Weinstein rolls with Fraggle Rock movie

[Redsonga]

I'm glad everyone is okay . Things are looking up for this movie..

 

[CensoredAlso]

I think "went missing" was just meant as an expression.

 

[Redsonga]

I think "went missing" was just meant as an expression.

Well, when you put that together with traveling somewhere it could be taken wrong.

 

[Luke]

especially Afghanistan, yes!

 

[Traveling Matt]

Another blog post, with a storyboard:

http://coryscuriosities.blogspot.com/2008/07/writers-update.html

 

[muppet baby]

The screenplay being penned by Edwards is modeled after an original idea by Jim Henson and a treatment by Zappa. All of this is under close supervision of the Henson Company.

No one knows if Jerry Nelson is coming back to voice Gobo etc. IMDB is notorious for mistakes but it has both Brian Henson and Jerry Nelson listed for Gobo. That could make the most sense in recasting, but Gobo is so distinctly Jerry that I hope he at least dubs. I believe David Rudman (aka Sesame's Baby Bear) was listed as Junior Gorg. Bill Barretta is listed as both Cantus and Convincing John. I can see it. But this is all still just speculation. There is no information yet because the project hasn't reached that phase of development. Jerry Nelson is the main character I'm worried about. The other stuff seems well covered.

oh David Rudman would be great, oh and yes Jerry, is so gobo i really hope that he will go back as his voice so much i really can not wait for this film it is going to be so great, i really love fraggle rock so much it is so wonderful for those days when things are not going right, but wonderful in good times as well .

Great muppet idea, the best of the series i think .

although the muppet show is great to .

they are both wonderful as a matter of fact .!

 

[Luke]

I think from all i've read it sounds a lot like they are going for a fairly modern rework of whatever original idea was there by Jim, but with an emphasis of there still being the original Fraggle tone - so things dont get too mad lol. If they really wanted an uber traditional "nostalgia" movie, i really doubt they would have gone to Edwards, the writer of Hoodwinked - they would have just got a Henson connected writer to do it. I think he himself has said he isn't going to go crazy and not to expect something totally unrecognisable but it seems the right approach to me - Henson oughta be looking at this from a completely new perspective so they can hopefully introduce Fraggles to a child audience as well as not go so far as to dissapoint the old school fans. They need to get a fairly wide target audience for this if it is actually going to make it to theaters and do well, and i'd be extremely suprised if the Weinsteins didn't insist on that because i think its pretty obvious a very traditional Fraggle movie reminiscent of an original episode (however much loved) wouldn't attract a significant enough theater crowd. It needs to be a movie that old school fans can go along to, but that also can be promoted to kids in the same way as a totally fresh Ardman/Pixar/Dreamworks movie is - just some new brand or story. It seemed to me early on Zappa's treatment was looking to be a bit too old style emphasising the music, i'm sure there will be some but i think what kids want more of is great characters, an adventure story and something they can really buy into - i know they want to use a lot of puppetry but i think especially where the Gorgs and action scenes are concerned they could do some amazing things with some CGI .... like a shot of a Gorg from a Fraggle eye view, they could really be giants.

I know i sounded like a bit of a naysayer before but i dont think finding an audience for this is going to be as guaranteed as has been made out, its not going to have the promotion of a Disney movie and i think it will be very touch and go as to whether kids actually respond to Fraggles (i know certainly from an old school perspective, they stuck the old show on Boomerang here in the mornings and while it didn't bomb, kids didnt really appreciate it ... and you can understand why, it is nothing like what they see nowdays) but overall i am stoked they went to Edwards and he is being given some freedom to experiment with it and put his story over how he wants, i think the movie really has the best chance with him and its amazing that he's so pumped about it, creating storyboards and that he wants the old puppeteers on board for it. With this and also the new Muppet movie writers i really think they have struck lucky and found probably the best people to re-launch these brands at the moment, which is very unusual for Henson brands. It's always usually all very "cliche" and too out of touch which i think has been Hensons problem since maybe the mid-90's, i think for the first time they really have a chance at successful re-launches rather than occasional nostalgia trips.

 

[Drtooth]

No one knows if Jerry Nelson is coming back to voice Gobo etc. IMDB is notorious for mistakes but it has both Brian Henson and Jerry Nelson listed for Gobo. That could make the most sense in recasting, but Gobo is so distinctly Jerry that I hope he at least dubs. I believe David Rudman (aka Sesame's Baby Bear) was listed as Junior Gorg. Bill Barretta is listed as both Cantus and Convincing John. I can see it. But this is all still just speculation. There is no information yet because the project hasn't reached that phase of development. Jerry Nelson is the main character I'm worried about. The other stuff seems well covered.

Once again, shades of the VMX initial listing with (cough cough) Captain Smollet listed as a main character.

Most of it sounds believable, though. David Rudman did reprise some of Richard's roles in Sesame.... Sonny Friendly and the second head of the Two headed monster specifically. And if there's 2 listings for Gobo, it could sound like a puppetry/voice dub type deal. But other than that, I take no stock in any of this.

Though I think that David would make a marvellous Junior. I mean, he already plays Baby Bear with that Fudd speach impediment, all he needs to do is make it sound lower.

 

[Super Scooter]

Though I think that David would make a marvellous Junior. I mean, he already plays Baby Bear with that Fudd speach impediment, all he needs to do is make it sound lower.

Junior's voice is very difficult to create. The Junior voice goes all over the place! I can imitate Junior fairly well, but only if it's something I know he's already said because I can recognize how Richard said it in his original performance. You're right in that he sounds like a deeper version of Baby Bear, but that's not a constant. He then has an almost Ernie-like voice at times. It just all depends on how he says certain things.

If that makes sense to anyone else...

 

[Redsonga]

i know certainly from an old school perspective, they stuck the old show on Boomerang here in the mornings and while it didn't bomb, kids didnt really appreciate it ... and you can understand why, it is nothing like what they see nowdays)

Which is a good thing. I don't think more of the same is what they need. (And besides Boomerang is not basic cable so less people would have seen it in the first place, besides the fact that it was on in the morning. If it had been on a major basic channel I'm sure it would have done better, like it did in the afternoons when I was little. Sheesh, they hide a great show on a pay channel in the early morning for a little while and then wonder why it does badly -.-)

If the movie goes too much for a new angle and does badly I would not just blame the older elements. Sometimes taking them a new way just doesn't fit, that doesn't always mean the whole idea of fraggles should be put in mothballs never to be shown to children again. What's old is new again to them and if they have muppets and fraggles around them from an early age like we did, the honest heart of them is still there, I don't think wanting a bit more of that heart in the movie (vs. action! Adventure! Fraggles doing skateboard tricks!) it is merely a matter of nostalgia, but good character-driven storytelling.

IMHO if it does do badly at the movies (and many good movies have) it might be better if it were to do so in such a way that older fans would still want to buy the DVD for themselves or their kids. There have been so many movies that were box office failures that went on to be cult favorites (many late 80's and early 90's cartoon movies for one), and are still in many home collections today .

It seemed to me early on Zappa's treatment was looking to be a bit too old style emphasising the music,

Music is part of the whole soul of FR IMHO. If you push that aside it is not just a matter of 'trying something new' it is making a characters story into something it are not meant to be to sell a ticket I think. The rock dies without music for goodness sake :\!