Classic Muppets vs Current Muppets

[mupcollector1]

You can't have Kermit stay in the 1970's though. He has to be developed and up with current times. Jim alway made sure Kermit was up with the times in which he lived. It's no different then today. Even Steve said you have to always be developing Kermit's personality you can't let him get stale. Jim only said if anything ever happened to him Kermit had to go on right away.

I personally never noticed anything in terms of The Muppets going on the current times, trends or fads or anything like that became they always seemed very timeless. What I was mentioning was the classic Muppet trademark style of explosions, slapstick, monsters, weirdness, energetic wackiness, dysfunctional irreverent situation comedy with the characters, bad puns, rock music and novelty / vaudeville songs from time to time and I kind of miss that. The last times I ever seem that was Muppets Tonight, Muppet Christmas Carol, and Muppet Treasure Island. A little bit in It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie. To me it seems like things have become more calmer. That's why I would just love to me a new Muppet tv show then just more movies. The movies are great but on the shows, that's when The Muppets are at their craziest with new characters and familiar faces, tv and movie spoofs, explosions, all that good stuff.

Just recently I was watching the sketches, the movie parodies from "From The Balcony (Movies.com)" and just watching Superman having an overdue library card, Woody Allen getting blown up by an Alien from Brats of The Lost Nebula, Tom Cruise kicking the hostest head off and how her head exploded." I watched those and I just sighed fantasizing on if Muppets Tonight had another season, they would probably do this. In my opinion, next to the new movie, this is the other newish thing that I thought was just great. It had energy, the irreverent humor, the slapstic. Sure it didn't have the rock music but it was pretty darn close to The Muppets original style. It just brought back all those wonderful Muppets Tonight memories to me again. And one more thing, I miss Andy and Randy "THIS JOB IS TOO HARD!" lol

 

[Pinkflower7783]

I can understand that we all miss the muppets from the old days but I think with the latest film I feel the muppets are back to being the muppets I grew up remembering.

 

[mupcollector1]

How about just embracing the muppets for who they are today?

I do love seeing them, but it's just not the same. Again, it's just my opinion.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

No they won't be the same as back then but that's not really a bad thing. But maybe just accept them for who they are today because god knows its taken them a long time to get back to this point. No theyll never have that Jim Henson touch but to me they've been able to somewhat bring that spirit back.

But I respect your opinion. Agree to disagree. Lol.

 

[CensoredAlso]

What I was mentioning was the classic Muppet trademark style...The last times I ever seem that was Muppets Tonight, Muppet Christmas Carol, and Muppet Treasure Island. A little bit in It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie.

See for me the projects you mention here had little of the irreverent style or spirit you're talking about. They've never represented the Muppets for me. In fact they were the times when they didn't feel timeless, but rather desperate to appear modern. So it's a very personal thing.

 

[Drtooth]

MCC and MTI were too safe, actually. Almost that they were afraid to try anything one direction or another, and they were too afraid to utilize Kermit. While I think he was perfectly cast in MCC, his appearance in MTI was off until Piggy entered the film. And his all smiles lobotomized performance in MFS was depressing (even though Gonzo and Rizzo were still pitch perfect). I will say MTI had the spirit of wackiness and Muppetness in them, but ironically in all the new characters.

The thing is, every project gets one aspect right, and one aspect wrong. MT did have Muppet spirit, but in the wrong places until season 2. Just before it was canceled.

VMX got the wackiness right, but missed the sweetness. LTS got the sweetness right, but lost a lot of wackiness. Between the two of them, they got it sort of right. MOz was an eyesore.

The new film is as close to the originals as we've seen since. It's missing an intangible element, I agree... but that's an X factor that went with Jim. Same thing that leaves EVERY project when someone's missing. Only other thing to get it almost dead on right was the Roger Langridge comics. He's proven to have a chameleon writing style that he disappears into, his Popeye comics especially (getting back to the meat of the characters from Thimble Theater).

Something's always going to be missing. As long as it's not a complete disaster that doesn't try, I'll applaud an effort.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

See for me the projects you mention here had little of the irreverent style or spirit you're talking about. They've never represented the Muppets for me. In fact they were the times when they didn't feel timeless, but rather desperate to appear modern. So it's a very personal thing.

I agree and I'll be blunt those films were the reasons I dropped and left the muppets for 12 years. More so with MTI. Wow I hope I don't get slammed for that.

 

[mupcollector1]

See for me the projects you mention here had little of the irreverent style or spirit you're talking about. They've never represented the Muppets for me. In fact they were the times when they didn't feel timeless, but rather desperate to appear modern. So it's a very personal thing.

Hmmm, very interesting. I probably didn't see them as modern probably because I grew up in the 90s generation. lol

I also like the quote about how some projects had something and others didn't. It makes me think about the elements of what made The Muppets more.

 

[Drtooth]

I agree and I'll be blunt those films were the reasons I dropped and left the muppets for 12 years. More so with MTI. Wow I hope I don't get slammed for that.

No one would really blame you, though.

As much as I bash MCC, MTI, and even MFS, there are things I genuinely like about them. But they leave too much to be desired. MFS was carried by Gonzo and the new characters, for example. The scenes with Bobo and Jeff Tambor were pure gold. And I wish more of the movie could have been like the sequences that happened at the military base.

We all know there's only one Muppet movie I really dislike, and I don't feel the need to say it.

 

[LouisTheOtter]

I consider myself lucky to have been born in the early '70s, which means that I'm old enough to have been touched by the work of Jim Henson and Richard Hunt before they passed away and also young enough to see that their legacy (and that of the now-retired Muppeteers) is still alive and strong.

Of course I will always respect the opinions of other Muppet fans (which is one of the things I like the most about this forum) but I think I would have missed a lot of quality Muppet productions, moments and characters if I had simply given up on them after Jim and Richard died.

I remember the first time I got a look at the Muppet YouTube virals, particularly "Bohemian Rhapsody," and feeling - for the first time in a long time - that the Muppets as an entire cast were finally in the hands (and literally, ON the hands) of people who understood them and cared about them. The characters, individually and collectively, seemed like their old selves again, and yet they still had a freshness that made me excited about seeing them in newer material instead of just going back to old videotapes and DVDs.

Of course I will always treasure the Jim-Frank-Jerry-Richard-Dave years. But I also treasure much of the Muppets' 1991-2012 output, and I will continue to do so for a long time. Can't wait for the next adventure - as Kermit said in Before You Leap, "C'mon, Fozzie, rev up the old Studebaker - time to get movin' right along!"