Kermits Swamp Years Trailer

[No1MuppetFan]

The first downloadable Kermit's Swamp Years Trailer can be downloaded from Here : http://www.divx.com.
You may need to download this to view the clip : http://download.com.com/3000-2194-10062728.html?part=divx

 

[kustomboy]

wow, thanks for the heads up. downloading now.

edit: this looks interesting, hopefully it was well written.

 

[scarecroe]

Sweet. That looks like the same one we saw at MuppetFest in December except I thought there was a shot that showed Goggles (or was it Croaker?) with a tire track over him after he'd been run over. Or maybe that was one of the clips they showed us, I can't remember.

 

[scarecroe]

The ToughPigs Forum has some screenshots.

 

[frogboy4]

It still looks a bit too kiddiefied for my taste, but I am keeping an open mind and I'm still looking forward to the release. I wish they'd be more specific about the date of release!

 

[scarecroe]

Originally posted by frogboy4
It still looks a bit too kiddiefied for my taste, but I am keeping an open mind

I think it looks a little kiddiefied too. I'm trying to keep optimistic but I see it being as bad as Muppet Classic Theatre, or worse.

Still though, if Henson markets this properly, this is the perfect project to target to soccer moms and thus help younger children who don't have a Muppet Show to watch on TV get into the Muppets and make them more popular which means more chances for cool products in the future.

Those screenshots are now up at ToughPigs

 

[frogboy4]

I really am thinking that was Henon Co's intention all along for this project. Kermit's brand has is not as strong as it used to be so by getting the kids, they gain a wider audience. I just hope that it stops there. I don't want to see Piggy's Barn years etc.

 

[scarecroe]

I'm all for continuing with a mix. Do a kiddie project, then a family project. That seems to be what they're doing this year with the direct-to-video release and then the Xmas movie in December.

Also, I posted my "fan art" for the DVD cover at the ToughPigs forum. I'd have posted it here, too, but HTML code is off and this board doesn't support attachments.

Kermit's Swamp Years DVD fan art

 

[frogboy4]

Nice job on the poster. I do object to continuing kiddie projects for The Muppet Show cast members. That's what Sesame Street is for. I feel that the Muppets are victems of poor management for the past decade and need to be reintroduced to the younger generation and then pull out of the kiddie market to fucus on the types of projects they used to make in the Jim era. Just my thoughts.

 

[scarecroe]

I agree, except the stuff they made in the Jim era was because Jim was around. It seems to me that even though there have been some quality productions since his passing (Treasure Island, Christmas Carol) that pretty much everything has been something of a dissapointment.

The Muppets don't seem to have the same magic without Jim. In this post Jim-era world, I think we pretty much have to settle for what we get. If that means we get a mediocre Fairy Tales spoof production that has only *some* good qualities, but is otherwise a stinker; or a cute story about Kermit's youth that has the potential to get younger kids into the Muppets, then so be it.

Kids got into The Muppet Show in the 70's and 80's because it was fantastic. Because it was Jim's. Remember how Eisner became dis-interested in the Henson property once it meant that it didn't include Jim's mind? Not very many kids became Muppet fans as a result of Muppets Tonight. To be fair, it didn't stay on the air very long, but it also wasn't anywhere near as outstanding as TMS. To be honest, I think all of the current Muppet writers need to move on to other areas.

The only way we're ever going to get anything like we had before 1990 would be if Jim came back. But that's never going to happen so we have to settle with what we've got. I'm sure there are plenty of creative minds out there who could breathe new life into the Muppets again -- writers, creative consultants, directors -- but so long as they keep churning out lesser than great stuff that doesn't make money, other studios aren't going to want to distribute it and thus no new minds can come in and save the day. That's why it feels like every Muppet production these days is a struggle.

Maybe that's just me.

In any case, as careful as I am with jumping onto the excited bandwagon for KSY for fear of being let down, I'm looking forward to it being, at best, a darn cute production that *most importantly* SELLS WELL.