monitor images on The Jim Henson Hour

[minor muppetz]

Does anybody know if the majority of background images on the monitors in The Jim Henson Hour were filmed just to be in the background, or if they are all from previous productions, or if they were all segments seen on The Jim henson Hour?

 

[jediX]

I don't want to jump out and say that they used TMS footage because I frankly cannot remember them ever using any. Puppets from TMS, perhaps, but I doubt they ever just simply took sketches from TMS and ran them on the monitors.

I personally don't think of any of them as "segments" since most were just little bits of puppets doing pointless things. However, as you probably remember, many of the actual sketches DID use monitor footage as lead-in/out bumpers.

 

[Xerus]

I remember in one episode, it showed Sam the Eagle in one of the huge monitors giving some kind of lecture in silence. While in a lower monitor, it showed those tiny frogs from Fraggle Rock dancing around. Then Sam suddenly found one of those frogs on his shoulder. It makes me wonder what kind of lecture Sam was giving.

 

[minor muppetz]

Yeah, it is weird that they just filmed a few seconds of Muppets doing random things just for the monitors. I've seen pictures from the Monster Telethon episode that showed a shot of Luncheon Counter Monster that was part of the telethon. Obviously, any images that had characters (Jim Henson, the guest star, etc.) interacting with characters in the controll room were made for those particular scenes. Also, in The Secrets of The Muppets, there is a scene where a monitor shows behind th cenes footage of the Rockin' Robin number from the Jean Pierre-Rampa episode of The Muppet Show, and that wasn't the main focus of any scene in that episode.

 

[Vic Romano]

There were definately clips from TMS, and I may even be bold enough to say that memory brings to mind SS skits as well and FR.

 

[MuppetDude]

I think there was even black and white footage of a monster eating a computer (from Ed Sullivan). There was also at least one video that featured SS's bluish gray turkey puppet (from FTB). Some even showed some specially filmed stuff for the show's monitors (like Lips inspecting his trumpet, a woman singing opera underwater, etc.) I don't know if TMS segments were featured (some of the clips looked brand new to me).

By the way, those "little frogs" are Inkspots.

 

[jediX]

I'll have to do some inspection this weekend, then.

 

[minor muppetz]

I know I'm bumping an old thread, but after seeing all the episodes, I've noticed that, while a lot of monitor footage could have easily just been the performers playing with the puppets, there's also a lot that seem to be a bit planned. Like one episode (I think "Power") that showed a monitor with a bunch of human feet upside-down in the air.