Pinball Number Count
Encyclopedia
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
that teach children to count to 12 by following the journey of a pinball through a rather fanciful pinball machine. These segments are notable for the colorful, imaginative animation as well as the funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
y "one, two, three, FOUR, five...." soundtrack provided by The Pointer Sisters
Pointer Sisters
The Pointer Sisters are an American pop/R&B recording act from Oakland, California that achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Spanning over three decades, their repertoire has included such diverse genres as pop, disco, jazz, bebop, blues, soul, funk, dance, country and rock.The...
. Pinball Number Count was originally produced in 1976 by Imagination, Inc. in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
for the Children's Television Workshop
Sesame Workshop
Sesame Workshop, formerly known as the Children's Television Workshop , is a Worldwide American non-profit organization behind the production of several educational children's programs that have run on public broadcasting around the world...
. It made its debut on Sesame Street in 1977.
Overview
The Pinball Number Count segments contain common beginning and ending sequences showing the launch of the pinballPinball
Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible...
into the machine and the exit of the pinball from play, respectively. Between these two sequences is a number-specific animated narrative showing the pinball in play. This middle segment features a scene in which a number of contraptions moved the pinball about the interior of the machine. These scenes are typically tied to a theme, such as an amusement park
Amusement park
thumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people...
, a baseball field
Baseball field
A baseball field, also called a ball field or a baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The terms "baseball field" and "ball field" are also often used as synonyms for ballpark.-Specifications:...
, a jungle
Jungle
A Jungle is an area of land in the tropics overgrown with dense vegetation.The word jungle originates from the Sanskrit word jangala which referred to uncultivated land. Although the Sanskrit word refers to "dry land", it has been suggested that an Anglo-Indian interpretation led to its...
, a forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
, a medieval area, open roads, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
landmarks, European landmarks, a golf course
Golf course
A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...
, a circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
or a farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
. The pinball then exits this area and into the end sequence where it leaves play.
Opening Sequence
At the beginning of each segment, we see a number with a group of stars circling around it (If you count them circling around the number, you can see that they're the same number of stars as the number in the center.). We hear a voice whispering the current number.Music
Music for Pinball Number Count was composed by Walt Kraemer and arranged by Ed BogasEd Bogas
Ed Bogas, born Edgar Noel Bogas, and sometimes credited as Edward Bogas, is an American rock musician and composer and whose work has been featured in films, animations, and video games.-Career:...
. The vocals were provided by the Pointer Sisters
Pointer Sisters
The Pointer Sisters are an American pop/R&B recording act from Oakland, California that achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Spanning over three decades, their repertoire has included such diverse genres as pop, disco, jazz, bebop, blues, soul, funk, dance, country and rock.The...
. The arrangements in the eleven films reflect musical idioms commonly found in 1970s urban culture, predominantly funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, though other styles including Caribbean steel drum music are also represented. The number-specific middle sections contain one of three different (presumably) improvised instrumental solos over a basic progression, respectively featuring soprano saxophone, electric guitar, and steel drum. Consistent with an abbreviated jazz structure, a prearranged head and turnaround / coda are played during the common starting and ending animation sequences. The vocals work in similar fashion with improvised shouts of the numbers 2-12 during the middle section and a return to the arranged counting at the end.
The song displays rare time signatures: "[T]he first two measures of this are in a slowed-down 7/8 time signature... [S]ubsequent time signatures include 11/8 and 3/8."
Visuals
Animation for the segments was directed by Jeff Hale and recalls contemporary psychedelicPsychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
and pop art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
styles, typified by the ornate pinball bumpers, colorful geometrical motifs and whimsical themes and devices inside the machine. While great liberty is sometimes taken with respect to physics (the pinball moves smoothly over curved ramps lacking guide rails), subtle yet striking efforts toward realism are made by the animators to express the mechanical nature of the objects within. In particular, note that most of the contraptions in the pinball machine have discrete hinges and joints held together by screws and moved by rods or slots in the floor of the playing field.
List of segments
Despite the lyrics' counting from one to twelve, Pinball Number Count does not feature a segment for the number 1.- #2: A Day at the Carnival (amusement park) The pinball finds its way through carnival- and amusement park-themed obstacles -- riding a roller coaster, a ferris wheel, and some hanging airplanes until being dropped into a clown's mouth that enters a haunted house of ghosts and ghouls.
- #3: Circus Capers (circus) The ball rolls through circus attractions. It is shot from a cannon, caught by clowns, and handed off by a ringmaster to a juggling monkey who tosses it to a lion tamer and his lion. The ball then lands on the nose of a seal and is launched by a hippopotamus to a pink elephant that runs it into the hole.
- #4: FORE! (golf course) The ball rolls down a hill and is hit by a golfer. It lands in a duck's mouth which causes him to spin until it stops with its head in the water. The golfer gives the ball another shot. It runs over a flat guy standing next to a hole and rolls into a tunnel which makes six purple rabbits to pop out of their holes. The golfer makes the last shot. The ball bumps off the bottoms of some trees before rolling into another tree where a squirrel drops it into the hole.
- #5: The Only Way To Travel (modes of transportation) The ball is kicked into the backseat of a car which enters a tunnel, from which emerges a bicycle with the ball in its basket. The ball is then pushed by a locomotive, then a magnet attached to a plane picks it up and drops it into a tugboat, which then sinks. After the ball is shot out of a volcano, it is caught by a blimp, which drops it into the hole.
- #6: Down on the Farm The ball rolls down a slide attached to a barn and is kicked by a donkey past a group of sheep before rolling into the bottom of a haystack. It emerges from the top and is tossed by a goat dressed like a farmer. Now it rolls under a group of chicks and is laid like an egg under a chicken who then pushes it away with its beak. The ball now rolls into a doghouse and out when the dog pops out. It then chases a pig into a barn where the goat farmer emerges from behind it carrying the ball in a wheelbarrow and drops it into the hole.
- #7: World Tour (famous world landmarks) The ball slides down from the roof of a Taj Majal building and into a tunnel under a snake charmer whose pet snake is startled awake and pushes the ball out from under him with its tail. The ball rolls under a sphinx (the statue turns its head to see the ball as it rolls behind him) and into a pyramid. The ball leaves the pyramid from the top. Now it bounces off two thingies that resemble roofs of Russian buildings before being kicked into the air by a dancer. A mountain climber blowing a horn swings to the right to catch the ball. Then he swings to the left and blows the ball loose. The ball lands on a bull in a ring, bounces off him and hits a matador causing him to spin around. A windmill with its blades turning with a hole in its base which the ball tries to go through but gets knocked away by one of the blades. Now it runs over a policeman and rolls into a sentry box which causes two soldiers to pop out of their holes.
- #8: Forest Follies Many forest animals pass the ball around. A unicycling brown bear, a frog, a monkey, a pelican, a kangaroo, a beaver, a tree bear, a couple of unicycling brown bears, and a raccoon who drops it into the hole.
- #9: Play Ball! (baseball) The ball encounters some baseball players and is chased under the bleachers and dropped into the hole by a mechanical dog.
- #10: Medieval Times (fantasy Middle Ages) The ball slides down a ramp attached to a wall shaped like a castle roof and is launched from a catapult into the mouth of dragon who spits it out. The ball rams into a knight which causes him to spin vertically. We see a tent with a hole behind it the flap which the ball tries to go through but is stopped by a giant who pushes it away with his spiky flail. Now the ball rolls into a castle through the doorway as the bridge lowers. And then it is shot from a cannon. The dragon who caught the ball earlier ducks as the ball flies into the cave. It lands into a witch's cauldron, causing a splash that literally "kills" her. The dragon then emerges from the pot with the ball in its mouth and drops it into the hole.
- #11: Wild Things (animals) Mechanical jungle animals pass the ball around, including an elephant, a zebra, a lion, and a gorilla that flicks it into the hole.
- #12: Sightseeing, USA (American landmarks) The ball goes sightseeing through replicas of American landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty, the Washington Monument, Mount Rushmore, Old Faithful, and the Golden Gate Bridge.
Cover versions and parodies
Pinball Number Count has been covered and remixed by a number of artists. One such version, done with the cooperation of Sesame Workshop, was released under the DJ FoodDJ Food
Originally produced by Coldcut on the Ninja Tune independent record label, the DJ Food project started in 1990 on the premise of providing metaphorical "food for DJs". DJ Food released the Jazz Brakes series, with Jazz Brakes Volume 3 being the most successful...
name by Ninja Tune Records on a 12" EP and the Zen TV DVD. Other versions have been performed by Venetian Snares
Venetian Snares
Venetian Snares is the main performing alias of Canadian electronic musician Aaron Funk .From Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Funk is known for making electronic music often in odd numbered time signatures...
(on the Infolepsy EP
Infolepsy EP
The Infolepsy EP was released in 2004 on Coredump Records by breakcore artist Venetian Snares. It consists of 5 tracks, three on the A side and two on the B side. It was also released on CD...
), Wicked Hemlocks
Wicked Hemlocks
The Wicked Hemlocks are a Brooklyn-based experimental psychedelic pop band.Wicked Hemlocks is Lyndon Walker , Jamie Schmitz and Robert Granata ....
, The Postmarks
The Postmarks
The Postmarks are a pop band from Pompano Beach, Florida. Their self-titled LP was released in February 2007 and has been met with critical acclaim from Rolling Stone and Spin, as well as Pitchfork Media and a host of other music blogs. The group was discovered by Andy Chase of Ivy and...
and an instrumental version by Big Organ Trio. The refrain was prominently featured in Many Moons
Many Moons (song)
"Many Moons" is a 2008 song by American singer Janelle Monáe, included on the Metropolis: Suite I album. It was number 47 on Rolling Stones list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008. The song was also nominated for Best Urban/Alternative Performance at the 51st Grammy Awards...
by Janelle Monáe
Janelle Monáe
Janelle Monáe is an American R&B/soul musician signed to Bad Boy Records and Atlantic Records.Monáe debuted with a conceptual EP, Metropolis: Suite I ...
.
The Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
episode "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz
"The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz" is the eighteenth episode of the fourth season of Family Guy. The episode follows Peter's decision to find a new religion for himself...
" used a plastic bubble-encased Stewie
Stewie Griffin
Stewie Griffin is a fictional character from the animated television series Family Guy. Once obsessed with world domination and matricide, Stewie is the youngest child of Peter and Lois Griffin, and the brother of Chris and Meg....
as the pinball in a close parody of the segment. The Pointer Sisters' distinctive counting style in particular is also referenced near the start of the film Half Nelson
Half Nelson (film)
Half Nelson is a 2006 American drama film directed by Ryan Fleck and written by Anna Boden and Fleck; it stars Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps and Anthony Mackie. The film was scored by Juno Award winning Canadian band - Broken Social Scene. Gosling received an Academy Award nomination for lead actor...
, where Ryan Gosling
Ryan Gosling
Ryan Thomas Gosling is a Canadian actor and musician. He first came to public attention as a child star on the Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Club and went on to appear in other family entertainment programmes including Are You Afraid of the Dark? , Goosebumps , Breaker High and Young Hercules...
's character Dan Dunne mumbles the numbers in the same fashion.