THE MUPPETS at Madame Tussauds??

[markit]

Following the Kermit appearance at HMV, London this week, a friend of mine who works at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in London got in touch, asking me what I thought about the idea of having the Muppets at MT!! And whether she should pitch to her boss about the possibility of having a Muppet display there ?

I have to say my first thoughts were that it was a rather strange idea, firstly, obviously re-creating the Muppets out of wax and silicone would more than likely look horrible, and secondly I explained how protective Disney & the Henson company are over the Muppets and quite rightly so, and we all know how much difficulty various companies ran into with trying to re-produce the Muppets for the MR/EFX photo replica line..so I explained it was a LONG SHOT!! But still an interesting idea.

She explained that MT don't just have humans models there, they have Shrek for example, and Disney have given permission for the Marvel characters to be immortalised in Wax for a time, including the Incredible Hulk, so perhaps the idea of a Muppet display isn't that out of the ordinary...

My question is...IS THIS SOMETHING THAT MUPPET FANS WOULD LIKE TO SEE?

And what are your thoughts on the concept of a Muppet display at Madame Tussauds so that you can have your photograph taken with your favourite Muppets.
Obviously it's not the same as the real thing, but not everyone has the opportunity to pose with the Muppets, or had the chance to see the Jim Henson's Fantastic World Exhibition.

Previously, public votes and popularity have had a lot to do with who goes into MT, so presumably they would need to see that there's potential and the demand for it.

Thanks for your time

 

[KingR76]

Personally?

If its not Steve Whitmire performing Kermit then its not Kermit.
If its not Eric Jacobson performing Fozzie then its not Fozzie...

Lets put it another way, I'm a Fan of Harrison Ford and Mr. Spielberg, and I have no idea if they are on display at MT or even if theres a waxwork of them. Would I go and have a look at them? Nope. Because they're not the real deal.

I suppose others may like the idea of the Muppets at MT but no, just no, for me the idea would be in effect taking the essence away from those who DID/DO build the Muppets.

Sorry if I seem a bit too passionate about this, but I wouldnt be happy myself about this - unless there was DIRECT communication with Disney/Henson associates and that the appropriate people were consulted etc.

 

[Reevz1977]

I would love the idea of Madame Tussauds creating a waxwork of Jim Henson performing Kermit - the would be something I would pay to see.

 

[markit]

No, no, don't apologise that's the kind of response I expected , I feel exactly the same.

When she first suggested it to me, I was very passionate in my response saying it was a terrible idea, but then when you think about it, so few people get the opportunity to meet the likes of Spielberg, Harrison Ford, and certainly not the Muppets, so that's why Madame Tussuads is such a big business.

And by being immortalised it keeps the Muppets in the minds of millions of MT visitors on a daily basis, but not that that's a problem right now, because I think Disney has done an amazing job marketing the Muppets and getting them back where they belong in the mainstream.

 

[markit]

Now THAT is an amazing idea Reevs1977 I would definitely LOVE to see a Jim Henson waxwork.

 

[Slackbot]

I would love the idea of Madame Tussauds creating a waxwork of Jim Henson performing Kermit - the would be something I would pay to see.

I would love, love, love to see that. It would be a great tribute. However, I am all but certain that it will never happen, as Disney has been very adamantly avoiding showing the characters as puppets. In the past year, have we ever seen the puppeteers working the puppets, puppeteer bloopers in the DVD, etc? Seems they don't want to "break the illusion" that the Muppets are real beings.

I'd love to be proven wrong...

 

[markit]

True, good point Slackbot! I was really disappointed there wasn't an actual behind the scenes making of the movie on the DVD, anyone know if there are any videos out there of that ?

 

[Muppet fan 123]

I wouldn`t mind it, truthfully...

 

[Kermieuk]

Interesting idea?? I'm not sure! I'd rather the jim Henson exhibits travelled to the UK??!

But at Madame tussauds at least more people would see them and get to see just how small kermit is!!

So cute!

Chris

 

[Beauregard]

I'd LOVE to see that! In fact, it might be a reason for me to visit the waxworks, since I've not been before! To have such a photo-opportunity would be great. And, don't forget, many of the other wax-works have recreated fabrics and so on and look amazing, so there's no reason to imagine that Kermit/Piggy etc would look all waxy and slimy.

To say, "Hey, they aren't the real deal" is kinda like saying, "The Muppets Hollywood Star isn't visiting the real Muppets." Of course its not, but its a HUGE honor to be included!

I'm actually surprised to realize that the Muppets ARN'T there already.