D23 Expo: Muppet news and happenings

Good to see the Muppets given the all-out treatment over the weekend!

Not much of the news blew me away however, as much as the presentation looked cool...and a meet and greet with actual muppets/performers=the win. Wish I could have made it as planned(tho I might have been bored the rest of the convention, as other than Pixar and NBX Im not much a Disneyana fan per se)

The idea of more Muppetty presence in Disney theme parks rocks(animatronic Electric Mayhem? Woot!) And that they are not just keeping but updating MV3D.

Probably my favorite news was of course Disney FINALLY releasing Muppet merchandise, a void thats been had since 2003.
Again, not much really new was announced that was all too groundshaking, other than the fact Disney FINALLY seems committed fully. And the Muppet thing on the opening day presentation sounds like a good signal. Good to hear the new Muppet film is officially official now. And maybe we'll get word on a new tv show?

Some of the Muppet replicas look JUST like the posers used in
calendars/posters/ads/you name it(the upcoming Rizzo, Reporter Kermit, etc) Some...uh, dont look like their poser counterparts at all. Though I used to wonder if maybe that was a legal issue, in that they didnt want *exact* Muppet posers being released to the public.

(psst..he's REALLY asking "hey uh by the way, you didn't happen to see a 50 year old curly haired guy under Kermit didja?) <grin>

On one hand I can understand that Disney wants the Muppets to look like they did on The Muppet Show, their classic look, but if that's the (odd) case, why don't they do that with Piggy?

Why? Cuz that would be a travesty, that's why! Ugh, I ask Disney: why do you instruct Puppet Heap to change the Muppets' look so drastically so soon? They've looked a certain way for a while now, you can't just revert them back to their original (and unpolished) look at the drop of a hat! Gonzo and Sam, AIIIEEEEEE! And Fozzie? He looks like the "ugly" square-headed poser used since the 90's. UGH!

Don't forget the eye-focus issue that some of the Kermit Muppets have, yuck! I like my frog looking happy and focused, not wall-eyed. It's such an easy fix, I just don't get it.

But enough of that, and now onto the happy! I'm loving all the Muppet news! Can hardly wait for Season 4, Halloween special, new movie, park stuff, EVERYTHING!

LOL i LOVE the sound of the Piggy poster as Hammah! hahahaha

New pictures from D23 on Muppet Wiki...
High School Mayhem
Muppet Virals
New Sam Puppet
Bohemian Rhapsody by The Electric Mayhem
Muppet Labs: Carve-o-Matic

pics are awesome

*JAW-DROP*

I actually like the new Sam. I think he looks a heck of a lot better than the VMMCM puppet did!

yea he does look a little better

WHAT? HOLY CRUD! I NEED A WHATNOT!

i HATED that sam puppet. HIDEOUS!

Given my thoughts on that movie (we all know what they are)... that one is actually kinda cool.

But I'd much rather see the Kermit Jack Sparrow one....

The Pics from the Muppet Wiki look great, and The YouTube Videos look very Funny! I am looking forward to seeing them as well as getting the Muppet App for my iPod Touch!

Yes, this is the other movie poster parody that we couldn't remember.

Huh, I take it back what I said about the new Sam Muppet. He doesn't look bad when you see him closeup like that. His "hair" is sticking out a little more like it used to, otherwise, he looks great!

Any closeups like that of Gonzo?

Cheers,

Anthony

Love the Janice look in the Bohemian Rhapsody photo! The longer, thicker hair looks good on her.

I like the new Fozzie (though not too new anymore), Sam (looks just like Muppet Show Sam again with a nice sharp stern beak), Bunsen (In the youtube shots it looks like they fattened up his head again) and Animal (again, back to his muppet show season one hair). Gonzo is BAD and I really hope they don't use him. I mean, I can live with the face but the pupils are TINY.

All in all, this is one heck of a muppet day. I just pray Steve Whitemire will be part of all of this.

Edit:

I was wondering why they were doing the Bohemian Rhapsody video on youtube, but it seems there are a bunch of videos of puppets singing this. The muppets doing parodies of these youtube videos is just perfect and so well done and a lot of the youtube videos are reminiscent of muppet show skits.

Wow...muppets on youtube is basically the same as Jim Henson's InnerTube from the Jim Henson Hour pilot. Talk about a man way ahead of his time. This is the muppet show of the future he was trying to create, or at least the beginning of it.

I like how Sam Eagle looks too, But what happened to Gonzo's look?

You're right, His pupils do look small!

man they are small (really small)

I knew Gonzo would make the cover of TMS season 4 DVD! They picked good picture of Gonzo too and I also like the idea of TMS logo being silver.

I also can't wait for the upcoming Muppet Youtube Videos!

The new Muppet Whatnot Workshop feature look AWESOME! Especially the Monster features! I can't wait to see or hear more about that.

Things seem to be going really good for The Muppets, I just hope we find out about what Steve Whitmire is doing.