If Frank Oz had agreed to play Big Bird....

[minor muppetz]

I've been doing some thinking. Frank Oz was originally offered to perform Big Bird, but turned down the offer due to hating performing full-body characters.

If he had accepted the offer, do you think that Jim Henson would have performed Mr. Snuffleupagus? After all, Jim Henson and Frank Oz worked really well together, and performed many duos. Big Bird and Snuffy were best friends, so it would have made since for them to be performed by Jim and Frank.

Also, if Frank Oz performed Big Bird, do you think he would have performed Yoda in the Star Wars movies? Do you think he would have become a director?

 

[BEAR]

First off, I don't think Big Bird would be the characters we all know if Frank ended up performing him. The character would be completeley different!

 

[MartyMuppets]

Yes It is rather difficult to imagine Frank Oz providing quite the same kind of voice for Big Bird as we know him today. I'm sure Frank could have created an appropriate sounding juvenile voice but it would have been completely different from Caroll Spinney. Likewise Jim's Snuffy would have been Jim's very own. And others probably would have performed Ernie and Bert so the characters could have been very different in a wide number of ways depending on who did whose voices.

 

[minor muppetz]

Yes It is rather difficult to imagine Frank Oz providing quite the same kind of voice for Big Bird as we know him today. I'm sure Frank could have created an appropriate sounding juvenile voice but it would have been completely different from Caroll Spinney. Likewise Jim's Snuffy would have been Jim's very own. And others probably would have performed Ernie and Bert so the characters could have been very different in a wide number of ways depending on who did whose voices.

If Frank performed Big Bird, I think he would have given Big Bird a Fozzie-like voice. If Jim performed Snuffy, I think he would have had the gruff voice that most of Jim Henson's non-Kermit/ non-Ernie/ non-Link Hogthrob characters have.

However, I believe that Jim Henson had already decided that he and Frank Oz were to perform Ernie and Bert before the test pilots, before he had the ideas for Big Bird and Oscar.

One thing I'm starting to wonder. Jim Henson started looking for another puppeteer when Frank Oz turned down the role of Big Bird. Do you think Frank Oz might have been offered to perform Oscar as well? Or could Jim henson have planned on performing Oscar before hiring Caroll Spinney?

 

[D'Snowth]

I agree with you guys...if Frank had performed Big Bird, he would've been a totally different character.

 

[Xerus]

Not only that, later on in the 80's. Frank only came back to Sesame Street on certain times while focusing on his directing career. So he would probably have to give Big Bird to someone else if he had played him.

 

[BEAR]

It wouldn't be just the voice, it would be the entire character and personality altogether that would be different. Remember that it was Carroll Spinney's idea to make Big Bird a kid.

 

[Gonzo14]

i agree, if Frank had performed Big Bird, he probably would have done a good job, but wouldn't be the big bird we all know, it's hard to picture whether or not Frank's big bird would have been as popular as carol's

 

[MartyMuppets]

It wouldn't be just the voice, it would be the entire character and personality altogether that would be different. Remember that it was Carroll Spinney's idea to make Big Bird a kid.

Really? So Jim Henson had never envisaged Big Bird in the role of a kid himself eh?

That certainly changes everything. If Frank had performed Big Bird with a Fozzie-ish voice then he would have been playing the character as someone more grown-up and perhaps a bit naive in the way of humans as opposed to Carol's genuine juvenile perceptions of our BB's childish personality.

 

[MartyMuppets]

Also I wonder since Frank and Jim were always more or less set to play Ernie and Bert as minor muppetz posted earlier, how then would Bert's voice have differed?
After all Bert as we have always known and loved him basically has the "Fozzie-ish" voice