Nine Years Later: Disney buys Muppets and Bear

[minor muppetz]

I remember when I heard about this, I was really excited. I was happy to know they got Little Muppet Monsters and the Muppet portions of The Jim Henson Hour. I fantasized about a potential release schedule, and even typed one down (I have since deleted it). And after seeing scans from the documents of the deal and seeing more stuff I suspected Disney got confirmed I've been more excited (even though that doesn't automatically mean they'll get released this or next year).

It's a shame they haven't released more classic stuff on DVD or even broadcast in America (how come Canada and other countries have in the past aired reruns of The Muppet Show, MuppeTelevision, Muppets Tonight, and Muppet Babies while us Americans don't get squat on TV?). ABC Family would be a great choice to air classic Muppet content, especially during the 25 Days of Christmas (and unlike Pixar and Harry Potter who get their own weeks during those 25 days the Muppets have four Christmas specials and two Christmas movies).

I've been thinking it would be great if Disney would at least start a "Muppet Classics" YouTube channel, showcasing clips from various existing productions. Clips from The Muppet Show (ones that are on DVD and ones that aren't), various productions that would require music clearances for video releases, obscure stuff that might not be marketable on DVD, rare clips.... I was thinking about making an April Fools Day thread about this this year but have decided against it. I know that many Muppets clips have been uploaded by others, but Sesame Workshop and The Jim Henson Company have their own channels and have uploaded many things that the fans have uploaded, in addition to rare things (and of course Henson is able to upload clips that Lionsgate would remove if fans uploaded).

It seems like the majority of the best Muppet productions have things that would need to be cleared, whether they be music rights, video footage (not too sure if this is a problem... Somebody who claimed to be in charge of video footage clearances for Muppet Babies recently said that all clips were cleared for all forms of use, but then the 30th anniversary special and The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson have clips owned by other companies), maybe character rights (but I would like to think Disney doesn't have to worry about productions that feature characters owned by Henson or Sesame). There's still a lot of Disney-owned Muppet productions that don't require clearances (the "Tales from Muppetland" specials, the play-along and sing-along videos) which haven't been released on DVD, but most of the best stuff require music clearances (I'd still want to see those "Muppetland" specials and the Play-Along Videos on DVD).

It seems that while a lot of Muppet productions have music that needs to be cleared, most of what Henson has retained don't. Those usually have original music (and sometimes music written especially for the Muppets or Sesame Street). In a way, Disney and Henson have had opposite strengths when releasing their stuff. Disney has released a lot of Muppet stuff in the past decade (with varying levels of quality) while Henson has struggled with getting most puppet productions made, but a lot of classic Henson content (including every episode of Fraggle Rock, both live-action and animated, as well as a handful of specials featuring Muppet characters) has been released on DVD while we're still waiting after four years for season four of The Muppet Show and many other productions haven't been released.

Tough Pigs recently had an article on the subject, speculating that since The Muppets are suddenly big again that Disney would want to wait until they aren't that successful to release another season of The Muppet Show, which sounds kind of stupid to me. If anything Disney should release season four this year since the next movie won't be out until next year (and I don't know if there'll be any major productions this year).

 

[Mo Frackle]

Look how far we've gotten in nine years. Well, honestly farther than I thought we would. But I do feel there's still much more Disney could do with the Muppets. Still, I'm happy with two theaterical movies (and the fact that the last one was number two at the box office).

 

[rowlfy662]

wow its been nine years i really doesn't feel like i have to agree with everyone by saying it was a good decision the muppets having a huge comeback and i hope disney keeps the magic of Jim Hensons great characters in the public interest forever

 

[Drtooth]

No, Henson has to put their resources towards movies like MirrorMask if they do theatricals. Because MirrorMask was a much more suitable comeback project than a Fraggle Rock movie.

I can no longer tell if that's sarcasm or straightforward. But sarcasm or not, there's a good point in there. Mirrormask was probably well in production before the buy out was a twinkle in the Henson Kids' eyes. I doubt that was their major comeback project. Henson just can't catch a break. How many projects have been in development purgatory? The only thing Henson has is it's CGI kid's programs (yeah... Sid is Puppetry assisted CGI, and is that even still in production?), Pajamanals and maybe if Puppet Up is still touring. The Dark Crystal sequel/prequel/whateverquel is dead. Fraggle Rock is never going to happen. If the Doozer thing happens, everywhere else in the world gets it but us... meanwhile, other than that terribly shaky first year, there were only about 3 or 4 Muppet projects that didn't happen. That horrible reality show parody which we all would have hated anyway (let's face it), a mockumentary (which probably had potential), an election special (which would have been rushed, dated, and kinda not funny), and a Halloween special that never got into production because we got a movie instead.

If indeed the movie was sold on Jason's celebrity status, it got made. Disney clearly had plans to do one themselves at some point, but they had a perfectly good script that Jason tried to get them to make since Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Though I agree it's a waste they're sitting on all this back Muppet footage. if it is music rights, it's beyond even Disney's control. But it's not like they really release backlogs of their own stuff that isn't a movie. Sometimes old Mickey cartoons, but that's about it. There's a lot of old Disney specials they're sitting on too. So I don't think there's anything quite special there.

 

[minor muppetz]

I wonder if Disney would ever release any past Muppet specials as standalone/main feature DVDs, as opposed to being bonus features on the Muppet Show DVDs or as a multi-special set of some sort. I know we got Letters to Santa as a stand-alone, and other countries got the Studio DC specials (but even then it's a set as it has both specials). I could see A Muppet Family Christmas getting a standalone release, if that ever gets released again. Same with The Muppets at Walt Disney World, if that were to ever get released. Back when The Muppet Show Season One was announced I think there was a rumor of a "Tales from Muppetland" set being considered, but after all these years those specials still aren't on DVD, and those don't require any music clearances. I would have thought that The Frog Prince would be released as it's own DVD back when The Princess and the Frog was released. Would have made since, and been a good way to cash in on that movie.

With the exceptions of The Muppets at Walt Disney World (well it has The Rainbow Connection and a bit of Bein' Green, but Disney wouldn't have any trouble with those) and Mr. Willoby's Christmas Tree, every Muppet special that doesn't require music clearances has been released on some home video format, even if never on DVD (I'm not counting The Great Santa Claus Switch here, as that is out of Disney or Henson's controll). Heck, many of the other specials have been released on video at some point, even if not here in America (as other countries have different laws regarding music rights).

Back when Disney got the Muppets and Bear in the Big Blue House, it seemed odd, as those were Henson's biggest franchises at the time, and this was after Henson had sold another of it's biggest franchises, the Sesame Street Muppets. At the time Henson was barely making anything related to Fraggle Rock available, so the only remaining thing left that Henson was doing well in was its Creature Shop stuff like The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and Farscape. So one good thing about the sale was that Henson began giving more attention to Fraggle Rock, as well as releasing more of its past properties that had been ignored. If Henson hadn't sold the Muppets, would Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas have gotten a special edition DVD release?

 

[Mr Sweetums]

Thinking about it now I was only 16 when this deal was made and I remember I was so angry about it, I can't believe it's been nine years already meaning it's been eleven years since we all first purchased our Palisades Series One Action Figures. I remember that's one of the reason I hated Disney buying the Muppets becuase this line was cut short beuase of it or am I making that up? I also remember the company wasn't doing very well but WOW how time flys when your a Muppet Fan.

I actually have The Muppets A Celebration of Thirty Years and The Muppets Go To The Movies which were released here in the U.K on video when I was young but today if we do get these released I'd see them coming in some sort of collection than seperate releases.

Disney buys the Muppets = 9 years
Palisades Action Figure Line Begins = 11 years
I start visiting MC = 15 years

I feel old

 

[minor muppetz]

I remember that's one of the reason I hated Disney buying the Muppets becuase this line was cut short beuase of it or am I making that up? I also remember the company wasn't doing very well but WOW how time flys when your a Muppet Fan.

Actually the line wasn't cut short. Palisades' contract with Henson lasted until 2005. Disney purchased the Muppets in 2004 and let Palisades continue to make figures until the contract ran out. We got three series after the sale was made, and at the time retailers were losing interest in collector-based action figures. We got three series after the sale was made, and retail support for series 9 was so low that Palisades canceled series 10 without offering it to retailers, before series 9 came out. Figures continued to be made in 2005, but only as exclusives.

Who knows if Disney would have renewed Palisades' contract if the figures sold better at the time. But the poor retail support of later series meant that Palisades most likely didn't try to get the contract renewed (I do not know for sure but wouldn't be surprised).

 

[CaseytheMuppet]

I am happy with what Disney has done so far, but they could still do so much more!

• Release early specials! The Frog Prince, Hey! Cinderella, The Muppet Musicians of Bremen. It's a shame these haven't been put on DVD yet.
• Finish releasing Seasons 4 and 5 of The Muppet Show, and after that, release Muppets Tonight, and Muppet Babies!
• Bring back BITBBH! It was a great show, and would be great for little kids today! It would be different than all the CGI "let's count the numbers" type shows that are on today. Bear was great, because it had great story lines.
• Make more Muppet toys! Plush, action figures, trading cards. Really anything more merch. than they are releasing now would be great.
• Work on a new Muppet show! Pretty self explanatory.

As I said, Disney has done a pretty good job, but there is soooo much more that could be done.

 

[Drtooth]

Seriously, Disney should release all its specials, Muppets or otherwise. The most they did with their own stuff was releasing Mickey's Christmas Carol, and it took them a while to do that.

 

[minor muppetz]

Seriously, Disney should release all its specials, Muppets or otherwise. The most they did with their own stuff was releasing Mickey's Christmas Carol, and it took them a while to do that.

I think Disney has released all of it's animated shorts starring it's classic characters (Mickey, Goofy, not sure about Donald and Pluto). I'm surprised Disney hasn't put it's classic shorts on blu-ray yet. But there seems to be quite a few (rather obscure) Disney shorts released in the 1970s that haven't been released. There's also a Winnie the Pooh short about the four seasons which has not had a DVD release.