ITC logo/DVD trivia

[Xerus]

I remember some of the ITC endings had something different. Like where a Tiki blows the saxophone, Nigel finishes conducting a solo playing Rowlf, Zoot at the train station, Zoot as a chicken, a Beaker clone blowing the saxophone, and when Animal crashes into Dudley Moore's music robot. Now it seems like we can never see these rare endings anymore.

 

[David French]

I remember some of the ITC endings had something different. Like where a Tiki blows the saxophone, Nigel finishes conducting a solo playing Rowlf, Zoot at the train station, Zoot as a chicken, a Beaker clone blowing the saxophone, and when Animal crashes into Dudley Moore's music robot. Now it seems like we can never see these rare endings anymore.

In order:

1. Harry Belafonte episode (it's one of the African-masked characters)
2. Kaye Ballard episode (Nigel bows to the audience, while Rowlf has his hands in his mouth and looks nervous)
3. Loretta Lynn episode (the final note sounds slightly off-key)
4. Roger Miller episode (the whole ending was re-filmed with the house band as chickens. Two chickens do the piano solo)
5. Mac Davis episode (again, the ending was re-filmed to show the band replaced by Beakers)
6. Dudley Moore episode (of course. MAMA plays the end theme in a variety of different music styles)

It will be interesting to see what Disney do for the remaining seasons. One can only hope they keep those endings in.

 

[BannieBoy]

I guess it only really affects the final note (Zoot's Sax 'parp').

What was done in previous syndicated versions? (the only copies I have are some previous UK video releases, or my own off air syndication recordings - not including any on that list)

I know that, when the branding was "Jim Henson Productions / Television", there was a straight cut to the (green) logo but does anyone remember what happened before that?

If Disney don't have the correct shots 'clean' (ie with no ATV, HIT, Henson TV, etc... logos overlaid) then they probably won't have any option other than to than stick with the newer Zoot shot that we've seen on the first 2 releases.

Unless, they decide to go to the trouble of making new ones. Nice idea, but from a cost point of view, its doubtful IMO.

 

[Mistersuperstar]

I'm pretty sure I heard that the "clean" endings for all the episodes from season two onwards are available. I thought I heard that when they released the first season and had to use the Zoot clip from the second season. I might be wrong tho.

 

[minor muppetz]

When Henson bought the distribution rights to the show, I wonder why a new shot of Zoot was even filmed. Couldn't the shot have just been replaced with the regular Henson Associates logo sequence (unless, of course, that sequence wasn't animated yet)?

 

[pault]

It would have been nice, as ITC and HIT! no longer exist, for Disney to have left them intact and then added the Disney or Muppet Holding logo at the end of that. They had to use a clip from another season (I think I am right in saying that Zoot is a different colour) to add to the first season's credits to cover the original logo. I don't think this was neccessary.

I'm glad you brought that up about Zoot. I did notice that he appears to be another color on the final shot of the credits, but wasn't sure if it was that the source tape was corrupt or that I was seeing things or what it was.

Also, I (sort of) remember 2 distinct ITC logos. One had the 3 diamonds on top of each other, each successive diamond smaller than the other, like a Christmas tree, sort of. The other had the 3 diamonds spinning around. Am I imagining things?

Finally, I see that I am a "junior member." How do I become a "member?" $

 

[David French]

I guess it only really affects the final note (Zoot's Sax 'parp').

What was done in previous syndicated versions? (the only copies I have are some previous UK video releases, or my own off air syndication recordings - not including any on that list)

I know that, when the branding was "Jim Henson Productions / Television", there was a straight cut to the (green) logo but does anyone remember what happened before that?

If Disney don't have the correct shots 'clean' (ie with no ATV, HIT, Henson TV, etc... logos overlaid) then they probably won't have any option other than to than stick with the newer Zoot shot that we've seen on the first 2 releases.

Unless, they decide to go to the trouble of making new ones. Nice idea, but from a cost point of view, its doubtful IMO.

I'm pretty sure I heard that the "clean" endings for all the episodes from season two onwards are available. I thought I heard that when they released the first season and had to use the Zoot clip from the second season. I might be wrong tho.

When Henson bought the distribution rights to the show, I wonder why a new shot of Zoot was even filmed. Couldn't the shot have just been replaced with the regular Henson Associates logo sequence (unless, of course, that sequence wasn't animated yet)?

Okay, first of all - these are not new shots that have been recorded especially for the DVDs; these are the shots that were used for the Hit! endings, sans bubble. There were two versions recorded - for the first two seasons, Zoot is not wearing his hat and for the other three seasons, he is. The exception is of course the ending that was used for the Kaye Ballard episode, which I have no info about.

Second - I suspect the reason they changed the shots for the Hit! endings is probably because a) a clean version of the last shot didn't exist and b) it would have been extremely difficult to try and remove the old copyrights and replace them with a new one.

 

[Mistersuperstar]

Okay, first of all - these are not new shots that have been recorded especially for the DVDs; these are the shots that were used for the Hit! endings, sans bubble. There were two versions recorded - for the first two seasons, Zoot is not wearing his hat and for the other three seasons, he is. The exception is of course the ending that was used for the Kaye Ballard episode, which I have no info about.

Second - I suspect the reason they changed the shots for the Hit! endings is probably because a) a clean version of the last shot didn't exist and b) it would have been extremely difficult to try and remove the old copyrights and replace them with a new one.

Also, the Zoot puppet was a different colour. He was blue/grey during the first season or two and then changed to green. I think he stopped wearing his hat at that point too. The green Zoot was around the time that HIT! took over from ATV. The HIT! ending is the one they still have a "clean" version of.

 

[The Count]

*Ahem... HIT still exists and operates, as they're the ones responsible for the Fraggle Rock season sets on DVD that have been released so far. Additionally, Pault, you become a "Member" after garnering a total of 30 posts.
Hope this helps.

 

[Mistersuperstar]

*Ahem... HIT still exists and operates, as they're the ones responsible for the Fraggle Rock season sets on DVD that have been released so far.

I know but officially the company is now called "HiT entertainment" rather than just "hit!" because some of the company rights were sold off to other people outside of the Jim Henson Company. Do I remeber that correctly or did I make that up? I can see that using the company name in the credits would cause problems as it still does exist tho. Ah, copyrights; don't you just love 'em?