Follow That Bird: Misc

Muppet

Up to date as of February 02, 2010

From Muppet Wiki

Released	Aug. 2, 1985
Running time	89 minutes
Director	Ken Kwapis
Written by	Tony Geiss & Judy Freudberg
Original music by	Van Dyke Parks and Lennie Niehaus (score), Jeff Moss, Jeff Pennig, Jeff Harrington, Steve Pippin, Randy Sharp, Karen Brooks (songs)
Studio	Warner Bros. Pictures
MPAA Rating	G

The original VHS release featured the film's movie poster mostly unaltered.

Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird was the first feature-length film to star characters from Sesame Street.

The plot involves an organization of birds called the Feathered Friends sending Big Bird to Ocean View, Illinois, to live with a bird family, the Dodos. However, after deciding that he isn't happy with this bird family, he heads back to Sesame Street, not realizing that it will take more than just three hours to get back home.

Big Bird's road trip makes the news, and his friends on Sesame Street team together to find him. Also seeking the bird are Miss Finch, the social worker from Feathered Friends who sent Big Bird to live with the Dodos, and the Sleaze Brothers, owners of a carnival who want Big Bird as their main attraction.

1 Notes
2 Trivia
3 Songs
4 Cast
5 Muppet cast
6 Additional credits
7 See also
8 External links

Notes

The street set used in this movie is a rebuilt version of the show set, made to look more realistic. The expanded street includes a bakery, a grocery store, a fire station, an auto body shop, and a bookstore.

The Dodo family's home address is 35 Canary Row, Ocean View, Illinois.

The movie was filmed on location in Ontario, Canada, and at Toronto International Studios. Thus, in addition to the regular Sesame Street puppeteers, many of the performers from Fraggle Rock were used for the film.

In addition to its own storybook adaptation, this movie inspired five storybooks, Big Bird's Day on the Farm, Big Bird Visits the Dodos, Big Bird Joins the Carnival, Count All the Way to Sesame Street and Welcome Home, Big Bird which takes place after the movie.

The aircraft that Big Bird flies on from Sesame Street to Ocean View, Illinois is a Fokker F27 Friendship.

A widescreen DVD presented in the film's original 1.85:1 screen-aspect ratio was available for the first time in 2009, when a 25th-anniversary Deluxe Edition DVD of the film was released. Previously, all region-1 copies of the film were presented full screen 1.33:1.

Trivia

Just before Big Bird's entrance roller-skating down the street you can see him through the Fix-It Shop window waiting for his cue for just a moment of two before he skates home.

The turkey-truck driver's license plate reads "GOBBLE"

Songs

Cast

Copies of the film presented on home video prior to 2009 featured a cropped 1.33:1 screen-aspect ratio. The deluxe edition DVD released in 2009 presents the film in its original 1.85:1 widescreen screen-aspect ratio.