Where is Steve Whitmire Petition

[tomahawk]

Two words:
Jim's Gone

This also just in...
The sky is blue and the sun hurts when you stare at it. Details at 11.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Agree totally, definitely not a crime to be a beginner. Encourage it and wish i could do it. The point is maybe a beginner shouldn't be starting to learn their character on Americas Got Talent and the MTV Awards.

I definitely get what you're saying; that was a little strange. Not sure I'd want to be in that situation myself! The whole thing is very confusing.

Though in the early days of the Muppets there were quite a few "rough" performances to be seen. I mean most things on TV back then were pretty "rough" looking. People didn't need it to look "high quality" to enjoy it. I mean look at Kukla, Fran and Ollie, pretty primitive puppetry! And Rocky & Bullwinkle, extremely primitive animation. Yet both shows were extremely popular and today well remembered.

Audiences were just less likely to critique back then I think, because it was all so new and exciting and because overall the Muppets in character and spirit were truly amazing.

I think our standards of quality have definitely gone up as technology improved. That doesn't mean the imperfect things that came before it were no good.

I mean to me (as a total outsider hehe), the puppetry should be so good you don't notice it. Not so good that you go "Those are the best quality puppets in the world!" It wasn't just about the technical skill, it was the whole package (as I'm sure no one would argue).

I respect what you say about Jim and i can see there are people with that viewpoint.

Yeah I mean I admit it's a pretty rigid viewpoint that doesn't allow much breathing room, lol. It's just how I feel really.

 

[Drtooth]

Agree totally, definitely not a crime to be a beginner. Encourage it and wish i could do it. The point is maybe a beginner shouldn't be starting to learn their character on Americas Got Talent and the MTV Awards

I give him credit for trying... but I have to say, something about both performances screamed... "well, you know how you've been auditioning as a Kermit understudy? you ready to have a trial by fire in front of millions?" I'm taking the hesitation and stiffness as absolute nervousness.

 

[MelissaY1]

I'm glad you brought up Grover. That's a perfect example of how a recast can shine.

I still think there's some sort of negotiations behind the scenes or else Disney would have confirmed (at least to the fans) that the torch had been passed. It's easy to see how much Steve enjoys performing Kermit. It appears that Artie was kind of put in that position without much notice. I'm still pulling for Steve, but most of all I'm pulling for Kermit.

Well said. I have been so happy with Eric Jacobson's Grover and I'm a huge Frank Oz fan and was sad when I heard Frank was going to start turning over his characters to other people especially since thankfully Frank is still with us, etc. But look how wonderful Eric's become with Grover. I would be happy to see if that becomes the case with Artie IF Artie is planning on taking over Kermit over time.

Of course I wouldn't want to see anyone replace Steve, or Kermit's spirited character, etc. but if this is the direction it's going only time will tell if the right decision was made to have Artie take over.

I also agree with you that I have a feeling there's behind the scenes work going on and that's why nobody can speak about anything right now directly to the fans.

 

[MelissaY1]

Wow, hardcore! I remember dorking around on BBS stuff in 90/91, but it wasnt til 1994 that I began using AOL/Compuserv type networks...and not til 1996 that I was fully on the world wide web.

Do you know anyone from way back in the day thats still active, Muppet fan wise? Virtually everyone I remember from the 1998-1999 Muppet Central period seems to be MIA...Luke, DW Mckim and a few others being the exception

The only handful of people I still keep in touch with from those days are ones I've seen on here or on Facebook. Unfortunately most of those folks have disappeared like you said.

 

[MelissaY1]

I agree completely, Luke. I take Melissa's point that endless criticism isn't helpful, but I don't buy the idea that pale imitations will somehow inspire a new generation of Muppet fans.

What made the Muppets so brilliant initially was that they were doing something nobody else had done. And what kept the Muppets in the public eye was that they kept on getting better at it.

Jim always strove to outdo himself. Going backwards is not a good way of moving forward.

Kynan, I don't think a sub-par performance will help the Muppet fanbase extend into future generations, either. But I do think putting the Muppets back into current T.V. projects and so forth will help though to some degree. Even though I wasn't crazy about those recent Disney Channel specials because they're not geared towards my age group, its' one of the smartest things they could've done to get the characters interacting with the actors from those shows. I really think it's all about publicity these days.

Of course I want to see great quality performances, well written material but the higher ups today at all these companies are all about what's going to sell, get ratings, etc. If Kermit on a current T.V. show even if it's a lousy few minute appearance pulls in some ratings, they're going to stick with that formula.

 

[Quazimoto]

Wo... Wait a second... What happened to Steve Whitemire?

I must have missed something.

Must admit that I'm not able to follow the Muppets as closely as I used to in terms of the puppeteers themselves. And I don't really have time to read through 13 pages of forum posts. Can anybody give a quick rundown?

 

[muppets2]

on agt and d23 expo also the mtv music video awards kermit was replaced and steve sort of dissapeared and we dont know what happend

 

[James Denny]

Couple of things floating round my mind on this,

Imagine this (and please with me) Lets say you're an exec at Disney, you're trying to negotiate a new deal with Steve and there are things that neither party is happy about, one of the thoughts that might pop into your head could be "hey, you know what Kermit survived one voice change, why can't he survive another." After all as has been mentioned some people only remember Steve being Kermit which isn't a bad thing its just different for some of us older(in numbers) people.

What said exec/s are missing the point of is the fact that whilst it took some of us a while to get used to Steve's Kermit the fact is we dont wan't replacement Kermit we want Steve's Kermit until Steve decides he no longer wishes to be a Muppeteer, though I'm of the opinion that most of the Muppeteers are in it until they can no longer do so

Secondly Disney wouldn't mess around with Mickey Mouse like this, (never been a huge fan of Mickey but that's beside the point) I'm pretty certain that even had Wayne Allwyne(SP?) had passed on in unexpected circumstances (like Jim did) They simply would have waited until they found the right person to replace him and the right arena in which to do it. Two live tv spots with millions watching was a very bad move.

Thirdly, whilst I'm very much looking forward to 2010 year of the Muppets, it would pain me to do so in the knowledge that Steve, who had one of toughest jobs on the face of the planet but managed to do amazingly, i mean whilst we all drool at the thought of working with The Muppets, how many of us would want to have the pressure of being Kermit, mightn't be a part of that.

Finally Disney and Steve have lunch, if there is a problem it can be ironed out with flexibility on both sides, next year is far too important to be tainted with people asking what the heck is up with Kermit and his voice. Artie, it's nothing personal I'm sure you are a talented puppeter and are an all round good guy but you got thrown in at the deep end.

 

[unclematt]

Couple of things floating round my mind on this,

Imagine this (and please with me) Lets say you're an exec at Disney, you're trying to negotiate a new deal with Steve and there are things that neither party is happy about, one of the thoughts that might pop into your head could be "hey, you know what Kermit survived one voice change, why can't he survive another." After all as has been mentioned some people only remember Steve being Kermit which isn't a bad thing its just different for some of us older(in numbers) people.

What said exec/s are missing the point of is the fact that whilst it took some of us a while to get used to Steve's Kermit the fact is we dont wan't replacement Kermit we want Steve's Kermit until Steve decides he no longer wishes to be a Muppeteer, though I'm of the opinion that most of the Muppeteers are in it until they can no longer do so

Secondly Disney wouldn't mess around with Mickey Mouse like this, (never been a huge fan of Mickey but that's beside the point) I'm pretty certain that even had Wayne Allwyne(SP?) had passed on in unexpected circumstances (like Jim did) They simply would have waited until they found the right person to replace him and the right arena in which to do it. Two live tv spots with millions watching was a very bad move.

Thirdly, whilst I'm very much looking forward to 2010 year of the Muppets, it would pain me to do so in the knowledge that Steve, who had one of toughest jobs on the face of the planet but managed to do amazingly, i mean whilst we all drool at the thought of working with The Muppets, how many of us would want to have the pressure of being Kermit, mightn't be a part of that.

Finally Disney and Steve have lunch, if there is a problem it can be ironed out with flexibility on both sides, next year is far too important to be tainted with people asking what the heck is up with Kermit and his voice. Artie, it's nothing personal I'm sure you are a talented puppeter and are an all round good guy but you got thrown in at the deep end.

Great post. I love that you put your own little plea in thier to Steve and Disney.