What kind of Big screen movie should the Muppets do?

[Ruahnna]

lol man i wish i knew what you where talking about. ( looks at what he last wrote.) OHHHHHHHH ROFL man i should sleep before i typ on here. lack of sleep and having a speelling disorder do not really work well together. LOL i think the blues brothers thing typ of movie would be great, they could even get animal out of jail.
Yes i do want a PG rateing or lower for the muppets. If they went to anything higher i would think they where becoming like South Park or somthing.
P.S Please exuse any further spelling mistakes i seem to cant sleep at night anymore and it is makeing my day to day life kind of difficult.

Don't sweat it, sweetie--I wasn't actually criticizing your typing--just having fun with the thought of Animal starting his own "grope." Or Sam the Eagle being groped. Or what would happen to someone who tried to grope Piggy. (Obviously, I need to get out more.)

 

[Tim]

All interesting ideas, but I'm afraid the problem is much deeper than a film with a bad title. Jim's dead, Jerry Juhl's dead, others are dead or retired, and Frank Oz just phones it in. Brian's screwed it up to the point "Muppets" is just a licensing company that happens to do televison and the occasional bad film. Even Henson kids have said that "soft puppets are not our major priority these days". All you have to do is look at that lousy Xmas TV movie they did. Binge drinking and gay jokes?

Even that stupid "Muppets From Space" movie had them repeating jokes and songs from "Muppet Movie". (I won't even discuss the violence.) Jim, like Walt Disney before him was an originator NOT a follower. He didn't need (or want) to rest on past laurels.

I just saw MuppetVision 3-D again,and while not the greatest of the Muppet productions, it reminds me of everyhting lacking in any Muppet production now. Warmth, originality, quality, attention to character and clever, gentle humor.

I'm afraid those days are over.

But for purposes of the thread, I would vote for a production that Jim came up with shortly before he died that never got off the page: "The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made". Incredible and hilarious!

 

[finger eleven]

Something new. No more remakes!

 

[Gorgon Heap]

I agree with everything that Tim said.

What I don't understand is, why is it so difficult to produce a script that comes closer to the original Muppet style and tone? Is it inability, or lack of desire to do so?

In my mind, from studying Muppet humor and writing all these outlines, there is a method to it, and the features of the characters and humor style are definable. With a little effort, they could be producing quality Muppet material again. Why, then, are they producing such second- and third-rate dreck, and do they know it's dreck?

David "Gorgon Heap" Ebersole

 

[dwayne1115]

wow very interesting coments being made. I have to say i kind of aggre with what has been said. i really have always thought that the man who could really save the muppets is Brian Henson, but he won,t . I think its very sad that the main thing that made JHC JHC was the muppets, and they sell them out. I also think that Disney won in the deal and so did JHC the ones who lost where the muppets and the true die-hard muppet fans who really care what the muppets do.
These below par movies and such just make the muppets look bad and in the end make Jim Henson, Jane Henson, Frank Oz and the whole core group (ha spelled it right this time.) who started the muppets look really bad.
Heres an interesting qustion for you though is there anything we the true die-hard fans could do. We are many from all across the world and they well they have lots of money, but who cares. what do you think we could do? should we give up and say well it was good weil it lasted or should we try and do or say something. what do you all think?

 

[MartyMuppets]

That's a very good question.

Well the most we can do is petition them to see about making what we want to see done with the Muppets.

Thing is if most fans are like me they'll watch anything that comes out unless it positively turns someone individually off.

So I don't really know what can be done unless you get enough people interested in standing up for something staunch that they want to see the muppets in. And you'd be lucky to get sufficient IMHO.

What do others think?

 

[Speed Tracer]

My vote goes to The Next Muppet Movie, a spec script written by a dude named Brian Lynch. From what I hear, it's hilarious, and true to the Muppets. In it, various Muppets leave the gang to pursue solo projects. Animal has a rap career, Gonzo becomes the new 007, Piggy gets a talk show... it sounds really funny. There were no musical numbers written but there's no reason why new ones can't be written.

Jim may be dead. Jerry may be dead. But the Muppets are not.

 

[MartyMuppets]

Jim may be dead. Jerry may be dead. But the Muppets are not.

Whatever you may think you have to agree that is an undeniable fact

 

[Tim]

Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl and Frank Oz WERE the Muppets. No matter how successful each would have been on their own, these people were born to work together-period.

Why aren't things the same? First, no Jim, no Jerry and Frank can't do it alone. There are very good people still with the company but the heart and soul are gone.

Second, MONEY. The Jim Henson Comapany is just that-a COMPANY-FOR PROFIT. If you can get a hold of the Hollywood Reporter Henson 50th there is a fastenating interview with the kids and how Muppets are not their priority anymore. Disney really woke them up. They basicly told Jim how to run his company saying "the 60's are over".

Chery Blaylock told me of the difference in the "then and now". She was on a first name basis with Jim (she had built Kermits, designed Sesame characters and perfomed) and did "MuppetVison", with them which was great-lots of playing around on the set (Jim was trying to show Disney how he liked to work.). The next time she worked for them was on "Muppet Theater Classics" (Jim had died by this time) and she said that all the did was spend the day complaining about what things were costing and getting everyone to hurry up.

Jim cared about two things. The people he worked with and "doing good stuff". Long gone. They screw their own performers, work non-Union whenever they can, and don't even ask me about "The Big bag" stab in the back.

My experience was even better. Jim gave me a crash course in Muppet manipulation while I was on The Muppet Movie. Dick Clark saw my work and developed a pilot for a tv series just for my puppeteering skills. I sent the show to Henson (after Jim was gone) and was told that my puppeteering style "wasn't right for Henson". HUH? Cheryl called the office in New York and a a little "chat" with them on my behalf!

If you thought Brian was going to ave the day, here's another story of mine. I was working in performance caprture animation a few years back, and was asked to work with a new young woman who was having trouble (I won't mention her name). My "student" was an actress who didn't have any real puppeteering skills. What she had was looks. Absolutely gorgeous face and a body to die for-but she was not a puppeteer. Long story short, I couldn't get looked at by Henson, but Brian hired her (and she actually worked) "Muppets Tonight" because, as she told me "he liked the way I had with a line"-YEAH RIGHT! I saw some outtakes from a scene she was doing with Jerry Nelson-the work was pathetic-poor Jerry!

What can we do? Enjoy what we had I guess, but you can always lend your support to SaveTheMuppets.com though I doubt it will have the same results Roy Disney got with Save Disney. The sold the least profitable parts of the company to Disney, and going off in new diraections for the all mighty (non-frog) green.

Sorry this thread got SO off topic.

 

[Muppet Matt]

What if the Henson kids brought back Frank, Jerry (Nelson), Dave, Steve, Bill, Kevin, Fran, Karen, Kathy, Marten, Eric and all the rest of the Muppeteers, then I think they could make a movie just as good or better the other ones. If Frank came back to perform AND direct, then I think that it would come out really great!