Disney Live-Action Films
Topic: Muppets: Gone for too long?

#	Author	Message
1	magnet Sun 8/31/2008 7:35p	I've heard that there is an effort to get some more Muppet specials and movies produced starting from this fall through next year culminating in a feature film around 2010. I've been looking for more info on this, but I haven't seen much. I'm believing these rumors more now that I've seen adverts for DC Studio: Almost Live on the Disney Channel. According to the rumors, Disney is creating these specials to re-introduce the Muppets to the generation that knows Miley and the Jonas brothers. The idea is that this re-introduction is critical to generate interest in the Muppets to support the upcoming television specials. As far as I know, there was an election special planned for this year, and perhaps a Christmas special upcoming for 2009. I don't know whether there's been any progress on this besides kicking around the idea. Does anyone else know? I'm a big Muppets fan, and so I hope the rumors are really true and Disney finally does take Kermit and Piggy out of the closet, dust them off, and produce some good quality entertainment with them. However, what I've seen from the DC Studio special does not give me a lot of hope. I didn't see the entire special, but first of all, it seems to have gotten a rather poor level of promotion by Disney (just limited to a few Disney channel adverts). I've not seen much of any chatter about it on the fan sites, either, so it seems not to have raised much attention - barely a pulse in fact. I also think there was a last minute rescheduling of the airing, which also can kill ratings performance. After watching Piggy interact with the Jonas Brothers, I have to say that the puppeteers need to spend a little more time on their performances. Piggy's voice was so off-key that it was almsot unbearable to listen to her cackle on with the JoBro. Wow, I sure do miss Frank Oz. Although Piggy never had a great voice, at least in the past Frank could give a performance that was OK. Who did Piggy in this special? Was it Eric Jacobsen? Also, after watching Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem perform with Miley, I couldn't help but wonder whether they were using the original muppets Jim used in the Muppet Show. Dr. Teeth and some of his band members looked really ragged, faded, and OLD. Seriously, you can't run into the closet, pull out a twenty-year old puppet, and expect to wow kids with it. If that Dr. teeth was less than ten years old I'd be shocked, he looked worn and it showed big time. So, even if he was brand new - the production value was very low and substandard. What I've also heard is that the response to Studio DC was extremely tepid, as far as ratings are concerned, I'm sure partly due to the lack of real promotion this got (in fact, given the rather thrown-together feel of the entire thing, I can more or less understand why no one would really want to push it too hard). However, it may have been so bad that the future specials and film might be canned. Of course, I don't even know if they were ever really "on" in the first place, but the fact that this Muppet special aired at all seems to imply there is some momentum moving in that direction. So, I hope that we see more Muppets, but it can't be more of the kind of crap that we saw in DC Studio. I think the Muppets were popular because of the hysterical wit and chemistry between character pairs (like Kermit/Piggy/Fozzy) that was a hallmark of all their shows. A lot of the times the very mature sense of humor that was expressed helped us to overlook the fact that we're watching pigs and chickens because it showed us some of ourselves. There was plenty of silliness there too, but it will never work if you try to carry the puppets on the back of the live guests, like Miley and the JoBro, for example. Kids will see right through that. The muppets have to earn their way back just like they did the first time around. I hope they haven't been gone too long and are too tired to succeed.
2	Disney and beyond Sun 8/31/2008 7:41p	I totally agree. Jim Henson is one of my heroes (along with Walt, for course) and I feel that is legacy was ruined by how the Muppets were treated after his death. What they need to do is talk to those who have been with the Muppets since their start. Talk with Frank Oz and the others, and really get into their character. Wtaching every season of the Muppet Show, All of Henson's Muppet Movies, and Muppet*Vision and get a true feel for the characters. That's how anyone could capture the true Muppet Spirit.
3	basil fan Mon 9/1/2008 7:19a	I think the Muppet Show was phenomenally entertaining, just the right mix of humor and weirdness. MuppetVision 3-D is also excellent. I found some of the other Muppet projects less satisfying and didn't even watch all the Muppet Movies. They just didn't capture the spark somehow. Even Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island, both of which I own, are only pretty good, IMO. That Muppet Wizard of Oz special was downright awful. I would love to see new Muppet projects, but I am skeptical as to the level of quality we will get.
4	JeffG Mon 9/1/2008 1:52p	They actually did greenlight another Muppet movie recently (this was reported in Variety at the time of the announcement). Nicolas Stoller and Jason Segel, the directing/writing team that made "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" are attached to the project after making a pitch that impressed Disney and the Hensons. While I think it was wise to identify a new performer that can take on Frank Oz's characters in order to allow more frequent use of them, I really hope they can coax Oz into returning for the new feature film. -Jeff
5	JeffG Mon 9/1/2008 1:55p	I just did a quick search at Variety.com and found the article: http://www.variety.com/article...236&cs=1 -Jeff
6	magnet Tue 9/2/2008 10:36p	Hey, JeffG -- thanks for posting that link. So, there is (or was) some motion towards a Muppet movie, but God only knows where things are at now. The live guests in the original Muppet Show were always entering the world of the Muppets when they came on the show. The Muppets were the main event and the guest star was many times participating in the skits that the Muppets were putting on. In many ways, the Muppet show was like a puppet version of Saturday Night Live. The guest star on Saturday Night live is always written into the comedy sketches of that particular week. So too, in the Muppet show, were the live guests placed in sketches with the muppets. Humor was often derived from placing a human into a world where he or she was the strange outsider (e.g. having to sit in chairs too small or speak into mike way too low). Even the camera angle that is used puts the viewer on the level of the puppets, making the human guest seem to tower over the audience and entire stage. Of course, anyone who's ever seen a "making of" special for the muppets knows that this camera angle is chosen in order to hide the puppeteers who are standing immediately below. The point of all this is to say that in times past, when the Muppets were funny, they didn't have to explain or justify why they were on the show (as was the case recently in the Miley sketch, where Miley didn't really want anything to do with Dr. Teeth's band until she heard how they played with Prince, etc.). In fact, many times the guest on the Muppet show had to explain who he or she was to one of the Muppet characters who had often never heard of him/her (which was usually hilarious). So, the way to reintroduce the muppets to a new generation is not to try to justify why this new generation should find them cool (because they shared a stage with Prince, for example). Rather a better way is to move right past trying to coax the audience into accepting you and go right into what you would do assuming you already had it (or had never lost it). For example, show kids some old reruns of the muppet show and oftentimes they'll get drawn right into it and love it. That's probably because this muppet world where Kermit is the stage manager who's trying to keep all the acts on schedule and has rather complex relationships with many of the other characters is an interesting place to allow yourself to be drawn into. If you can't recreate an interesting muppet world like that one was, I don't think you'll ever be able to do anything with them. It wouldn't have worked back then, either. You can't tie the fortunes of something that is ageless, like the muppets, to the starwagon of the latest pop idol, which is fleeting at best.
7	Jim in Merced CA Fri 9/5/2008 12:46p	There has to be a way to re-energize the Muppet franchise. 'The Muppet Show' was big and the Muppets were popular when I was in High School -- I graduated in 1980, people. The Muppets have to be attached to something fresh and current and irreverent. Like the pre-show and movie of 'MuppetVision 3-D.' That movie is still very funny and well done. And the pre-show is hysterical. But there is something about the whole 'Muppets' that feels very dated.
8	Jim in Merced CA Fri 9/5/2008 12:47p	I thought the roll-around contraption with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker was cool at DCA -- but again, how many people know who the heck those guys are?
9	magic0214 Sat 9/27/2008 4:38p	I hope the Muppets come back with more stuff. I've heard of a Muppets ride in the works and a new movie. If they do the new movie they have to keep the preshow. The best show I have ever seen is Muppet Vision 3D. I would love to see and new movie in theaters (though I have never seen any except for Muppets Wizard Of Oz) New merch would be nice also
10	Disney and beyond Sat 9/27/2008 5:57p	magic0214, go on amazon and buy the original Muppet Movie. Its just godly.

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