What Muppet Fans Are Thinking About

[Pinkflower7783]

When will AMFC get released UNCUT on DVD! Move it Disney!!

 

[minor muppetz]

I also often think about how the movies seem to be the most popular and most common of the Muppet productions. I think of The Muppet Show, Muppet Babies, and to a lesser extent A Muppet Family Christmas and Muppet Vision 3D as being just as well-known, but I keep thinking that, except maybe to those born after 1999, any character who had a fairly notable part in any of the movies shouldn't be too obscure. I feel like even Muppets from Space isn't exactly obscure. Of course with Sesame Street, it's the show that's more popular than Follow That Bird and Elmo in Grouchland.

But the movies have had the most availability over the years. So maybe in the last decade it was less common for the movies to air (The Muppets gets plenty of broadcasts on The Disney Channel and ABC Family these days, though), but each movie has rarely been out-of-print since their initial home video releases. The movies have been released on VHS, Beta, Select-a-Vision, CED (I think), laserdisc, DVD, and Blu-Ray (but never HD), as well as online downloads and Netflix. And during the periods when they are out-of-print (usually when video rights change, or when Disney decides to rerelease a movie), copies can still be found at video stores* and libraries, though they don't always have every movie available to rent or borrow.

Meanwhile, The Muppet Show reruns haven't consistently been airing all these years (and since Disney bought the rights, they've only aired out-of-country). Reruns aired in syndication for a number of years after it ended, then aired on TNT for four years, and then aired on Nickelodeon two years later for about two years, and then came to the Odyssey Channel (a channel many didn't have) three years later. Episodes hadn't been widely available on video for a long time - there were compilations, which are hard to find used copies of (it used to be easy to find used copies of the It's the Muppets compilations, but I haven't seen used copies of any of those in the past few years). Jim Henson Video only released one video of full episodes, which were still edited. The Time-Life videos sold well but weren't available in stores until a few years later. Although we've been waiting forever for the last two seasons to come to DVD, at least the first three are still in print (though it's less common for me to see copies in stores these days). Hopefully the season sets keep that show in the minds of kids, though I don't know how likely a kid is to have a season set of a TV series (maybe as a birthday, Christmas, or Easter present).

*Ironically, there was one video store that didn't have any of the original trilogy until after The Muppet Christmas Carol was released on video (and surprisingly, it was the CBS Fox releases, as opposed to the then-current Jim Henson Video releases), and yet that video store had many of the Playhouse Video compilations and Play-Along Video releases, which I've only vaguely remember seeing at any other video rental stores. As a matter of fact, back when my local Kroger had a video rental section, it didn't have any of the pre-MCC movies for rent (but did have them for sale).

 

[minor muppetz]

A few times in recent months (including tonight), I've been trying to determine what Muppet productions are most/least obscure. I've been thinking in terms of how often they've been rebroadcast, whether they've had video releases (and how many releases), and a few other things. And maybe all those alone don't determine how popular a certain production is (but the more broadcasts and video releases its had over the years probably helps). And I wouldn't count whether they're on YouTube or Daily Motion (unless Disney officially uploaded it there), or how common it is to find long out-of-print video releases of such productions (just because there's quite a few video releases I can't find used copies of anywhere doesn't mean that they can't be more commonly found in other states). Maybe someday I'll post what all I've determined (maybe here, maybe in its own thread, maybe as a Muppet Mindset article).

But on a similar note, I tend to think about how Fraggle Rock seems to be the "lesser" (or "least lesser"?) of the three big Henson properties of the Jim Henson years (the others being The Muppet Show and Sesame Street). Sesame Street and the Muppets are a lot more iconic (and have been around a lot longer). Sesame Street is one of the most iconic children's television shows of all time, and has consistently been on the air for nearly 45 years. While The Muppet Show definitely wasn't on the air that long, its characters have continued to be used over the years, with various movies, television specials, direct-to-video productions, live stage shows, television guest appearances, sequel shows, viral videos, and so on. In fact, Sesame Street also has all that in addition to being on the air for so long. But Fraggle Rock doesn't have much of that (as a matter of fact, most Henson shows that aren't Sesame Street or The Muppets don't have much of that, either).

Fraggle Rock has had a lot of merchandise over the years, though from what I've read most of the merchandise didn't start to come out until the show was ending. The show had two home video compilations, while The Muppet Show had more and Sesame Street has a whole lot more. But perhaps those shows lend themselves better to video compilations than Fraggle Rock (aside from compilations themed around songs and maybe Traveling Matt's post cards I'd imagine it'd be hard to come up with compilations). Additionally, Fraggle Rock had an animated series and now has the Doozers spin-off, and Fraggles have been making appearances in the past few years (including the Do It Anyway music video), but there have also been a number of Fraggle productions that haven't gotten made (in fact we've waited years for the Doozers series), including a Fraggle origin story and that movie that's been in development all decade.

One thing that works against it is that while The Muppet Show and Sesame Street were on channels everybody had, Fraggle Rock premiered on HBO, a premium cable channel, at a time when many people didn't even have basic cable. And it seems most of the channels reruns aired on have been fairly hard-to-get. I think more people had cable by the time reruns aired on TNT, but reruns have also aired on The Disney Channel, another premium channel (at the time), and on Odyssey, a channel very few people had. I'm not sure whether The Hub is on many cable providers or not (I don't even know if I have that channel).

And there's the fact that the world of Fraggle Rock is mostly its own magical world, though connected to the real world. Most of the characters live in a world that doesn't have all the technology and stuff we're familiar with. That puts a limit on guest appearances the characters can make on talk shows and such, with Traveling Matt and Sprocket usually being the ones to make such appearances, while the Muppets and Sesame Street take place in our world, and therefore does not put a limit on what characters can appear on talk shows without it seeming weird. It sort of also limits how the characters can appear in crossovers with the Muppets (not counting cameos or times when minor characters were used in the background or recycled as new characters).

Of course, unlike the Muppets and Sesame Street, the entire Fraggle Rock series, both live-action and animated, is available on DVD, and all uncut (except for not including the special "down at Fraggle Rock" endings from two episodes). The Down at Fraggle Rock documentary is a bonus feature, and Fraggle Songs and Doozer Music can both be purchased as digital downloads. It seems the only major Fraggle Rock productions not available for purchase are Fraggles Search for Jobs (though that might not actually count... Terry Angus once said on The Muppet Cast that he never expected that to be a bonus feature) and the Do It Anyway music video.

And it is interesting how the Muppets and Sesame Street have many specials and such, while all other Henson shows have very little. I was thinking that maybe since those two are made up of short segments and most other shows have narratives (I think I've read that Fraggle Rock was originally going to be made up of short segments), maybe they didn't feel the need to make specials for the others. But then again, most of the Muppet specials don't have much plot focus, often being made up of short segments, musical numbers, or clips from past productions. And many Sesame Street specials do follow the plot more, even if they still have short unrelated scenes.

 

[LouisTheOtter]

What I'm thinking these days (quickly, randomly, and in no particular order):

* That I really hope Bret McKenzie keeps contributing music to the Muppets, regardless of whether it's in a film project
* That "Something So Right" and "We're Doing A Sequel" would make great Oscar production numbers
* How sweet it's going to be to hear Bret McKenzie's name again when the Oscar for Best Song is presented
* That we need another Muppet music album, preferably an Electric Mayhem album now that the recasts have settled in so well
* That the DVD/Blu-Ray roll-out for MMW is going to be a hoot, if TM2011 was any indication (Kermit on The Colbert Report! Piggy on The Talk! The Mayhem on Jimmy Kimmel Live!)
* That there really needs to be a crazy-insane-full-on-comedy Muppet TV special like The Muppets Go To The Movies or The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show
* That, as much as I've loved the TMS tropes running through TM2011 and MMW, I'd really prefer that the next such use of this format occur on a new weekly Muppet series
* That the next Muppet movie should have fewer characters and give one or two of the lesser-used Muppets the chance to shine (and that Rowlf and Pepe should be the leading candidates for this type of movie)
* That Pigs In Space deserves its own movie or a series of virals over the next couple of years (and that we need more Muppet virals or Muppisodes, period)
* That nothing's fallen on the Newsman's head since The Muppet Show Live in 2001
* That Disney should go full-tilt on a Muppets 60th anniversary TV special
* How thrilled I was when a surly, cynical, faux-hipster co-worker of mine recently clicked on the Sam Eagle "American Woman" Muppet viral at my suggestion, then turned to me and smiled: "I gotta hand it to you, Louis, that was kind of funny."

But that's it.
Oh, and that Sofia Vergara should c0-star in Pepe: The Movie, playing the Mexican mermaid with a heart of gold that guides our favourite prawn from his former life as a pearl-diver's assistant to stardom in the States. But, seriously, THAT'S IT.

 

[LipsGF4Life]

Right now I think about if Disney and Jim Henson company would make a new video game for the Muppets, then add more of the minor characters like Lips Nigel Lew Zealand Crazy Harry Beau, etc.

 

[Muppet Master]

* we need more Muppisodes, period

The only legitimate muppisode was "Food Fight" the one with Gordon Ramsey. That one (the extended edition) is this one in particular.

Personally, I think it was hilarious, and a great little muppet short, hope to see it as a DVD or Blu-Ray extra someday.

Then around Christmas we got the throwback one which was just a re-upload of an old video promoting MMW and christmas time

If they had intentions to make more of those than we'd have had tons more by now or at least 5 or 10 more original ones.

 

[PigsInSpace2205]

that i really want to see Constantine in any new project

 

[minor muppetz]

I'm also sometimes thinking about how before Jim Henson died, different home video companies would have the video rights to different productions, after he died video companies would have the video rights to nearly everything the company owned, and after the company sold the Muppets video deals would mainly just include all "family propeties" retained by the company, while productions that don't fit would be released by other companies (Sony still has the video rights to The Dark Crystal and The StoryTeller after all these years).

And there's the fact that while The Muppets Character Encyclopedia avoided photos from productions not owned by Disney (aside from a still from Beautiful Day Monster's debut on The Ed Sullivan Show), pretty much every Jim Henson or Muppet retrospective/biography put out by The Jim Henson Company didn't seem to exclude clips or photos from productions that the company doesn't own the distribution rights to. They normally WOULD include clips or photos from Sesame Street, various guest appearances, and the Sony-owned MTM and Labyrinth. Nonfiction books on Jim Henson made since 2004 still include images of Muppet and Sesame Street characters. Muppet Race Mania featured clips from the first six movies, regardless of whether the rights were owned by Henson, Sony (which makes the PlayStation, so maybe getting rights to those were easy), and Disney. Same with The Muppet Show 25th Anniversary album including tracks from each of those movies soundtracks.

Though on a slightly contradictory note, lately I've been thinking about how the book The Story of Jim Henson: Creator of the Muppets does not have any photos from The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, The StoryTeller, or The Witches. This book was the first time I knew of The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth by name (I'd seen clips in Secrets of the Muppets, and had seen Labyrinth in school but couldn't remember the name), and I had wanted to see pictures from those. It is interesting how that book does not include any Creature Shop photos. Of course it also doesn't have any pictures of the Sam and Friends cast.

 

[minor muppetz]

These last few days I've also been thinking about Muppet/Henson music publishers. It seems Henson had and now Disney has their own publishing companies for songs and music written especially for the Muppets. There's been such names as "Muppet Melodies" and "Fuzzy Muppet Songs", I think there have been others as well. I see those publishing companies mentioned on song pages for Muppet Wiki, though there's no pages for them (and I don't really expect them to get pages). As a matter of fact, it seems like some songs from either The Muppet Show or The Muppet Movie (or maybe it was both) were listed on Muppet Wiki as being published by ATV Music... According to Jim Henson: The Biography, The Jim Henson Company didn't even have the rights to original songs from The Muppet Show until after they purchased the distribution rights, but would/should the original publishing company still be listed if the rights changed?

Of course, even with publishing companies, the rights to all Muppet songs are still owned by Disney. While most Sesame Street songs are published to their respective songwriters publishing companies (though I think I've seen some songs listed as being published to "Sesame Street, Inc." or something like that).

 

[Muppet Master]

I don't know why, but I'm thinking so much about how I wish that "The Best of the Muppet Show" DVDs were in-print and $5 each at a bunch of stores.