Scooter recasts

[Drtooth]

Which ever puppeteer, Boyd or Rudman, I think it's important to assign Scooter a permanent and available peformer.

It is a shame it took so long to get one. I can see the reason being that they wanted to do the Rowlf thing and use him as sparingly as possible out of respect... but Scooter is a very important part of the Muppets... heck, even his uncle, J.P. Gross had a cameo in MTI. And selling t-shirts at the end of MFS was a nice touch, and true to the character... but they really should have tossed him into more of the house scenes.

I Think VMX had a good idea of what the character does... just underused. And he was one of the few bright spots in OZ...

Considering some of the shots, he will be in the new LTS special... though it's not too clear how much of him would be there. Though you can bank on the new film, when it's finished, will have a nice spot for him.

 

[ryhoyarbie]

Don't know why it took so long to get somone to do Scooter. Henson execs could have had a casting call.....

I did like Rudman as Scooter in the Studio DC that aired last week. I can see Rudman doing Scooter. To me, Scooter seemed like that young kid who wanted to do more but needed some experience, but had a bright future with whatever he did. I can see Rudman doing that type of thing with Scooter like Hunt did with Scooter back in the day.

All I say is, if Rudman is the new person to do Scooter, then let the man shine with the character.

 

[Frogpuppeteer]

i just gotta say htis and i dont think you meant this by the original post, but i gotta admire steve whitmire he has done an awesome job with kermit, i mean jims death was so sudden that i think he did a great job bringing kermit back to us, i got to speak with jane henson this past summer at the regional puppeteers conventionand she was awesome she gave me and my mother a hug, she was saying how she couldnt see anyone else performing kermit, i only bring it up cause alot of times i read people bashingthe new voices even steves

 

[RedPiggy]

If something is amiss with voices, that will end when the new performer finally "gets" the character (much like Steve didn't know at first how to deal with Beaker). If it's in terms of the overall property, I agree, and I would posit that it's important to treat the Muppets as real. Yes, they're puppets, and the performers themselves have never shied away from letting us in on that, but the thing is that shallow celebrity works better with humans, who exist in their own right. Puppets are already nothing without the life breathed into them. That's the thing I have with DC and such: Hannah? Forgettable, but that doesn't change the fact that even though the celebrity is 1-dimensional, the girl who plays her isn't. The Muppets, however, have to be GIVEN life, three-dimensionality.

At least, that's my preference.

 

[anytimepally]

ok.. I listened to Rudman's. I like Rickey Boyd's better. I also worry about making Rudman a permanent performer of any of the Muppet Show muppets, because he has so much to do on Sesame Street.. we already don't see enough Clifford

 

[Muppet Newsgirl]

I didn't get to see Scooter's turn on Studio DC, because I forgot what date it would be. But it is good to hear that Scooter's got a new performer.

And we've gone over this in other threads, but it's really appropriate that David Rudman picked Scooter up, because Richard Hunt helped David get into the Muppets, and the two men were really good friends.

 

[theprawncracker]

I didn't get to see Scooter's turn on Studio DC, because I forgot what date it would be. But it is good to hear that Scooter's got a new performer.

And we've gone over this in other threads, but it's really appropriate that David Rudman picked Scooter up, because Richard Hunt helped David get into the Muppets, and the two men were really good friends.

Hey Erin! The latest Studio DC IS on YouTube in its entirety, so you can go watch it there--which I highly recommend!

 

[Super Scooter]

I re-watched Studio DC, and I guess I probably like David Rudman's the best. Ricky Boyd's Scooter is excellent, but it seems to be a bit more "Season One" Scooter. That's really the only thing that bothered me about Brian Henson's and Ricky Boyd's Scooters. They were too high-pitched. They sounded like Scooter from the first two seasons of The Muppet Show, which is good, but Scooter's voice got deeper as time went on. Almost as if Richard had been aging him.

The other thing is Scooter's personality seemed to go back to the young, naive Scooter of earlier productions. But by the time of The Muppets Take Manhattan, and smaller productions like Children's Songs and Stories, Scooter has grown to a level of maturity where he could almost lead the Muppets as well as Kermit... not quite as well, but close. This isn't so much a complaint, but an observation about the character. I'd like to see more of that side of Scooter come back. Maybe he's been gone so long that they need to reintroduce the more naive Scooter though.

 

[Baby Gonzo]

I've been thinking about Scooter lately and how important he was on The Muppet Show. But as time went on, even before Richard Hunt's passing he was downplayed in Muppet productions. When I think of Scooter, I think of him fitting right in with the "main group" of Muppets with Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, and Miss Piggy. But starting with The Muppet Movie, he started to fade into the background. It's not that he was cut out entirely, by any means, but I feel that he should have been in that car traveling with the others. And it would have been nice to see him have a bigger role in The Great Muppet Caper. Maybe he could have been some kind of newspaper intern or something?

Anyway, my point is that Scooter's role in the Muppet universe has been downplayed over the years and I really wish he would come back to that main tier status that he once had. I think that young people (teens and young adults) will be able to relate to him as well.

 

[frogboy4]

In the old Muppet Show days the chain of importance (or at least exposure) appeared to be something closer to this:

1 Kermit
2 Fozzie
3 Miss Piggy
4 Scooter
5 Rowlf
6 Gonzo
7 Statler & Waldorf
8 Bunsen & Beaker
9 Animal & the Mayhem
10 Swedish Chef
11 Sam Eagle
12 Muppet monsters, chickens, penguins and secondary cast.

Since the 90s appears to be (averaged together):

1 Kermit
2 Gonzo
3 Pepe
4 Rizzo
5 Miss Piggy
6 Fozzie
7 Animal
8 Clifford (averaging in MT)
9 Johnny (& Sal)
10 Statler & Waldorf
11 Beaker
12 Swedish Chef
(then the odd monster, penguin or whatever thrown in)

Honestly, Gonzo is really my favorite character and I have no issues with his time in the spotlight. I don't think his exposure conflicted with anyone else's and I hope that we will see as much of more of him. However, it is known how much I adore Pepe, but both he and Rizzo have eaten up a lot of screen time that used to go to Rowlf and Scooter. We forget that Animal never appeared as much as he has recently. It is a little odd. Fozzie has come back in full-force and I can't be more pleased with that. I just miss Rowlf and Scooter. They need to be put back in their roles or given equal screen time with the rat and the prawn. That's a nice compromise isn't it?