Kermit being missed?

[JimmyDeanDog]

I don't know about you, but I truly miss Henson's voice when he operated Kermit...

Nothing against Steve having to replace Jim because of the 1990
Muppet tragedy in our lives, but I'm just a very hard sentimentalist...

Even when you hear the old records of Jim singing in Kermit, in your mind's eye and hears you get to breathe that magical breath of Henson fresh air.

Which brings up another point: Would the Muppets still have been successful today if the puppeteers didn't have good singing voices?

Even when Steve sings with Tony Bennett on "Firefly" from that LP "The Playground" from 1998, you'd wish Jim was still alive to perform that great ditty.

-JDD
**CAMPAINING FOR CTW TO FIANLLY PUT THE FIRST
SESEME STREET RECORD ONTO CD**

 

[Emerald]

I agree. When things are right..... It's really hard to accept change. "New" Kermit is a good second choice, but Jim Henson really put life into Kermit, and no one else will be able to do that as well. It's the same with all the other Muppets Jim did the voices for.

 

[JimmyDeanDog]

Muppeteers singing skills

Again:

Would the Muppets still have been successful today if the puppeteers didn't have good singing/verbal voices?

 

[Emerald]

It's hard to say. Would the concept of The Cosby Show have worked without Bill Cosby? I think that the way the Muppets fell together (Jim, Frank Oz, etc.) is the best way it could have worked.

If you watch some of the earlier episodes of The Muppet Show, where Piggy, Fozzie, and Janice have noticably different voices (for example, when Juliet Prowse was the host), it just sounds weird. It's not bad, but the later episodes feel much more comfortable. Voices deffinately make a difference. In my opinion, anyway. Would it have not worked? I don't know. But the way it turned out was deffinately the best way for it to turn out.

 

[foofoocakes]

We can all long for the good old days but by dwelling in the past we won't find the future. Strong muppeteers and clever writing will bring back the times we all used to enjoy. Will it be the same? No! Will it be better? Maybe and maybe not. But at least it will be new and different. I miss Jim and I even miss Frank hes still around but someone else is doing piggy and it's not the same.
I hope they keep the characters that still have their original voices. Retire some that don't and build some new and weird characters with new and weird mupppeteers. It's the only way the muppets will live on.
O.K. Im off my soap box now.

 

[JimmyDeanDog]

Muppeteers voal skills

I think not, and I'll explain why...

Imagine if Matt Broderick were doing Kermit....

...or Sebatian Cabot doing Fozzie, Cookie Monster or Piggy...
(God, that would be something to hear just as a good laugh!)

>>> [well, you get the idea] <<<

I believe God made Henson for Kermit, and Frank for the majority of main Muppet characters...

HAD they have been off-key singers, I BELIEVE they would've
been a turn-off; It's as if OZ learned to sing really good thruout the Seseme Street years (being that's where we first discovered him), and Henson beginning in the early 60's with Kermit, Rowlf, and on Ed Sullivan with his "Ma-na-ma-na" song.

Per the first official Muppets record, Frank's singing was starting to sound too "Bert-esque" (e.g. "Goin' for a Ride" (Car Driver),"People in Your Neighboorhood" (The Fireman)...etc...

..but later on, Mr Brainstorm hit it off exceptionally well...
(You can't blame Lucus for wanting him as Yoda!!)

Even in "Rubber Duckie", Henson sings a note on there that's
really off-key ('awfully fond of yooooou')...but it's in his genius "comedic"style...NOT sounding like he suffered flopsweat.

I miss Jim.

-JDD
**Campaining for the release of the FIRST Seseme Street
LP from 1970 to be released nationally on a CD**

 

[Emerald]

I agree with your points. And I miss Jim too. It's hard to change something that works so well and still make it as high of quality. I've enjoyed post-Jim Muppet stuff (excluding a lot of Elmo-focussed Sesame Street), but is it up to the standards of The Muppet Show? I don't know. That's something everyone has to answer for themselves. Personally, I prefer the Jim years to the post-Jim years. But all the same, some Muppets are better than no Muppets.

Did that make sense? Aurgh!