The New Henson.com

[Mark Filton]

Uh, yes there WAS info on Jim at the old website.

And NO the Henson company did not make teen sex comedies like Touchstone DOES and Disney also made the stupid Fahrenhiet 911

And NO, the Henson kids had TONS of money. They just said that they wanted to do other things. So they do them now. Bully for them

It is their right to sell to a maker of teenage sex comedies and film for a lover of terrorists, but I do not have to be happy about it

Seeing a "HENSON" website that refers to Kermit like he is a taboo subject is just sad Sad SAD

What is Disney without Mickey and the gang? What is HEnson without the frog Kermit? Why bother?

Nobody knows the future, and we do not know the motivation for sure. Disney company stinks, is run by a goof, and he probably bought Muppets to look good.

I am just saying that the new Henson is like a CEMETARY without Kermit.

As for the new Muppets.com, I went to register, and they split it up into "kids teens, and adults."

ALREADY Disney breaks it up into focus groups! Old Henson magic was fore the kid in all of us

 

[a_Mickey_Muppet]

Uh, yes there WAS info on Jim at the old website.

And NO the Henson company did not make teen sex comedies like Touchstone DOES and Disney also made the stupid Fahrenhiet 911

No Disney did NOT make Fahrenhiet 911, there other studio (Miramax) WAS (see WAS not did) had plans to release it, but Disney did NOT alow them too. so they (Miramax, and somthin other studio, can't think off the top of my head) formed there own movie studio (with OUT Disney, or there help) and released it, and I think Sony or Fox released the DVD. So get ur info right before you say somthin....k?

and what Teenage show do you see having that stuff? and thats why they (Disney) formed Touchstone, to release adult/Teen stuff ok?

Ok ....lets gat back on topic...... yeah I also like the New Henson.com very well done and I love the little cartoon things movin hehe

 

[Luke]

And NO, the Henson kids had TONS of money. They just said that they wanted to do other things. So they do them now. Bully for them

I don't quite think they are in the position you assume, otherwise they could have got Farscape relaunched much easier. The key to being rich is being wise with money - they were never going to bankroll Henson when they bought it back from EMTV. Infact the cash the company did have all went to EMTV as it was. I expect the kids were quite prepared to invest a sum of money to keep them afloat but the Muppets were the thing that made the company so expensive to run in the first place - they need more marketing, distribution, licensing, legal people working solely on them. If the kids didn't think they could give them the proper resources, didn't think they would make a decent enough return on it, and didn't really want the burden of all that on them anyway then they are good reasons to sell. In your world Mark the Henson's should have kept the Muppets just because they were created by Jim. You have to realise that holding onto the Muppets could well have put JHC into liquidation as the money drained and meant the end of the company he spent time and hard work creating, also causing problems for the kids themselves both money wise and also meaning they did not have the outlet to put their own projects out any more. I tend to think Jim wouldn't have wanted his company to get dragged down for the Muppets or that the creativity of his children would have been held back because of them. If that's how things would have been then they would have just ended up as a weight around their necks - as it turned out nearly the same deal that Jim wanted with Disney came up and things aren't really that different from before. It's still the Henson family who are pitching the shows, producing them, building the Muppets - the only thing that is really being controlled by Disney is the admin right now.

 

[Luke]

to me the deal worked out good.... Jim wanted the Muppets at Disney, Disney have been wating the Muppets for some time now, Kermit and Co have been away since jim died...ok so thy made a FEW "new" films, made a FEW tv spot and thats it! With Disney there going to live on for ever....NEW Toys, more park stuff, NEW TV and movies, McDonalds stuff......man im getting abouth this. The thing is... Disney has ALL this money to back the Muppets and ur having a fit about it?

Jim wanted HENSON at Disney, with him in creative control - it isn't quite the same. Disney had been wanting the Muppets for some time but they weren't really prepared to pay much for them. Now they've got them all they've done so far is pay Henson to make the shows and the puppets, and produce a website in-house. The Muppets cost a lot to run and they've just paid out a huge chunk of money for them, i don't see them throwing these endless amounts of money at the Muppet brand. For a start the Disney shareholders would go mad at Eisner and the board.

You underestimate what Henson did with the Muppets since Jim's death - three theatrical movies, one direct to video, one tv movie, a pioneering flash website (at the time it was created), over 60 licensee's creating merchandise, a successful anniversary year where they went all out to get specialist collectors interested in the brand, a home distribution deal with loads of releases worldwide, not to mention the countless TV spots. Now how much have Disney done with Mickey Mouse over the last ten years? A lot less!

Disney owning the Muppets does not neccasarily mean any difference in the amount of new toys, park stuff, TV, Movies or McDonalds tie-ins. Right now it is Henson making all the moves. Wizard Of Oz is a Henson project - all Disney have done is try to make sure they spend LESS money. They are being very cautious and not committing to any other new stuff until they see how the current projects work out. Yes they will live on "forever" now, but in a Disneyfied way where they are more in the background (like Mickey) with a steady stream of plushies, a bit of park stuff, maybe some video re-releases to keep them in the publics mind but it's definitely not a given that Disney intend to put the kinda money and attention into the Muppets where they will be big names with big movies again. The Muppets were a good investment anyway for them longterm even if they just intend to make as much money as they can distributing the old TV shows and movies and doing a bit of merchandise here and there without any new stuff at all.

Basically before hyping up how great Disney is for the Muppets or how bad Henson was, lets wait and see for a while how things do actually work out and what they decide to do.

 

[Mark Filton]

Well, Disney DID make 911. If you want to believe something crazy, go ahead. After that dumb movie was made, Disney said it wouldn't release it, so a Canadian company released it. Just because I don't like Moore doesn't mean I don't keep up on the news. Moore was on Leno a few nights ago and talking about how stupid DISNEY was for deciding not to release it after they saw it when it was done.

Miramax, TOuchstone, who cares, they are all like different cars made by FOrd. ALl the cars are still Ford, and Miramax is Disney, just like "Muppets" are really now "Disney."

So Disney makes teen sex crap with different labels, and they haven't had a really good cartoon in years. Disney is on the way down.

"Ok ....lets gat back on topic...... yeah I also like the New Henson.com very well done and I love the little cartoon things movin hehe "

Yeah, well.....you won't be finding any Kermit there, like you choose to use after your sentence. That makes me sad. You laugh at the animated stuff but there'll never be a Kermit there again. Are we not Muppet fans? I am.

Luke, we will never know how much money the kids have, but some people here like to portray them as being down to the pennies. Whatever they had, it was a lot more than a few bucks, so I don't cry for them.

WHy not make a small film, an artisitc one, with just the performers and a good script, like a Woody Allen movie? Why not TRY to do what their Dad did, which was to be fun for everyone????

The Henson kids heart wasn't in it. That is their right, but I have a right not to like them. The end result is the characters get sold but the kids keep their Dad;s name for the company, which is crazy for me since their Dad was Kermit. WHY BOTHER? Henson exist because we loved that FROG.

Call it something else. They have Red Fraggle on the website...not because it is the strongerst Muppet or they saved it, but just because Disney didn't wanna fork over the dough for it.

"Hey everybody, here is the beloved Red Fraggle on our new website. We put it here because you love it and we do too. Oh, actually we don't, but since Disney didn't want this garbage we put the picture here as if we care. Hooray! Be happy!"

The new Muppets website already breaks registration into THREE groups, which ALREADY shows the Disney mind.

THIS JOKE is for kids...

THIS JOKE is for teens...

THIS JOKE is for adults...

Why? To squeeze more money and make product that has less ART in it.

I know people gotta make money, but with Disney it will be crap.

It is the difference between a McDonalds burger and a nice burger at a small place. The BIg Mac is the same all over the place, but it is made of a thousand smashed bits of different cows, the meat is worthless, but it is full of chemicals and makes a great profit.

A normal burger made of meat from ONE cow is GOOD food, costs more to make, and can make a decent profit.

The small burger place burger is something special, with some personality.

That is what HEnson was to me

Maybe they should have collapsed into a small direct-to-video company instead of being made into a big farce. WHo knows? No one can say.

I am just saying that the new Henson.com makes me sad, in my opinion. Kermit without Jim is like BErt without Ernie. It is a SAD site to see like that.

P.S. I disagree about their earlier website all in Flash. I think it was a giant blunder. But that is just me. Everyone is different

 

[Mark Filton]

Hey guys, let's just find out foir ourselves how good or BAD the Disney thing is

I preduict grtaphically perfect but spirityually dead

 

[Luke]

Hey Mark,

Some things you say are right, i'm sure the Henson kids aren't exactly broke and it is a shame Kermit had to go from the Henson site. However Henson.com is the corporate site - not the historical one. For that you need the Henson Legacy which is a completey seperate organisation that looks after Jim's history and trademark - and i believe some kind of agreement was made to let them use Kermit images in certain situations and also use of the Henson archives. There is a Henson film festival coming up at the end of November that is showing all the Muppet movies along with all the Henson people and family introducing them - so there's one good thing Disney have been involved with.

Also saying Fraggle Rock is unwanted by Henson is just total and utter rubbish. Even while Henson still owned the Muppets they were looking at revival plans and they have done a lot (especially Muppetfest and also the Henson Film Festival) to make people aware of Fraggle and incorporate the puppeteers of the time into this. If they wanted they could have just forgotten Fraggle years ago but they didn't - they might be pushing the show more now but then that's what they should have always been doing in the first place, keeping it in distribution and licensing so it makes money for them.

It is right to wait to find out how good or bad the Disney thing is but i believe there are positives and negatives to it. However, you just seem to look at the negatives and refuse to acknowledge the positives even when they are staring at you in the face. For someone so passionate about Jim that isn't very like Jim Henson - not sure i can help you with that but when you are running down even the good stuff it'd be a good idea to look at the facts first.

 

[GelflingWaldo]

Let me just say; Kermit (and the Muppets) have left the Jim Henson Company - they have not (and will not) ever be taken from Jim Henson. Kermit will always be his, no matter who is getting the money from the products and deciding what movie or toy they make next.

I don't know if many of you are anti-Disney, slow to accept change, or just complaining to complain. I don't remember this big of a debate when Sesame Street was sold to Sesame Workshop, and they left Henson. The characters, and the soul of the characters will always be that of Jim (and the other Muppeteers), just cause The Jim Henson Company is not calling the shots, and making the bucks off the characters does not mean they have (or will) die. A bunch of the Henson staff moved to work for The Muppet Holding Company at Disney, all the muppetteers are still working with the muppets, and the writters, and more. The integrity of the characters will not change due to this deal.

Also this website seems more like a corperate site for doing current business. Not big on keeping fans busy and entertained with goodies and such (although it is a nice site and is visitor friendly). Just cause Kermit is not seen on the Jim Henson company site does not mean kermit has left the heart and soul of Jim Henson the man. That is something that no business deal can change.

 

[Mruusnic]

hmm...I dislike this new site. Where did all the muppets go??

 

[Muppets Holding]

Mostly all Muppets are going to be on a new Muppets.com.