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. 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 (David Rudman)
- The Doctor, a Lavender AM parody of Gates McFadden's Doctor Crusher (Camille Banora)
Sketches
Original Series
- Planet Ch - Chunky Cheese greets the group. (EKA: Episode 2479) (Hulu) (SSvideo)
- Planet Tr - Trevor Trout greets the group. (EKA: Episode 2607)
- Planet Sh - Sheriff Shrimp greets the group. (EKA: Episode 2776)
Next Generation
- Planet H - The crew is greeted by Hopalong Hamster, and see Happy Harry the Hopping Haystack and hula dancing hens. (EKA: Episode 3195)
