The RHLC!

[Muppet Newsgirl]

It was one of those colonial mansions, I love that period in history. Very impressive indeed!

Oh yay, something posted Tale of the Bunny Picnic! Now you'll know why every bunny I see is immediately christened Lugsy, hehe.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vmNI9w3kNS8

(chuckle) In that case, we've seen quite a few Lugsys (and perhaps a few Beans) roaming around my mom's garden lately. They're very fond of Mom's green beans.

Richard really seemed to go in for the big-brother types, both on camera and in real life; on-camera, you've got Scooter ("Get down in that basement!"), Sweetums, Tug, Turbo, etc., and in real life, he was the adopted big brother to David Rudman and Brian Henson.

 

[Skye]

Glad you had a good time, heralde! And that garden sounds gorgeous. I'm glad you got to see it.... and that our group's signature flower was featured so prominently in it!

Very cute clip from Bunny Picnic, too. Thanks for posting that!

 

[CensoredAlso]

Yes and I could easily see Scooter continuing this big brother relationship with Bean, like in Muppets at Walt Disney World. You can tell there that Scooter wants to be the grown up, but still annoyed that Bean gets all the attention.

You know I always kinda feel sorry for Scooter in the Muppet movies and specials because it's so clear they had no idea what to do with him, lol. No offence to the writers of course, hehe, they were brilliant. But having Scooter basically play Kermit's assistant on The Muppet Show made sense and worked out fine. But in the movies they had to come up with completely different (yet relatively valid) reasons for him to be there. And a little too often, he was relegated to the occasional chipper, "Yes, sir!"

I don't know if anyone knew, but the Tough Pigs website includes some excerpts from the original script of The Muppet Movie. And in one version, Scooter isn't the band's manager. In fact he's no where to be seen in the first half of the film. Though he did get this witty exchange during the intermission when the projector broke:

Scotter: You think you've got problems. How have you liked my scenes so far?

Fozzie: You haven't had any scenes so far.

Scooter: I rest my case.

Anyway, the movie begins again and after an encouter with Henry Kissinger (I kid you not), Kermit and the gang end up at a gas station. Here they come across a little boy named Scooter, and his "pet..."

Scooter: Sorry I took so long. Can I get you some gas?

Kermit: Actually, we just stopped to use the facilities.

Scooter: That's okay. Are you guys by any chance going to Hollywood to be rich and famous?

Kermit: Well, yeah as a matter of fact.

Scooter: Can me and my dog come too?

(Animal appears next to Scooter)

Animal: Bark Bark!

Kermit: Oh why not. Climb in.

Fozzie: How come you want to go to Hollywood?

Scooter: It's the only way we could get into the movie!

Animal: (to Rowlf): Bow Wow!

Rowlf: (with great distaste): Bow Wow!

The guys at Tough Pigs commented on this:

We're pretty lucky to have lost the Scooter and Animal gas station scene, where the "how the Muppets met" conceit is starting to wear thin. (At the point where even the characters themselves are starting to admit that they're only being introduced for the sake of it, you gotta call time on the whole concept.)

Actually, I'm not sure I entirely agree. Even though we would have had to wait a bit for Scooter's big moment, it still would have been great to see! (At least for our little group, hehe). I invite your comments, guys!

And not only that, apparently originally it was Scooter who was to have the nice poignant song around the camp fire! That does make sense, since Richard was one of the group's best singers. And of course any time I can hear him sing I absolutely melt, hehe. But honestly, I can't imagine anyone else but Gonzo singing "I'm Going to Go Back There Someday."

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Perhaps they would have composed a different composition for scooter had he sung in that scene.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

I see little bunnys come out sometimes when I go out walking.

 

[Muppet Newsgirl]

Oh, interesting...so Scooter was supposed to have sung a pensive little tune by the campfire? That'd have been really cool; like I said, it's always Scooter's verse in "Saying Goodbye" that tugs at my heartstrings.

I kinda like Scooter's role as the Mayhem's road manager in the movie - though it would have been cool to see him as Animal's handler.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Hmm...now I'm thinking about this, lol. I might have enjoyed the Animal handler scene more, since at least he would have gotten the chance to be a little annoyed in a funny way when complaining about his lack of scenes.

Though of course it's very cute seeing Scooter with the bubble wand during "Can You Picture That" in the final film, lol.

Still at least Janice had a lot to do in the films. Looking back even as a kid I think I always particularly enjoyed hearing her voice, probably because you don't hear a Valley Girl accent every day, and also there was always something kinda unusual about her cadence (probably comes from a guy doing a girl's voice, but I could be wrong, hehe).

 

[Muppet Newsgirl]

Yeah, it's just like with Monty Python. It's always funnier when it's a guy playing a woman - especially with some of the one-liners that Richard came up with. "Look, Mother, it's my life, okay? So if I want to live on the beach and walk around naked...oh."

I liked the scene where they were painting the car - and in The Works, there's a behind-the-scenes photo showing Richard lying on the ground next to the car, holding up Scooter with the bubble wand.

 

[MartyMuppets]

I'm not sure whether I've welcomed you back yet so let me just say "Welcome home heralde. I'm happy to hear you had a great vacation"

I'm still trying my best to cope with my internet bills. My last one was just over $100 which isn't really too bad.
I've started reading C. S. Lewis's classic Chronicles of Narnia to my mother. We've read the first three chapters of "The Magician's Nephew" She's always loved those enchanting stories. It's so good to be doing something fun together like this.

 

[Muppet Newsgirl]

Good luck with the net bills, Marty - let's face it, we're feeling the pinch in everything these days.

I'm home visiting the family for the 4th, and for general goofing off. And get this...I think my mom might be warming to Fraggle Rock. She's never been crazy about the show, see - when we watched the Down at Fraggle Rock documentary, she thought it was too cute.

Last night after I drove in, Mom suggested that we take in a few episodes of FR while we worked on assorted stuff. It's cause of Junior's "I like a funeral dirge you can dance to" line. So I brought my computer into the sewing room and played a few season 1 episodes: "The Challenge," "The Terrible Tunnel" and "The Lost Treasure of the Fraggles."