"Sesame Street" is no stranger to embracing pop culture and parodying it, albeit for educational purposes. The series recently released a video promoting its upcoming "Numeric Con," which features geek culture icons like Batman.
The parody is the educational series' take on San Diego Comic Con, which has become one of the world's largest international geek culture events. In "Numeric Con," the "greatest number lover convention of the year," we see familiar "Sesame Street" puppets cosplaying a variety of recognizable characters, such as Wolverine from "X-Men."
The episode kicks off with Elmo in full Batman gear, but leads into a series of other instantly recognizable characters. Perhaps the highlight of the video is one of the puppet's uncanny impression of William Shatner as Captain Kirk of "Star Trek."
"Doctor Who" fans will recognize some beloved characters as well, most notably the Daleks, Leela, and the Fourth Doctor and his long colorful scarf.
The episode, which is filmed like a reality TV show, follows convention attendees around as they plan what they'll do at Numeric Con.
The full "Numeric Con" Sesame Street episode premiered at San Diego Comic Con and also features Daleks that screech "Enumerate," while Cookie Monster shows up dressed as Indiana Jones. Although the fun episode teaches children mathematical skills like counting and subtraction, it also teaches them about attending conventions: the episode covers things like taking photos with cosplayers and getting autographs.
"Sesame Street" executive producer Carol-Lyn Parente stresses that the episode, like much of "Sesame Street," appeals to both children and their parents.
"It's all by design, because most important is our educational messages that we're trying to get through. The only way you can teach is to reach, and we know from studies that the kids get more out of it when there's a parent or caregiver watching with the kids."
