The evolution of Tommie.
Image | As seen in / Year | Notes | ||
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Sesamstraat Season 1 (1976-1977) |
The first Tommie was designed and built by Ton Hasebos. For the character, he used an old fur coat. The puppet was performed with arm-rods and was voiced by Stef van der Linden, who gave the character a high enthusiastic voice. For this season only, Tommie was an inventor, who walked on fours and lived in a crate (in order to hide his puppeteer). His catchphrase was "Weerrrrr niet gelukt!" ("Failed again!") whenever one of his inventions exploded. | |||
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Sesamstraat Seasons 2-3 (1977-1980) |
The second Tommie was also designed and built by Ton Hasebos. His eyes are changed to make him look less wild and the puppet was no longer performed by arm-rods, but was a live-hand character instead. He is also much larger than the previous puppet, and occasionally hangs out in a dumpster can (somewhat similar to Oscar's trash can). This puppet was used during the second and third season. Martin Pragt became Tommie's performer in season 3; halfway through the season, Bert Plagman performed him occasionally as well. | ||
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Sesamstraat Season 4 (1980-1981) |
The third Tommie puppet is made of a warmer brown fur and has more of a teddy bear look instead of a Muppet-inspired design. He closely resembled a dog, but with round ears like a bear's. This version of the puppet has beady eyes with yellow irises. He was only used for the fourth season. Starting with this season, Bert Plagman became his fulltime performer. | ||
Sesamstraat Season 5 (1981-1993) |
Tommie is redesigned for the first time by CTW and the Muppet Workshop; his design now resembles a Muppet instead of a teddy-bear. The new Tommie puppet is made of a shaggier beige fur, gains floppy dog-like ears, a more flexible mouth, a large red tongue, and Muppet-inspired white eyes with black pupils and eyelids. In season 5, the pupils were designed with small white triangles similar to 1930's cartoon characters, representing light reflection; the next season they were replaced by black pupils that reflect the light naturally. As a character trademark, Tommie began wearing all sorts of things on his head (sometimes headwear, sometimes kitchenwares and even underpants). His nose becomes a bit smaller; the fur around his nose resembles a moustache. Bert Plagman gives him a lower hoarser voice, closer to his own speaking voice, to make him sound more natural. In some scenes, Tommie has feet. | |||
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Sesamstraat Season 18 (1994-2005) |
A slightly updated version of Tommie is made. More facial hair and a slightly dark fur were the most prominent differences, along with a change in his head shape to make him look younger. Two different Tommie puppets are used with slightly different facial expressions to make him look happy or sad. | ||
Sesamstraat (2005-present) |
The color of his fur changed to a warm brown. His fur is longer, especially in his face. | |||
Alternate Tommie Puppets and Characters | ||||
Sesamstraat Live (2006-2007) |