We Have a Picture of Walter AND MORE NEWS!

[frogboy4]

Speaking as someone who has seen this Gonzo puppet performed in person I can tell you that Dave doesn't seem to have any problem with him. In fact, he seemed more alive behind the weirdo than ever. Dave really seemed to be a fan of the new eye mechanism and also a nose mechanism that allowed his nose to squeeze in towards his mouth with the squeeze of a ball. I would assume that these are the reasons for the weird new design. I'm not a fan of this puppet version either... but it could look quite a bit worse.

That's what I keep thinking. It's new internal features. Gonzo looked different than he does now when I met him and Dave a couple years back.

 

[theprawncracker]

That's what I keep thinking. It's new internal features. Gonzo looked different than he does now when I met him and Dave a couple years back.

Now that I think about it, I really wish I would've asked Dave (or Gonzo ) about the new design. Would've made a good question. It's not like the puppet isn't Gonzo... it's just very angular and odd in places where it shouldn't be--the eyes and bottom lip. Traditionally Gonzo has been more rounded and I think that works better.

 

[frogboy4]

Now that I think about it, I really wish I would've asked Dave (or Gonzo ) about the new design. Would've made a good question. It's not like the puppet isn't Gonzo... it's just very angular and odd in places where it shouldn't be--the eyes and bottom lip. Traditionally Gonzo has been more rounded and I think that works better.

Gonzo doesn't like questions about his nose. I asked one and he tried to call security on me. ****! You'll never get a straight answer from a Muppet.

 

[theprawncracker]

Gonzo doesn't like questions about his nose. I asked one and he tried to call security on me. ****! You'll never get a straight answer from a Muppet.

Hahaha! That is brilliant! I asked him his opinions on Elmo... fantastic response... "Elmo? Elmo's a weirdo! Have you ever heard him talk? It's always, 'Elmo this, Elmo that.' He never says 'I' or 'me'! I don't know how he got a job on educational television."

 

[Nick22]

One of the aims seems to be to market this as a Segal movie, for fans of Sarah/Greek and HIMYM as well as the hip Apatow going crowd. So they may go out of their way to shape the film in that direction.

I am taken aback how the core Muppets seem to be in the backseat this go around, which doesn't make sense. It's almost like they should have made THIS project a side movie. I mean, who says we can only have one Muppet movie every zillion years? I say make a romantic comedy with humans that has maybe a couple muppets, make a full on Kermit and gang muppet movie, side movies, etc.

And I have to agree...to me Angelo and Walter look exactly like those generic "professional hand rod puppets" sold on ebay for churches and other stuff.

But the idea of the core Muppets not being at the forefront worries me now

if they aren't at the forefront, it would ruin the whole thing for me. it'd be like we waited all this time for nothing.

 

[Luke]

Where as Angelo was a puppet design based on a quick Photoshop removal of the Chef when they decided to go another direction. Why they didn't make another puppet and photoshop the entire thing in is beyond me... but that's another story.

Strangely, that wasn't actually the case. Shemin on the Muppet Cast said that Chef had never been considered for Muppet Kitchen because they already had past knowledge of him doing serious cooking that he didn't work. So Angelo was an original design.

 

[Luke]

I don't think there needs to be any concern about this movie being another human in a starring role feature. If we have learned anything from the years we've been listening to Segel talk about the Muppets... it's that he's a huge fan of the original three movies--all of which were driven by Kermit. I don't think we have any reason to fear that this one won't do the same. Yes, maybe it will be driven by Gary and Walter in the beginning, but I firmly believe that once they find Kermit the movie will switch gears and become another Kermit the Frog shoots for the stars picture that we all love to see.

Y'know i actually do feel there is concern - not quite as much for the movies content (although it does sound a little too human/walter driven to me but that remains to be seen), more for how the movie is marketed. Because it isn't down to what Segal thinks or wants. There are things Disney can do to influence how the media see the movie, but generally they will want to highlight the "star" to sell the most papers/magazines or get viewers to their shows. The Muppets haven't been around for a while but Segal is the current flavor of the month so obviously the press will go heavy on his involvement. I guess Disney may be fine with this if it actually gets people in movie theaters to sit down and watch the Muppets again (the start of bigger things - weekly tv show etc) but people definitely need to be walking away thinking "that was a great MUPPET movie".

When i saw Segal on Craig Ferguson and he was getting all this crowd reaction and amongst all his other projects and stories he gave the Muppets a casual mention, whilst it did get a good crowd pop, it was a bit worrying that they didn't even make a big deal out of it and he just seemed to see it as this cute little side project. His involvment is impressive, I just hope his fandom is enough that he remembers the Muppets are the true stars.

 

[theprawncracker]

When i saw Segal on Craig Ferguson and he was getting all this crowd reaction and amongst all his other projects and stories he gave the Muppets a casual mention, whilst it did get a good crowd pop, it was a bit worrying that they didn't even make a big deal out of it and he just seemed to see it as this cute little side project. His involvment is impressive, I just hope his fandom is enough that he remembers the Muppets are the true stars.

Now see... I disagree here. Maybe I was just biased and tunnel-visioned, but when I saw Segel on Craig Ferguson I saw him mention The Muppets as his biggest project--something he was hugely excited about. Did you not see how giddy he was when he told Craig he started it? He was positively glowing (and then Craig got all defensive and wondered where his part was). Not to mention that it got the biggest applauding response from the crowd throughout the whole segment.

I honestly think that, had Segel and Craig not been doing an email/Twitter reading/answering segment we would've heard a lot more Muppet talk. But it's just the way the segment wound up working, and Segel was sure to promote it in there. I definitely saw a huge Muppet fan sitting in that armchair that night.

 

[Mupp]

I realize that they will most likely go with a celebrity for Walter's voice, but based on Watler's appearance and described personality, I could easily imagine Joey Mazzarino's voice coming from the character.

 

[Convincing John]

Dave really seemed to be a fan of the new eye mechanism and also a nose mechanism that allowed his nose to squeeze in towards his mouth with the squeeze of a ball.
We've seen this before.

I'm not a fan of this puppet version either... but it could look quite a bit worse.

Let's just be glad the new Gonzo doesn't look like this!



Convincing John