Your Thoughts: "Muppet Guys Talking" premieres on-line March 16, 2018

[dwayne1115]

Agreed about Steve! If you've followed his now defunk blog Steve and Frank have the basic same mindset about the characters, and how Disney is handling the Muppets.

I also pointed out on another thread that they stopped asking Frank to come to Sesame around the same time they recast and replaced Steve. So I really don't understand why Steve is not in this, because he really should be.

 

[MelissaY1]

I didn't want to bring this up, because I butt heads with people a lot about Whitmire's involvement. But I agree, 100%. Bill Barretta is fantastic, but he is not an original Muppet performer. Whitmire should have been there, or else, they should have just kept it with the four OGs (and maybe Carroll Spinney, who, granted, was just a Sesame performer, but he still knew Henson.) If they wanted to balance out the male/female ratio more, maybe include Bonnie Erickson.

By his own admission, Bill Barretta only met Henson a few times, and it was in a superficial capacity. Whatever the case may be with Whitmire, he was there since 78, and was a part of the Muppet show ensemble. And sure, Barretta has original characters, but when people think of the Muppets, do they really think of Johnny Fiama, Peppe, Bobo?

Yeah, I would love to know the reasoning behind Steve's absence from it, but I guess we'll never know the answer. I agree, Carroll would've been a great addition to this panel, and I think Louise Gold would have been terrific as well, or Kathy Mullen. Two long-time female performers who worked with Jim very closely.

 

[rexcrk]

I was wondering the same thing about Steve too. I mean, this was obviously filmed before all the drama over Steve getting fired (I think), so it just seems strange that a performer who actually worked with Jim (and took over his most well known character) wouldn’t be included.

I haven’t watched Muppet Guys Talking yet... I keep forgetting lol but I’m looking forward to eventually checking it out!

 

[antsamthompson9]

I've finally got around to seeing it and I really love it. Fran Brill is the standout to me, she was just so adorable when she responded to stories she hadn't heard before. I think it's interesting that Bill always thought of Howard Tubman as being effeminate. I thought that came later with Very Merry Muppet Christmas.

 

[minor muppetz]

I finally purchased the film this weekend, and it is great.

Interesting when they talk about performing full-bodied monsters, and Fran Brill talks about how difficult it is. I wonder when she has performed a full-body character. Sesame Street doesn't really have that many full-bodied characters (and most of them are performed by people who don't have many other characters... Could she have performed either Big Bird or Bruno in an instance of the two appearing on-screen, though those were rare?), maybe she performed that guard frackle in The Great Santa Claus Switch (or filled in as Thig or Thog), or maybe she performed one of the full-bodied characters in the Paul Williams episode. Or could she have worn one in the Smokey Robinson episode of The Jim Henson Hour (though Vicki was in that scene, I assume she'd have physically performed her there).

And Dave Goelz talks about a time Jim asked him to perform a large monster, he asked why not just have Richard Hunt do it, but I wonder if Sweetums was in the same scene (are there any known instances of Richard performing any of the other full-bodied monsters?). Or maybe it was a scene with just one full-body monster.

I saw a Facebook post that pointed out that Steve Whitmire is never mentioned, but I've noticed that with the main exceptions of Jim Henson and Richard Hunt, very few performers not in the documentary are discussed (pretty much all of them who are are ones who primarily spent a lot more time in other fields). There's no discussion of recasting at all (even if they didn't want to give their opinions on current recasts, they could have shared their own experience as recast performers). At one point Frank Oz discusses how hard it was for Jim Henson to perform Dr. Teeth, and Jerry Nelson adds that he had had his hand in the character at times and agrees, but Bill Barretta never talks about the character being difficult or easy. Maybe they did discuss it in the unused footage.

The coffee break wasn't as long as I expected it. I wasn't really looking forward to that, as I figured there wouldn't be much Muppet talk there, but I am pleasantly surprised/amazed that it wasn't longer.

At first I thought it was weird that "The Muppet Show Theme" and "Manah Manah" are the only songs given song credits, when various clips do include other songs. But then it hit me that those two songs are featured within the soundtrack, while the others are just part of clips. Though it's still odd. Also odd that there's no copyright credits for any of the clips, nor are there trademark credits for The Jim Henson Company, Sesame Workshop, or Disney Muppet Studios. Of course I Am Big Bird didn't have any such trademark credits, either.

 

[GrouchFanatic]

How can I view this movie?? I wanna see it so badly!!

 

[dwayne1115]

https://muppetguystalking.com

 

[GrouchFanatic]

https://muppetguystalking.com

Much obliged!

 

[MuppetDanny]

Does anyone have a the DVD version for trade? I'm not expecting someone giving up their Frank Oz signed copy but a DVDrip clone copy will do nicely. I have the digital video but I'm rubbish making DVDs from digital video files

 

[Blue Frackle]

I've only now gotten around to watching the bits and pieces that are on YouTube, and my favorite so far is Jerry calling Fat Blue "Dr. Johnson"; you know you've created something magical when the fans know more than the innovators.