It's a Great Day to Be a Muppet Fan!

[MelissaY1]

I agree with this. I don't think I need to blindly embrace anything that comes out because it's my obligation somehow, that I should feel grateful because it's "better than nothing." I shouldn't be less of a fan because I prefer the Muppets from days gone past (not to say I don't like the modern Muppets). To blindly accept everything, to never question it or critique it, I don't think that's good

Now, I truely want the Muppets to survive and do well. I love and adore them, as anyone should if they're members of this forum. But some of the recent stuff they've been doing have left a disappointed, bad taste in my mouth (I haven't seen the Youtube or Muppets.com stuff yet, but I will). It's hard to be optimistic about their future projects :/ It's like serving people cake with salt in it instead of sugar, and after two or three tries you say, "Next time I won't mess up, and will use sugar." The people you've been feeding will naturally feel cautious about this OK, that was a really bad analogy, I'm sorry!

Not a bad analogy at all. I totally agree with you. I hate the "so and so can do nothing wrong in my eyes" mentality. I'm a HUGE fan of David Bowie for example. I don't even own all his albums because I truly think some of them are complete garbage with the exception of a song here and there. But I have many of them, and I've been a fan since I was 10 years old, I'm 30 now. He hasn't put out a new album since 2003, 2004. But my fandom so to speak has not lessened over the years. I am always interested to see what he's going to do next and same with the Muppets.

I of course want to see them out there with new projects, if they're new QUALITY projects. I wasn't nuts about the Oz film or Swamp Years but I bought them on DVD when I saw them on sale at my local stores to have 'em for my collection. I think that's showing my support. But there's other stuff I could care less about. I hated the Muppet Xmas movie that was out in 2002. I have no desire to own it or see it again. watched the DC Live special because it was the Muppets, knowing it wasn't meant for my age range and so forth but holding out hope they would do something fun with them and I was disappointed.

That's just me, I'm not saying other people here are wrong for their opinions to be excited about new Muppet stuff but we ARE Muppet fans. They already have a built in audience with people like us. I just think something's gotta be done to get the general public into the Muppets again and I think teaming them up with Tween stars is not the way to go. The YouTube videos seems like a good step but we need to see more like that on a larger scale. They have to do something generically fun for ALL ages to get all walks of life into them again and not just be the characters we grew up with.

 

[frogboy4]

Nah there's been a few bumps in the road. I'm not one of those people who thinks everything has been crap since Jim died (and there ARE some people out there) but the lousy projects have outweighed the good ones in my opinion.

I have to admit to personally finding MFS and KSY to be pretty bad when compared to what I deem the classics and the recent SDC did little more for this old fan than to wave some classic Muppets around a bit. But then I see the interviews and web segments of late and believe that's what we'll be getting.

Many interesting post-Jim Muppet projects falter somewhere in production and it keeps much of their spark from coming through. I hope this new stuff will be able to incorporate what I've been seeing in the brief appearances.

 

[Super Scooter]

I hate the "so and so can do nothing wrong in my eyes" mentality.

I don't think the majority on here have that mentality toward the Muppets. Like I said, personally, I have enjoyed everything the Muppets have done. Does that mean I've enjoyed it equally or that there weren't certain bits that made me cringe? Not at all. There have been a few moments in Muppet productions, even in The Muppet Show, that made think, "Well, that wasn't done very well," or "That joke should have been this way," or even "Why didn't they just cut that all together?" I still enjoyed the production overall. It's not that the Muppets can do no wrong to me, but I choose to look at the good in everything they do rather than focus on what went wrong with it. And, you may disagree with me, but I think the good frequently outweighs the bad in most everything they do.

 

[CensoredAlso]

It's not that the Muppets can do no wrong to me, but I choose to look at the good in everything they do rather than focus on what went wrong with it.

That's good and I hope I, in turn, don't just focus on what went wrong. But I think it important to recognize and mention the wrong, otherwise it won't be fixed.

 

[MelissaY1]

I don't think the majority on here have that mentality toward the Muppets. Like I said, personally, I have enjoyed everything the Muppets have done. Does that mean I've enjoyed it equally or that there weren't certain bits that made me cringe? Not at all. There have been a few moments in Muppet productions, even in The Muppet Show, that made think, "Well, that wasn't done very well," or "That joke should have been this way," or even "Why didn't they just cut that all together?" I still enjoyed the production overall. It's not that the Muppets can do no wrong to me, but I choose to look at the good in everything they do rather than focus on what went wrong with it. And, you may disagree with me, but I think the good frequently outweighs the bad in most everything they do.

I'm not saying people here, I'm saying people in GENERAL have the type of mentality that when they like something, they feel they have to like EVERYTHING that musician, comedian, artist, whatever does and to me that's not normal.

I find nothing wrong with finding good in stuff, as I said in my other post, I've given every post Jim project a chance and yes, in most cases the good projects have outweighed the bad. But I feel RECENTLY in the past several years the misses have been more frequent than the hits.

 

[CensoredAlso]

You know I was thinking of how Jim Henson chose to cancel Muppet Show after 5 years, though others would have kept it on the air. He wanted it to end on a high note, in its prime. I feel like there's so much emphasis on continuning the Muppets with new projects, the original material (that was Jim's work) is being forgotten, and treated badly in general (harder to find in stores or on TV, dismissed as "dated").

Not saying there shouldn't be newer projects ever. But if we want the Muppets to continue, dismissing the classic material because its old is counterproductive and sends a bad message to young people.

 

[wwfpooh]

dismissing the classic material because its old is counterproductive and sends a bad message to young people

This is true of anything. Take for example, the WWE.

The company is cranking out newer stars and new stories. Regarding these stories, there are some of I am fond of (ex: Mr. Kennedy's rise in winning after a streak of losses & Cryme Tyme becoming legit tag contenders) and some I am appalled to see (ex: Nearly everything post-mask that's happened to Kane [sans the ECW title run]), but they are new stories nonetheless.

However, if the company were to forget its past--i.e. to know what had helped to make it big (mainly Vince's vision and of course, the WWE & WCW competition that created the quality--of not only the talent and stories, but the writing style, as well--that went into what is quite arguably the best era that the 'E ever had in The Attitude Era)--then the company would surely fail.

I mean, you know how some people have said that The Attitude Era wouldn't have happened without 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin (as many of his moments were key to what many consider to be the high points of The Attitude Era)?

But think about this for a second...Without WCW firing him, Austin would've stayed within the midcarder level at that company; without 'The Million Dollar Man' Ted DiBiase (Sr.) introducing the then-young Austin to WWE higher-ups, the WWE wouldn't have given Austin a second thought after WCW had fired Austin; without ECW's Sandman personality, Austin would've had nothing to base his Stone Cold personality on; without Vince McMahon becoming this egomanicial mad genius, Austin wouldn't have had an authority figure that his character could abuse (which thus, jump-started the most talked-about fued in Attitude Era history); without Ace Crusher's finish move to inspire him, Austin would be Stone Cold Stunner-less; without the bible stance of one Jake 'The Snake' Roberts, the "Austin 3:16" catchphrase wouldn't have been born, etc.

And that--ladies and gentlemen--is the bottom line!

 

[CensoredAlso]

That's really interesting! I think you can't create and move forward without taking lessons from the past (The Muppets' connection to Vaudeville for instance). Even when you're creating something completely new and innovative and gret, it's not created in a vacumn. Every child had a parent, and yes, even a grand parent.

 

[Redsonga]

I have to admit to personally finding MFS and KSY to be pretty bad when compared to what I deem the classics and the recent SDC did little more for this old fan than to wave some classic Muppets around a bit. But then I see the interviews and web segments of late and believe that's what we'll be getting.

Many interesting post-Jim Muppet projects falter somewhere in production and it keeps much of their spark from coming through. I hope this new stuff will be able to incorporate what I've been seeing in the brief appearances.

I liked MFS and KSY..I did'nt love them, but I do rewatch them, un-like OZ or A Depressing X-Mas.
I have a question on the growing under the stairs thingie for Gonzo.. I can't find anything about it even on muppet wiki. Is it from a certain episode?

 

[wwfpooh]

Is it from a certain episode?

I think it was just frogboy's interpretation of how Gonzo came to be.