Tinseltown News

[frogboy4]

A Little Recap on Forum Rules (with link)

Excerpts:

Fans from around the world come together at Muppet Central to celebrate the work of Jim Henson. We encourage your active participation in discussions on our forum.

Muppet Central is dedicated to the celebration of differences that make the world interesting and exciting. Healthy debates are not only expected but encouraged. Please remember to treat others with respect. Like the Muppets, each of us is unique, but our admiration and respect for Jim Henson's Muppets have brought us together and make us a family. Together, we have found that our similarities make us much more alike than different.

By participating in this forum you agree to follow this code of conduct:

RESPECT:

Respect differences of opinion. It's fine to disagree, just remember that the other person has a right to their opinions and experiences too. Respect diversity. Don't attack someone else because of their beliefs or way of life. All ages from the young to the old are active in our forum. Please phrase your language and comments accordingly. Respect others. If you don't like a person's viewpoints say why without attacking the individual. Don't treat them in a way that you wouldn't like to be treated yourself.

STAY ON TOPIC:

We are notorious for talking about penguins, muffins and whatnot without much reason. Short off-topic remarks are fine. If a thread seems to be changing topic, please create a new thread for the new subject. This helps folk find the information they are looking for quickly and easily.

WARNINGS:

Any behavior that is not in the spirit of our guidelines may result in a warning. Subsequent behavior, depending on the nature, may result in suspension or ejection from the forum. Overly aggressive behavior and/or complete disregard for the spirit of these guidelines may result in immediate banishment. Action will be taken with the discretion of the staff. Please help keep Muppet Central a fun place for everyone.

Link to view the complete forum rules.

I listed three main guidelines. There are more. These rules were formed by all the moderators at the time and work well today - when followed.

 

[beaker]

I haven't seen the pilot yet, but I've wondered, can/are these characters considered "Muppets" or are they something else, like "Henson Alternative characters"?

Since Disney owns the regular Muppets (Kermit and the gang) would they swoop down and close production on Tinseltown? I could just hear some lame excuse from Diz like "the pig on your show looks too close to Howard Tubman". (Hey, this is the same company that's gone after day care centers, it could happen). Technically, Disney could even say something as ridiculous as "we have to shut down your production of X. Why? Well, that mop in the background looks to close to our copywrited character Bellereguard." Ridiculous? Absolutely! But I wouldn't put anything past Disney's lawyers.

I'll watch the pilot when I get the chance. I just wondered how the legal stuff was handled in a production like this (same with "Puppet Up!") to keep the Mouse from interferring and to keep Brian and co. out of legal trouble when they use Muppet-style puppets.

Convincing John

Well, for legal reasons only Muppet Show, Bear in the Big Blue House and Sesame Street are considered "Muppets(TM)"...

However, I think most people consider everything from PuppetUp to
Fraggle Rock "Muppets"

But no, Disney has no jurisdiction over this. Disney releases a number of R rated films through subsidiaries.

As much as I hate Disney having the Muppets, Im glad JHC is able to
focus on going into new Muppety directions as well as fantasy films.

 

[frogboy4]

As much as I hate Disney having the Muppets, Im glad JHC is able to focus on going into new Muppety directions as well as fantasy films.

I know it's off-topic, but I think Disney is the company releasing Fraggle Rock! I've seen this on IMDB and other places on the web. I hope that's wrong.

You are right about the Muppet name ownership, of course, but it appears that it's been used in the lower-case form for Tinseltown in articles I have read. Hmmm.

 

[The Count]

Well... HIT Entertainment is the one releasing the Fraggle Rock season sets on DVD. If there are any further flare-ups Jamie, please tell us by who so we can take the appropriate actions.

Maybe a new thread discussing Tinsel Town exclusively should be created, kind of like what was done with the Muppet Geography game?

 

[frogboy4]

Thanks Count.

Oh, correction - I meant the Fraggle Rock Movie will reportedly be released through Jim Henson Pictures and Walt Disney Pictures. Looks like they found their budget!

Speaking of the Disney Company...I remember when Roger Rabbit came out. Many groups and critics found it far too racy to have anything to do with Disney. How times have changed. I suppose Henson is making an interesting experiment with Henson Alternative!

I sure hope there is a new Tinseltown short tomorrow, even though it seems unlikely. I'm sure there's another 10 minutes edited. Once a project is shot, that stuff usually comes quickly. With modern non-linear/digital editing, many films are nearly cut-together before principle shooting wraps.

 

[MuppetQuilter]

I'm with Jamie on this one. Tinseltown is a JHC production. We may not be able to call them "Muppets" from a legal stand point but it certainly contains Muppety characters. Tinseltown belongs on this forum.

I'm all for insisting on a certain level of respect and decency (obviously). I expect the religious comments in this thread to be a thing of the past as they have continually led to members feeling attacked and uncomfortable.

I expect from here on out we can simply discuss Tinseltown.

 

[GelflingWaldo]

I meant the Fraggle Rock Movie will reportedly be released through Jim Henson Pictures and Walt Disney Pictures.

Sorry to say but that's just a wild rumor that has sprung up on places like Wikipedia, Imdb and other sites due to ignorant people thinking Disney owns Henson. As of right now Disney is not part of the Fraggle Rock film (but who knows, could end up being a part of it). The script is still in development and no distributor or co-producer has been lined-up yet.

 

[frogboy4]

Sorry to say but that's just a wild rumor that has sprung up on places like Wikipedia, Imdb and other sites due to ignorant people thinking Disney owns Henson. As of right now Disney is not part of the Fraggle Rock film (but who knows, could end up being a part of it). The script is still in development and no distributor or co-producer has been lined-up yet.

Really? I was kind of on the fence about Disney involvement with the Fraggle Movie. I don't think the Disney Company can really understand what the Fraggles are all about. The IMDB seems to have been updated recently about Disney and Buena Vista. Hmmm.

As for Disney suing Henson over the Muppety puppets of Tinseltown...well, that's an interesting point. It all depends on how the contract was inked for the Muppets between the two companies. Should we just call non-Disney Muppet projects - Huppets? LOL! Just thinking of all the Ebay misspellings of Muppet related items already. "Own this rare Sesame Street Fraggle Gonzo toy from John Hendersen's Muffets!"

 

[MuppetQuilter]

Disney won't sue JHC over Tinseltown. The lawyers will have made sure JHC can continue to do puppet productions and the lawyers will have checked out copyright issues before Tinseltown hit the air. Technically Disney may own the name "Muppets" but I believe SST can still call their Muppets Muppets. I think Disney owns the name "Jim Henson's Muppets." Sesame owns "Sesame Street Muppets" (I think) and I don't know the standing of plain old "Muppets."

 

[Convincing John]

Disney won't sue JHC over Tinseltown. The lawyers will have made sure JHC can continue to do puppet productions and the lawyers will have checked out copyright issues before Tinseltown hit the air. Technically Disney may own the name "Muppets" but I believe SST can still call their Muppets Muppets. I think Disney owns the name "Jim Henson's Muppets." Sesame owns "Sesame Street Muppets" (I think) and I don't know the standing of plain old "Muppets."

OK, gotcha. I just wondered how it all fit together. The last thing I'd want is for a new Henson production to be grounded over some "gray area" of legal copywrites.

And just to throw this into the mix, the opening credits of FR had "starring Jim Henson's Muppets" in it once upon a time. So Fraggles (at one time) were considered "Muppets", too.

Finding out "who owns what" can be tricky sometimes. (Consider this question about Beautiful Day Monster). With legal issues, some areas bewteen Henson and Disney are sort of fuzzy. But then again, a lot of Muppets are fuzzy, so its appropriate. (lol)

Convincing John