D23 Expo: Muppet news and happenings

[Luke]

If that D23 was a looped track recorded in studio they could have altered and tuned the audio anyway, polished it up a lot. There were so many voices on it they would have needed to do it as a multi-layered studio thing.

It did sound great, having them all together like that.

 

[MWoO]

Wait, is there a full video of the muppets singing? Because I only saw the very tail end of Kermit's line and it is hard to tell anything from that.

 

[statler salad]

Bad news today - Dick Cook (Disney chairman and the guy who announced all the new cool Muppety news at D23) has stepped down from Disney. I hope this means his successor does not axe all his great plans!

 

[minor muppetz]

If Disney is really trying to make next year the "year of the Muppets" then it would be really great if more classic Muppet programs were shown on Disney's channels. Some fans have speculated that Disney hasn't been broadcasting The Muppet Show reruns becasue they might compete with DVD sales, but it would be great if every once in awhile The Disney Channel or ABC Family would have a Muppet Show marathon (has Disney ever had any big marathons on it's channels?). Heck, it would be great if The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made were to be promoted with a day-long Muppet marathon, featuring epsidoes of The Muppet Show, Mupet Babies, and Muppets Tonight (oh, and MuppeTelevision and Little Muppet Monsters), plus various Muppet movies and specials, and maybe also the television debuts of the virmup shorts between programs.

 

[RockSTAR girl]

Ya, you can't tell from the video what he sounded like. But being at D23, my friend and I thought Kermit's singing was a little "low". After the event I watched the videos of Artie doing the VMAs and AGT. and yeah, it was Artie at D23. What I think made the D23 performance successful compared to the others was that A) Kermit didn't talk, he just showed up at the tail end of it singing. B) He didn't really move; he just stayed still, strummed the banjo, and sang. C) It was short.
I think that the new Kermit, just moves awkwardly and his voice is TOO low. Keep him from talking or moving and you've got a winner

As for a Marathon, at least I have The Muppet Show on DVD. I am absolutely DYING for a Muppets Tonight Marathon!

 

[dwmckim]

If Disney is really trying to make next year the "year of the Muppets" then it would be really great if more classic Muppet programs were shown on Disney's channels. Some fans have speculated that Disney hasn't been broadcasting The Muppet Show reruns becasue they might compete with DVD sales, but it would be great if every once in awhile The Disney Channel or ABC Family would have a Muppet Show marathon (has Disney ever had any big marathons on it's channels?).

Since s3 has been out for a long enough time now and it's going to be awhile before s4, a marathon would bump dvd sales instead of take away from them at this time.

And yes Disney Channel does too marathons - they've been showing back to back episodes of Jonas for a few weekends now and they actually broke out and played a few hours of Lizzie Mcguire either last weekend or the weekend before (how sad is it that i know this? I have Disney as the "default" channel on my set to have on when nothing else is on just cuz one never knows when there might be the rare Muppet promo, commercial, or mention)

 

[hoopless]

Keep him from talking or moving and you've got a winner

HAHA that's so harsh. I'm sure he just needs some more time to find his flippers.

 

[petrieboy]

I left after my negative comment, so I'm just getting back to seeing the negative comments about my negative comment.

It's not about requiring Jim back from the dead. It's about finding a better team. You don't go to teenage pulp writers for a Muppet script. Their next film needs great writing above anything else. I worry about the team behind "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" because that was such a sleaze fest. If they can make it intelligent and inoffensive, then good.

Jim created, just as God created us. His creation is here. His gifts were creating them and using them while he lived. His gift was made available to the future, through his children. If they misuse what he gave, or let it wither away, it does not detract from what he already provided- but it is a shame.

The next film needs to be relaxed, without pop culture jokes and without forced comedy. Subtlety was one of Jim's best traits. Yes, even in the mayhem of The Muppet Show, Kermit was a source of balance and moderation. When someone thinks they're very, very funny- they are not, so much. It's when they're funny and pull off not realizing they're funny... ah, that's funny.

They also need an all out musical. Paul Williams, who also worked on Letters to Santa songs, is the one to go to. He and the Muppets belong together, and his great resources should be tapped for as long as he's willing to contribute. I'm talking full-on full length soundtrack to make history. Like Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin... or, like The Muppet Movie.

I'm probably older than a lot of you, and have probably spent more money on Muppet merchandise than a good amount of you, too. So I do have a right to complain. If you sit around garbling up junk food because that's all that you think you're worth, then that's what you get. Even Ocean Spray has taken out high fructose corn syrup due to customer demand.

I'm not really still here because I've lost faith, which I have. I am here because there must be an ounce of it left. All I'm saying is, "Walk with caution" and "It had better be good."

 

[frogboy4]

I left after my negative comment, so I'm just getting back to seeing the negative comments about my negative comment.

It's not about requiring Jim back from the dead. It's about finding a better team. You don't go to teenage pulp writers for a Muppet script. Their next film needs great writing above anything else. I worry about the team behind "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" because that was such a sleaze fest. If they can make it intelligent and inoffensive, then good.

Jim created, just as God created us. His creation is here. His gifts were creating them and using them while he lived. His gift was made available to the future, through his children. If they misuse what he gave, or let it wither away, it does not detract from what he already provided- but it is a shame.

The next film needs to be relaxed, without pop culture jokes and without forced comedy. Subtlety was one of Jim's best traits. Yes, even in the mayhem of The Muppet Show, Kermit was a source of balance and moderation. When someone thinks they're very, very funny- they are not, so much. It's when they're funny and pull off not realizing they're funny... ah, that's funny.

They also need an all out musical. Paul Williams, who also worked on Letters to Santa songs, is the one to go to. He and the Muppets belong together, and his great resources should be tapped for as long as he's willing to contribute. I'm talking full-on full length soundtrack to make history. Like Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin... or, like The Muppet Movie.

I'm probably older than a lot of you, and have probably spent more money on Muppet merchandise than a good amount of you, too. So I do have a right to complain. If you sit around garbling up junk food because that's all that you think you're worth, then that's what you get. Even Ocean Spray has taken out high fructose corn syrup due to customer demand.

I'm not really still here because I've lost faith, which I have. I am here because there must be an ounce of it left. All I'm saying is, "Walk with caution" and "It had better be good."

That's very pessimistic. And why bring God into it? I'm 35 so does that mean I have more of a right to complain than you do? I agree with many of the points to some degree, but that post as a whole - sorry, but - ick.

 

[Luke]

Jim created, just as God created us. His creation is here. His gifts were creating them and using them while he lived. His gift was made available to the future, through his children. If they misuse what he gave, or let it wither away, it does not detract from what he already provided- but it is a shame.

The next film needs to be relaxed, without pop culture jokes and without forced comedy. Subtlety was one of Jim's best traits. Yes, even in the mayhem of The Muppet Show, Kermit was a source of balance and moderation. When someone thinks they're very, very funny- they are not, so much. It's when they're funny and pull off not realizing they're funny... ah, that's funny.

They also need an all out musical. Paul Williams, who also worked on Letters to Santa songs, is the one to go to. He and the Muppets belong together, and his great resources should be tapped for as long as he's willing to contribute. I'm talking full-on full length soundtrack to make history. Like Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin... or, like The Muppet Movie.

Well Jim's children sold them, twice ... so that ships sailed. Then again, obviously Jim was going to sell them himself to the same mega coporation at one point though he had his reasons.

I do agree with what you say about a slightly more relaxed film, and about how the Muppets do humour. However, no pop culture jokes, an all out musical? Where would they find the audience for this to justify spending millions to create a theatrical film? How would they get anyone under the age of 35 into the theatre? How could they ever market that? How could any young person identify with the film at all without anything whatsoever they recognise?

Unfortunately its just not do'able. Times have changed, the pace and style of media has changed (maybe not for the best, i'm not suggesting that). Disney can sometimes get away with doing classical animation in a very traditional style but generally thats because it pulls in the pre-teen and tween girls.

I think for a Muppet project to work it has no option than to be something that crosses over every audience demograph and is classic in style but also not too "oldie" that younger viewers can't also connect with. It can be done, just what they do now but a little more tastefully - since Studio DC (which kids didn't seem to like) things seem to have moved more in that direction, the whole Mark Twain thing at D23 was much more classic in style, Letters To Santa had classic elements to it like the music. I just don't see something like the Muppet Movie ever working again though, even the Muppet Show itself hasn't aged well at all in todays media terms.