Tommie Through the Years

The evolution of Tommie.
Image 	As seen in / Year 	Notes
center 	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.
 	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.
center 	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.
center 	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.
center 	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) 	
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Category:Character Evolution