, but we'll get to that later. This song is quite cute, it has James Taylor playing guitar and Howard Johnson on tuba and the kids singing backup.

"Wavin' Goodbye to You With My Heart"

Written by Lee Pockriss and Emily Perl Kingsley and sung by Polly Darton (Fran Brill).

One thing that confuses me was that Fran Brill was completely uncredited despite the fact that her voice was in this particular song. So, I can only assume that maybe Karen Prell probably did the puppetry for Polly Darton while Fran dubbed it in later. Fun fact I should note is that the character of Polly Darton was conceptualized by Emily Perl Kingsley. This song was from Season 12 (1980-1981)

"Old MacDonald Cantata"

Not much to say about this song, except, it is a short song that didn't need lyrics. It features the Honkers, the Dinger, Oscar's pet elephant, Fluffy, and an orange martian, who I think is performed here by Kevin Clash. This mini-segment was arranged by Dave Conner and was from Season 17 (1985-1986). After that, Forgetful Jones says "Now that was spinach!" But that's not the right word. And he walks off to try to remember.

"Everything in the Wrong Place Ball"

This song was written by Stephen Lawrence and Cathi Rosenberg-Turow and was performed by Oscar the Grouch (Carroll Spinney) and Grundgetta (Pam Arciero).

Bet you didn't know that this song was taken from Episode 2596, where Gina babysits Irvine while Oscar and Grundgetta are at the particular ball, however, that episode was more focused on Snuffy than Gina and Irvine. Anyways, after this song, Forgetful comes back but still can't remember the word, silly.

"One Banana"

This song was written by veteran Sesame Street song writer, Jeff Moss, and was performed by Jim Henson as the lavender Jamaican singer.

I don't know who directed it, but since it looks like this was from Season 15 (1983-1984), I can only assume that the late Lisa Simon directed this segment, since her name was in the credit.

Also fun fact: Martin P. Robinson and Richard Hunt were the backup singers. But I can still hear a bit of Jeff Moss singing along. At the end of the song, we see The Count count seven bananas while his bats are flying around.

"Calcutta Joe"

Another cartoon! This time, it was animated by Buzzco Associates and was written by Jeff Hale and Anna Dibble. Jeff Hale for those who don't know was the person responsible for the animation for the Jazz Number series, Pinball Number Count, The Typewriter, and the Ringmaster among others. This song was also performed by Jim Thurman, who was featured on several Sesame Street cartoons, mostly the Cliff Roberts ones, and he also served as one of the writers for The Electric Company. This cartoon was from Season 20 (1988-1989).

"Sesame Street: News Flash: Mary Had a Bicycle."

It all starts with Don Music having trouble finding a word that rhymes with snow, Kermit the Frog comes in to help him, trying out different efforts, like fleece being yellow as the sun, canaries, blue canaries, until finally ending up to a bicycle that was painted red as fire, and whenever Mary wanted to take a ride, the bicycle had a flat tire. This quickly results into a Big Band rendition of the song that was written by Sam Pottle and David Korr and performed by Don Music (Richard Hunt), with backup vocals provided by the Monotones. I can hear Christopher Cerf as one of the backup vocals, by the way. Oscar the Grouch found that segment to be yucky. This segment was from Season 6 (1974-1975)

"Ten Turtles"

Another song that was written by Bud Luckey and Don Haldey, only this time, it was perfomred by Steve Zuckerman.

For those who don't know, Steve Zuckerman is a composer responsible for the music for Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore, as well as writing some songs for Sesame Street , like "Imagination Rain," "The Lowercase N," and my personal favorite, "I in the Sky."

Okay, only one more to go.

"Put Down The Duckie"

The closing number of the video! It was written by Christopher Cerf and Norman Stiles and performed by Jim Henson (Ernie) and Kevin Clash (Hoots the Owl). But this isn't the average Sesame Street song here, since this is a Christopher Cerf song, there has to be celebrities, and this song really pulled it off. I mean look at it, it's got people like John Candy, Andrea Martin, Mookie Wilson and Keith Hernandez, Jane Curtin, Madeline Kahn, Joe Williams, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Wynton Marsalis, Celia Cruz, Itzhak Perlman, Gordon Jackson, Jean Marsh, Paul Simon, Jeremy Irons, Pete Seeger, Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, The New York Giants, they even got Paul Reubens in there, how the heck did that happen?

Fun Fact: Noel MacNeal assisted Ernie doing his right hand, and David Rudman provided puppetry for the lavender drummer.

This was a great song and a perfect song the end the entire Sing Yourself Silly! video.

Overall, I can't say there's anything in this video that frustrates me or anything that I hated, and this video really taught me something, that just because Frank Oz was credited but didn't do any voices doesn't mean it's not good, I can only assume he did some puppetry for the Honkers and the Monotones, also, just because Joe Raposo was also credited but there no songs on this video that weren't written by him doesn't mean it's not good either. I like all the songs, it's a flawless, flawless sing-along video, that makes you say "Now that was silly!"

If you want to see the video for yourself, go ahead and check it out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P00QCZfpF7A

This sing-along video is a production of the Children's Television Workshop.