Is Gonzo Being phased out?

[Mr.Penguin]

I was thinking that too. Steve Whitmire and Dave Golez are are only original Muppeteers from the original The Muppet Show that's still performing. Plus Frank who doesn't perform anymore with the exception of a few new Sesame Street segments a year. And yeah Caroll Spinney though is Big Bird and Oscar on Sesame as much now a days?

That is true, and it's something I do think about sometimes. Not to make this too much of a downer or too general, I often wonder who could replace Goelz if he decided to retire for health or personal reasons since Gonzo is such a specific character to him. I agree with what's been said though, it's quite possible he's just resting now and it just-so-happens that he hasn't gotten any meaty roles in a while. I wonder if any part of that decision/happenstance has to do with him pretty much being the "main Muppet" in that 90s period when Steve wasn't comfortable with Kermit yet, Frank was leaving and Richard has passed on. Like if the new writers are thinking in addition to Dave needing some arm rest, that we've already had a good enough share of Gonzo (and Rizzo) for years and got three movies out of it...maybe it's time to make the world love Kermit and Piggy again.

Or maybe Gonzo's been vacationing in space with his alien brethren this whole time, I dunno.

(And gee, I've seen the new puppet before, but I never realized how stiff that one must be to use compared to the others)

 

[mupcollector1]

That is true, and it's something I do think about sometimes. Not to make this too much of a downer or too general, I often wonder who could replace Goelz if he decided to retire for health or personal reasons since Gonzo is such a specific character to him. I agree with what's been said though, it's quite possible he's just resting now and it just-so-happens that he hasn't gotten any meaty roles in a while. I wonder if any part of that decision/happenstance has to do with him pretty much being the "main Muppet" in that 90s period when Steve wasn't comfortable with Kermit yet, Frank was leaving and Richard has passed on. Like if the new writers are thinking in addition to Dave needing some arm rest, that we've already had a good enough share of Gonzo (and Rizzo) for years and got three movies out of it...maybe it's time to make the world love Kermit and Piggy again.

Or maybe Gonzo's been vacationing in space with his alien brethren this whole time, I dunno.

(And gee, I've seen the new puppet before, but I never realized how stiff that one must be to use compared to the others)

I wish the Jim Henson Workshops still build The Muppets, but that's just my opinion. That's an interesting observation on the 90s period. I grew up in the 90s and I didn't realize that The Muppet Show was reruns until I heard the news about Muppets Tonight. But yeah it was mostly Kermit, Gonzo and Rizzo during the early 90s. Though what I noticed is Rizzo is becoming quite rare now a days. I personally like seeing Rizzo with Gonzo or Clifford then with Pepe. I notice there's lot of spotlight for Pepe now a days. I personally don't care much for Pete unless he was with Semore because he seemed to be funner to me as kind of a stressed out straight man and how they were bad comedians that were hired has cooks. I wonder if they were kind of replacements for characters like Fozzie and The Swedish Chef in the way. Kind of like how Solid Foam replaced Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem in The Jim Henson Hour. I personally love seeing new Muppet characters if there's something uniqe and funny about them and also love seeing the familiar classic characters as well. But there's some newist characters I don't really care for like Pepe going solo and Walter...he's okay for the new movie but I just can't see how it's possible to have him beyond the new movies. Just my opinion.

 

[mupcollector1]

I noticed that the current Gonzo has this thing with his eyelids where he can lift one eyelid at a time. Personally, that kind of creeps me out. I always liked it when his eyelids when all the way back and sort of ribbled to make it look like Gonzo having really wide eyes. Anyway, I didn't know about Dave Golez shoulder surgery. I never really stopped to think of Gonzo being phased out sort of but now that I think of it, it seems to be more background now. Same goes with Animal and Sam. I'd like to see some of that Muppet character comedy again. Gonzo with his weird stunts and acts. Underhand Bowling was okay but I like more of his more wilder stuff like catching a canon ball, or all those canons he had around him on Muppets Tonight "HEY, NO CANONBALL HITS JOHNNY FIAMA!" lol The dangerous stunts he used to do were great like holding a 5000 pound weight over his head, snaps his fingers and it falls on him "Hey Kermit, it went terrific". Even with Animal, I'd love to see him run loose and make a mess of things again or even eat part of a studio set or something. But that's just me, I love it when The Muppets get wild and crazy and poor Kermit trying to get control of everything. It seems like the only person who could get control of a bunch of crazies is Miss Piggy. "Alright, Knock it Off!" and they all stop. I really miss that, but just my opinion.

 

[Duke Remington]

Mupcollerctor1, the Muppets STILL do crazy stuff.

Also, how could you put down Pepe going solo and Walter? They're two of the best characters that they have now.

 

[mupcollector1]

Mupcollerctor1, the Muppets STILL do crazy stuff.

Also, how could you put down Pepe going solo and Walter? They're two of the best characters that they have now.

In my opinion and mine alone I just don't prefer them. If other fans like them, that's fine with me. We all have the right to our opinions and I respect that and agree to disagree. So I'll just leave it at that.

 

[Drtooth]

I noticed that the current Gonzo has this thing with his eyelids where he can lift one eyelid at a time. Personally, that kind of creeps me out. I always liked it when his eyelids when all the way back and sort of ribbled to make it look like Gonzo having really wide eyes. Anyway, I didn't know about Dave Golez shoulder surgery. I never really stopped to think of Gonzo being phased out sort of but now that I think of it, it seems to be more background now. Same goes with Animal and Sam. I'd like to see some of that Muppet character comedy again. Gonzo with his weird stunts and acts. Underhand Bowling was okay but I like more of his more wilder stuff like catching a canon ball, or all those canons he had around him on Muppets Tonight "HEY, NO CANONBALL HITS JOHNNY FIAMA!" lol The dangerous stunts he used to do were great like holding a 5000 pound weight over his head, snaps his fingers and it falls on him "Hey Kermit, it went terrific". Even with Animal, I'd love to see him run loose and make a mess of things again or even eat part of a studio set or something. But that's just me, I love it when The Muppets get wild and crazy and poor Kermit trying to get control of everything. It seems like the only person who could get control of a bunch of crazies is Miss Piggy. "Alright, Knock it Off!" and they all stop. I really miss that, but just my opinion.

Again, what works in the context of the show does not work in context of a movie. Kermit and Piggy running around and one calling the other fat and the other judo-chopping works fine in a short skit, but would be completely annoying and klutzy in a 90 minute film that allows them to actually be deep and do things they can't in a shorter time frame. And, quite frankly, that kind of Kermit and Piggy died out halfway through the Muppet Show anyway.

Yes. I miss when they did crazy crap too. As in, I miss when they had a weekly show of some sort where they can do that crazy crap. They haven't even had a viral video since the first film came out. Even before then. We've had a glorious ONE movie with a second coming and a couple TV appearances. None of which they can actually do any of that stuff we "miss." The only way to get back that naggy thing is to get a TV show where these little gags work and where they can find a place for every character without having fear of squashing them all into the plot and having people whine that X character who never had much screen time in a film has roughly the same or less screen time in another film.

Above all, Gonzo's real rise to Muppet Stardom was due in part of Steve having to take over Kermit, and someone deciding that Kermit should have a smaller role for some reason. Gonzo was all over 3 movies, MCC, MTI, and MFS.... he had a LOT more screentime than even Kermit did. MCC, sometimes Gonzo and Rizzo were the only Muppets you'd see in a scene for example. Anything less than total character saturation is going to look like being phased out. I still don't see "unavailable for a TV show appearance" as "Phased out."

 

[jvcarroll]

In my opinion and mine alone I just don't prefer them. If other fans like them, that's fine with me. We all have the right to our opinions and I respect that and agree to disagree. So I'll just leave it at that.

I love Walter and Pepe, but we all have our favorites and we're certainly entitled to that.

People either love or hate Pepe. I'm in the love category. I do miss Seymour.

Walter will have his real shot in this new movie. He was a plot device in the last film so it's really not fair to judge him yet. I see a lot of potential.

The Muppets need new characters to keep them going. New Muppets create new dynamics. I actually think Pepe made Rizzo funnier in MFS. That pairing was the best thing about that movie.

 

[Oscarfan]

Rizzo and Pepe were good in MFS, but were off in LTS; they're lines were pretty much interchangeable.

 

[Drtooth]

I really think it was a bad idea to have Rizzo in that part of the movie. Somehow, Scooter should have been in that place. While they can have dual puppeteers and loop lines, just something about Rizzo and Kermit having to trade off in those scenes affected the latter half of the special negatively. They really should have had another character that played better off of Kermit.

It really seems Steve is far more comfortable with Kermit than he used to be. I find it very suspicious that Kermit left the movie theater for 90% of the MFS commentary. But then again, I guess they needed a character who's better at snarking to get the full effect of the MST3K homage they were going for.

The Muppets need new characters to keep them going. New Muppets create new dynamics. I actually think Pepe made Rizzo funnier in MFS. That pairing was the best thing about that movie.

We're at a very weird stage in the Muppets where we're losing new characters to old characters brought back. Also, Brian Henson's not really involved anymore, so his characters are lost until they're recast. I liked Seymore too, but I don't know how he'd work outside of MT. Like I said before, a lot of stuff that works in the context of a TV show doesn't in the context of a movie. That's why Bunsen and Beaker's big film role was like 5 minutes near the end of TMM. Maybe just a little more in MCC.

I really want to see Walter's post-The Muppets potential. Having him disappear would have unfortunate undertones. Something that suggests he was fired by the very same troupe that saved him, or the less unfortunate, but still depressing realization that it wasn't really his dream and left. I still see him in Scooter's role with Scooter graduating to some higher up position in the Muppet Theater. A low level performer/intern type. Unfortunately, that requires a new TV series.

 

[mupcollector1]

I love Walter and Pepe, but we all have our favorites and we're certainly entitled to that.

People either love or hate Pepe. I'm in the love category. I do miss Seymour.

Walter will have his real shot in this new movie. He was a plot device in the last film so it's really not fair to judge him yet. I see a lot of potential.

The Muppets need new characters to keep them going. New Muppets create new dynamics. I actually think Pepe made Rizzo funnier in MFS. That pairing was the best thing about that movie.

Absolutely. Yeah I agree, perhaps it's kind of an early shot to have the final judgement on Walter. Because in the shows, they develop more and more per episode while in movies, they are sort of set in stone so it takes them a little longer to evolve. So yeah, perhaps his personality will shine more in the next film. So far I could guess that he would continue being a crazed fan or perhaps Scooter's assistant. For some reason, I sort of see him as being Scooter's assistant and perhaps mentioning that his father used to work for J.P. Gross or something like that. I don't know, I guess we just got to wait and see.

As for Pepe and Rizzo, I did like their appearance on the WWE special, I though that was cool.

Though I can certainly say that I'm really excited to see the return of Annie Sue Pig both as a classic Muppet fan and a Spitting Image fan (Lousie Gold was the performer of Queen Elizabeth on the show, sometimes Kate Robbins took over the voice from time to time ) I love seeing Annie Sue in Season 3 and how she's a huge fan of Miss Piggy and just how Miss Piggy has this childish jelliousy of not wanting Annie Sue to steal her spotlight on the show and even worse, Kermit...which of course Kermit has no romantic attraction to her what so ever. I love the moment where poor Annie is really scared to the point of crying because she's too nervous to be a part of the mellow drama and Miss Piggy being the bully she was sarcastically telling her to go back to your dressing room making her feel worse. It's so irreverently funny to see Kermit staring at Miss Piggy in disgust while Miss Piggy is completely shameless. It was very interesting seeing that happen in a few Season 3 episodes. It makes me wonder about Miss Piggy a little bit. I remember Frank described her as being a talentless pig who hides all this hidden pain in a way of showing off and thinking of herself as something she wasn't, especially having this never ending fantacy that her and Kermit are married, has little green figs (frog and pig together) in a house in Maine. Ever since I heard Frank say that, I tend to study Miss Piggy a little more closer. lol Fascinating. I remember his quote "I can tell you a lot about character building but the truth of the matter is...I don't know."

Anyway sorry for going off subject a little bit, I hope Gonzo has more spotlight in the new movie. And yeah whenever the time comes when Gonzo woud be replaced along with Bunsen and Bo, I'm sure that's going to be a challenge because Dave's voices are so unique.