So do you think Muppet Babies will ever get a DVD release?

[Drtooth]

I think the original series started off pretty good, but like the toys went downhill after they started getting carried away.

I think it may have been because of the lame annoying other mutants like Napoleon Bonafrog and Leatherhead (and countless others) which ruined the show. Season one is still the best.

 

[FozzieBear]

You never know really, the Care Bears are back, and releasing new stuff as well, Muppet Babies COULD do really well, and parents who remember the series when they were young might buy the merchandise for their children, and Kermit is a household name so parents would probably get a baby kermit for their kids.

FozzieBear (Luke)

 

[frogboy4]

I really do think the Muppet Babies will return to the mainstream (not that I'm jumping up and down about it). I just hope Henson makes certain to keep backing classic Muppet characters.

I can see Best of the Muppet Babies DVDs released, but not full series sets. They haven't even done that with the Muppet Show yet. However, Time Life did have a questionaire about the babies a while back. They called several people who ordered the TMS DVDs.

 

[Drtooth]

I really do think the Muppet Babies will return to the mainstream (not that I'm jumping up and down about it). I just hope Henson makes certain to keep backing classic Muppet characters.

I believe so too... I mean we have had junk like Strawberry shortsheets and Care bears and My little Pony come back, I think it would be INSANE if MB, which was, unlike the other two, a qaulity show for children to watch, didn't...

Of course, DVD wise, the most DVD releases now are current sitcoms, or wierdo forgotten ones...

I'd say MB should get a DVD before "Alice" does, and if not they can kiss my grits, whatever that means...

 

[Luke]

Well obviously it'll return to the mainstream, you could make trained seal dancing popular with the public with the size media push Henson and the licensee's are about give Muppet Babies. The question is more will it have much of an impact - i'd say no, i think it's going to be quite a mediocre return although i'm sure it'll be financially worthwhile for them and really, thats all that matters. Sure Turtles and Care Bears are back, but the return of these properties began quite some time ago, the bandwagon is full and Henson are coming onboard slightly too late, although the wide demographs they are targetting will give them more chance. I'm sure people will watch it, and buy some of the stuff, but at the same time i don't think we are talking "Teletubbies" or "Bob The Builder" status either. Agreed totally, very important to keep the Muppet puppets visible and working during the Muppet Babies push.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm sure people will watch it, and buy some of the stuff, but at the same time i don't think we are talking "Teletubbies" or "Bob The Builder" status either. Agreed totally, very important to keep the Muppet puppets visible and working during the Muppet Babies push.

Teletubbies is pretty much dead over here. My PBS stations stopped running it... at least for the summer. Bob the Builder interrest seems to be cooling as well. But I'm excited that we'll FINALLY have Plushes and figures of Skeeter and Scooter, and hopefully more of Rowlf. And since Bunsen and Beaker have hit cult status, maybe we'll see them shortly.

 

[Baby Rowlf]

To be honest, I don't think Muppet Babies is going to be what folks are hoping for. Just like many other things these days, the Babies have been watered down. Baby Kermit doesn't wear a sailor suit anymore, Baby Piggy wears overalls, and the characters have been lowered from 10 to 5 Babies. Personality-wise, they're toddlers, but act more like real little kids rather than their silly, weird, imaginative personalities.

Muppet Babies used to challenge kids. "Hey, look what we can do with OUR imaginations, what can you do with yours?" Now they just teach real babies to outgrow diapers and are way too tame and simple...

Oh, and did I mention the lack of Baby Rowlf? it seems he's even being shadowed by Scooter and Skeeter! Those two were in the latest CD-ROM game and featured quite prominently. But Baby Rowlf? He was nowhere to be seen!

Which leads me to the following question: What's wrong with him?

 

[Luke]

Teletubbies is pretty much dead over here. My PBS stations stopped running it... at least for the summer. Bob the Builder interrest seems to be cooling as well

The point is that they made a big splash at the start though and it continued for a while. Believe me, you can promote the heck out of something and get people to look for a minute, but it's a whole other thing to get them to stay tuned, and get into the brand enough to go and buy merchandise. I'm sure you're excited, as most Muppet fans would be, but i suspect Henson maybe hoping for a little bit more than this, especially at pre-school. That's a major market to hit - maybe they've got something new up their sleeves 'Muppet Babies' wise that we don't know about yet and obviously their hope is that the kids will become familiar with the characters and then get with the puppets as time goes on, it's like cross promotion for the main Muppet brand - but from what i've been told about pre-school licensing and marketing, and seen how things have caught on with kids over here in the UK (and lets face it, most of the hit pre-school shows over the last couple years have been UK produced) i think maybe Henson would be better off trying another new and original idea like 'Hoobs' for the pre-schoolers and have just done a few Muppet Babies nostalgia products for the big kids like us. As mentioned though, if they did that (and they may well be launching more original pre-school brands) they wouldn't have this chance of bringing a new generation to the Muppet brand, it's like weening kids on Kermit so they'll have a business left in 20 years time when we all can't be bothered. It's a smart idea, and it's not costing them much to try it - i'm just not sure it'll take off anywhere other than Hot Topic but still, worth a go and they might as well use everything they've got to get the company sorted in some way.

You have to remember that Muppet Babies was made years ago as pretty much a straight cartoon with a Henson-ized educational theme but nowadays kids programming is a lot different - for a start you've got about 20 times more psycologists and analysts advising producers, experts on theming colors and sounds. It's a whole different market - if kids have grown up on this kind of stuff, i think it's a hard thing to get them to watch something that doesn't have the elements and structuring they are used to. Kids are smart nowadays - it'll be like getting someone to give up smoking.

 

[Drtooth]

ACK!!!! A new series???? They're gonna make it as homoginized and rotten as Looney Toons Babies? YUCK!!!!

I agree... I would love to see Baby Rowlf again. I hope they plan Baby Rowlf stuff later, along with Bunsen and Beaker... I mean, they ARE cult characters, after all.

But I would love to see 3 volumes of the DVD's (unless they just pilfer them off the Disney released videos... in that case fuhgeddaboutit!) the first 2 having classic episodes (like the first Star Wars parody) and the last one having later episodes (with Janice, Statler, Waldorf, and Bean)

 

[Baby Rowlf]

ACK!!!! A new series???? They're gonna make it as homoginized and rotten as Looney Toons Babies? YUCK!!!!

No, but they have all these baby books out now and they're really pushing the infant toy line and thus the Babies aren't recognizable from the Babies we grew up with. Good god, they even changed the Muppet Babies logo!!