I'm liking you more and more beaker. There seems to be this purist camp of muppet fans who think that everything was entirely sweetness and light with the muppets. What i've found and find most appealing about Jim Henson's work is that there is an amazing balance he struck with everything. There is darkness to the muppets - not that they are evil - but, just like real life the characters are not entirely one thing or the other. I truly think that perspective is what we've been missing since Henson's death - he had an amazing psychology that he breathed into those dolls. I hope these writers can touch on that and not make them one dimensional.
Oh absolutely. While I don't really feel Muppet Wizard of Oz felt authentically "Muppety", the breadth of JH's work was as complex as the soul. While there was the obvious crass adult R-rated
Muppet times(Land of Gorch, continuing on now with Puppet Up and the HA! brand which I enjoy), you also had the Joan Ganz Cooney era which took the Muppets out of whitebread Jimmy Stewart world and into the inner city. A world that wasn't always pretty, but nonetheless had it's own charm. Now, in 2008..we see how this era has to come with a "warning", because children living in impoverished areas and playing with garbage may be shocking
We had Fraggle Rock, a bit of a nod to new age beliefs, and old world Celtic like threads of community, music and laughter. A show that unfortunately only aired on HBO in America, yet nonetheless continued the Muppet evolution. If Sesame Street had felt like the inner cities, and the Muppet show had turned the vaudeville variety format on its head...then the "Rock" brough a timeless global feel of magic and music in a way that felt ethereal and inspired. It's message is in a way "too much" for today's Barney weened kids. Too gentle, sweet, yet deep.
From Time Piece to the idea of "The Cube" and even an art deco avant garde night club, Jim Henson was always pushing the boundaries of zany creativity....pushing himself past mere puppets in front of a camera. His human less quasi-gnostic Dark Crystal ushered in a whole new artistry to puppetry that has yet to be surpassed in my opinion.
But ultimately, it does come back down to Kermit and the gang.
The Muppets work back when they can transcent the medium, and reside on completely divergent layers. Looking back at the original 1969 episodes of Sesame Street, we see Gordon talking with anything whatnot muppets about some rather frank complex social issues of the time. Kids didn't get it, I'm sure...but you look at the Muppet Show, the Muppet movie, etc. and there's the sweetness, but also the ability to feel "adult" without the usual interpretation of "Adult". The Muppet Movie is a work of genuis, because it feels like a timeless journey that just *happens* to star puppets. The Muppets Take Manhattan has a scene at the beginning, where Kermit, Floyd, Janice, etc are walking around downtown New York City. And it just feels important and alive.
I want to see the Muppets capture that feel again. That feel that transcends mere "nostalgia"...because you're then not looking at nostalgia being rehashed, but a constant. We don't think of Saturday Night Live as "that 70's" or "80's" show. The Muppets have been around 53 years. When the next movie comes to theatres, the Muppets and Kermit will have been here 55 years
We live in a crazy, crazy world. But as long as Jim Henson's vision keeps going...as long as we have The Muppets in one form or another, some may say it's a reason for hope. When we see the documentary "The World According to Sesame Street", and the Ganz Cooney legacy of bringing the SS Muppets to all corners of the world...no matter if bombings and mortar shells, and pure hate is erupting, it shows how important the Muppet message of peace and understanding, sillyness and song abounds.
I was writing a script for a new muppet film in 2001, just a kind of fan exercise. It started off with Pepe, Bunsen, Beaker, Neuter, Sal, Scooter, penguins, etc working for a dot com company in a big city...kind of what Google would be now. All kinds of hilarity and chaos, and flying things would abound with an opening zany original music number.
In this treatment, there was to be a powerful corporation in a tall highrise. The top floors would be dark, overgrown with swampy growth...with Dark Crystal like creatures acting as minions to a powerful CEO type(like say, Christopher Walken) This CEO was threatening to not just take over the wherehouse where many Muppets were employed, but like in Roger Rabbit...try to wipe out the Muppets. (also ala 101 Dalmations)
It would be up to Kermit to literally go the world over to find every Muppet to come back to San Francisco or New York or wherever this took place. Kermit would have to walk the deserts of the middle east and Africa to find...say Gonzo on his newfound spiritual question. Or Fozzie doing jokes for tourists in Thailand.
Miss Piggy doing commercials in Japan for products.
This was my script idea, and I'm hoping just a little of that idea, out there in the ether, can make it's way to the Stoller/Segal project.
Thanks for the kind compliments! The idea of a NEW Muppet film, NEW Dark Crystal film, and a Fraggle Rock film is very quite exciting
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