What Muppet Fans Are Thinking About

[Muppet Master]

All I'm thinking is what are you gonna do next Disney what are you gonna do next?

I doubt we will see the muppets do much until a new web series, TV show, or a movie comes out.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

Oh I doubt they'll be doing anymore projects this year I am hoping they'll at least maybe make some guest appearances around the holidays. Hopefully they'll have something planned next year. I think I would be more happy seeing them on tv again rather then another movie. But I feel I don't have to worry about another movie for a long time.

So sad how the last film everyone talked about what a success it was. Even more with DVD promotions but not this time...

 

[minor muppetz]

Since The Muppets, Steve Whitmire has finally gotten to do the puppetry as well as the voice of Link Hogthrob... And in most of his big speaking scenes, he appears with Beaker, also performed by Steve. Which makes me wonder... Which character is Steve performing in these scenes?

For the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" number, I'm willing to bet that Steve was performing Beaker while another was performing Link, since he'd been performing Beaker for so long, while Link was originated by Jim Henson, previously only voiced by Steve in a few video games (I don't doubt that he might have previously performed the character in non-speaking appearances, or in instances where he spoke but Jim could only perform the voice). Steve didn't have much experience with the character by then, while he's been performing Beaker since 1992, so whether it was him or another performer, they'd be imitating how Jim performed him regardless. And in Muppets Most Wanted, during the "Something So Right" number Link and Beaker get back-to-back lines, both in the same shot/take. I think there's also another scene where both are seen and heard, can't really remember which scene it is.

And just recently, after watching Rock Music with the Muppets so many times on Daily Motion, I've noticed that Dr. Teeth is wearing a white tuxedo vest over his clothes and under his black vest. All this time I thought his 1980s outfit was a black leather vest, but now I wonder if that is actually a tuxedo, with the sleeves cut off, but worn over a striped shirt and white tuxedo vest.

 

[minor muppetz]

Back when Craig Shemin was interviewed for Tough Pigs this past March, he mentioned that he would tape reruns of The Muppet Show every day, and one day the Muppets appearance on Parkingsons was shown. I know that when some shows are rerun in syndication they'll include separate related specials and follow-up shows and such, but it's weird that a guest appearance was included in the syndicated rerun timeslot, unless Parkingsons was also owned by ITC (which would mean it'd later be dropped from the syndication package when Henson bought the rights).

But also, Shemin said that The Jim Henson Company doesn't have a copy of that appearance in its archives, but since Shemin has a copy, they occasionally use his copy whenever they want to show clips from that appearance at screenings. Shouldn't they have just made a copy from that tape so that the Henson Company Archives would have a permanent copy (unless Shemin plans to leave his copy to Henson in his will)?

And it also makes me curious as to what all The Jim Henson Company has copies of. Obviously everything the company has the distribution rights to (unless it was lost or destroyed), plus many commercials, guest appearances, and most likely productions the company produced but never owned the distribution rights to. And I know that the company still has all the master tapes for Muppet and Bear productions (as Disney doesn't archive acquired properties... Hopefully that doesn't mean Disney doesn't archive post-2004 Muppet projects). I'm guessing the company doesn't have much Sesame-related master tapes (they probably have copies of all the films Jim Henson did for the show).

I wonder if it'd be easier for Henson to make a list of what Muppet appearances and such they don't have copies of in the archives.

 

[ceelos]

I was pondering if Animal and Janice are brother and sister. They both have orange skin; neither are anthropomorphic animals; both are musicians; and both have a special bond with Floyd. As if Floyd either is hanging out with his main sqeeze's brother. Or he has a thing with his best friends sister. You know how that goes

Any thoughts

 

[AlittleMayhem]

I was pondering if Animal and Janice are brother and sister. They both have orange skin; neither are anthropomorphic animals; both are musicians; and both have a special bond with Floyd. As if Floyd either is hanging out with his main sqeeze's brother. Or he has a thing with his best friends sister. You know how that goes

Any thoughts

Personally, I sometimes headcanon that Lips and Janice were the ones that were related, either as siblings or cousins. Mainly because their skin and hair colour match up.

However, you do bring up some interesting points about Animal being possible siblings with Janice. That could make for a very intriguing origin fanfic.

*mentally takes note*

 

[Muppet Master]

I was pondering if Animal and Janice are brother and sister. They both have orange skin; neither are anthropomorphic animals; both are musicians; and both have a special bond with Floyd. As if Floyd either is hanging out with his main sqeeze's brother. Or he has a thing with his best friends sister. You know how that goes

Any thoughts

I doubt a brother and a sister would be in the same band, so ya I think that they are all just bandmates, no family relationships or anything, just bandmates with some romance between Janice and Floyd, and previously with Janice and Zoot, who knows what happened with them, so I doubt that the two are siblings.

 

[minor muppetz]

I was pondering if Animal and Janice are brother and sister. They both have orange skin; neither are anthropomorphic animals; both are musicians; and both have a special bond with Floyd. As if Floyd either is hanging out with his main sqeeze's brother. Or he has a thing with his best friends sister. You know how that goes

Any thoughts

I always thought Animal and Floyd looked similar. Never thought Animal and Janice did.

 

[minor muppetz]

I often think about how Follow That Bird often gets overlooked in retrospectives/biographies on Jim Henson and Sesame Street. I feel like it (and Elmo in Grouchland) should be included and recognized more. But then it hit me: If it was a TV special or direct-to-video production as opposed to a movie, I probably wouldn't feel so strongly about this.

I feel like movies are a lot more well-known than specials, though the two Sesame Street movies tend to be a slight bit obscure (or at least as well-known as the average SST special). But then Sesame Street specials tend to get brought up more than FTB. Caroll Spinney's autobiography has an entire chapter on the making of Big Bird in China but only two brief mentions of Follow That Bird, Street Gang has a lot of info on Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (and even some on A Special Sesame Street Chrsitmas), which in recent years has gotten a lot of discussion in interviews with the cast. Imagination Illustration and Jim Henson: The Biography also have info on a few specials but not this movie (Brian Jay Jones himself explained why the book doesn't include any FTB info in the thread about Jim Henson: The Biography). Heck, Brian Jay Jones said that Jim Henson didn't note anything about FTB in his red book at all (but did note things like a TV broadcast of Big Bird in China). Sesame Street: A Celebration - 40 Years of Life on the Street is perhaps the best at including info on FTB (as well as the many specials).

For many franchises that have included TV series, specials, and movies, it seems like the specials are often most obscure while the shows and movies are better known. With the Muppets, I feel like The Muppet Show, Muppet Babies, and the movies (even Muppets from Space, to a certain extent) are better known than the average Muppet special. But with Sesame Street, Follow That Bird's (and Elmo in Grouchland's) popularity is perhaps on par with the best-known Sesame Street specials. But then again, I feel like the average Peanuts special is a lot more well-known than the average Peanuts movie or The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show. And unfortunately, of course, if an animated show got a movie (especially a live-action one made many years after the initial popularity died), the movie is probably just as well-known because of how infamous it is.

 

[Muppet Master]

One thing I have been thinking is that why Disney is not releasing anymore muppet videos. Besides Disney Drive-On, which as good as it was, it was just a way for Disney to market their other productions. I do not see how hard it would be to have a green screen, ask the performers to come, and take out the muppets and let them be muppets like they used to do. Why can we not see a bunch of newsman shorts or Sam the Eagle complaining about some matter. How about Fozzie telling jokes, and Gonzo doing some stunts, Miss Piggy doing Pigs in Space again, Rowlf playing some songs on the piano, or the Electric Mayhem doing covers of some songs or better yet performing original songs. How much could that really cost, it does not seem like money is the problem here though.