Little Muppet Monsters Revelation...

[tygerbug]

"That is definitely Kathy Mullen performing Wilhemina."

 

[tygerbug]

 

[Mo Frackle]

Thanks for restoring this!

A couple of comments on the "Muppets, Babies, and Monsters" intro.

- If I'm not mistaken, the intro is supposed to begin with Boo informing Tug that he's on television. The copy you used (the same one that's been circulating for years, I assume) opens a few seconds after that. You can just barely hear the last bit of Boo's line at the very beginning.
- I noticed you used a clearer copy of the "Muppet Babies" theme for their second appearance in the intro. Personally, I would have kept the version already included, as it seems to be a different recording of the theme (you can hear Russi Taylor a little more clearly in this version).

 

[tygerbug]

It's very hard to tell when the Muppets, Babies and Monsters intros actually begin. I only have one tape of these, and in all cases the recording cuts in with the pre-intro already in progress. Episodes 2 and 3 use Muppet Babies scenes before the intro. No idea how much of the scenes were actually shown.

I could add Boo's line to the edit, though it sounds like there's some sort of music over the first line as well, which I'd have to remove.

It's that music which made me simply cut the intro the way I have it already -- as it suggests the intro just started.

I could probably edit the theme both ways. What you're hearing is a hodgepodge already, as I cut in a clearer "Little Muppet Monsters" theme as well. The existing copies leave something to be desired, qualitywise.

 

[tygerbug]

34 minutes in -- an unaired scene or three from Little Muppet Monsters, in the best quality I've seen for this. My own copy is worse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=aGJ1y_Qsa3g#t=2004

 

[minor muppetz]

It is so great to see that whole Saturday Morning Preview special. I guess there was a time when they did those kinds of specials every year, since there was one in 1984. I'd like to see the whole one of that, to know what rabbit was being referred to in that clip with the Muppet Babies voice cast (I assume Bugs Bunny, but it could have been someone else). In that clip in question, it's weird how Frank Welker said he was supposed to be Baby Kermit and not adult Kermit, as the voice he did before the correction doesn't sound like adult Kermit to me, or even different from his Baby Kermit voice. And that was a year before Little Muppet Monsters (can't remember off-hand if Welker's adult Kermit had any kind of voice difference.... Baby Kermit sounds nothing like Jim's/Steve's Kermit, yet every impression of Kermit is of the Muppet Babies version).

I wonder who performed the carrot in Gonzo's Talent Hunt. A YouTube commenter says it was Brian Meehl, but it doesn't sound like any Meehl voice I'm familiar with.

 

[Mo Frackle]

In that clip in question, it's weird how Frank Welker said he was supposed to be Baby Kermit and not adult Kermit, as the voice he did before the correction doesn't sound like adult Kermit to me, or even different from his Baby Kermit voice.

I have a feeling that scene was scripted. I honestly can't picture anyone telling Frank Welker how to do a voice.

I wonder who performed the carrot in Gonzo's Talent Hunt. A YouTube commenter says it was Brian Meehl, but it doesn't sound like any Meehl voice I'm familiar with.

As far as I know, Meehl didn't work on LMM (if he did, he didn't receive credit). I thought it might have been Noel MacNeal, but I'm not too familiar with his work to be sure.

 

[tygerbug]

Noel was on LMM; I could try to find out.

The preview special clips were definitely scripted, so not quite reflective of reality. I have both of them in full (they're torrented at several sites) but am trying to track down better quality copies (like that YT link). The Roddy Piper one is pretty wild, as you can see at that Youtube link.

I'll be uploading a restored episode 2 of LMM finally, and a corrected version of Little Mermaid's Island episode 1.

You'll be happy to hear that my "final" versions of all the aired LMM episodes don't use the DVD Muppet Babies theme anymore. I didn't "extend" the opening to MBM episode 1, but did extend the other two.

And yes, my restored versions of the Little Muppet Monsters/Muppets Babies and Monsters episodes 1 and 2 (and MBM titles for 3) are - largely - from the same tape that's been circulating for years, retransferred (as a much sharper copy) and heavily cleaned up digitally. I also had a second source for episode 1 that's laid in over the picture and used for all the footage missing from the other copy.

The "Muppets, Babies and Monsters" intros (and bits of the LMM intro) were a huge challenge. I combined all my - heavily damaged - sources for them into one video, and from there - after a couple of automated runs - I removed all the damage on a frame by frame basis. It was definitely an exercise in just how much can be wrong with 1 minute of video.

I've decided to be less perfectionist about episode 2 than I was about episode 1, and just put it out there with some damage present - though a lot of automated work has been done, and some manual work.

 

[tygerbug]

 

[minor muppetz]

As far as I know, Meehl didn't work on LMM (if he did, he didn't receive credit). I thought it might have been Noel MacNeal, but I'm not too familiar with his work to be sure.

I'm guessing that the YouTube commenter was just guessing (then again, I know that Brian Meehl does have an official website, and has answered fan e-mail in the past). But one thing to keep in mind is that the unaired episodes (that we've seen) don't have end credits. So if it was him or a performer who didn't perform in other episodes (or all the episodes), I wonder if he would have been credited for that. It seems like most of the credits for Muppet Babies and Muppets, Babies, and Monsters were the same from episode-to-episode per season (the only exception I know of being the credits for the various clips used on Muppet Babies).