What about Bean?

[Elchippo]

This "Where is Phil?" thread got me thinking: Has Bean Bunny been retired? He was really hot there in the late 80's/early 90's and has been AWOL for quite some time.

I know Steve is VERY busy with Kermit and Rizzo....is this why Bean has fallen by the wayside? He has a distinctly "Steve Whitmire" voice so assigning a new puppeteer would be a horrible idea. How hard would it be to have him pop up once in a while to make his presence known?

I'm not a huge Bean fan but always hate to see a popular Muppet get the shaft. Thank God Scooter and Rowlf are inching their way back in.

 

[MWoO]

Bean was never popular really. He was starting to be one of Steve's main guys though before Jim Henson died. He is not MIA though. He has been in every muppet production escept for MTI I believe. He was in MCC, MFS, he made the occassional appearance on MT, he was in AVMMC breifly, and he was seen in MWoO helping to laod the bus. He doesn't speak very much though and he's mainly a back ground character. Since they ahven't totally given up on him, I hope to see him again later on.

 

[Vic Romano]

I'd disagree that he wasn't very popular. He had a decent amount of screen time when he debuted, and he's practically the main character in MV3D, a task no unpopular Muppet would be up for. I was never a huge Bean fan either, and while I've noticed his appearances, I too miss him at the front lines. Maybe he's one of those characters you love to hate!

 

[pepestarr]

He was in the latest film as MWOO says so I don't think he's going. Every chracter has its fans so I wouldnt say Muppets are unpopular with everyone.

 

[Elchippo]

I don't remember his appearance in MWoO and I still haven't seen AVMMC, so i was unaware he was in that. But he was very prominent at one point-MV3D as Vic pointed out and he was even on Muppet Babies!

With his love him or hate him rep and his later entry to the family, he sort of seems like a predecessor to everyone's favorite king prawn...

 

[Elchippo]

I don't remember his appearance in MWoO and I still haven't seen AVMMC, so i was unaware he was in that. But he was very prominent at one point-MV3D as Vic pointed out and he was even on Muppet Babies!

With his love him or hate him rep and his later entry to the family, he sort of seems like a predecessor to everyone's favorite king prawn...

 

[minor muppetz]

In The Muppets Wizard of oz, Bean can be seen carrying a suitcase onto the tour bus as the Muppets are about to leave kansas. Oh, and he was in Muppet Treasure Island. he could be seen leaving the bar at the beginning.

In Muppet Party Cruise, he was one of the few non-playable characters who appeared in the mini-game that he hosted, doing more than just introduce the game and announce the winner. His voice was heard in Speed Bingo, calling out the letters and numbers.

Since From the Balcony has had characters performed by alternate performers, I don't see why he couldn't appear in one. nd considering that Steve Whitmire did perform Statler in the first 8 webisodes, Bean could have made an appearance in one of those. It seems like Dave Goelz and Steve Whitmire were only performing Statler and Waldorf, while Bill Barretta performed other characters, but those two could have performed other characters in those webisodes.

Many people say that Bean has appeared less because of Steve Whitmire taking over Kermit and Beaker, and because of Rizzo becoming a main character in the cast. But I don't think that's true. When Steve Whitmire started performing Kermit, he was sort of treated more like a supporting character (like he was on Sesame Street and most pre-TMS productions), with Gonzo, Rizzo, and (on Muppets Tonight) Clifford having main character duties. On Muppets Tonight, Steve had quite a few new characters, like Mr. Poodlepants and Andy Pig (two characters who, I might add, many fans disliked). From The Muppet Show up untill jim Henson's death, Kermit was more of the main Muppet, yet Jim Henson had managed to find time to perform six other regular charactrers on a regular basis, and he was usually able to perform all of his main TMS characters (usually with one or two exceptions, usually Link, sometimes The Newsman) in every major Muppet production. Most of the performers have had at least four major speaking characters in nearly every Henson production. All of Jim henson's TMS characters (except for Dr. Teeth) had lines on The Jim Henson Hour. Although Frank Oz became busy with directing, he was still able to find time to perform Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and even Sam the Eagle (and I think that he i just as major as Lew Zeland, beauregard, and Robin, who haven't always been used as much in recent productions, and I think that he is certainly less important than Rowlf, Scooter, Dr. Teeth, and Janice) in The Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppet Treasure Island, and Muppets Tonight.

of course, in recent years, kermit has once again become the most major Muppet, like he was when Jijm Henson was alive. I think he was becoming the main Muppet again shortly after Muppets From Space.

 

[MWoO]

Actually Pepe and Bean serve very similar purposes. Bean is there to be the cute one so all the other muppets don't have to be, while Pepe is the adult one while all the others are turning more cute.

 

[Vic Romano]

Interesting thought, MWoO. Bean is the yin to Pepe's yang!

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Bean was also on "The Jim Henson Hour" and the "Muppet's at Walt Disney World" or what ever it was called.