Muppet Wizard of Oz to film in September

[McFraggle]

I have never heard of "The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made", does any one know if you can buy it, and or what it is about?

I don't really know what it is about, but you won't be able to buy it, because it was never made.

 

[Janice_fershur]

Wizard of OZ News!

OK, here's an update I found!

http://www.accesshollywood.com/movies/3686596/detail.html

It states Queen Latifa, Quinten Tarantino and -- geez I forget whose playing Dorothy since it's a singer I'm not familiar with!-- Ashthia (sp??)

I love Queen Latifa (Auntie Em)! They don't say what roles Quinten or Piggy will be playing, but my thought is Quinten as the Wizard and Piggy trying to be Dorothy- she will be the cause of havoc for the movie... I hope they don't have the same writers as AVMC becuase I really did not find that 'muppet-like'. It was boring and disappointing: I love Pepe and Joan Cusack but Kermit and the main story was a bit 'blah'.

Just keeping you folks posted!

(Oh, this is my first post- Fer Shur Ya'll!)

 

[WOCKA2416]

I have never heard of "The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made", does any one know if you can buy it, and or what it is about?

I would seriously consider writing for the Muppets, but unfortunately no matter what I seem to do I just can not get a job with those guys. Not that I am a great writer, but I do know a lot about the Wizard of OZ.

I have heard that "The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made" features Gonzo directing an epic movie with the rest of the Muppets as the cast. However, he spends too much money on the beginning of the movie, so the production value becomes less and less as the movie goes on.

You've tried getting a job with the Muppets?? What have you done to try and get hired?

 

[WOCKA2416]

Y'know, normally I'd support anything, and I mean ANYTHING, that the Muppets would produce. But seriously, this "hip" spin on the old Wizard of Oz tale sounds horrible at best. The Muppets are capable of something so much better than what seems to be a poor man's remake of The Wiz. I honestly believed the Muppets would make a movie that would be incredibly faithful to the turn of the century fairytale of Oz. Obviously more modern and commercial heads are prevailing here, and inevitably, I'm extremely let down by what's to come. If the press releases are to be believed, this new special will be the biggest blow against the Muppets since their buyout by Disney. God, how I long for 1976....

I don't like the casting either, but you can't call it "The Wiz" just because some of the cast is black...We have no real specifics on what the story is!

 

[The Good Doctor]

Muppets OZ

First of, above and beyond the cast being African American the Wiz was a flop, that is to say the film with Michael Jackson and Diana Ross was a flop. Epic Unfeeling dance numbers that did not facilitate the plot or motivate the story, Mrs. Ross to old to be acting like a scared child, and NY as the back drop of the famed Emerald City made this film so bad. The audience white or black had a hard time relating tot he main characters, and the motivation to find the wizard was lost. You simply can’t replace the haunted forest with an underground subway station full of angry attack trashcans. Or Munchkins that are gafetie spray painted on the walls that come to life after the Witch of the East is dead. The stage version of the Wiz is much much better, because it uses the same type of things the MGM (vaudevillian) film used in terms of story, make up and design.

Muppets Wizard of OZ will flop, although will probably be a big hit in the African American community because of it'd big name stars. In that respect it seems to me that many will be willing to over look the story line and acting if the "sole" music is good. And I do not mean that in a negative or derogatory manner at all, I am sure that the music will be very good, and for some that will be enough.

L. Frank Baum had to front his own money to get The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Published. No one thought it would be a success, but it took the country by storm, and was hugely popular with children and adults. Every year fro Christmas for almost 20 years Baum wrote a new OZ book, and other Oz, and non OZ stories until his death in 1919. It is now 2004 and there have been hundreds of OZ films made both in live action as well as animated and puppet, but never in all these years has there been a story truly and solely based on Baum’s Book. Mostly because as much as its readers believe in the story, others do not. Felling that this very simple tale needs to be jazzed up, and changed to be better than what it is. Finding that home is in the heart and believing in yourself are not good enough values to stand alone, especially in todays world where old fashioned family vales are a thing of the past, and the family unite a feeble failing thing.

Lets face it the Muppets are no different, in the last 5 years we have seen the Muppets pull away from Family values, Using sexual humor and toilet jokes to convey real information. Fozzy Bear Picked his nose in Muppets from Space, and Sam the American Eagle checked out a bikini clad girl on the beach. Gonzo and one of those bears made reference to Cindy Crawford’s "Balloons" on Muppets to Night, which caused me to stop watching. Not to mention the spoof they did on bay watch with Mrs. Piggy and Andy and Randy pig who basically check out girls while Mrs. Piggy Drowned. The list goes on and on to Pepe making reference to securing a topless club license for the Muppet Theater in VMFC. So it is no surprise to me that they will attempt to take Baum’s Basic Story of OZ and make it something it is not. They need a film like Muppets Christmas Carol, the values can still be found in that film.

For those of you who are interested in How I applied for Jobs with the Muppets and the Letters I have written to them over the last 10-12 years you may contact me directly scarecrow34@hotmail.com If you have any other questions about The Wizard of OZ please let me know.

 

[WOCKA2416]

First of, above and beyond the cast being African American the Wiz was a flop, that is to say the film with Michael Jackson and Diana Ross was a flop. Epic Unfeeling dance numbers that did not facilitate the plot or motivate the story, Mrs. Ross to old to be acting like a scared child, and NY as the back drop of the famed Emerald City made this film so bad. The audience white or black had a hard time relating tot he main characters, and the motivation to find the wizard was lost. You simply can’t replace the haunted forest with an underground subway station full of angry attack trashcans. Or Munchkins that are gafetie spray painted on the walls that come to life after the Witch of the East is dead. The stage version of the Wiz is much much better, because it uses the same type of things the MGM (vaudevillian) film used in terms of story, make up and design.

Muppets Wizard of OZ will flop, although will probably be a big hit in the African American community because of it'd big name stars. In that respect it seems to me that many will be willing to over look the story line and acting if the "sole" music is good. And I do not mean that in a negative or derogatory manner at all, I am sure that the music will be very good, and for some that will be enough.

L. Frank Baum had to front his own money to get The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Published. No one thought it would be a success, but it took the country by storm, and was hugely popular with children and adults. Every year fro Christmas for almost 20 years Baum wrote a new OZ book, and other Oz, and non OZ stories until his death in 1919. It is now 2004 and there have been hundreds of OZ films made both in live action as well as animated and puppet, but never in all these years has there been a story truly and solely based on Baum’s Book. Mostly because as much as its readers believe in the story, others do not. Felling that this very simple tale needs to be jazzed up, and changed to be better than what it is. Finding that home is in the heart and believing in yourself are not good enough values to stand alone, especially in todays world where old fashioned family vales are a thing of the past, and the family unite a feeble failing thing.

Lets face it the Muppets are no different, in the last 5 years we have seen the Muppets pull away from Family values, Using sexual humor and toilet jokes to convey real information. Fozzy Bear Picked his nose in Muppets from Space, and Sam the American Eagle checked out a bikini clad girl on the beach. Gonzo and one of those bears made reference to Cindy Crawford’s "Balloons" on Muppets to Night, which caused me to stop watching. Not to mention the spoof they did on bay watch with Mrs. Piggy and Andy and Randy pig who basically check out girls while Mrs. Piggy Drowned. The list goes on and on to Pepe making reference to securing a topless club license for the Muppet Theater in VMFC. So it is no surprise to me that they will attempt to take Baum’s Basic Story of OZ and make it something it is not. They need a film like Muppets Christmas Carol, the values can still be found in that film.

For those of you who are interested in How I applied for Jobs with the Muppets and the Letters I have written to them over the last 10-12 years you may contact me directly scarecrow34@hotmail.com If you have any other questions about The Wizard of OZ please let me know.

You can't say a movie will flop when you know nothing about it! Maybe Muppets' Wizard of Oz will flop, but you can't state it as fact right now!

Also, I haven't noticed any change in humor of the Muppets. Jim Henson's characters on SNL were all raunchy and used sexual humor. There has always been some of that humor used with the Muppets.

 

[puppetsmith]

I'd have to agree with "The Good Doctor". I'm not a Muppet historian, but it seems to me, since the death of Jim and other key muppet people the Muppet characters are lost.

Nobody cares for a character like the originator of the character. Now, some of the Muppet characters seem to be hollow shells, their pre-established personalities exploited for profit, with no love for the characters or for their values shining through. This only adds to their decline in popularity - a sad, sad day.

 

[lowercasegods]

I don't like the casting either, but you can't call it "The Wiz" just because some of the cast is black...We have no real specifics on what the story is!

I'm simply going off the same information that everyone else has been given thus far. And thus far, a primarily black cast has been chosen. This alone would not be enough to make such connections, but given that this film will be a retelling of the Wizard of Oz, I think it's difficult to not make such comparisons. Now, I need to stress that I love the Wiz. I discovered the film when I was twelve, I own the video, the soundtrack, and have a very deep, emotional attachment to the movie. So my pessimism towards the Muppet Wizard of Oz isn't meant as a rip on The Wiz at all. My criticism comes from the fact that not only have their been far too many Oz interpretations, but that an urban Oz has already been done, and done better by Diana Ross and company (I haven't seen the stage version, so I'll withhold any opinions there 'til I do). So please, do not misinterpret my feelings as being racist or anything of the sort. I just feel that this Muppet Wizard of Oz could be better done using a fresh perspective rather than reusing an old scenario. Heck, for that matter, a Muppet film could be best done without using the Wizard of Oz at all. But the project's too far along for that kind of thinking, unfortunately.

 

[GelflingWaldo]

My criticism comes from the fact that not only have their been far too many Oz interpretations, but that an urban Oz has already been done, and done better by Diana Ross and company.

The Muppet version does not have an Urban Oz. In this version she lives in a Kansas trailer park. Just because it is a contemporary retelling of the story does not mean it will be anything like anyother versions before. Just because it takes place in 2004 instead of 1900 does not mean it will be like another "Wiz".

 

[McFraggle]

The Muppet version does not have an Urban Oz. In this version she lives in a Kansas trailer park. Just because it is a contemporary retelling of the story does not mean it will be anything like anyother versions before. Just because it takes place in 2004 instead of 1900 does not mean it will be like another "Wiz".

I doubt it will be an Urban Oz. Just because Ashanti and Queen Latifah are African-American does not mean that this is going to be more like "The Wiz." Instead I would say it will be more in the style of "MCC" and "MTI" where the Muppets send up the familiar story in their own unique way.