Peek-a-Boo

[Sandpiper]

Lately I've been a bit curious about the Play-Along Video entitled "Peek-a-Boo". I rented it once a long time ago and hadn't remembered too much about it. I remembered it having only a small amount of Muppets and not being too good. And, not counting Fraggle Rock (or certain Sesame Street episodes, specials, and videos), it was the first Muppet production I remember seeing that didn't include Kermit. Though I didn't remember it being too good, I had been a bit curious about it recently. Muppet Wiki doesn't have much info about the video on it's page.

But then I found it on YouTube, in three parts (though the person who uploaded it didn't include the credits, and the same can be said for the other Play-Along Videos found on YouTube). Here are the three parts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBWDCL_FEac

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaINTk14pJ8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-J28T3aTNw&feature=related

I don't know how to say this, but it is both more interesting than I had remembered it AND more boring than I remembered. I don't know how that's possible. Some things seemed a little bit cool, including some of the visuals... But it doesn't really have a plot or much dialogue. Seeing video footage of live babies and kids playing can have limited interest. I did think it was cool when they show a kid in a swing, where the kid appears partially transparent.

For a long time I had only remembered this having a bunny and a bear. Does anybody know whether that bear was used in any other Henson productions? But I didn't remember it having Penguins. Another somewhat cool sequence showed a kid pulling a rope, which had a number of toys from The Christmas Toy attached (includign Ding-a-Ling, Cruiser, and that duck on a boat). I saw this special a few months before I first saw TCT. It seems like Kevin Clash either really liked rabbits or was typecast as rabbits; He performed the bunny in this, and also performed Professor D. Rabbit, Benny, and Billy Bunny. In fact, I bet that if this video was made a few years later it would have had Bean or Bily instead of a generic white rabbit.

This video doesn't really have a plot or much dialogue. Most of the dialogue is just the bunny saying "peek" at times. The video box said it was intended for ages 3 and under, so I guess there wasn't much thought in interesting adults as well as kids like other Muppet productions. But it has two songs that sound like adult contemporaries, at the beginning and end. And those songs are really great. I wonder who sung them (it sounds to me like Camille Bonora might have been the female vocalist).

While for really young kids, I somehow couldn't see much from this being used on Sesame Street.

I bit of trivia about Peek-a-boo. Kevin Clash's niece is in the video. I watched their taping segment with the rabbit and it was amazing how the minute he put the puppet on, she almost completely forgot he was there. But if you look closely, you can see her glance downward several times at her uncle during the segment.

 

[minor muppetz]

I still have publicity copies of most of the play-a-longs, but no VCR haha

Would this have been one of the publicity copies?:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjwmi5_jim-henson-s-play-along-video_shortfilms

 

[Sandpiper]

I believe so! Can't check (no VCR), bit I remember Kermit in the beginning. good find!

 

[minor muppetz]

Do you happen to know what the "publicity copies" were for? When I found that online I wondered what it was recorded for (it sort of looks like an informercial for the video... Was it a pitch to get retailers to buy them?).

 

[Neros Urameshi]

The only "Wow! You're a Cartoonist" part on YouTube is when Kermit draws different animals. I really wanna see the parts with Tatyana Ali.

 

[minor muppetz]

The only "Wow! You're a Cartoonist" part on YouTube is when Kermit draws different animals. I really wanna see the parts with Tatyana Ali.

Long ago I saw the song Pop sang on YouTube (I think it's called "It's Your Cartoon So Anything Goes"). Not sure if it's still there.

One thing I'd like to see again is the sequence teaching stick figures. I think I've read that a Muppet character taught that, but I don't remember any Muppets showing PJ and Kai-Lee how to draw stick figures. I recall the artist being played by a real person (err... yeah, the Muppet performers are real people, but I sort of mean a live actor... but also don't know if he was an actor).
I'd like to see all these reissued. I'm guessing Disney owns the rights to the ones with main Muppet characters (I wonder if Disney owns "Neat Stuff", which doesn't have any familiar Muppet Show characters, but is hosted by PJ and Kai-Lee, who are in all the ones with main characters). Some time ago I posted a request on the Jim Henson Company facebook page for the Henson Company YouTube channel to post a clip from Peek-a-Boo, and was told that the clip wasn't formatted for uploading but they'd keep it in mind for the future. I guess that means Henson still owns that one. I wonder if Lionsgate has the video rights (though I wonder what the chances of THAT one getting a DVD release is). I also haven't ever seen the linking footage from the Mother Goose Stories video on YouTube, and will be surprised if clips get posted by anyone other than Henson anytime soon. Though I have seen that some full episodes were uploaded by fans after Lionsgate got the Henson license.

 

[minor muppetz]

I just found that Peek-a-Boo is currently on YouTube again, but you have to pay to watch it. I wonder if it's on Netflix, iTunes, or anything else like that.

 

[minor muppetz]

I also just found that Peek-A-Boo is available on iTunes.

The years since The Jim Henson Company sold the Muppets to Disney have been interesting regarding video releases. When Hit! had the license they released a few productions Henson hadn't given much attention to and might not have at the time (Henson hadn't given Fraggle Rock much attention in the last few years of owning the Muppets, and since 2004 they've actively been selling merchandise and making new productions with the characters). When when Lionsgate got the license they released some of the last things Jim Henson did (many of which featured Muppet characters, and uncut at that), and now this current company (I think it's called Vivindi) has been making some of the company's past direct-to-video releases available for online viewing and streaming (I wonder if they'll get physical releases). We've gotten Fraggle Songs (which was a bonus feature on the first Fraggle Rock DVD) and Doozer Music, which hadn't been on the Fraggle Rock season sets, and now Peek-a-Boo is available. I wonder if the Mother Goose Stories Play-Along or Billy Bunny's Animal Songs are far behind (or maybe they are available and I just don't know it yet).

 

[Drtooth]

Like I said before... Jim didn't want to be pigeon holed as a kiddy performer...

and yet, he did Peek-a-Boo.

 

[minor muppetz]

Like I said before... Jim didn't want to be pigeon holed as a kiddy performer...

and yet, he did Peek-a-Boo.

Well, I'm pretty sure he didn't actually perform in it, though I'm sure he did have some behind-the-scenes role (probably executive producer). The Red Book once showed his drawings of ideas for "baby activities" for the video.