Ask Ken at Palisades

[ResidentLilly]

I still lurk a bit.

I don't recall the circumstances of saying he was not covered in the contract. The only thing I can say for sure is that when we first got the gig the contract covered the entire show, then later was expanded to the films. Those contracts did not have an individual list, but we still had to get character (line plan) approval from the licensor, and in some rare cases they might not want us to do a certain figure (like the Henson puppet, which took more work to get approved).

Not saying I didn't say what you said I did, but I just don't remember it.

 

[Vic Romano]

How obscure were you guys hoping to go? Or was that ever even an issue? Really good to see you around, Ken. God I miss Palisades!

 

[ResidentLilly]

I dunno, that's so relative. As a fan? I wanted to go super obscure. But as a company we had to reign that in a little bit because the sales on the line always struggled beyond series 1 and 2.

And I miss Palisades too.

 

[MWoO]

I don't know if Ken Lilly is still lurking around here, but I recall that it was once said that Mahna Mahan wasn't included in the contract at one point, then he was eventually allowed and made as a PVC. So what I'm asking, if you are reading this Ken, is how you knew he wasn't included. Was there a big list of what characters from The Muppet Show were allowed in the contract? it is a bit surprising that the robot rabbit who came with Bunsen would have been allowed but not Mahna Mahna (the rabbit was more obscure; I had never been aware of that character until I heard it was going to be released with the Bunsen action figure).

It's possible that certain versions of Mahna Mahna were not allowed as very similar characters were on Sesame Street. So, I would assume, that at the time someone may have been asking about a non-muppet show vesion.

 

[ResidentLilly]

We never got that specific in any of he discussions, us and Henson I mean. I would love to see the quote he mentions of what I said about it at the time. If I could see it I could probably tell you right away what the circumstances were.

 

[matleo]

Hey Ken, I found the comment. Post #371 of this very thread.

http://forum.muppetcentral.com/showthread.php?p=3883&highlight=mahna#post3883

It's a post from 2002 around the time that the figures were just released so whatever the discussion was it referred to your original contract. What do you think? Does it jog any memories?


Historically yours, Matleo

 

[ResidentLilly]

Matt, is ANYONE was gonna know that it was gonna be you. You amaze me with that knowledge and history. You should write a book.

Anyway, yeah seeing it and reading it DOES jog some memory. I remember looking over the first contract and it was VERY specific in the character list it gave us. And as I recall I questioned it with some people at Henson initially but only in a soft way, asking about what would need to happen if I wanted to do something not on the list. And the list was appallingly simple as far as mostly main characters with some few that were surprises like Deadly and Sweetums, not mains at all but certainly not as obscure as, say, Snowths (by name recognition I'm talking).

As I recall eventually they just ignored that part of the contract to be quite honest...we had built up enough respect for each other as a group that there was a trust factor and they let us pick and choose what we wanted without following the legal letter of that first contract. The amendment that included movies and MT was simply a money/royalty based addition and did not address characters or anything.

Wow, I could get lost in that old thread...I saw this while I was looking at the page...I wrote this about someone asking about Star Wars Muppets.

Great suggestion, but probably for naught. Would you ever want to be faced with the possibility of facing the legal juggernaut known as Lucasfilm? Well, neither does anybody else!

Ironically, that is EXACTLY what I faced when I made those C-3PO and R2-D2 based designer bomb figures. Funny how stuff works out.

 

[MWoO]

It had to have been because of the characters appearance on Sesame Street.

Edit: nevermind

 

[ResidentLilly]

But not at all a bad assessment Mwoo, I know the conflict of Kermit in a trenchcoat was ALL SS related.

 

[MWoO]

And I think it all came down to a hat in the end.

The Henson company being split up caused all kinds of issues. I miss the company being whole.