Muppet Babies DVD Box Sets

[GonzoLeaper]

So I guess Disney basically needs to make a ton of phone calls to make this happen. I understand that artists all need to be paid for their work, certainly. I just don't know why it has to be so hard to negotiate agreements. All of the different parties involved need to find some way to work together and try to cut out some of the red tape so that it doesn't have to be a hassle everytime a company wants to release something to DVD.
I don't know what the answer is, but while I can understand the concerns of making sure everyone get what's rightfully theirs, I also understand the frustrations of the consumers who can't understand why these parties can't figure something out and get these great shows on DVD. It's a shame that, ironically, the artistry of the show gets lost in trying to pay all the artists and copyright owners.

 

[MelissaY1]

So I guess Disney basically needs to make a ton of phone calls to make this happen. I understand that artists all need to be paid for their work, certainly. I just don't know why it has to be so hard to negotiate agreements. All of the different parties involved need to find some way to work together and try to cut out some of the red tape so that it doesn't have to be a hassle everytime a company wants to release something to DVD.
I don't know what the answer is, but while I can understand the concerns of making sure everyone get what's rightfully theirs, I also understand the frustrations of the consumers who can't understand why these parties can't figure something out and get these great shows on DVD. It's a shame that, ironically, the artistry of the show gets lost in trying to pay all the artists and copyright owners.

Well, you'd understand it's a lot of tug of war if you were in the industry. I try to negotiate with my clients on a daily basis. Some are easy as pie to deal with, others, it's like pulling teeth and sometimes things happen, sometimes they don't.

 

[Drtooth]

Well, the good news is there are a LOT of episodes in the last season that don't have such clips to renegotiate...

Bad news is, those episodes tend to stink. Except who's tale is it anyway and Sing a Song of Heroes.

All and all, if these things WERE to happen, we better not get syndication edited versions.

 

[MelissaY1]

Well, the good news is there are a LOT of episodes in the last season that don't have such clips to renegotiate...

Bad news is, those episodes tend to stink. Except who's tale is it anyway and Sing a Song of Heroes.

All and all, if these things WERE to happen, we better not get syndication edited versions.

I'd like to see the later ones as I watched it earlier in the series. I never saw when Bean Bunny and Statler & Waldorf show up.

 

[Drtooth]

They're good... they're good... the animation's an eyesore, though. And that's sadly literal when it comes to how they drew Kermit at some points. But they're not as good as some of the ones produced in the beginning or middle of the series.

Still... wonder what technicality allowed some episodes to go out with DVD's that came with plush. I forever will kick myself for not getting Baby Gonzo with the first Star Wars episode

 

[Redsonga]

I just need a DVD with Nanny's Day Off on it, it was my favorite episode ..That, and maybe the one where one of them is afraid of the dark...I forget what that's called...

 

[unclematt]

I have been gone awhile... What are the odds of this actually happeneing?

 

[dwmckim]

To quote Talking Heads, "Same as it ever was". It's inevitable we'll get Muppet Babies on dvd someday - but not for a couple years at earliest. The main reason we don't have any Muppet Babies stuff now is not so much because of rights clearances - but because the climax of a years-in-the-making Muppets relaunch is about to happen and they need to first get the classic Muppets (as their true selves) back in public consciousness before they bring back anything related to the Babies. There was a whole generation that grew up thinking the Muppets WERE the Babies (when the show was on the air and no other regular Muppet production was) It's going to take time for the movie and its aftermath to pound it home that (a) the Disney Muppet gang is not the Elmo and Big Bird group and (b) the Muppets are these felt all-ages characters and not the Muppet Babies. For those reasons alone, i just don't see the Muppet Babies vault being reopened til 2014 at the earliest. They're really a sensitive timebomb that has to be handled with extreme care before being unleashed again before causing mass destruction (and i'm not just talking about their diapers)

 

[unclematt]

To quote Talking Heads, "Same as it ever was". It's inevitable we'll get Muppet Babies on dvd someday - but not for a couple years at earliest. The main reason we don't have any Muppet Babies stuff now is not so much because of rights clearances - but because the climax of a years-in-the-making Muppets relaunch is about to happen and they need to first get the classic Muppets (as their true selves) back in public consciousness before they bring back anything related to the Babies. There was a whole generation that grew up thinking the Muppets WERE the Babies (when the show was on the air and no other regular Muppet production was) It's going to take time for the movie and its aftermath to pound it home that (a) the Disney Muppet gang is not the Elmo and Big Bird group and (b) the Muppets are these felt all-ages characters and not the Muppet Babies. For those reasons alone, i just don't see the Muppet Babies vault being reopened til 2014 at the earliest. They're really a sensitive timebomb that has to be handled with extreme care before being unleashed again before causing mass destruction (and i'm not just talking about their diapers)

You make some very valid points. I agree 100% that they should be relaunched in their tru form before we unleash the babies. If the film is succesful do you think there is a chance of an updated MB cartoon franchise. Maybe with more characters, maybe in a new setting, maybe with the return of Sceeter.

 

[Drtooth]

To quote Talking Heads, "Same as it ever was". It's inevitable we'll get Muppet Babies on dvd someday - but not for a couple years at earliest. The main reason we don't have any Muppet Babies stuff now is not so much because of rights clearances - but because the climax of a years-in-the-making Muppets relaunch is about to happen and they need to first get the classic Muppets (as their true selves) back in public consciousness before they bring back anything related to the Babies. There was a whole generation that grew up thinking the Muppets WERE the Babies (when the show was on the air and no other regular Muppet production was) It's going to take time for the movie and its aftermath to pound it home that (a) the Disney Muppet gang is not the Elmo and Big Bird group and (b) the Muppets are these felt all-ages characters and not the Muppet Babies. For those reasons alone, i just don't see the Muppet Babies vault being reopened til 2014 at the earliest. They're really a sensitive timebomb that has to be handled with extreme care before being unleashed again before causing mass destruction (and i'm not just talking about their diapers)

That's the problem in a nutshell.... but to add to that, it's not like the kids who grew up with MB and the youngins they want to share it with aren't exactly getting any younger. MB kinda hurt the Muppet presence at the time, but it was also because it was the only Muppet production of the time that wasn't a TV special. I agree that getting them out now would screw things up (but so isn't NOT releasing the freaking season 4 already, dagnabbit), but when is a good time? Too much longer, DVD's will be out of there and the kids who would have had second hand appreciation for MB are going to be too old to appreciate it. And that's if the movie comes back a wise investment.

I suggest reintroducing them slowly... well after the movie as a line of Baby goods... diapers, bibs, stuff like that. Then slowly work in preschool toys and nostalgic T's THEN try to get the series out there in some form or another. The children of yesterday are the parents of today... and those children watched Muppet Babies. The best audience they could get will slowly begin to wipe out, leaving way to people who grew up with a certain Purple menace. That thought scares me half to death.