Redesigned Muppets for "The Muppets" movie

[Nick22]

The only puppet I don't like is the new Gonzo puppet. Its not that I don't like it, it's just that he's kind of off. His nose is too blue and it's a weird shape. And there's something wrong with his eyes.

I honestly think everyone else looks amazing. Piggy especially. Her hair looked so good in every single scene and her face is perfect and oh my gosh. She's so perfectly Piggy.

 

[Puckrox]

The only puppet I don't like is the new Gonzo puppet. Its not that I don't like it, it's just that he's kind of off. His nose is too blue and it's a weird shape. And there's something wrong with his eyes.

I honestly think everyone else looks amazing. Piggy especially. Her hair looked so good in every single scene and her face is perfect and oh my gosh. She's so perfectly Piggy.

I agree with all of this. Gonzo just doesn't look the same anymore. He's still my favorite, but there's just something, as Nick22 put it, kind of off. For me it's the eyes. Goelz has had control of his eyelids for a while now, but they're much too droopy nowadays. Gonzo just looked tired and sad in almost every scene, and I didn't know how to feel about that. There's also one scene where his mouth bothers me. I can't remember which... ugh.

Piggy looks fantastic. I absolutely adore how her hair changed lengths in basically every scene change, and each style looked great on her.

I don't have much qualms with the changes Animal and Fozzie have undergone. I think they each look fine.

 

[Drtooth]

Maybe you are right. Manufacturing techniques and all have advanced since the Henson era. Who knows, if Jim was around today maybe they would be more perfect. It was just purely conjecture as Disney like everything "perfect".

That's what I'd say too. I highly doubt Disney made any of the big decisions about what the characters should look like. If they did have anything to do with brighter colors, I didn't quite notice it.

Is there any truth that Fozzie's fur isn't even manufactured anymore? Some of these things can't be helped... though I still don't get Muppet Babies nose Gonzo. That's the only glowing example.

But this isn't something Muppet/Disney exclusive...

Take a look at Sesame Street's Prairie Dawn

This is her older look, a smaller head, much more expressive, eyes very close to the mouth... very whispy looking.

Now check out her more current look...

on the one hand, the character's more consistent looking from appearance to appearance, but the head construction is much stiffer, and therefore less expressive. She even looks just a little bit bigger. it's like looking at 2 different characters almost.

Puppetry technique changes and grows, and sometimes it becomes so over perfected, the little flaws in the material get ironed out, making them much stiffer overall. Let's look at 2 different Ernies...

70's-80's Ernie

modern... you can see his head is now perfectly oval shaped, almost rounder... his hair is too perfectly neat, and over all, doesn't quite look as expressive.

 

[LamangoNumber2]

That's not the current Prarie, DrTooth. Current Prarie looks alot like the original, just in a frilly doll dress.

Yeah, the puppets looked the best back in the day. Nostalgia and all. Gonzo looked his best in season 2, Fozzie in Season 3, Kermit in Season 3, Scooter in season 1... But stuff changes. Look at Godzilla. In all his 50 years of existing, his design changed constantly, from little tweaks, like making his eyes shift back and fourth, to giving him a completely new look. It's still the same, giant city smashing monster.

 

[Animal31]

Look at Godzilla. In all his 50 years of existing, his design changed constantly, from little tweaks, like making his eyes shift back and fourth, to giving him a completely new look. It's still the same, giant city smashing monster.

Excellent point, They actually made a different Godzilla suit for each and every movie. Older suits were altered to use for water scenes and more dangerous stunts where the main suit could be damaged.

I think alot of the changes over the years could also have something to do with "artistic interpretation" on the part of the builder. Herry and even Elmo have gone thru these changes as well over the years. Maybe someone just thought Ernie or Gonzo would look better "this way" as opposed to "that way"?

 

[patchlion]

The Muppets looked their best in The Great Muppet Caper - Miss Piggy especially.

 

[Drtooth]

That's not the current Prarie, DrTooth. Current Prarie looks alot like the original, just in a frilly doll dress.

I said "more current." I picked out that one from a couple years ago to make a point. Not so much as far as the dress goes, but as far as the new stiffer head constructions go. The older small AM's were basically glove puppets similar to Kermit or even Walter, but it appears they're stiffened with shaped foam cores. It's a formula they had to tinker with... the newest puppet does indeed closer to the original.

Then again, I can easily say the same thing for Sherlock Hemlock:

They have quite a more consistent system of building AM's now. The head shape is oh so slightly different, and the face looks a little stiffer (I don't think he can quite crinkle his mouth the same way)... even his eye placement and hair are much neater and consistent. He looks almost too perfect in his last performance... too bad the imperfections, such as a (I don't want to say weaker) more flexible, softer fabric and foam combination, gave him more expression and a little more life.

 

[Frogpuppeteer]

heres my 2 cents...ill agree Gonzo isnt Perfect but i do like this shape better that the one we had in Bohemian rhapsody...his head doesnt seem as blown up..his nose is still a little big but i can deal with it

Fozzie almost the same thing...certain scenes i dont like his look he looks to babyish...main scene that comes to mind is when they are talking about Piggy in the car and decide to travel by map

everyone else looks fine to me...but i agree on brightness especially on Kermit he has gotten brighter over the years

 

[Puppet crazy]

Even in Muppets From Space all the characters didn't look too different from the Muppet Show.
I guess it's a completely new group of puppet makers now. Maybe they don't have the old patterns for Gonzo, Fozzie and Animal anymore either. Or perhaps they are taking short cuts to reproduce them easier.
I'm having a really hard time accepting new Animal .

 

[King Rupert]

Im surprised how many of you like the new Mayhem... Too bright, too trendy, not enough rock n roll.

Bring back Zoots hat and Floyds Sgt Pepper Jacket.