Little Muppet Monsters Revelation...

[Bridget]

So basically, they gave up on LMM because of the fact that MB had high ratings? And they decided to just go fourth with double episodes?

 

[Slackbot]

So basically, they gave up on LMM because of the fact that MB had high ratings? And they decided to just go fourth with double episodes?

That's what the network decided.

 

[Drtooth]

So basically, they gave up on LMM because of the fact that MB had high ratings? And they decided to just go fourth with double episodes?

And that the episodes were late. Networks don't have patience for that kind of thing. That's mostly why John K was fired from Ren and Stimpy. The episodes were overdue and well over budget. Then you look at the Mighty Mouse cartoon he was part of in the 1980's, and they had to fill several episodes with clip shows and music videos of old Terrytoons to keep on budget and schedule. Heck, that's why Filmation cartoons got the look they did. That's why a lot of weekday cartoon shows from the 80's had strings of terribly written episodes rushed out to fill up the syndication requirements.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Well, whatever the reason- what's done is done. I just want to see "Little Muppet Monsters" on DVD. (Of course, I'd love to see all of "Muppet Babies" on DVD along with it.)-I mean, - wait, no smilie for Skeeter? Oh well...lol- I wonder what smilie Nanny could get? Green, stripey socks?

 

[Drtooth]

Whatever has been finished is lost forever. There's those 3 completed episodes, and they have to exist somewhere... but I don't think anyone kept the completed live action segments, and there's no telling how many of the animated segments were completed in full. It would be amazing if Disney were somehow able to cobble together the rest of the episodes and release them based on what they have in their possession (if anything), but I'd rather they actually find a way to release the last 2 seasons of The Muppet Show first.

Though I wish there was some way to get a hold of the animation cels used. Japanese produced shows usually have pretty affordable (even cheap) cels if you look for them. If they're a big brand name (Say Disney or any big name Japanese series) you'll really have to pay a lot for them... but I got three of them for under 40 bucks. But I'm feverishly looking for Little Muppet Monsters cels, preferably the Pigs in Space cartoons.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

but I'd rather they actually find a way to release the last 2 seasons of The Muppet Show first.

Totally agree on that. Season 4 and Season 5 of The Muppet Show on DVD should be Disney's top priority as far as DVD releases go. (Or I'd like them to be anyway.)
After that, I'd like to see Muppets Tonight get released to DVD. But somewhere down the road after those- definitely- anything at all that can be released on video for "Little Muppet Monsters" would be incredible. And the MuppeTelevision segments of "The Jim Henson Hour"- still want to see that. Thankfully, at least some of the specials and all of "The Storyteller" segments have made their way to DVD- but there is still a wealth of material out there yet to make its way out to the public......

 

[minor muppetz]

I never thought about the possibility of the unaired Little Muppet Monster segments no longer existing or being in storage. I'd like to think that they'd still exist, but I don't think there's anything officially confirmed as to whether they do or not. The Jim Henson Company clearly saved a lot of unaired pilots and pitches for shows that never made it past the pilot stages (though the Cinderella pilot was missing from the archives until recently). In the Red Book post that announced that the company found the long-lost Cinderella pilot, it was said that Jim Henson seemingly saved everything (though it seems he didn't save the deleted scenes from The Muppet Movie and most likely Great Muppet Caper, I know that Craig Shemin confirmed when he was interviewed for The MuppetCast in 2008 that he often searched for but could never find any deleted scenes from The Muppet Movie).

When it comes to the uncompleted animation, I wonder if it was Henson or Marvel who kept the storyboards, pencil tests, voice recordings, and so on. Or if both companies would have copies of everything.

 

[wiley207]

If I recall, 1985 was a pretty busy year for Marvel Productions. In addition to "Muppets Babies and Monsters," this was also when "G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero" became a main syndicated series (65 episodes in the first season!), and there was also the second season of "Transformers," and I think "Jem" as well, along with the Transformers movie being in production at the time. So you can't really blame Marvel for falling behind a bit.
The mid-1980s were when Marvel Productions was at its busiest, but 1985 may have been the busiest for them.

 

[Drtooth]

It wasn't so much Marvel. They were the production company. The true problem was the outsourcing to the animation studio TOEI. And even without the American cartoon productions, they had lots of their own series at the time. Marvel may have been short handed on oversight, but the true problem was overloading an animation studio. They did not yet outsource to Taiwan or South Korea yet.

 

[wiley207]

That would make sense. All those Marvel shows I mentioned were also animated by TOEI, and aside from those they were probably also busy with their animes, so I can't blame them for having such a large workload. It wasn't until 1986-1987 when they began working with AKOM in Korea, though I don't think Marvel began outsourcing to Taiwan (i.e. Wang Film Productions/Cuckoo's Nest Studios) until the early 1990s. (LOTS of companies were using Wang/Cuckoo's Nest in the 1980s and 1990s!)

At least they didn't hire Kennedy Cartoons to work on the final season of "Muppet Babies." That weird bouncy style (like their "Tiny Toon Adventures," "Darkwing Duck" and some of their "Goof Troop" work) would have been WAY out of place with the Babies. And even there, Warner had numerous problems with Kennedy, firing them after the first season of "Tiny Toon Adventures" (the studio quickly found work with Disney, whom seemed satisfied with them.)