Disney in talks to buy Muppets

[BoyRaisin2]

Well, now to reply to the mouthful you've said

I know "Bear" is on Disney Channel and is treated as good as any Disney character, but Henson/EM.TV still controls and produces "Bear in the Big Blue House." It don't say Walt Disney Television in the end credits. I'd like to be sure I'm right, but these days I'm really confused what to think.

Farscape. It was CANCELLED, wasn't it? I mean after this season, the show's canned right?

It would be nice if Disney did make use of the Chaplin studio (for Muppet stuff of course). The only thing I've seen filmed there was the Weezer video and I saw a special where singer Michelle Branch (who rules) went to record some music there.

Speaking of the studio, it's the Henson family (remember them? ) that actually owns the studio, right? I've never understood it, especially since now only Lisa has a real position at Henson.

Sesame Workshop? Humph (humph?), yeah right. They don't need to be owning Henson. Although it was interesting that, on 12/4/00, the day Haffa sold the SS Muppets to SW, an article said that Sesame Workshop actually bought Jim Henson Co. Which confused the heck out of me, at a point where I didn't know anything.

I hope this recent Disney article is just another one in the weird line of articles where words are just scrambled and don't mean what they say. (Like I just did.) I hope IF Disney buys Henson this time (I'm sorta tense and p*ssed at this point), it's The Jim Henson Company, not just movies and the Muppets themselves. If Jim Henson's Creature Shop is not involved, so be it. But the Muppets and the 650 hours of programming produced over the past 48 years better be part of any deal. I would personally look forward to a Disney deal just for my dream of seeing the classic or rarely seen Henson specials and series on TV or video.

To close my rambling, to go back to the January 2001 article from the Wall Street Journal: Hey, Kermit? Is it still great to be "a whole Haffa, not just half a Haffa?"

Kenny, who's so p*ssed he's watching "Labyrinth."

 

[Chilly Down]

<<I know "Bear" is on Disney Channel and is treated as good as any Disney character, but Henson/EM.TV still controls and produces "Bear in the Big Blue House." It don't say Walt Disney Television in the end credits. I'd like to be sure I'm right, but these days I'm really confused what to think.>>

Hmm. Are you sure on this? I thought I saw some Bear merchandise that had Disney's name plastered all over it.

<<Farscape. It was CANCELLED, wasn't it? I mean after this season, the show's canned right?>>

Yes, but it was cut down while it still had a huge following. There are plans to either get a fifth season on another network, or to get a movie made, or possibly an anime series. Would they still be able to move forward with these plans if the company is divided? At this point, who would the "they" even be?

<<Sesame Workshop? Humph (humph?), yeah right.>>

You can calm down; that was a joke. My point was that Sesame Workshop didn't interfere with the product. They're not in the running anyway, so it's a moot point.

<<If Jim Henson's Creature Shop is not involved, so be it. But the Muppets and the 650 hours of programming produced over the past 48 years better be part of any deal.>>

Actually, that *is* the deal. The concern now is that the Henson company, i.e. all the employees, would be unceremoniously dumped. That's if Daniel interpreted the article right, and if the article writer wasn't just being lazy (as they often are).

<<I would personally look forward to a Disney deal just for my dream of seeing the classic or rarely seen Henson specials and series on TV or video.>>

I'd love it too, but keep in mind that even in previous dealings with the Muppets, Disney never aired TMS on its channel. I don't know how much they'd actually dig into the library.

(sigh) I love it when all these buyout news stories come out. They put everyone here (including myself) in such a "good" mood.
At least you're watching "Labyrinth." That's always a good pick-me-up.

 

[frogboy4]

Animation at Disney

Just to clear up the "rumblings" they come from animators I have met through school (and other areas) that know people leaving the company. But such dooms day rumblings have been going on since computer animation began.

What I really think will change is Disney will hire all of their traditional animators per project instead of keeping some of them on permanent payroll. I am not certain how many they actually retain now and how many are freelancers, but with this economy many companies are going the freelance rout. Most other studios that produce animated films do the same thing.

It's kind of like when George Lucas was remaking the original trilogy. He had an open call to many creative people (I knew some of them) but he was offering peanuts because people want their name attached to Star Wars and Lucas. The same could hold true for Disney. If they wanted to make a traditionally animated feature down the line they could hire a new staff of great young talent who would be willing to work for less so they could be attached to a Disney project. It happens.

I'm sure they'll keep some sort of television animating crew, especially for their MGM Studios animation tour. Computer animation will never have the feel of traditional animation. It's not that one is better than the other, but my guess is that if there is a long absence, the public will begin to respond to traditional animation again.

Cropped releases

Ugh! I'm sure that Disney will crop all future DVD releases for Henson titles, but the good side is the integration of widescreen televisions. I predict that 5 years down the line all releases will be widescreen. Maybe they will eventually figure out a way for standard televisions to crop widescreen images in some sort of reverse anamorphic process. Who knows? It's also important to consider that Disney would be interested in releasing a widescreen version of a property they own. If they buy the Muppets they will have an incentive to please the built-in fan base. I still think it's a terrible practice - the cropping of films. It's a result of simpletons with a lack of respect for the film medium. More companies have been doing it besides Disney. I've been renting movies lately and it's rampant! Once mainstream America responds then Disney will too. I'm sure we all know an annoying person who prefers the slashing of films to fit the TV cube.

 

[BoyRaisin2]

replying to Chilly Down

I think I'm sure about the "Bear" stuff. Key word is "I". Maybe Disney has some licensing deal. "Bear in the Big Blue House" was in the EM.TV press release of 2000.

Concerning Farscape: Blech. Anime. Please, y'all, keep up your "Save Farscape" campaign. (I'm currently involved in a "Save Undergrads" campaign.)

<<If Jim Henson's Creature Shop is not involved, so be it. But the Muppets and the 650 hours of programming produced over the past 48 years better be part of any deal.>>

CD: Actually, that *is* the deal.

Me: Yeah, I was just thinking about that. The Muppet movie catalog is a reference to "the Henson film and television library." Correct?

CD wrote: I'd love it too, but keep in mind that even in previous dealings with the Muppets, Disney never aired TMS on its channel. I don't know how much they'd actually dig into the library.

Me: Yeah, I've realized that, besides the movies and some of Henson's kids shows, Henson stuff just wouldn't fit into the Disney Channel schedule. Maybe ABC Family...

CD: (sigh) I love it when all these buyout news stories come out. They put everyone here (including myself) in such a "good" mood

I love buyout stories because I love the suspenseful stench of an upcoming media merger. Much like the Vivendi Universal stuff last week.

 

[scarecroe]

Concerning Bear and Disney... Bear is completely owned and produced by Henson. They just have a good deal with Disney to show it on their TV channel and distribute products like CDs and toys.

 

[Phillip]

Speaking of Bear CD's... our Disney store had the two recent Bear CD's ("More Songs from Bear" and the Bear Holiday disc) on clearance for $5.99 each. If anyone is looking for these, it's a great chance to get them for half of the price.

 

[Super Scooter]

I guess I'm a little late on this, but...

Originally posted by sidcrowe
So, Sarah...are you gonna buy the scooter

Yeah, Sarah. You gonna buy me?

 

[Chilly Down]

Originally posted by scarecroe
Concerning Bear and Disney... Bear is completely owned and produced by Henson. They just have a good deal with Disney to show it on their TV channel and distribute products like CDs and toys.

OK. So should we assume, then, that Disney, not Henson, will be producing any NEW episodes?

 

[scarecroe]

Well, no. If Bear were going to continue, that Disney/JHC contract would likely go untouched unless it were renegotiated. EM doesn't produce Bear, JHC does, so the same would go relationship-wise if Disney bought JHC.

It's a moot point anyway as Bear hasn't been renewed... which is a cryin' shame as it's the only good thing JHC really has going for itself right now. [wonders if I could produce my own "Save Bear" campaign]

As far as who might produce any new Henson shows should Disney buy JHC, it's evident that Disney would have first option to, but wouldn't necessarily turn out that way.

 

[scarecroe]

Originally posted by Phillip Chapman
Speaking of Bear CD's... our Disney store had the two recent Bear CD's ("More Songs from Bear" and the Bear Holiday disc) on clearance for $5.99 each. If anyone is looking for these, it's a great chance to get them for half of the price.

Which is an excellent deal at any price by the way. All the Bear songs are wonderful.