Sesame Street: Telling the Truth (1997 VHS)



Here's the opening and closing to the 1997 VHS of Sesame Street: Telling the Truth.

Release Date
January 28, 1997

Characters

 * Elmo
 * Telly Monster
 * Baby Bear
 * Mama and Papa Bear (mentioned)
 * Leo
 * Leo's Family
 * Sheep
 * Wolf
 * April
 * Megan
 * Michael
 * The Kids
 * Anything Muppets
 * Gina
 * Jesse
 * Uncle Tommy
 * NASA Officials
 * Benny Rabbit (cameo)

Songs

 * Believe You Me
 * I Wanna Take it Back
 * The Truth

Advertised on

 * 1) Get Up and Dance! (1997 VHS) (January 28, 1997)
 * 2) Quiet Time (1997 VHS) (April 1, 1997)
 * 3) 1-2-3 Count With Me! (1997 VHS) (July 8, 1997)
 * 4) Elmo Says Boo! (1997 VHS) (July 8, 1997)
 * 5) William Wegman's Mother Goose (1997 VHS) (September 2, 1997)
 * 6) Elmo Saves Christmas (1997 VHS) (1997 Reprint Version) (September 2, 1997)
 * 7) Fiesta! (1997 VHS) (December 1, 1997)
 * 8) Big Bird Gets Lost (1998 VHS) (February 3, 1998)
 * 9) Elmopalooza (1998 VHS) (April 14, 1998)
 * 10) The Alphabet Jungle Game (1998 VHS) (July 7, 1998)
 * 11) The Great Numbers Game (1998 VHS) (July 7, 1998)
 * 12) The Best of Kermit on Sesame Street (1998 VHS) (September 1, 1998)
 * 13) Elmo Says Boo! (1998 VHS) (1998 Reprint Version) (September 1, 1998)
 * 14) Count It Higher! (1999 VHS) (March 9, 1999)
 * 15) Kids' Favorite Songs (1999 VHS) (March 9, 1999)
 * 16) The Adventures Of Elmo In Grouchland: Sing And Play (1999 VHS) (September 7, 1999)
 * 17) Sesame Street Family Feature Starring Elmo! (1999 VHS) (October 19, 1999)
 * 18) Sesame Street Family Feature Starring Big Bird And Ernie! (1999 VHS) (October 19, 1999)
 * 19) Elmo's World (2000 VHS) (February 1, 2000)
 * 20) CinderElmo (2000 VHS) (February 29, 2000)
 * 21) Elmo's World: Babies, Dogs & More! (2000 VHS) (May 2, 2000)
 * 22) Let's Make Music (2000 VHS) (July 18, 2000)

Synopsis
The video begins at Gina's Family Day Care, where Telly feels left out when he hears his friends, including Elmo and Baby Bear, talking about going to the circus, when suddenly Gina announces that it's story time, and they'll be reading "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". Elmo claims that what he likes better than the circus is when Gina reads stories and she begins her story.

In the story, a father leads his son, Leo, to a meadow and asks him to watch a flock of sheep in case a wolf comes by and devours them, much to the horror of the sheep. Leo's dad tells him that if he sees a wolf, he must yell loudly - "Wolf! Wolf!" - and then he and Leo's mother and siblings will come running and help him chase the wolf away. As Leo's dad leaves, Leo takes charge of his sheep, but becomes concerned that the wolf comes and nobody might hear him when he yells "wolf".

So, he decides to cry wolf as loudly as possible to be sure. He starts yelling "Wolf! Wolf!" and when his family comes and wonders where the wolf is, Leo tells them he just wanted to be sure they heard them in case a wolf comes. Leo's dad scolds his son for his lie and says he has to trust him, which leads him to sing "Believe You Me", with the sheep and the rest of his family joining in. After the song, Leo's family warns him not to cry wolf again before they go back to work. Leo asks his sheep if they have any idea how boring they are to watch.

Back in the day care, Jesse comes in to ask Gina if she wants to go to the circus with him. Gina says she'll do it after day care session is over. Elmo gets sleepy and asks Gina to keep reading. As Gina continues the story, Elmo begins to fall asleep.

This time, Elmo dreams of being in the story and meets up with Leo and his sheep. Leo explains to Elmo about his "cry wolf" trick: whenever he cries wolf, his family would come and look around for a wolf, even though there is no wolf. Elmo assumes that it would be a lie, but Leo manages to do so anyway. When his family comes, Leo's dad notices Elmo. Leo's brother points out that Elmo is not the wolf. Leo apologizes and says he has lied again, and his family goes back to work, unhappy with Leo.

Back in the day care, the phone goes off and Gina tells the patrons to stay as she rushes to answer it. Telly, still feeling left out about the circus, lies about his Uncle Tommy working as a circus ringmaster, who wears a big black hat, a fancy red coat, and a silver whistle. Telly lies that one time he was shot out of a cannon, flying all the way up the top of the tent and landed on a trapeze, swinging back and forth and landing on a dancing bear. But when Gina gets back, he tells Telly that his Uncle Tommy is going to pick him up, much to Telly's shock. His friends become excited to get to meet him, but they get caught into Telly's lies, thinking he's a ringmaster, when he's not really. As Elmo is fast asleep, Gina continues the story.

Back in the dream, Leo decides to cry wolf once more. Elmo warns him not to do this, but Leo does so anyway. His dad tells him that there better be a wolf around here or he and Elmo would be in trouble, and since there's still no wolf, they'll never believe him if they cry wolf again. Leo guesses that there's never any wolf around here. Meanwhile on the other side of the meadow, a wolf is sitting at a French restaurant-style table, reading a menu. He looks through a telescope and sees Leo's sheep before he darts off.

Just then, when the wolf approaches near Leo and Elmo, the latter shouts "LEO, LOOK!" and informs him that now is the time to yell "wolf". They shout "WOLF! WOLF!" in a panic, but this time Leo's family refuses to come, thinking he's lying again. Leo then decides to run off to tell his family that he's telling the truth, while Elmo guards the sheep, but the wolf growls at him, causing him to faint. Leo runs to his family and yells at them to help him, but they still don't believe him at first, until Leo convinces them that he's telling the truth. Convinced that he's telling the truth, Leo and his family rushes to the meadow, but by the time they get there, the sheep have already tied the wolf to the tree. They explain that they took over since Elmo passed out. Elmo recovers from faint and exclaims "Yay! Elmo loves a happy ending!"

Back in the day care, as Gina finishes the story, she discovers that Elmo is still sleeping. Elmo wakes up and says it was a good story. As Gina wonders where Telly is, she sees that Telly is heading to the exit. Telly says that he's waiting for his Uncle Tommy out there. Once he's outside, he sees that his Uncle Tommy (Dennis Quaid) is there for him. Uncle Tommy wants to see Telly's friends, but Telly thinks they're too shy. Uncle Tommy bets that Telly's friends are not shy and greets them. Upset, Telly whispers to his Uncle Tommy that he lied to his friends that he was a circus ringmaster. This leaves Uncle Tommy puzzled and when he wonders why, Telly explains that he has felt left out when his friends were talking about going to the circus and couldn't stop lying about it. He sings "I Wanna Take It Back". Uncle Tommy declares that Telly cannot take it back and to make things better, he just has to tell the truth.

Suddenly, all of Telly's friends rush out of the day care, excited to see Uncle Tommy. Telly then announces that he has the truth: his Uncle Tommy doesn't work as a circus ringmaster and his story is all made up. He apologizes and is now worried that they won't like him for lying. However, Elmo says that he, Baby Bear, and the rest of the day care patrons still like Telly. Gina says she's glad that Telly has told the truth. Telly appreciates his friends' forgiveness and begins to sing one last song - "The Truth" - with Elmo, Baby Bear, Gina, Uncle Tommy, Leo, his sheep, and everyone else joining in.

After that, Baby Bear asks what Uncle Tommy's true job is. Telly reveals that he is an astronaut, much to his friends' surprise. Just then, Uncle Tommy gets a phone call from a space station and says that he should be prepared for his journey to the moon 100 percent. Two space officials put a spacesuit on him. After a countdown, Uncle Tommy lifts off to the sky and into space. Everyone shouts their goodbyes to Uncle Tommy. The credits roll while Uncle Tommy soars into the lunar surface.

After the credits, Dennis Quaid gives a special message about telling the truth.