Ladies and gentlemen, it is finished, the end has come, the fifth and last Golden Ticket has just been found right here in Paraguay. the lost and banned episode of Sesame Street featuring the Wicked Witch of the West has turned up online.
I was planning on making a joke about how this post syncs up with "Dark Side of the Moon" but the video already did that joke.
And here is the episode:
And a few thoughts...
For someone who was trying to rehabilitate her image, this was an INSANE move for Margaret Hamilton. The stark contrast of with makeup/without makeup is one of your main tools to get kids to not be afraid of you. So why not have a plot where the wicked witch is proven to be able to disguise herself to look like an ordinary old woman? Yes, even though the old woman may look normal, she's still a witch underneath and, don't forget, she wants to steal your dog.
"I won't give her back this broom until she gives me a little respect" is terrible principle.
The guy's acting is also terrible. I've always accepted Sesame Street's "big" acting because it was for children and that's the norm for children's programming, but this is just bad.
A lot of the reaction to this episode involves adults being shocked that anyone found this to be scary - the whole reaction was a huge overreaction. I don't think so. In the 50 years or so of Sesame Street's existence, how many villains have their been? How many villains with magical powers? The bar is set by Oscar the Grouch whose main weapon is being impolite. This episode would be a violation of viewer expectations.
When I was a kid, my one friend opined that the scariest villains in the world were Darth Vader and the Wicked Witch of the West. I quickly realized the verisimilitude of the statement and assented. He then added that when he was younger he opined that they must be married and that was too large a logical leap for me.
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