In the late ’70s, a character named Countess Dahling von Dahling appeared on the show a few times. And it’s persuasive evidence that the thunder is a power unique to the Count.īut by taking a few steps back in time, we can find some evidence to the contrary. This means Ernie must resort to shouting “THUNDERRR! LIGHTNING!” after counting, which is quite endearing. While briefing Ernie, the Count declares that he is the only one who can make the thunder and lightning happen. In a season 31 episode, the Count leaves Sesame Street for a day and Ernie takes over his responsibilities. It’s part of his eccentric charm.īut I keep thinking about these questions, questions no one should ever bother to ask: How does the Count’s thunder work? Where does it come from? Can anyone invoke the lightning by counting with sufficient energy, or is it exclusive to Count von Count? It was driving me batty, so I put on my monocle and started searching the ancient texts: Muppet Wiki and YouTube. Since then, the Count’s friends have gotten used to it. In his first appearance, he counts blocks as Bert looks on – and Bert is startled when the counting culminates in cracking and flashing. The thunder and lightning have been part of the Count’s persona since the beginning. My best guess is that the Sesame people started with a Muppet who was inspired by classic horror movie vampires, and paired him with spooky thunder, another trope of classic horror movies, to create the perfect scary-but-not-too-scary character. You’ve probably heard it – it sounds like “PA-PAOW! BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM!” It’s the perfect sound to accompany a foreboding establishing shot of the castle where a mad scientist lives - or a monster, or some other evil villain. If you’re a certain kind of film nerd, you’re familiar with “ castle thunder,” a sound effect from the original Frankenstein movie that has been recycled in hundreds of productions since then. Thunder and lightning are pretty important to horror movies in general, though. And I’ve never encountered “spontaneous generation of thunder & lightning” as a trait associated with any other fanged fellow. And of course he creates thunder and lightning.īut wait a minute! Does it really make sense that he creates thunder and lightning? I’m not an expert on vampire lore, but I’ve seen the original Dracula movie starring Bela Lugosi, and I’ve consumed many other vampire films, TV shows, and books, plus a few boxes of Count Chocula. He’s a variation on a vampire, so of course he has fangs and a cape. We take item #3 for granted, because most of us have known and loved the Count for our entire lives. The reason the character exists is that the Sesame writers, in a flash of genius, asked themselves “What if COUNT Dracula really liked to COUNT?” (Despite what you may read on the internet, it seems to be a coincidence that some old stories include vampires getting distracted when their intended victims throw grains of rice on the ground, thus compelling the vampire to count them.) Items #1 and #2 are pretty straightforward. When he finishes counting he goes “Ah ah ah!” as thunder rolls and lightning flashes.Everyone who has ever seen Sesame Street knows three things about the Count: Count von Count wasn’t on Sesame Street when it premiered 50 years ago, but he has been around since the early seasons, and he’s still going strong.
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