Top Muppet DVD's Disney Needs To Release

[Drtooth]

Good thing Garfield didn't have a dream scene where he was face to face with Darth Vader, huh.

Garfield and Friends was released by Fox... there would have been NO problem if that did happen, anyway.

But yeah, it's all about trying to get the rights to all the celebrities, video clips, and all that. There are a LOT of episodes they could release right now from the last 2 seasons that only have public domain film clips that don't have to be cleared... but who wants to buy select episodes from those 2 seasons in best of sets?

That said, I'd much rather see more and more of Jim Henson's early works released. Remember how there was some announcement 2 or 3 years ago that someone was going to release one, and it never happened?

 

[JJandJanice]

Garfield and Friends was released by Fox... there would have been NO problem if that did happen, anyway.

Yeah you're right I didn't think about that, . But you understood what I was trying to say anyway.

But yeah, it's all about trying to get the rights to all the celebrities, video clips, and all that. There are a LOT of episodes they could release right now from the last 2 seasons that only have public domain film clips that don't have to be cleared... but who wants to buy select episodes from those 2 seasons in best of sets?

I'm not a fan of "best of" sets either, which is why I did something I never thought I would of done after awhile and got rid of my "Beavis and Butt-head: The Mike Judge Collection.

Though I can't speak for anyone, I would guess that a lot of people here would settle for "best of" sets when it comes to Muppet Babies on DVD.

That said, I'd much rather see more and more of Jim Henson's early works released. Remember how there was some announcement 2 or 3 years ago that someone was going to release one, and it never happened?

Yeah so would I, that's part of what I meant with "rare Muppet footage" in one of my last posts. I do remember that DVD, I was looking forward to it. What did happen to that plan?

Anyway like I said I like Muppet Babies just fine and all, but I can think of a million things, both Muppet and non-Muppet, I would rather have Disney release first before Muppet Babies.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm not a fan of "best of" sets either, which is why I did something I never thought I would of done after awhile and got rid of my "Beavis and Butt-head: The Mike Judge Collection.

Though I can't speak for anyone, I would guess that a lot of people here would settle for "best of" sets when it comes to Muppet Babies on DVD.

Well... there are 2 issues that I'd have with a Muppet babies best of... firstly, by Best of, I refer to the lame 5 episodes (or less) for 15 bucks type releases. Similar to what they did with Goof Troop, which never got past a 3 episode "Volume 1." I could see the same happen here, using episodes that only have public domain clips. And second of all, if we're talking last season, I don't think anyone would like that half as much as the first several season. Especially since the last season was pretty lackluster.

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

Let's see... discounting future TMS season sets and what seems logical to release:

1) Muppet Family Christmas. Someone else said that Disney will probably wait till the Fraggle movie is closer (ha-ha, that's a good joke) but I hope they release it soon. In terms of music rights, some of the songs will be possible to get. Skimming through Muppet Wiki, "Sleigh Ride," "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" should be attainable. As long as we gain back footage cut from the Columbia release, I'll be satisfied.

2) The Muppets at Walt Disney World. It's a bit dated, but the first original Henson-Disney collaboration would be easy bait to release on DVD.

3) The Tales from Muppetland specials. They were amoung the first Muppet specials released on home video, why aren't they on DVD? Even as barebones discs, they'd be good for us and the kids!

4) Better editions of the Muppet movies they own. I'll be quite frank, I do like Disney's effort from the four movie re-issues. But, let's face it, they are tremendously lackluster. Ditch the fullscreen editions on the discs (we don't need them in this HD-dominated era) and give us the dropped extras from those DVD's, add some more and I'll be happy.

 

[minor muppetz]

3) The Tales from Muppetland specials. They were amoung the first Muppet specials released on home video, why aren't they on DVD? Even as barebones discs, they'd be good for us and the kids!

I'm surprised that Disney isn't even releasing The Frog Prince as a way of promoting The Prince and Princess, or whatever that Frog Prince movie is titled.

 

[erniebert1234ss]

The Frog Prince movie Disney's got out now is called Princess & The Frog. But you're right, that IS kinda surprising.

My guess is (but don't quote me) that Disney, knowing now that the Muppets are back with a vengeance, will put Frog Prince on the Princess & The Frog DVD (and possibly Blu-Ray) as an extra little bonus, and they'll probably do the same with Hey Cinderella when they release Cinderella on DVD again.

Here's my top 10 DVDs Disney needs to put out (ALL Muppets):

10) Muppet Show season DVDs quicker than 2 years per set, possibly.

9) The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and MTM, all with some new cool tchotchke to collect, like the watches that came with TMM & TGMC when they first came out on VHS (with Disney handling those as I recall).

8) Maybe some remasters of some of the old VHS tapes, like the Muppet Babies Storybook VHS tapes, or the Muppet Sing-Alongs (which Disney themselves put out, BTW).

7) Maybe have a complete set of the Wilkins Coffee commercials, though that might have to have a disclaimer on the DVDs, but that would be fine with me, especially since they could probably milk a 4-DVD set out of those Wilkins commercials AND include the Wilkins & Wontkins puppets in some capacity, along with some props to make your own demented Wilkins Coffee commercials!

6) Muppets Tonight: The Complete Series. This one would sort of be like the Aaron Sorkin classic Sports Night, except that MT should get a lot more loving treatment from Disney than Sports Night did.

5) Muppets At Walt Disney World. I gotta see this, especially since this was one of Jim Henson's last projects before he died.

4) A Muppet Christmas Carol, with BOTH versions (since the FS version has that extra scene the WS version doesn't), plus all the excised bonus features, and maybe even a few more that they might have found OR have newly shot.

3) A Muppet Family Christmas. Come ON, this absolutely HAS to happen, even if they release it in a weird month, like April. At least it'll be available on DVD (hopefully UNCUT) before Christmas 2010.

2) BOTH John Denver TV specials, all UNCUT and remastered as is Disney's wont with these things. (I definitely want the Rowlf & John in the airplane sequence in the Rocky Mountain Holiday special, that really burned me to see it cut, especially since John so loved nature AND flying his planes. I think that John would have been absolutely horrified that they'd cut that sequence out entirely.

1) Muppet Babies SEASON SETS. I am probably the one and only person who wants SEASON SETS and not "best-of" collections that are some of the episodes I've seen already. I think Seasons 1 & 2 are a good start, especially since Jeffrey Scott wrote every last one of those episodes!

I will stop now.

BJ

EDIT: Something else I thought of: I think people from Disney/Muppets Studio might just be listening to us (aka I think they might be trolling these forums to see what they can do). Someone was kvetching about how the Electric Mayhem wasn't being used enough, and they're now being used quite a bit. Hmm....

 

[ploobis]

1. Seasons 4 and 5 of The Muppet Show

2. Muppet Television segments from The Jim Henson Hour

3. The Complete Muppets Tonight series

4. The Muppets Go To The Movies

5. The Muppets At Walt Disney World (with the Outtakes as a bonus feature)

6. John Denver & The Muppets: A Christmas Together

7. Tales From Muppetland specials: Hey Cinderella, Frog Prince, Muppet Musicians of Bremen

8. Tales of The Tinkerdee

9. More Archive Muppet Material from the 50's, 60's and 70's.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Hmm- Top Muppet DVDs Disney needs to release?....
um, everything Muppet-related that isn't out on DVD yet.

Okay- and I don't know what all Disney does or doesn't have the rights to- I'm just saying stuff I'd like to see on DVD here.

* Seasons 4 and 5 of The Muppet Show, of course. Nice to see that Season 4 is on the way for next year (with Gonzo on the cover!) I wonder who will be on the cover for Season 5- I have a suspicion it will come down to either Animal or I'd really like to see Rowlf. But maybe they'll surprise and go with someone completely different. Who knows?
And whether this gets released as extra features on these Season sets or separately, these specials really need to be released:
"The Muppets Go to the Movies" AND
"Of Muppets and Men".
I would definitely want both of those specials released on the Seasons 4 and 5 DVD sets as bonuses. After finally seeing "The Muppets Go to the Movies", I can definitely say that it really feels like another episode of The Muppet Show, complete with guest stars like Dudley Moore and Lily Tomlin.
And "Of Muppets and Men" is a documentary about the making of The Muppet Show- that's just a no-brainer to include with the show's DVD sets.

* Seasons sets of Muppet Babies. Yes, I know the licenses and rights would be horrendous to clear, but I'd love to see unedited season DVD sets of this great '80s cartoon classic! I grew up watching it and love it! At least I've got some episodes on VHS I can watch now.

*Full series release of Little Muppet Monsters (included unaired episodes.)

*Full series release of The Jim Henson Hour. I'd love to have this series released as it was aired- with MuppetTelevision packaged together with the Storyteller episodes and other fantasy specials and so forth as originally aired.

*Full series release of Muppets Tonight. Seeing as how the First Season aired on ABC, which is now owned by Disney and the Second Season aired on The Disney Channel, this really seems like another no-brainer.

*The Muppets at Walt Disney World- again, another no-brainer.

*John Denver and The Muppets: A Christmas Together and unedited version of John Denver and The Muppets: A Rocky Mountain Holiday

*I'd also love to see unedited versions of Muppet Family Christmas, The Christmas Toy and Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas released- but I'd probably prefer to see material that hasn't been released in any form to come out first.

*The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show

*The Muppets Go Hollywood

*The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years

*The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson
(and maybe even footage of Jim Henson's memorial service could be included with this as a bonus, though that would be something that should and would have to be up to the discretion of the Henson family.)

*The Tale of the Bunny Picnic

*MuppetLand specials- Tales of the Tinkerdee, Hey! Cinderella, The Frog Prince, The Muppet Musicians of Bremen and maybe they could even throw in Muppet Classic Theater

*I'd also enjoy the idea of having the Muppets.com and Youtube material out on a DVD.

*The complete series of Aliens in the Family on DVD would be nice too.

*And otherwise- the complete series of Dinosaurs and Fraggle Rock finally got released. Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series is finally coming to DVD.
Maybe from here we could see collections of classic Muppet appearances- early Jim Henson commercials (Wilkins and Wontkins coffee, La Choy dragon, etc.), Muppet meeting films, Rowlf's appearances on The Jimmy Dean Show, and any other early and classic appearances on various talk shows or late night shows or news shows, game shows, etc. that Disney can get its hands on. Also a complete collection of appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show.

*Complete series releases of Mopatop's Shop and The Ghost of Faffner Hall and The Secret Life of Toys and Dog City and Animal Jam and The Animal Show, etc.

*Some of those random '70s specials that The Muppets showed up on- Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass and Julie Andrews specials, etc.

*And there's still tons of Sesame Street stuff I'd like to see released, like "Julie on Sesame Street", "A Special Sesame Street Christmas", "A Walking Tour of Sesame Street", etc.
and Season sets.

 

[beaker]

Simple, there is a lincesne copyright problem.

When the Muppet babies would use their "imagination," it often included material from other franchasies, which Disney doesn't own the rights over. Such as Star Terk, Star Wars and Indina Jones, just to name a few. Right now Disney is having a somewhat tough time with Copyright laws for use of other copyrighted songs over the Muppet show seasons DVDs, which is one of the reasons it takes so long between releases.

It's not due to a lack of demand, many fans of Muppets and 1980s saturday mouring cartoon shows would love to have Muppet Babies in their DVD collection. Sadly though, Disney would have a really hard time getting uncut episodes of Muppet Babies and if they did try to release "edited" verisons, it would be heavily edited. That's why I wouldn't hold my breath for a Muppets Babies DVD release and, to be fair, it's not Disney's fault.

All the shows you mention like Garfield and Friends did have a demand for a DVD release and they don't have the problems Muppet Babies do have. That's why they got there DVD releases and Muppet Babies still to this day doesn't. Good thing Garfield didn't have a dream scene where he was face to face with Darth Vader, huh. Plus I think it's debatable over whether or not Muppet Babies had a larger following than Garfield and Friends.

For me on a personal note, I would rather they focus on getting the rest of the Muppet Show uncut more so than Muppet Babies. I like Muppet Babies just fine and all, but for the Muppets at their total best with that magic they have, give me the Muppet show anyday over Muppet Babies.

Thanks for the explanation! I don't know why I didn't think of that. I would say, Muppet Babies HAD to have had a big following to have lasted 8 years and gained emmy's.

Muppet Babies is such a magical crucial part of my growing up in the early to mid, to latter 1980's that while I loved seeing Muppet Show in syndication...for me Muppet Babies holds a more special place than perhaps to others. Especially the 1984-1986 episodes.

 

[beaker]

1. Seasons 4 and 5 of The Muppet Show

2. Muppet Television segments from The Jim Henson Hour

3. The Complete Muppets Tonight series

4. The Muppets Go To The Movies

5. The Muppets At Walt Disney World (with the Outtakes as a bonus feature)

6. John Denver & The Muppets: A Christmas Together

7. Tales From Muppetland specials: Hey Cinderella, Frog Prince, Muppet Musicians of Bremen

8. Tales of The Tinkerdee

9. More Archive Muppet Material from the 50's, 60's and 70's.

Have you picked up the Ed Sullivan's Best of the Muppets dvd?
It's a must for fans of rare super old Muppet sketches.

I'd love to see a dvd with Sam and Friends/old black and white Muppet business meeting films and commercials.

Also, tho in pretty poor quality, to those who don't know...Muppets @ WDW is on youtube, as is the rarely seen intro and 8 minutes of outtakes/deleted scenes/bloopers.