The Muppets at D23 Expo 2011

[Drtooth]

Any merch news?

Other than an ornament, nothing. I am REALLY hoping everything else is kept under wraps. Season 4 seems to still be copyright blocked.

 

[RockSTAR girl]

No merch news, but that was Disney across the board. No consumer product panels at all this year :/ Just a few sneak peeks at the companies booths... ie Ornament at Hallmark.

 

[RockSTAR girl]

Friday was a really nice tribute to Jim. It started with Lisa walked out by Sweetums, talking about her dad (he would bring Kermit to the dinner table, he involved them in his work, they grew up in a creative household) then she said her favorite character from her father was Rowlf because he was her father's first famous character. She talked a little about that time in his life and how significant Rowlf was. Then talked about his later accomplishments ie Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, Labrynthe, etc. She then discussed that her father's dream was for his art to live on after his life and that that is what is happening now... Then a montage of old video footage came on. After the Montage, Brian came out and did "I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face" which started off confusing people, but by the end had everyone laughing hysterically. Huge applause. After this, Brian stepped up to the podium and gave a nice speech. He was trying to think of something that people didnt know about his dad and remembered that his father couldn't do anything without making sound effects. Like clicking noise when handing you a pen, or pouring syrup noise when serving up pancakes. Then he told a story about the energy on Jim's sets and how warm and fun they were. That every episode of the Muppet Show on set in London Jim would ask for overtime to shoot, they would tell him no because they had NEVER given overtime on that set. Finally on the last episode of Muppet Show, they walked up and told Jim he could have 15 minutes of overtime. This being a big gesture to Jim and showing that Jim had such an effect on these people he worked with. Then Brian had a hilarious moment where he thanked the "Jim Henson Company" for the award... which he quickly changed to "Walt Disney Company" (I think he genuinely had a slip up, but the audience ate it up as a dig that Jim should own the Muppets or be as big of a company as WD or anything passive aggressive you can think of lol) Anyway, he and Lisa accepted the Legends award and then we got that lovely Kermit and Rowlf Rainbow Connection moment... which tied back to Rowlf being Lisa's favorite. The legends ceremony was really the weekends highlight for me. So wonderful.

 

[beaker]

Sounds like 2009 was the big epic Muppet takeover of D23, so wish I had gone to that. But the videos I saw of the JH tribute looked amazing. Ya cant be a fan and not tear up a bit at the Kermit/Rowlf duet.

Well I guess it will be the sort of thing where we walk into a retailer store or Disney mall store and will see the new products as they debut. I am worried there won't be much merchandise(hate how Disney abandoned happy meals as Disney Mcd toys were the best) but am really hoping

Regarding D23, is it possible they didnt announce a single Muppet future project or thing because ALL hinges on the success or fail of the movie?

 

[minor muppetz]

Regarding D23, is it possible they didnt announce a single Muppet future project or thing because ALL hinges on the success or fail of the movie?

I've heard that the marketing push starts six weeks before the movie comes out, but that doens't mean they couldn't announce more of the tie-in merchandise (well they did announce next years ornament).

 

[Duke Remington]

I have a question for anyone who saw the "The Muppets" clips at the Walt Disney Studios presentation:

Did either of those clips include any other minor characters that we haven't seen in any of the trailers? If so, do you remember who was there?

 

[Drtooth]

Well I guess it will be the sort of thing where we walk into a retailer store or Disney mall store and will see the new products as they debut. I am worried there won't be much merchandise(hate how Disney abandoned happy meals as Disney Mcd toys were the best) but am really hoping

I am really annoyed by that, though it stands to be noted... I think Marvel gets some sort of exception to the rule... but then again, it's mainly for movie merchandise. And even then, Captain America went to Dunkin Donuts of all places. Of course, BK was still doing Transformers 3 at the time anyway.

Seriously, there was a Marvel heroes toy last year and I got most of them. I guess now that they're supposedly shoving fruit like it or not into the things, giving you less fries and all that, maybe Diz will rethink it.

 

[Mupp]

"Then Brian had a hilarious moment where he thanked the "Jim Henson Company" for the award... which he quickly changed to "Walt Disney Company" (I think he genuinely had a slip up, but the audience ate it up as a dig that Jim should own the Muppets or be as big of a company as WD or anything passive aggressive you can think of lol)"

Oh?

Are you a mind reader?
Unless you actually spoke to anyone about it, you cannot make that claim.

I've seen that clip, and it was most definitely a slip up. It happens to everybody. Its no big deal.

Brain Henson was one of the of the people who GAVE Disney the rights to the Muppets, plus he is generally NOT a cynical or mean-spirited person (unlike most Muppet message board fans), and he is a lot more patient and humble than most of the message board Muppet fans.

 

[TSSD]

"Then Brian had a hilarious moment where he thanked the "Jim Henson Company" for the award... which he quickly changed to "Walt Disney Company" (I think he genuinely had a slip up, but the audience ate it up as a dig that Jim should own the Muppets or be as big of a company as WD or anything passive aggressive you can think of lol)"

Oh?

Are you a mind reader?
Unless you actually spoke to anyone about it, you cannot make that claim.

I've seen that clip, and it was most definitely a slip up. It happens to everybody. Its no big deal.

Brain Henson was one of the of the people who GAVE Disney the rights to the Muppets, plus he is generally NOT a cynical or mean-spirited person (unlike most Muppet message board fans), and he is a lot more patient and humble than most of the message board Muppet fans.

Um... He said that it WAS a slip up. He was just saying that the REST OF THE AUDIENCE thought it was him making a dig about how JHC should own the Muppets. Calm down, dude, and stop insulting people on these forums. Once again, if you hate forums and the people on them so much, then get off of them, instead of insulting us.

 

[Drtooth]

No merch news, but that was Disney across the board. No consumer product panels at all this year :/ Just a few sneak peeks at the companies booths... ie Ornament at Hallmark.

On the other hand... now that I think about it, we had those couple things that they mentioned in 2009 that never came out. And of course, stuff at ToyFair that was never produced/probably withheld for the movie. So, maybe not saying what to expect isn't a bad thing if some of it doesn't happen as planned.