Spaceship Surprise
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Spaceship Surprise was a recurring sketch on Sesame Street. Inspired by Star Trek, the segment was designed to teach consonant digraphs, the pairing of two consonants to create a new sound. The series focused on the crew of the titular ship, headed by an excitable captain and his stoic officer (a Pumpkin Anything Muppet). In each segment, the ship would crash land on a different planet, whose populace demonstrated a specific sound. Alliteration was used heavily ("cheering chairs," "shouting shovel," etc.) The skit would generally end with the entire group performing a dance named after the digraph.
Sometime in the 1990s, a sequel series, Spaceship Surprise: The Next Generation, was launched. This time, the emphasis was on consonant sounds in general, and not digraphs. The new crew included:
- The Captain, a Purple AM parody of Patrick Stewart's Jean-Luc Picard (Martin P. Robinson)
- The Security Officer, a Pumpkin AM parody of Michael Dorn's Worf (Kevin Clash)
- The Science Officer, a Green AM parody of Brent Spiner's Data
- The Doctor, a Lavender AM parody of Gates McFadden's Doctor Crusher
Individual Segments
Original Series
- Planet Ch - Chunky Cheese greets the group. (EKA: Episode 2755)
- Planet Sh - Sheriff Shrimp greets the group. (EKA: Episode 2776)
- Planet Tr - Trevor Trout greets the group.
Next Generation
- Planet H - The crew is greeted by Hopalong Hamster, and see Happy Harry the Hopping Haystack and hula dancing hens.
