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Bullied Nostalgia: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland · Bullied Nostalgia

0:00
So. Many of our favors to watch.
0:04
Well, look, now they're being bashed.
0:07
I guess that's what we should expect on the Bullied Nostalgia
0:12
Podcast. Hello, bullies and grouches.
0:19
Timothy Nesbitt here with the Bullied Nostalgia Podcast, the
0:23
podcast where four adults take turns re watching movies and TV
0:27
shows they loved from childhood and ruin them for each other as
0:32
adults. I'm joined by John.
0:36
Are we each going to do our Elmo impression?
0:38
Is that how we're going? To I'm joined by John.
0:41
But I will not. Continue it yeah, you can do
0:44
that if you want I'm. Joined by John's Elmo
0:47
impression. It's been a couple of days since
0:49
I watched. I feel like I need Oh no.
0:55
John's webering gremlins over. There.
0:58
Just something in the back of my throat.
1:01
A mogwai in the back of your. Throat.
1:04
Anyways, maybe Elmo will come up later.
1:07
I hope not. All right.
1:11
Is that your introduction, John? Yeah.
1:13
OK, chance I'm here. And Kylie.
1:16
Gratches of the world unite. As always, you can find us on
1:23
socials under the title Bullied Pod or by emailing Bullied
1:28
pod@gmail.com. We also have merch on Red Bubble
1:32
you can search for using the same word, Bullied Pod.
1:36
All right, so let's just jump right into the episode.
1:40
Though today's episode is something I don't have any
1:44
nostalgia for. Most of us don't.
1:48
As a matter of fact, I don't think I'd seen it before this
1:51
week. And I had less nostalgia for it
1:54
than I thought. So we're in for a wild 1 today.
1:57
Yeah, so the movie. Guys where your nostalgia is
2:02
lacking, I've got plenty. Yeah.
2:04
The movie that we watched was The Adventures of Elmo in
2:08
Grouchland. This was Sesame Street's
2:12
Reattempt at a theatrical release after Follow That Bird
2:18
Flopped in the 80s, which we have in episode 4 if anyone is
2:21
curious. Surprise, surprise, this movie
2:24
flopped 2. It came out in 1999 and was
2:29
considered a sure thing because Elmo ruled the world at this
2:35
time just two years earlier. Tickle Me Elmo sold out across
2:41
North America and was the get present for Christmas, so people
2:47
assumed that this movie was going to do well and it paired
2:51
with the 30th anniversary of Sesame Street, but it didn't.
2:56
I'm going to give chance an opportunity to tell us what the
2:59
story was. But before we do, I'd like to
3:03
hear from someone who did see this movie in theaters.
3:07
John, wait. What?
3:12
So I would have been 10 or 11 when it came out.
3:18
So this is around the age when I was getting old enough to think
3:23
that some things were too childish.
3:26
And so my good friend Joshua, who was on our Beast Wars
3:30
episode, he and I thought this would be fun to go to and make
3:35
fun of. Was it boring?
3:38
This feels like a very terrible movie going experience.
3:42
Yeah, I think we were still figuring out what it meant to be
3:45
cool older kids and making fun of stuff.
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And so I think this was part of that rocky journey.
3:52
Yeah, I'm cool. 2 tickets to L my please.
3:58
Famous last words. So then my next memory of Elmo
4:03
and Grouchland is our uncle who lived with us for 12 years, very
4:08
close to the family. He used to always get us gig
4:12
gifts. We would open, I think it was.
4:14
Mostly you, actually. OK, sure, it was mostly me.
4:18
So he got into this tradition of getting me a small gift for
4:22
Christmas, and one that was usually a little bit odd, but
4:24
expensive or big enough that I thought it was the legitimate
4:27
gift he was giving me and he would like to watch me worm and
4:31
pretend that I like it. And then he'd give me my actual
4:34
gift. So when Elmo came out to VHS,
4:39
this was my big comeback. I was going to gift Nelson
4:43
Elmo's Adventures in Grouchland for Christmas.
4:47
I don't know why I was so fixated on this movie, but it
4:51
cost $30 and I was only like 11 or 12.
4:54
So that's a lot of money. And I also remember trying to
4:57
get it at Costco, but at Costco you need that membership card.
5:01
Why did? You 2.
5:02
It's so hard for this one. Movie.
5:04
You've gotten another movie. Then Elmo kind of took a back
5:09
seat in my life until I had my second nephew and I was all over
5:15
that, Yeah. Is there anyone on the call who
5:18
dedicated the first half of their life to the intellectual
5:21
property of Elmo? Well, fortunately it wasn't the
5:24
first half we're. Getting down to the nitty.
5:28
Gritty. It was the second.
5:29
Half. I'm still in a baby.
5:37
I'm starting now. Oh my God.
5:41
Yeah, I was joking with. John, we met up recently.
5:44
I was like, it's crazy. You think your brother has
5:47
dedicated, like a decade of his life to his intellectual
5:49
property. And I was like, yeah, starting
5:51
from 5:00 till 15. Yeah.
5:55
As John's inferring. Unnecessarily into it like it
5:58
was too much. I too loved Elmo.
6:01
This is a theory that I have is that at different milestones I
6:04
became a new human being that just happened to live in the
6:08
same body because why did I care so much?
6:11
Yes. I do not have any nostalgia for
6:14
this movie, and like I said, pretty sure I'd never seen it,
6:17
but I do have a lot of nostalgia for Kai's Elmo life.
6:24
My life. Your Elmo life.
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So we'll get into that stuff. My pretty metamorphosis.
6:31
Before we do though, chance for people who, like me, do not know
6:37
what this movie is, do you want to share it with us?
6:42
To add on to that chance, don't assume that people know what
6:45
Sesame Street or Elmo is. Assume that people know what
6:49
Elmo is, I think. I think that's OK.
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In 1950, new legislation which was made to allow for monsters
6:58
to own real estate I. Thought that you were going to
7:00
go into some Sesame Street Lord that you just had on lock, but
7:05
no. No, he's talking about the
7:06
establishment of Groch Land USA. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
7:10
OK. Yeah, so Elmo in this movie
7:14
perch, right? To have his favorite item in the
7:16
world be a blanket, he gets into a mishap with Zoe, another
7:21
monster, and his blanket is lost in Grouchland, which appears to
7:26
just be a very trash build town full of creatures just like
7:30
Oscar the Grouch. Elmo is quickly interrupted by
7:34
by a man named Huxley who's very selfish and steals Elmo's
7:38
blanket. After then, Elmo goes on a quest
7:41
to get his blanket back on the vicious Huxley while his friends
7:46
chase after him to both help him retrieve his blanket and get him
7:50
home. Good job, Chance.
7:52
Yes, Huxley in this movie is played by Mandy Patinkin and
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this of course is his most iconic role.
8:04
No, just kidding. He of course, played Enigo
8:07
Montoya in The Princess Bride and it is so weird.
8:13
It was about the same caliber. To see how far he fell.
8:17
It's my soul. Did you recognize him
8:20
immediately, or is it one of those things where now that I've
8:24
said it, you're like, Oh no, that's the real life.
8:27
Oh no. I actually know the actor, more
8:31
so from the Criminal Minds TV show, but yes.
8:34
It is very sad seeing him in this.
8:37
I will give him credit. He's given it all he's got,
8:40
which I appreciate very much. It is a waste of his talents.
8:45
Yeah. Like he does a song in this
8:47
movie. It's like I make it mine or
8:49
something like that. It's a terrible song.
8:52
There is one art in the bridge where he does a very old crooner
8:58
style section at the beginning of the song.
9:00
I'm like, this is the worst song ever.
9:01
And then it gets that. I'm like, Oh my gosh, do I like
9:04
this? Song.
9:05
And then it went back to normal. Like no, I hate this that.
9:07
Song did trip me up because I kept going like oh OK Oh no, oh
9:11
OK Oh no. I was thinking about the songs
9:16
that I maybe even said something to Kev when we were watching.
9:19
Is Lamb before Time's Garbage has really lowered my bar for
9:25
what I find enjoyable in these movies.
9:30
And yeah, it's better than most of their songs.
9:33
Has the Best Song that we've heard on this podcast.
9:36
I'm running around, running around.
9:38
Is that true? No, it's.
9:40
Are you talking about in a Lamb Before Time movie or in any of
9:43
these? In any movie which.
9:44
Oh no. What?
9:45
Movies have. No, we did like Quest for
9:47
Camelot. OK, OK.
9:49
Yeah, we've had a number of very good.
9:51
Songs Thanks Back that far. Who are you taking?
9:53
Yeah. Céline Dion sing that song when
9:56
they were running on the Hogs. Yes, we have had a number of
10:01
very good songs, but we've also had a number of very bad songs.
10:06
I'm a Triceratops. Save some water.
10:10
Let's talk about Groch Land. Elmo chases his blankie through
10:15
the beginning 5 minutes of the Mario movie.
10:19
Yeah, and they end up in different parts of the Koopa
10:24
Kingdom and. Not as close as there's a
10:27
section where he's, like, spinning through the vortex and
10:30
he's holding onto the blanket, and then it lets go and they go
10:32
off in different paths. Yeah, it doesn't feel exactly
10:37
like the Mario movie. Yeah, but Elmo lands in Grouch
10:41
Land. This is our second Sesame Street
10:43
movie. For this podcast, we did follow
10:46
that bird, and in Follow that Bird, I said several times my
10:51
absolute favorite things about the movie were Oscar, the Grouch
10:55
and Maria. I would say that those are still
10:57
my favorite things about this movie, too.
11:00
Oscar's not in it very much. Neither is Maria, although she
11:02
just randomly shows up in Grouch Land, which is funny, but it is
11:07
the Grouches. It's this Grouch world.
11:10
I really like it. They've got this weird backwards
11:14
nature. It's kind of like Bizarro world
11:16
where they have like a car mess where you drive your car through
11:21
and they throw banana peels and mud on it and stuff.
11:25
They have this sense of humor that's super cynical.
11:28
At one point they hand Elmo flowers just to cut the heads
11:32
off of them. Like OK, that was.
11:37
Genuinely a really good joke, I really like that.
11:39
The Grouches are still my favorite, but for a movie that's
11:44
called Adventures in Grouchland, he's only in Grouchland for like
11:48
5 minutes. Technically the whole area is
11:52
Grouchland. I don't know about that.
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That's why there's the garbage queen.
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That's why there's a grouchy giant chicken.
12:01
That's why there's vegetables in the grill.
12:06
The whole movie is a hero's journey of Elmo going from trial
12:10
to trial. But I think you're right.
12:12
Tim Grouchland is one of like 8 set pieces.
12:17
There's not a ton that happens there.
12:19
I also have a. Problem with the fact that
12:22
Grouchland is such an interesting concept but I feel
12:26
like they take it in a direction I wasn't happy with.
12:29
Like I think a really good example is do you guys remember
12:32
nowhere from Guardians of the Galaxy?
12:34
Yeah, the skull of the selections.
12:36
A big Isle of trash that people have learned how to live in.
12:40
And it's so interesting to see all the different cultures of
12:44
things that are mashed together to create their own culture and
12:46
all this stuff. But Grouchland is just look, we
12:49
put three trash bags in a trash can, isn't that?
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Grouchy I will say the thing that I praise the Hemson Company
12:57
so much for is their set dressing.
13:00
And I think that that continues to be a good thing.
13:03
Looking at these buildings in these towns, like random signs
13:06
have grouch text and stuff that if you look really close you
13:09
would notice but you wouldn't pay attention to and I just
13:12
really. Like I agree with that, but I
13:14
think the best example are the garbage.
13:17
Puppets. The ones that are animated
13:18
garbage. Those guys are just so fun to
13:21
look at. Oh.
13:23
I want to look at all the detail.
13:26
Then you look at where they live and it's literally just a trash
13:29
pile. There's nothing going on there.
13:32
So what Chance is talking about is at one point in Elmo's hero's
13:38
journey he gets tricked to go see the trash queen.
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And she's got two of these stench men, as they're called.
13:45
Yeah, she's played by Vanessa Williams and essentially 2 of
13:49
The Muppets are piles of garbage.
13:52
And I do agree, chance. Their design is very cool.
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I don't think their personalities are interesting to
13:59
me like Grouches are. I guess I am really cynical as
14:03
an adult because the Grouches are by far my favorite part of
14:07
Sesame Street now. Well, and I prefer Bert over
14:10
Ernie. I really feel like I'm seeing
14:14
the wrong side of Sesame Street. Oh.
14:16
My goodness, wait a second. Oh my goodness, Bert.
14:20
They ruined him they laughed so hard at.
14:23
Wait, what? When he comes from Bert, where
14:26
Ernie's like, who would ever want to watch a movie with a sad
14:29
ended and it's just silence. Titanic.
14:31
What Titanic Gone with the wind? That made me laugh so hard I'm.
14:37
Ironic. You're so clever.
14:39
Yeah, they did otherwise ruin his characterization though.
14:42
He's kind of become pathetic. And he was a coward throughout.
14:46
Yeah. But anyways, what I was about to
14:48
say about your cynical point of view is I think that's
14:50
intentional from the point of Sesame Street.
14:53
They're supposed to show you that it's OK to not always be
14:56
cheery and bright. You can like things that other
14:58
people don't like, and you don't need to have people telling you
15:01
what is good and what isn't good.
15:04
You aren't supposed to dislike Bert, yeah.
15:07
John, what brought back memories for you in this movie?
15:13
I don't have any memories other than it was a poor choice to go
15:19
to it in theaters. What do you mean, John?
15:21
That's a you get cool. How many people did you brag to?
15:26
Just like flashing my ticket down the hall.
15:30
For people who don't know, and this is something very cute that
15:34
John did for many years, he held on to every movie ticket he got.
15:39
Was this in that time frame? Did you hold on to this?
15:46
I've since thrown out my. Movie.
15:47
OK. But did you at the time?
15:50
I can't remember. So John would write on the back
15:53
of the movie ticket who he went to see the movie with.
15:57
And then it was the sentimental memory that he could go back to
16:01
and say, oh, I remember seeing this movie with this person.
16:05
And it would bring back memories or feelings of all the things
16:09
you decided to throw away. John, you know, as a minimalist,
16:12
that one surprised me. Tim, I could have them come and
16:16
be stored at your house. You threw them out already.
16:19
How much storage space did they take?
16:22
Everything else, it's like, Oh yeah, I get it because it takes
16:26
up so much space. But they were movie tickets.
16:29
It's confusing. I'm being told all the time I
16:32
have too much stuff, throw it out and now I'm being told you
16:34
should have kept it. I don't know how.
16:36
No, I just there are things that you keep that probably a lot
16:39
more clutter than that. OK, let's talk about the man of
16:44
the hour. We haven't at all, Elmo, because
16:47
it's. Probably 1 of the worst
16:48
characters in this movie I'll play.
16:50
Does anybody have any hot takes on Elmo?
16:53
Of all the Sesame Street characters, Elmo does have the
16:56
best dance moves. That is 100% true, I will say
17:00
that much. And every so often the
17:03
puppeteers will green screen their bodies so that they can
17:07
have someone go all out with his legs and someone go out with his
17:11
top. And it looks terrifying to.
17:14
See Elmo's legs it. Really does.
17:17
Not as terrifying as Clifford's legs from tonight, though.
17:21
He's shaped wrong. Yeah, the.
17:24
Problem is, their body never seems to be small enough to
17:29
support their tiny tiny legs. My hot take is that this movie
17:33
tries to do what Follow That Bird did and it just doesn't do
17:37
it as well the focus on Follow That Bird is the cast going to
17:41
save Big Bird, but in this movie it's Elmo going on an adventure
17:45
while the cast is stuck in jail for the entire time.
17:48
Yeah, John, you really disliked your follow that bird experience
17:54
last. Year this felt like it would be
17:56
way worse for you. You had some experience with
17:59
this one, Did that make it better or what was your take on
18:03
this one? I feel like there are similar
18:05
concepts for movies but the amount of energy and excitement
18:11
is different. I feel like follow that bird
18:14
because the protagonist is big bird.
18:17
Big bird's like, oh, hi there. I'm like this, whereas Elmo's
18:22
like kind. Of.
18:24
Thing. So no, keep on going, keep on
18:27
going, keep on going. I need, I need to hear Elmo.
18:34
That's too much. That's pretty good.
18:36
I just hear his skin cording screaming because the mic cuts
18:40
out every time you start talking.
18:44
Anyways Elmo goes on this hero's journey with high stakes of like
18:48
a giant chicken picking him up and trying to eat him random big
18:52
flashy things whereas followed that bird is like what if big
18:56
bird just got lost and confused and walked into some kids that
19:00
are water painting and then went and learned about corn stalk and
19:03
then. And then got kidnapped and stuck
19:05
in a life of servitude by poacher he.
19:08
Had an easy. Dog, What if Big Bird got lost?
19:12
What if he went for a big walk? Sure, when they were trying to
19:18
free him from the carnival at the end there was some high
19:21
stakes, but other than that it was a snooze fest.
19:24
This movie was a lot harder to fall asleep too.
19:29
I can see the case that you're making that this one doesn't
19:34
slow down really at any point, and I know I have personal bias,
19:39
but I consider Follow That Bird to be a considerably better
19:43
movie than this. Yeah, it's fair.
19:45
I would agree. I.
19:47
Don't know what you guys are. On you like this like
19:50
determined. I can't tell which one's worse.
19:53
OK chance. I just like start the.
19:56
Film. And then I'm awash with Muppets.
19:58
Chance imagine any song from this movie.
20:01
Can you tell me any lyrics? Change your perspective.
20:05
I'm you tell me how to I don't know at.
20:08
Least at least you have legs. Now in comparison, every song in
20:17
Follow That Bird has a unique vibe to it that's pretty good.
20:21
The music is better, it's true, yeah.
20:23
I mean, to be fair, some of the songs in this movie have a
20:26
unique vibe, but it's. Not good.
20:32
Follow that bird didn't have me blowing raspberries.
20:36
Oh my goodness, I feel so uncomfortable.
20:40
So I it's in my notes for the listeners.
20:43
This movie really uses audience participation.
20:47
So regularly Ernie and Bert will stop in and talk to the
20:52
audience. Sometimes Elmo will ask for the
20:57
audience participation and help. So when Elmo is trapped, stuck.
21:05
I'm not even sure what the negative connotation would be,
21:09
but. Are they going to kill him?
21:12
What were they going to do? When he's about to be murdered
21:14
by Vanessa Williams character, she asks for proof that he is
21:19
nothing like Huxley and the way she demands it is for him to do
21:25
100 raspberries, she says. I need you to give me something.
21:30
That's something Huxley would never do.
21:32
And I was like, oh, OK. I was like, oh, what do I have
21:35
to give you? And she asks for 100 raspberries
21:39
in 30 seconds. And then Elmo asks for from the
21:42
audience so everyone can do sounds together and it is so
21:49
strange. Somebody needs to get fired.
21:52
You can help put that good children, though that should be
21:54
illegal. Vanessa Williams is so excited
21:58
about it, too. It's like I.
22:00
Cannot put that in a children's note.
22:02
I cannot say that enough. There was something very wrong.
22:05
About. This I did feel very strange and
22:08
I did not like it. Imagine.
22:10
The movie theater full. Imagine John and Josh who are
22:15
going to make fun of this movie. The movie's like, Oh yeah, hold
22:20
my beer. The movie would be so insulting
22:27
as a 10 year old. Awesome.
22:30
You don't remember what this was like in the theater job.
22:35
No, I don't think. If I were to guess, we probably
22:38
walked in there all cocky, ready to make fun of it, thinking
22:42
about saying something silly whenever Elmo invites
22:44
participation, but then like chickening at the last moment.
22:48
Hey you guys help? No.
22:53
I did that for way too long, I'm not gonna lie.
22:55
I remember doing that to Dora whenever I would walk past.
22:59
You'd make fun of Dora asking for.
23:01
Your home you'd ask for. I don't know if it was
23:03
specifically Dora, but when I was like 10 when a movie or a TV
23:07
show would ask for participation, I'd be like no.
23:11
Unless it was Elmo. Kai was mortified that I
23:14
participated during this movie. With that part, why did you
23:18
agree to do it? He did do raspberries at the
23:21
screen. He's a freak.
23:23
You were disgusted by it and you continued to do it.
23:27
Elmo needed my help. I was going to get murdered.
23:31
You mentioned earlier that Bert and Ernie were talking to the
23:35
audience, breaking the 4th wall. What I was reading about in
23:38
trivia was that during early screenings, the little viewers
23:43
were actually really scared of Huxley and they were actually
23:47
genuinely concerned for Elmo's well-being.
23:50
And so Ernie and Bert, their part was added after the fact.
23:54
To. Tell me.
23:56
To reassure the audience that Elmo was going to be OK.
24:00
It did feel super out of place. That makes.
24:03
Sense that was kind of the biggest complaint.
24:04
He was just like, why do they keep coming here?
24:07
And Bert's acting like such a coward.
24:10
Just let the movie happen. He was every time a scary prop
24:13
got added onto the screen like the chicken.
24:15
Interesting. Yeah, as far as puppets are
24:18
concerned, I did really like Huxley's bugs.
24:21
I thought you mean his. Eyebrows.
24:25
I thought the movie. Sucks.
24:28
So Huxley has an army of these little fuzzy guys, but Huxley
24:33
also has these giant bushy eyebrows.
24:36
And one of the lines that one of the bugs says is when I was
24:39
like, oh, his eyebrows or something.
24:41
And one of the other ones is like, no, that's my niece and
24:43
nephew. Yeah, his eyebrows are bugs, I
24:46
guess. And that has implications
24:48
because all of the grouches have those same eyebrows.
24:51
I was. Bugs your face.
24:54
Confused about grouches having noses, I thought that was what
25:00
separated them from being monsters.
25:03
Oh, you thought they lived in grouse?
25:05
Well, not because they liked each other, but because of
25:08
racism. They were segregated to their
25:11
own town from being noseless. Oscar the Grouch.
25:15
That's his species. It's like saying Oscar the
25:18
Giraffe Grouch. Is a subspecies of monster?
25:22
I don't think so. Is Big Bird a monster?
25:25
No, he doesn't have any. You're telling me that noses are
25:29
what makes things monsters? Look in the mirror, buddy.
25:34
No. There's a really big nose.
25:38
Monster. We're not all dogs.
25:40
We're monsters. All dogs are monsters.
25:45
No, that's like a common thing in Sesame Street is they refer
25:48
to a certain subset of Muppets as monsters and Oscar Luke
25:53
Grouch is not a monster. But they go down into Grouch
25:56
Land and everyone has the bushy eyebrows, but some of them have
26:01
noses, which flies in the face of everything I thought I knew
26:05
about the. Grouch.
26:05
There are a few historical grouches that did have noses.
26:09
But while we're talking about Grouchland, obviously I have
26:12
questions about the fact that they keep referring to it as
26:15
Grouchland USA, because that implies that it's somewhere in
26:20
the United States of America. Yeah, this isn't a.
26:24
Portal to another. Dimension.
26:26
This is a portal to WLAI. Really like the fact that it's
26:29
just like Kansas, the dimensional portal to Kansas.
26:33
There are garbage cans everywhere and they put trash in
26:36
those garbage cans in Grouchland.
26:39
But the whole way we got to Grouchland is Elmo took a portal
26:44
that was inside of Oscar the Grouch's garbage can.
26:48
So where do the garbage cans in Grouchland take you?
26:53
Is this like an inception thing? You go deeper and deeper?
26:57
What's grouchier than grouchy? No, because grouches put their
27:00
own stuff in garbage cans. Peyton, it's not like.
27:02
Grouches are collecting nice things and putting them in their
27:05
garbage cans because they're sitting in them.
27:07
There's one guy who's sitting in it, so it's not like it's going
27:09
to be good if. You're the grouch.
27:11
What's the one thing you put in your garbage?
27:14
Why would you flower heads that you just got off?
27:17
Stole from someone you gave a flower to.
27:20
No, but there's the Grouches sitting in a garbage can in this
27:24
movie, just like Oscar would. It's his house.
27:26
He clearly hoards his own garbage wealth in there.
27:30
Not nice things. It's got to just be like a
27:33
hoarder realm. John as the Elmo connoisseur.
27:38
Yeah, somebody who's watched this movie before.
27:40
I'll have you know that I had a little bit more extra free time,
27:44
so I did learn a lot about Elmo. I watched an Elmo documentary.
27:48
I have mixed memories about this movie.
27:52
I don't remember the second-half.
27:54
I remember the first half of this movie perfectly fine.
27:56
But then we get to the second-half and I don't remember
27:58
anything. Did I see the full movie?
28:01
I remember seeing a Grouchland book.
28:03
I remember reading that book, but I also remember having
28:06
knowledge of it before reading the book.
28:09
Also, is there a world where I just saw trailers of this movie?
28:13
Because I distinctly remembered a scene that wasn't in this
28:17
movie, and I get the feeling that I may have just had
28:19
trailers of this movie interlaced with other Elmo
28:22
content. John, did you watch this movie
28:25
by yourself? Emily fell asleep.
28:27
Oh, even just. Now, sorry, it's not even like
28:31
he went back to the theater and watched it again.
28:34
No, we already know he did. He didn't feel like he
28:38
participated enough with the raspberries the first time I.
28:40
Wonder how much like the Minecraft movie experience it
28:43
would be? Did neither of you participate
28:46
during this movie? Am I the only one?
28:48
Oh no, I woke up Emily to blow raspberries.
28:52
Are you talking about being cynical?
28:54
Huh. What's funny is John, do you
28:57
believe? Like it was weird the Raspberry
28:59
scene. I think it was weird that that
29:01
was what she wanted him to give her.
29:03
OK, this is another thing. Remember in our very first
29:08
episode of this podcast, Superman is de arming the planet
29:13
of nuclear weapons. He's not going around taking
29:17
nuclear weapons. He's stopping nuclear weapons
29:21
that are actively being fired and then he's throwing them into
29:25
the sun. He shouldn't stop doing that.
29:27
That's a realization I made on this podcast.
29:29
In the same way Vanessa Williams is like, you're just like
29:34
Huxley. You're selfish.
29:35
And I go back to the moment where almost like, oh, yeah, I
29:39
did say that's my blankie to Zoe.
29:42
But he. Kind of was in the right, wasn't
29:44
he? Yeah, she didn't ask to see his.
29:47
Blank. Well, she did ask, but she
29:49
already had it in her hands. No, she was like, oh, this is a
29:51
really soft blanking. He's like, well, I'd like it
29:54
back. And she's like, when I'm done
29:55
with it. That is rude.
29:57
That is inappropriate. Yeah.
30:00
He wasn't being selfish. Essentially, she was having a
30:03
bad day. And then he came over to cheer
30:06
her up. And she's like, you know what
30:07
would cheer me up more? Taking your stuff.
30:10
And then destroying it, it got ripped, didn't it?
30:13
It did get ripped, yeah. Did that ever get closure?
30:16
No. Yeah.
30:17
I do struggle with Elmo's meltdowns.
30:21
It. Gets really worked up.
30:22
I know that there's some messaging in this movie around
30:26
like, hey, we all have a little bit of Huxley in US, we're going
30:29
to be a little bit selfish. And so Elmo has to learn how to
30:32
share. But Elmo's temper tantrums are
30:36
so big that they kind of over shadow Kim learning a lesson in
30:40
the end. Yeah, he did get Internet famous
30:43
for a while there with Rocco because of it.
30:46
For context for our viewers, Google Elmo Rocco.
30:50
Once again, I'm fighting with Zoe about yes.
30:52
It is him fighting with Zoe that happens quite a bit.
30:55
Zoe thinks that a rock is a human being and Elmo is not
30:59
having it. That is the only.
31:01
Crashes out on her, no. He does.
31:03
He does. Kylan, I don't think that would
31:06
have been in the first half of your life that you got into
31:09
those videos. He.
31:10
Definitely was not. Chance also knows about these
31:13
videos. It's not like this is because I
31:15
like Elmo. I mean like that is also true.
31:19
So, Tim, do you remember the moment or like how?
31:24
Did I had a? Problem of Elmo so much.
31:26
I don't know if I remember the moment that I realized that he
31:32
was Elmo obsessed. My favorite color was red
31:35
because of Elmo. His favorite color was red.
31:38
I remember I spoke a little bit about the Tickle Me Elmo doll in
31:42
1997. They re released that doll when
31:47
I was little and so we got him Tickle Me Elmo.
31:50
I remember that. I remember we got the Kinect
31:54
game Once Upon a Monster. I also remember that for one of
31:59
his birthdays, we had a balloon that when you hit it, Elmo
32:04
talked. I love that balloon so much
32:08
that. I ran into batteries.
32:09
Out, yeah, we couldn't get rid of it and so it would be like.
32:14
Hi, I'm Elmo. Happy birthday.
32:17
But then like after like a month it was like oh Oh no more happy
32:24
birthday and I'd like hide it around the house so his mom
32:29
would accidentally bump into it and then it would gratefully
32:34
talk to her. Yes, that's one of my favorite
32:38
album memories too. I remember that balloon.
32:41
We did. Also, at one time we had a photo
32:45
shoot where we took pictures. It was corresponding to the
32:50
Green Lantern color spectrum. Our viewers won't have any clue
32:53
what I'm talking about, but we took pictures that were entirely
32:57
certain colors. Everyone would be dressed in
32:59
green and have green items and everything in the picture had to
33:02
be green. And we did take a red picture
33:06
and Guy is holding Elmo in it. I'm sure if I had more time I
33:10
could think of more Elmo memories, but those are the ones
33:13
that jump out to me. But we did have a whole lifetime
33:17
of Elmo experiences for sure. I remember Tickle Me Elmo.
33:23
I don't know if I remember another toy in my childhood.
33:28
I remember Furbies were pretty big the year they came out, but
33:32
you would just hear news reports about like, violent outbreaks,
33:36
fighting over Tickle Me Elmo dolls.
33:38
I don't know there was another toy quite like it in terms of
33:41
just. How?
33:43
Sought after it was. Yeah, that's an interesting
33:46
point, John. I don't think we'll ever have
33:49
things like that again because brick and mortar stores were
33:53
such a different experience. Now everything's on Amazon and
33:57
you can't really even know how sold out a store is or anything
34:01
like that. Because they've always got more
34:04
stock. And when the button says sold
34:05
out, there's no point in like rushing to the store.
34:09
There's nothing left on the website and you can just search
34:11
other websites. Whereas back in the day when
34:14
people were fighting to get a Nintendo Wii, people would
34:17
trample each other. There were those items, John,
34:22
around that time, the Christmas gift of the year was a common
34:27
thing. And I don't know if they were
34:29
ever as big as Tickle Me Elmo. That might have been the biggest
34:32
one ever. But like you said, Furbies were
34:35
the Christmas item one year. I also remember, and you would
34:39
have been younger, so I don't know that you would have
34:41
remembered it, but we talked a little bit about it when we
34:45
pulled it out of storage. Your creepy crawlers Growlers.
34:50
Yeah, your little oven was the item at Christmas one year.
34:55
I remember we went to Zeller's and mom had to get a rain check.
35:00
She pre bought a creepy crawlers oven so that when it came in she
35:06
would be able to pick it up and give it to you for Christmas.
35:09
Well, I'll have to thank her for that.
35:11
For the listeners, a few years ago we found John's creepy
35:16
crawler oven in the garage and we got it.
35:19
Sean made some bugs. Essentially it's a easy bake
35:23
oven where instead of making food, it makes.
35:27
Insects. It makes plastic worms.
35:30
They do not look real at all. But four year old John was
35:34
convinced he bought into the propaganda of the commercials,
35:40
that anywhere he stuck these bugs, people would get grossed
35:43
out and scared. A lime green line, Yeah, We had
35:48
to really ham it up for him, so he thought the bugs were
35:53
grossing people out. I was talking a little bit about
35:57
having looked into Elmo stuff more, so might just share a
36:01
little bit about that. Sesame Street starts in 1969.
36:06
Elmo first shows up in 1980, and he's done at a certain point by
36:11
a puppeteer who just really doesn't know what to do with
36:14
Elmo. And Elmo kind of talks a bit
36:15
like a caveman. And so in frustration, he goes
36:19
to the backroom and throws Elmo at Kevin Clash, who was one of
36:24
the puppeteers, and says, I don't know what to do with this
36:26
puppet. Maybe you can.
36:28
And so then Kevin Clash went home and thought about it and
36:32
decided that Elmo would be based on concept of love, that he
36:37
would just be very huggy and kissy.
36:40
Anyways, yeah, I got to watch Bean Elmo, A Puppeteer's
36:43
Journey, which is just kind of the life of Kevin Clash up until
36:48
2011. It was kind of cool to watch
36:51
more behind the scenes stuff with Jim Henson's company and
36:55
what it looks like to have a life and a career as a
36:57
puppeteer. It was funny.
36:59
He commented on Tickle Me Elmo. He's like Elmo wouldn't say that
37:03
Elmo doesn't say I or me. He always refers to himself in
37:06
the third person and just be called Tickle Elmo.
37:08
But it was kind of neat to see him mentor other puppeteers.
37:13
He would be Elmo from 1984 to 2012 and then and he would leave
37:19
after some alleged scandal stuff.
37:22
John, I am shocked that you are this invested in this movie
37:25
after Big Bird. Allen, don't you know only cool
37:29
people know puppeteering lore. You saw this movie in theaters?
37:33
I had actually seen that documentary before as well,
37:36
John. I didn't watch it recently.
37:38
I think I watched it around the time it came out and that's
37:40
mostly because I am fascinated by Jim Henson Company and
37:46
absolutely the work that they've done over the years.
37:49
The whole puppeteering thing is wild.
37:51
They managed to emote and put so much character through the felt.
37:57
I was just reminded, even watching it, how many languages
38:01
Sesame Street has filmed in. Oh yeah.
38:03
Absolutely. It's wild.
38:04
Like he was going over and he was teaching the French Sesame
38:07
Street people how to puppet. It's not just dubbed.
38:10
Yeah. Well, we talked about this
38:12
during that bird. There are thousands of episodes
38:15
in each language. And as you mentioned, John,
38:18
they're not a re dub. There's different Muppets for
38:21
different regions for different languages.
38:24
One piece wishes. One Piece actually, the creator
38:29
said. I'm not going to spoil it for
38:31
you guys, but he said in the final chapter there will be a
38:35
pirate with an eye patch, and in the brand new manga there's a
38:40
new character with an eye. So this is a big deal.
38:44
That means that the story is finally coming to a close.
38:46
It's so big for us people who are invested in one piece.
38:50
Do you guys know what this means?
38:52
Somebody tell me what this? Means watch more Elmo.
38:55
The original American Sesame Street has 4600 episodes.
39:01
I think it's like the Danish one or something that has the most.
39:04
One Piece The anime has over 1150 episodes.
39:08
Yeah. Oh, when we were talking about
39:11
Sesame Street last time, we discussed that HBO was dropping
39:16
it and that the season would be over.
39:18
And it sounds like Netflix has picked up Sesame Street.
39:23
OK, let's hop over to closing comments.
39:27
John, what have you not said about this movie?
39:32
I found the looking into Elmo stuff far more fascinating than
39:35
the movie itself, so my overall experience of them looking into
39:39
puppeteering stuff and learning about it was nice.
39:43
But the actual movie itself I wouldn't recommend to watch to
39:47
make fun of or to watch to be in a podcast episode.
39:51
You're like I've tried it more than once.
39:54
Not worth it either time. I remember whispering to Josh in
40:00
the theater. One day I'm going to make an
40:03
episode of a podcast where I'm going to make fun of this.
40:08
What's a podcast in 1999? Yes, I completely agree.
40:15
There's shows that we watch that are ripe for making fun of.
40:21
There's shows that we watch. They're meant for certain target
40:24
demographics. There's none of them.
40:27
Yeah, like even land before time is for a very young subset of
40:31
children, and if you hate yourself enough, you can make
40:35
good content out of that. This is just if you're not a
40:38
preschooler, there's not much here.
40:41
I agree, obsessed with Jim Henson.
40:44
I think The Muppets are amazing. This is a great excuse to look
40:49
into other muppet stuff but I would not recommend this movie
40:52
to anyone and I will never watch it again.
40:56
Chance. It's funny because sometimes
40:59
I'll watch kids shows. I have several.
41:03
Your siblings, son and people say the best kid shows are the
41:07
ones that have something for the adults as well.
41:10
Really great example is Bluey. Bluey has very conversations,
41:15
allows the adults to be entertained, and I agree with
41:17
that. But sometimes I feel like then
41:19
people give it an excuse to also be bad.
41:22
You guys. The movie, yeah, it's for kids,
41:24
but Bert's is a funny line that's just for adults.
41:27
And like, yeah, the movie still sucks.
41:29
Though. You know you can make something
41:31
for kids that's also good. Phineas and Ferb was widely
41:35
acclaimed. I don't know, this is looking
41:37
pretty low. I think this might be a one.
41:40
Do you guys know what I gave Big Bird I?
41:43
Think you said 5I. Think you gave it like I think
41:47
it broke your scale. It was crazy.
41:50
I think you. Said something like spider man
41:52
enter the spider verse was 6 before you saw that movie but
41:58
since there could only be 1/6 No 2.
42:00
Descendants. You follow that bird knocked it
42:04
out of that slot, something like that.
42:06
Well, I guess I'll take your word for it.
42:09
Thank you, Chance. Thank you Chance.
42:11
He's in this Big Bird era. I'm in my Elmo era.
42:14
All right, crazy. My phone died while I was trying
42:16
to find the Sesame Street show. I think it is Sesame Street from
42:19
the Netherlands. OK Sesame Strat.
42:24
This movie, it's not good. I don't even know if I've ever
42:27
seen it before, which makes my role in this podcast very weird.
42:32
But it is Sesame Street and I do have to give them props for the
42:36
props. I think it does really fail at
42:39
being something of substance. It could have been for a wider
42:43
audience, but there is literally one joke that adult audiences
42:48
would get and children wouldn't so.
42:50
That's an interesting. Point This is not the kind of
42:53
movie that an adult would want to watch with their kid.
42:56
This felt like a longer episode of Sesame Street, whereas Follow
43:01
That Bird does not feel like an episode of Sesame Street, for
43:05
better or for worse. As John said, that's much slower
43:08
and kids would probably get bored in Sesame Street.
43:10
It's like keep things moving. This does feel like that.
43:15
Anyways, yeah, I would make there be something behind this
43:18
movie at least because it is for teeny tiny babies.
43:22
OK, well enough for people who like chickens.
43:24
That's true. There is a big.
43:26
Can't believe we went through this whole episode and we didn't
43:28
talk about the giant chicken. Or we didn't talk about at all.
43:33
We said that he was selfish one time.
43:35
We didn't even mention that one named Grouch.
43:38
Did anybody? Grizzly?
43:39
Yeah, that's her name. Yeah, she had.
43:40
Trickles OK anyways, closing yeah, another one's in the can
43:46
we're inching closer to our 50th episode so that's right around
43:51
the corner our next episode is about I don't know, we.
43:56
Good luck with that one. If you're a listener who's
43:59
excited to watch along with us. Because there is one of you,
44:03
we're pretty sure. The whole point that we tell
44:06
people what we're watching next episode was a recommendation
44:09
that came from multiple listeners 2 Yes 2.
44:13
Okay, there might be two of you. One of you might have given up.
44:17
Two at the same time, though, so that's pretty interesting.
44:20
Anyways, we typically say what the next episode is going to be
44:24
about, but due to external factors, we've really had to
44:27
shuffle around the episodes in the back half of this season, so
44:32
we're just kind of figuring it out still.
44:35
We'll let you know when we do. Does anybody have anything else
44:38
to add? Is this podcast good when none
44:40
of us have real nostalgia? John had a little bit of
44:43
nostalgia and I had a little bit of nostalgia.
44:46
I like the part where Chance was shocked to hear that John had
44:49
seen this in theaters. Yeah, that was good.
44:53
The reason why I didn't have any nostalgia is because I watched
44:55
that movie several times in the second-half of my lifespan, not
44:58
the first half. I watched it.
45:00
I just watched it yesterday, OK? I was like, do you want to watch
45:03
this for the podcast? And you're like, again, I
45:05
already watched it this week. That's why I'm sick of it,
45:08
because I watched it 80 times. This week.
45:10
All right, well, that's gonna be me signing off.
45:13
Look out for weirdos. Praise Beethoven.
45:23
I didn't really think about the fact that we actually dragged
45:26
more grandma stuff into this season.
45:30
Oh yeah, there's so many grandmas in our podcast.
45:33
Should we rename this to like grandmas and?
45:35
Grandmas and dinosaurs. Grandmas and grouches.
45:39
We haven't talked about dinosaurs at all in this
45:41
episode. No, no, no.
45:42
No, Somebody talking about dinosaurs.
45:45
Jim Henson did the Dinosaurs TV. That's a very loose connection.
45:51
My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father.
45:54
Prepared to. Dinosaur.
46:02
Prepared to dinosaur? You're like looking for a
46:09
planet. It was a yeah.
46:10
I was trying to do the adventure JB adventure but you did much
46:14
better.