The New Movie: The Muppets

[theprawncracker]

the mayham has had stuff and rowlf and scooter hardly anything

That's because no one knows who Rowlf and Scooter are. It's sad but true. You can't expect Disney to just plop Rowlf and Scooter in as main characters again and expect people to immediately connect with them. They have to be slowly integrated in--which they have been. Look at how much more of both Rowlf and Scooter we've seen since Muppets From Space. In the past two TV specials Scooter appeared in a secondary role. Rowlf has since starred in his own viral video and been popping up now and again. You do realize you're complaining about The Electric Mayhem (who has been mostly silent in recent years) getting more screen time than Rowlf and Scooter? That's just annoying.

 

[Gelfling Girl]

Well, Scooter had a decent amount of lines in MWoO. As for Rowlf, we haven't seen him in a while except for the YouTube video. And we haven't seen that much of Robin since MCC...

 

[muppets2]

That's because no one knows who Rowlf and Scooter are. It's sad but true. You can't expect Disney to just plop Rowlf and Scooter in as main characters again and expect people to immediately connect with them. They have to be slowly integrated in--which they have been. Look at how much more of both Rowlf and Scooter we've seen since Muppets From Space. In the past two TV specials Scooter appeared in a secondary role. Rowlf has since starred in his own viral video and been popping up now and again. You do realize you're complaining about The Electric Mayhem (who has been mostly silent in recent years) getting more screen time than Rowlf and Scooter? That's just annoying.

im just saying the mayham has had more parts than rowlf and scooter im glad the mayham is coming back along with all of the other classic chatcthers but neither the mayham or rowlf or scooter has had enough screen time in my opinion

 

[dwayne1115]

I don't know I think that for as far as Robin is concernd we will see him used more, as for Rowlf and the band to. I just hope that Bill can be able to do all these voices. I mean he is doing Dr. Teeth Rowlf, Chef, and not to mention his own Pepee and Bobo. That there is a lot for one person to do. So I hope he is up for the job.

 

[MWoO]

I don't know I think that for as far as Robin is concernd we will see him used more, as for Rowlf and the band to. I just hope that Bill can be able to do all these voices. I mean he is doing Dr. Teeth Rowlf, Chef, and not to mention his own Pepee and Bobo. That there is a lot for one person to do. So I hope he is up for the job.

Jim Henson use to do Rowlf, Kermit, Dr. Teeth, Chef, and Link. Eric and Frank have/had Piggy and Fozzie, two main characters, plus Animal, Sam, and a bunch of lesser characters. And Jerry Nelson, well he had tons of second string and back ground guys.

Five characters for one performer is nothing.

 

[Drtooth]

That's because no one knows who Rowlf and Scooter are. It's sad but true. You can't expect Disney to just plop Rowlf and Scooter in as main characters again and expect people to immediately connect with them. They have to be slowly integrated in--which they have been. Look at how much more of both Rowlf and Scooter we've seen since Muppets From Space. In the past two TV specials Scooter appeared in a secondary role. Rowlf has since starred in his own viral video and been popping up now and again. You do realize you're complaining about The Electric Mayhem (who has been mostly silent in recent years) getting more screen time than Rowlf and Scooter? That's just annoying.

Exactly my thoughts... though it seems to me they had more trouble just recasting Scooter with a constant performer... after all, recasting isn't easy work at all... not only do they have to sound and act as much as possible as the character, they have to be the character in and of itself. A character is a very personal thing, after all. And somehow, I think that also reflects in the writing... Scooter, as far as DC and LTS is concerned seems to be in a good place right now with David Rudman performing him. Though they did try to slowly add him (as they've been slowly trying to add other older characters in) in the last few movies/specials prior to those two. It seems like he's a more permanent recast, leading writers to add more screen time to him.

Sure, he only had a couple lines here and there... but it beats "T-Shirts! 5 bucks" mumbled over a crowd.

I'm sure once the writing is more comfortable with the recasting and vice versa we'll see everyone come back... just not quite as big as they used to be.

 

[dwayne1115]

Jim Henson use to do Rowlf, Kermit, Dr. Teeth, Chef, and Link. Eric and Frank have/had Piggy and Fozzie, two main characters, plus Animal, Sam, and a bunch of lesser characters. And Jerry Nelson, well he had tons of second string and back ground guys.

Five characters for one performer is nothing.

Ya your right I didn't think of it that way. I mean it can be done I mean look at how they did with Kermit and Rizzo being together most of LTS. so it can be done.

 

[dwmckim]

Every time a major project comes up, fans have their checklists of what characters they're rooting to see in there. We hope they'll be a whole slew of well known and obscure but when all is said and done, the fact is someone's going to be disappointed simply because you can't do everything in a movie. More than you can in a special, sure (look how much they squeezed into LTS) but not a whole much more (only about another 30-45 minutes). Any "one shot" production will only be able to do so much - it's regular continuing projects like television series where characters can really flourish and grow. Ultimately, with a movie, the main goal is to best utilize the characters best suited to tell that tale.

We really know little about this project casting or even story wise other than the one-sentence concept revealed years ago: "Gonzo, put it charge of directing a Muppet movie, blows the budget on the opening titles and is forced to do the rest as cheaply as possible." Casting go go just about anywhere, since one would figure the movie would be (much like The Muppet Show) just as much about the backstage drama as well as the final movie the Muppets make (with different Muppets probably more in behind the camera duties and others in front).

Remember that at present this seems like it may have little if anything to do with Segel's "Greatest" movie (we don't even really know if Segel's going to be involved in the writing of this one) - so anything anyone heard about Segel's concept including the reviews of the script from aintitcoolnews or toughpigs are now off the table, including characters scheduled to appear and how much they're in it.

Whether or not these characters are (a) in the movie and (b) have significant parts in it doesn't mean that they won't be featured in other projects...sure the Muppets being discussed here recently all had casting issues in the 90's, but things have changed. The people behind the Muppets eventually realized letting the characters live on is a stronger tribute to their creators than silencing them (VMX was a huge sign to the fans that "we're bringing your favorites back" and that also seems to be a big part of Disney's vision as well). Scooter is fine - he's had healthy screentime in many of the major Muppet projects in the 00's despite having been played by at least three different people during that time; the band in its five-piece entirety (sorry, Lips fans) is back - and while Rowlf has been underused in some projects like MWOO or VMX, he's still on-camera, he's not only been the star of a viral video, but also had major parts in Statler & Waldorf: From the Balcony and Red & Green Christmas album. He may have had a small part in LTS but he was very much part of the overall ensemble both playing the piano and singing at the end.

In between all these screen projects, we also have the comics on a regular basis trotting out all our favorites and even giving us cameos from long absent favorites. Now that may not seem like much since they're different writers and in a printed media - but let's not forget they're keeping the Muppets out there on a regular basis between the screen projects and (re)introducing all these characters to people all over again - the team that brings us the felt and fur Muppets i'm sure read these and notice - any Muppet writer worth their salt will keep abreast of how the Muppets are being represented in all official areas regardless of if it's stuff from their own pen or not. (And since many reviewers - in and outside the Muppet fan community are saying the comics are the most Muppety the Muppets have been in ages, i'm sure it's safe to say the "regular" Muppet writers are taking notes!)

Bottom line - it's fun to speculate on what a major new project will bring, but let's not go overboard on worrying about if everything/one we may want to see will be in there.

 

[zns]

I agree with D.W. It is going to be quite a while until we get any specific details about this very big project coming up for the Muppets. We just have to be patient and give Disney credit for the fact that they are really starting to knuckle down and are bringing the Muppets back into the spotlight that they so greatly deserve to be shown in. As far as I am concerned, it will probably be a few months until we learn anything else about this new movie, so let's hope for the best if not the worst.

 

[Drtooth]

I second that. They really want to try to get as many old characters back as possible... again, that relies all on what performers can play them for extended periods of time. Even Sesame Street has been doing that to some extent, bringing back Guy Smiley for the first time since Henson's death. And it took them until just last season to put him into the show (we all know they a couple years before that he was in some touring kids museum thing and that "Ready to Read" promo).

I wondered myself why they didn't consider David Rudman for Scooter earlier since he did reprise a bunch of Richard's roles before (as far back as playing Sweetums in that one scene in the Cosby Show when Richard was playing a sandwich)... maybe it was because he was too busy with Sesame Street... much like how Kevin Clash's Clifford hasn't been seen since OZ, and even then, it was MFS since he was with them.

Of course, let's not forget that there's so many different characters, and they usually focus on the core of Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, Kermit, and Pepe (sometimes Animal- depending it they're just using him as a part of the Mayhem band or not). I mean, with MCC and MTI they created new characters to round out the cast and fill in some gaps. And in those movies, we didn't even see Scooter, and Rowlf was in the background for less than 10 seconds too.

A new movie focusing on existing characters will no doubt have more of the classic characters doing more (again, MFS, VMX, and LTS...even Oz to an extent).