Interview with Muppet Writer Craig Shemin, Part 1

Mitchell Stein - I had the fantastic pleasure of interviewing Muppet legend Craig Shemin last Thursday. I was very nervous to be interviewing such an amazing Muppet legend, but once we got into it, I realized Craig was such an fantastic guy and so great to speak to.

Craig of course is notable for his work for the Henson Archives and as president of The Jim Henson Legacy. He recently lent his writing talents to publish a new book, The Muppets Character Encyclopedia, and you can read our review of the book right here.

Thanks to Chase Beecher for your help on the questions!

Interview with Mr. Craig Shemin, author of The Muppet Character Encyclopedia

Mitchell Stein:   How did you come to work with the Muppets and come to work where you are today?

Craig Shemin:   I actually started out as a Muppet fan. The Muppet Show came out when I was ten years old and before that I grew up watching Sesame Street. When I was in college, I saw the documentary Henson's Place on PBS. I was later looking for something to do over the summer, so I called Henson Co. to see if they had any open jobs for an internship. So that’s what I did, and I worked as a summer intern, summer of 1987, and when I graduated I came back to work at the company.

MS:   What did you intern as?

CS:    I interned in the public relations/PR department and working a little bit with the company archives. I answered the phones, made a lot of photocopies, and faxes and all that. Back then, our clippings services would send us all the newspaper clippings where the Muppets or Jim Henson would be mentioned and it was my job to compile them into clippings packages and make copies and send them all around the company.  Nowadays the services send everything digitally, but back then they would mail us the actual newspaper clippings, so it was incredibly low-tech.

That summer I got to meet Jim Henson at the staff company softball game, and he actually borrowed my glove for a few innings, so at the end of the day I got him to sign it.

MS:   I bet you have that glove framed on your wall.

CS:   Right, exactly. I probably have the only Jim Henson-used baseball glove, with his autograph.

MS:   Did you ever work with Jim Henson personally?

CS:   I did, a little bit. When I was working after I graduated, one of my jobs in public relations was to get Jim Henson's quotes for various articles, when they would want Jim to comment on a specific article or something. So I would go up to Jim, and he would talk about how he felt about whatever the quote was and I would type it up.

When I was making my transition to writing, one of the first things that I wrote for the Muppets was performed by Jim. It was a speech for Kermit for the Disney Shareholders Meeting back when Disney was in talks with Jim to purchase the Muppets the first time round. It was a lot of fun, and Jim was such a nice man. I was very intimidated by his presence, but not from anything he did, he was just very casual and kind. At that first company softball game when I was an intern, he came over and introduced himself to me because he didn’t recognize who I was. I told him I was an intern and he said "Oh, you're the new intern! I heard we had a new intern here." He was very warm and I was nervous when he was around, but he was Jim. He wanted everybody to call him Jim, and that was the way it was.

I was just getting to the point where I could be in a room with him and not get nervous when he sadly passed away. Just a month before that, we were doing The Muppets at Walt Disney World, I don't know if you’ve seen that one yet.

MS:   I have actually! It’s my favorite Muppet special of all time.

CS:   At that time we got to go down there because at that time I was writing all the press releases and all the public relations writing, so I got to go down to that shoot and write a press kit for the show. When I got there the first day, I see Jim walking towards me. I looked around to see who he was walking towards, but then I realized he was walking towards me. "Oh hello Craig! How are you?" he greeted me. It just really took me aback, for him take off what he was doing to come over and greet me was truly remarkable. So I spent four or five days down there at the shoot and interviewing several puppeteers to write the press material for the show.

MS:   What would you say was your fondest memory of Jim Henson?

CS:   On that shoot was one of them. Y’know, when you're part of a shoot like that they cater the lunch, and I remember having lunch directly across from Jim and he was really enjoying his macaroni and cheese. I don't remember a lot of what he was talking about, but I do remember he was so happy that they had brownies for dessert. He seemed to get a lot of enjoyment out of everything -- and in this case it was lunch, And that shoot was really special for me, because I got to see how big groups of people react to Jim, because this was shot on location in Disney World.

One setup we were doing at the Grand Floridian, and Jim just left the set to go to the bathroom, and he was just walking to the bathroom and large groups of people were following him. They didn’t know where he was going, but they all knew he was Jim Henson and they’re following him, and I got a feeling what it must have been like for Walt Disney to walk around Disneyland. It’s really amazing that Jim meant so much to all these people, and they were following him, so I knew that was one of my favorite things I ever saw about Jim.

MS:   How is the restoration of the Muppet characters going at the Smithsonian, Museum of Moving Image in NY, and Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta going? What can fans expect from those experiences?

CS:   They all have very different sets of puppets, some are duplications, because we had multiple puppets, but those selections were made for very specific reasons. Center for Puppetry Arts is receiving things that are very significant from a puppetry perspective, unique designs, unique performance qualities. Moving Image is the items that were more unique and more significant to Jim’s role as a creator of the moving image and film. Then the Smithsonian is really significant, cultural icons. The Smithsonian will be also using their collection on a revolving basis as part of their exhibits on television and puppetry. I believe there are already some on exhibit as of now.

MS:   I believe so. The last time I was there, Kermit, Oscar the Grouch and the Sam and Friends cast where there.

CS:   My wife was down there a couple of months ago, and Prairie Dawn was on exhibit there. So like I said they’re going to rotate the puppets that they have for exhibition, because the puppets are rather delicate, so they don’t want to have them out under the light and in the open for too long, so you’ll see rotating exhibits there.

The Center for Puppetry Arts is doing a major renovation, and the Henson exhibit there will be a part of a larger global exhibition on puppetry and Henson will have a very significant part in that. I think 2015 is the date that we’re talking about for the CPA and MMI. We don’t know an exact date yet, but those are the year that is being kicked around. The Museum of Moving Image will have a Muppet gallery which has yet to be named, but we have over 200 puppets that they received, so there will be a significant and prominent exhibit of Jim's career. There's talk of creating a traveling museum as well, so that will be a way to refresh and rotate the exhibit that they have permanently. The curator of the museum, Barbara Miller, is working on that as we speak, and there is going to have to be a lot of restoration and renovation on the puppets as well.

What’s also really interesting is that the museum was so excited to make this exhibit that they even had to give up some of their office space for this gallery. They’re creating this new Henson gallery out of what is currently the museum director’s offices and some of the other offices, and for them to give up their real estate shows they’re really excited about this exhibit. There’s also a small theater there that this gallery will be around, and that is going to be mostly dedicated to showing Henson productions. To keep awareness high, we’re doing monthly screenings and events until the opening. Last month, we held an event for my new book and this month we have preview screenings of Muppets Most Wanted, and next month we’ll have something Easter related!

MS:   That sounds very exciting! I’m sure we’re all really looking forward to these openings. They’re going to be a great way to celebrate the life of Jim Henson. I wanted to ask you about another legendary Muppet restoration, and I’m referring to the Muppet Pipes at NBC's 30 Rockerfeller Center. Where did the idea surface, and who’s idea was it to refurbish that?

CS:   As far as I’m know, that was actually Jimmy Fallon's idea. He knew about the pipes from being a Saturday Night Live cast member for several years, and it sort of became the thing people would talk about at NBC. For years the pipes were in Max Weinberg's dressing room when he was the band leader on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. When I saw them for the first time, we went in when it was still his dressing room, we asked if we can go into his dressing room since we were there for an appearance, I believe it was for The Today Show. We got to go in and see the pipes in their original position in the dressing room, and when Jimmy Fallon took over Late Night, they were doing some renovation on the floor and from what I hear, he intervened and made sure the pipes would not only be safe, but also be put on display so they would no longer be hidden in a dressing room but rather they would be under glass. They turned it into a big event and included it on the tour. Not all of the NBC tours include this, so I suggest doing the research prior to your visit, but you can now see it on most of the tours of 30 Rock. They did a beautiful job of restoring it. They put it under glass they put some footage of the Muppets doing the Jack Paar show, they put up some great still photos, and the fact that they had Frank Oz come in and dedicate the pipes made it very special.

MS:   That is interesting. Jimmy Fallon is a fantastic Muppet fan, but I was unaware of this.

CS:   Yeah, he actually rode the Sesame Street float in this year's Macy's Parade along with The Roots. My wife, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, works as a Sesame puppeteer and she found out that it was Jimmy Fallon who asked to be on the float, and Sesame Workshop didn’t even approach him.

MS:   What would you say is the most valuable thing in the Jim Henson Archives?

CS:   Hmm... That;s a tough one. I think the most valuable thing is no longer in the Henson Family, and it’s the original Kermit, which was donated to the Smithsonian a number of years ago. I think that was the most valuable thing that was in the Henson family until recently. It's a beautiful piece, and since it's all fabric and there’s no foam or anything else to break it down, Kermit has held up well over the years, and I think the Hensons are proud that Kermit now sits in the Smithsonian.

MS:   Do you have a personal favorite item in the archives?

CS:   There’s so many! I love Rowlf, so I love all the Rowlf sketches and puppets in the archives, so my favorite will probably have to be the original Rowlf puppet. There’s something so lovable about the character, and I just always love looking at him when he's on display anywhere. I also love a character named Sir Linit from a commercial for "Linit Fabric Finish", He's a beautiful puppet - he's a spray can knight. When they first opened up the box for that puppet, it was all in pieces, and they did a great job of re-assembling the puppet from all the parts in the box.

MS:   Is there a separate archive for the Disney-owned Muppets and the Sesame owned Muppets from the main Henson archive?

CS:   Karen Falk, the head of the archive, she keeps everything all in one archive collection. When the company sold the characters to Disney it was agreed that Disney got the production photography and franchise but Jim’s drawings and sketches and all archive material stayed at Henson Archive. The Disney archive doesn’t maintain material for their acquired properties, only for their main original Disney properties, so it worked out well to keep all the material at Henson.

MS:   My next question is related to your book: When you were writing this book, did you discover any new info that you didn’t know prior to writing this encyclopedia?

CS:   Yeah, I’m always learning things that I didn’t know. I couldn’t think of one specific thing, but yes, many things that I didn’t know before have come up that I learned. The thing was with this book that if I didn’t have all the full info or I couldn’t find the info I basically just had the ability to make it up.

MS:   And in a very humorous fashion!

CS:   (laughs) Thanks. I was trying to be as funny as I could, because I didn’t just want it to be a reference and we wanted to target it to everyone, as originally it was just supposed to be a children's book. Originally when I was approached, the publisher, DK was planning to do it as a children's book -- they generally do children's books and they saw it as part of their regular line for kids. Jim Lewis, the consultant on the book, and myself, we wanted to not just target at children, but to a broad range of Muppet fans, and I wanted it to be as entertaining as it could be. I sent some material to Jim Lewis to look at and he would tell me that he was laughing out loud. Once the publishers and Disney saw what we were doing and that it was suitable for kids even though they might not get all the jokes, they agreed that this was the approach to take.

MS:   You mentioned this was also supposed to originally be intended for children as well, I guess that’s why The Muppet Show pilot title was only referred to as "Muppet Show pilot" in the book instead of "Sex and Violence."

CS:   Well, I sent in my manuscript and it had the original title on it, but it still needed to be suitable for all ages so they decided to just call it the "Muppet Show pilot." It’s interesting to know that the TV Guide listings when it aired in the 70's referred to the episode as "The Muppet Show" and not by the title "The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence." Basically, that’s generally the reason it was cut out of the books. The book needed to be suitable to all ages.

MS:   Where did the idea for this book come from? Were you approached by Disney, or DK or was it one of your own ideas?

CS:   It wasn’t one of my own ideas. I was approached by Jim Lewis, if you don’t know Jim, he’s been involved with the Muppets for a long time. He was the editor of the Muppet Magazine way back when it was in publication. I worked beside him for a while and when he moved to LA, I took over his job and Jim was involved in a lot of Muppet stuff over the years, he is involved still at Disney and I get called in occasionally when Jim is busy. When Disney and DK decided they wanted to do this book they went to Jim and he didn’t really have the time so he approached me but he agreed to be a consultant. He gave my info to DK and they approached me later. It all happened very quickly. The thing about this book, I only started writing it in July of last year.

MS:   Speaking of Disney, what do you think about the Muppets being remade for new movies and TV shows? How does I match up compared to thirty years ago?

CS:   Well, it’s always gonna be different. I think that the fact that they are still around and people are still going to see them so many years after they were created is wonderful. I think Jim saw that these would be characters that would live on as long as people would keep going to see them. I think that certain shows are more successful than others, but that’s always been the case, but I think the fact that they keep cranking out new specials and new movies is fantastic.

MS:   So have you seen Muppets Most Wanted yet? (EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview was conducted before the film was released).

CS:   I haven’t got a chance to see the film yet, but I got to read the script because I had to write pages for Constantine and the Leprechauns and I thought the script was really great. It improved on the previous Muppet movie by letting the Muppets really take over the center of the story. A problem that I had with the last movie was that I felt it wasn't as much of a Muppet movie. I understand why they had to take that role in that film, but based on this script, this second film is more of a Muppet movie.

MS:   I guess they really had to undergo the phase to re-introduce the Muppets to the general audience again. It was necessary, I guess.

CS:   I understand why they thought it was necessary for them. I guess they needed to feature a "journey" for the Muppets so they needed to feature them as "washed up." There are different ways to do things, I probably would have taken another way to tell that story, but that doesn’t mean what they did was wrong. There’s many different ways to tell that story. I think that the fact that it came out and it did well and people went to see it was a wonderful thing.

Check back soon for Part 2 of our interview with Craig!







The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

Muppetology 101: Advanced Property Ownership

Michael Wermuth - Ten years ago last month, The Walt Disney Company purchased the Muppets from The Jim Henson Company, without buying the whole company. To casual fans, it can be confusing to figure out what all Disney owns, exactly. It should be obvious that Disney owns the Muppet characters and properties from The Muppet Show and related productions, but it can still be confusing. After all, there’s several productions that aren’t related to any specific show, some of which feature characters who would later become major, or feature appearances by Kermit, some of which are retained by Henson and some included in the Disney deal. And while the Muppet name would be more commonly associated with those characters introduced on The Muppet Show and similar productions, The Jim Henson Company had continued to use the “Muppet” name to refer to its characters from most of its productions (save the Creature Shop stuff) until 2004. This article is intended to educate you on who owns what. There’s  a number of Muppet specials that crossover various properties owned by different companies. And there’s also the fact that many Henson productions were distributed by other companies, who still own the distribution rights while Henson or Disney owns the characters and such.

First, let’s talk about Sesame Street. Sesame was always produced and distributed by Sesame Workshop (formerly Children’s Television Workshop), but until 2000, The Jim Henson Company retained the rights to all characters created for the show. Henson did produce a handful of Sesame Street productions (often with Sesame Workshop), including the specials Out to Lunch and Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting, as well as the film The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland.

In 2000, The Jim Henson Company, under ownership of German company EM.TV, sold the rights to the Sesame Street characters to Sesame Workshop. However, while Sesame Workshop does not own the “Muppet” trademark, Sesame Workshop is allowed to use the Muppet name to refer to its characters. Sesame Workshop is also allowed to continue releasing existing Kermit the Frog appearances, and The Jim Henson Company still constructs the Sesame Street Muppet characters. And the distribution rights to a number of Sesame Street specials and movies are owned by other companies: ABC owns Out to Lunch, Bob Banner Productions owns A Special Sesame Street Christmas, Warner Bros. owns Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird, The Jim Henson Company owns Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting, and Sony owns The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland.

As for Disney’s Muppet properties, Disney owns the Muppet name as well as all associated characters, including everyone from Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, and Angus McGonagle. Muppet properties owned by Disney include the television shows The Muppet Show, Muppet Babies, the Muppet portions of The Jim Henson Hour ("MuppeTelevision," "Miss Piggy’s Hollywood," and "Secrets of the Muppets"), and Muppets Tonight, the Muppet movies, and countless Muppet specials, home video productions, and viral videos. Additionally, Disney owns the distribution rights to a number of productions that might seem like a surprise: "The Muppet Meeting Films," the specials Hey Cinderella!, The Frog Prince, The Muppet Musicians of Bremen, Tale of the Bunny Picnic, and Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree, the series Little Muppet Monsters, the Play-Along Video release "Neat Stuff to Know and To Do," and the "Muppet Time" interstitials.

The 2004 Disney deal also included the rights to Bear in the Big Blue House, and by extension Disney also owns Bear in the Big Blue House Live and Breakfast with Bear. Disney has also always owned the distribution rights to Dinosaurs, though I’m not sure whether the characters are owned by Disney or Henson. Additionally, regarding distribution rights, before the 2004 deal, Disney has always owned the rights to The Muppets at Walt Disney World, The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson, The Muppet Christmas Carol, and Muppet Treasure Island. The distribution rights to The Muppets Take Manhattan, Muppets from Space, and Kermit’s Swamp Years are owned by Sony, It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie is owned by NBC Universal, and the two John Denver and the Muppets specials are owned by John Denver’s estate. Disney owns the big crossover specials between the Muppets, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock (The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years and A Muppet Family Christmas) but still need permission to release the specials with the characters they do not own.

There’s The Jim Henson Company, which owns everything else from the company. Primary properties include Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, Farscape, The StoryTeller, The Animal Show with Stinky and Jake, and Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas, as well as the various Henson Alternative programming and CGI shows such as Sid the Science Kid and Dinosaur Train. Obviously, the company owns the rights to various live-action non-puppet projects from the company, including Time Piece, Youth ’68, The Cube, and Family Rules. The company also owns the non-Muppet portions of The Jim Henson Hour, including Song of the Cloud Forest and Monster Maker, as well as Dog City (which heavily features Rowlf).

And of course there are Henson Company properties that other companies own the distribution rights to. Sony owns the distribution rights to Labyrinth, Buddy, and Mirror Mask, Warner Bros. owns The Witches, and Nelvana owns the Dog City TV series.

There are also some productions that I’m not sure who the owner is (some lecture this is!). I know that NBC Universal owns Sam and Friends, but I’ve always been unclear who owns those characters. I always thought Henson owns the characters (except for Kermit), as the company has put a clip from the show on its YouTube channel and in recent years and Yorick had been rebuilt for Puppet Up!, but then the recent book The Muppets Character Encyclopedia has a section on Sam and Friends characters. I’m not sure which company owns Tales of the Tinkerdee (I would think Disney). I also wonder which company owns the rights to the recently-found "Cinderella" pilot from 1965. And there’s also the question of who owns The Jim Henson Hour pilot "InnerTube," which mainly features characters who would never be seen again, but also heavily features Digit, and has a fair amount of Kermit, not to mention The Jim Henson Hour Pitch Reel, which heavily features Muppets and Creature Shop characters, but also promotes Jim Henson’s plans for the show, which was a big mix of Muppets and other Henson stuff.

Well, that’s a lot of knowledge on who owns what (a lot of which I don’t even know). Due to all this ownership splits, there likely won’t be many crossovers like A Muppet Family Christmas again. But then again, did any of us expect the three companies to work together to have their characters included in "Jim Henson’s Musical World" in April, 2012? How many of us thought there’d be a new Kermit photo on the cover of the Sesame Street video "Silly Storytime"? And who would have thought a Sesame Street clip with Kermit (when there’s scores of Kermit clips Disney could have used for free) would appear in Muppets Most Wanted?

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

News Update: June 7, 2013

NEWS UPDATE: June 7, 2013

This week, the Writers Guild of America posted their list of the 101 Best Written TV Series. Included on the list were both Sesame Street (at #56) and The Muppet Show (at #91). Check out the blurbs below for what the Writers Guild had to say about the shows. Thanks to our friend Benn Breeden for the alert!

#56 - Sesame Street
"Simply put, the show’s continual inventiveness and impact as an educational tool – forged via the runaway popularity of the Muppets – changed the landscape of children's television. Joan Ganz Cooney was a children's television producer in New York City when, with government funding, she founded the Children's Television Workshop. Sesame Street was born of her belief that kids programming ought to be more forward-thinking and fun. "I wanted this show to jump and move fast and feel and sound like 1969, because kids are turned on visually!" Cooney is quoted as saying on the show's Web site. Cooney's creative team included Frank Oz, Jon Stone (a former producer on Captain Kangaroo who became the show's first head writer), and the master puppeteer Jim Henson. Sesame Street, when it debuted, was banned from the air in Mississippi due to its interracial cast."

#91 - The Muppet Show

"Behind Jim Henson's genius and generosity of spirit were writers who shared his vision for puppetry that could tickle kids while delighting adults. They had worked with Henson going back before Sesame Street and followed him as the Muppets multiplied, springing to richer and richer life. On The Muppet Show, the characters were in showbiz now – with Kermit the Frog the impresario of a kind of variety show that peered at itself backstage, had a house band (The Electric Mayhem), a diva ingénue (Miss Piggy), balcony hecklers (Statler and Waldorf) and a human celebrity guest star. On the writing side, Henson's collaborators included head writer Jerry Juhl (winner of five Writers Guild Awards), Jon Stone (who wrote one of two pilots for the series, called "Sex and Violence with the Muppets"), Marc London (Laugh-in), and Jack Burns, of the comedy team Burns and Schreiber, head writer during the first season."

This week Sesame Street and Sesame Workshop announced their exciting new partnership with the National Park Service. This partnership encourages young viewers to go out and explore the United States National Parks. Who better to encourage this than our favorite furry red monsters Elmo and Murray? Check out the video below to see Elmo and Murray chat with a park ranger. Be sure to click around for the other videos in the series as well. This series is very notable because Elmo is being performed by Muppeteer Ryan Dillon for the first time in a major production. Dillon's Elmo performance is incredibly spot-on. Check it out for yourself!



Finally, our friends at ToughPigs.com have some interesting new information about the upcoming BBC game show starring puppets from The Jim Henson Company--aptly titled That Puppet Game Show. You'll want to check out ToughPigs for all the information, but you can see the intriguing photo featuring "celebrity" Vernon Kay and puppet Dougie Colon below. Enjoy?

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

Brand New Fraggle Music Video!!

We have been wondering for years if we would ever see them again... but here we are, in the year of their 30th anniversary, that Gobo, Mokey, Wembley, Boober, Red, and Uncle Traveling Matt return in full force!! That's right, thanks to the combined efforts of The Jim Henson Company, Chris Hardwick, The Nerdist Channel, and the Ben Folds Five, the FRAGGLES ARE BACK!! Check out the amazing music video, also featuring Rob Cordry and Anna Kendrick, for the new Ben Folds Five song "Do It Anyway" below to witness the return for yourselves! (Be sure to watch the ENTIRE video!)



Also don't miss this fantastic behind the scenes video below to hear Red Fraggle (Karen Prell) discuss how much fun she's had making this thing called a video with "Mr. Ben With His Three And The Other Two Once They Show Up." Enjoy!!

WELCOME BACK, FRAGGLES!!!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

News Update: August 16, 2012

NEWS UPDATE: August 16, 2012

One of our favorite actors, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, (of 500 Days of Summer and The Dark Knight Rises) fame appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live Tuesday night to discuss things that shouldn't really connect to Muppets... but somehow they did, and JGL's love for our fuzzy friends was revealed! Check out the fantastic clip from the show below to hear Joseph Gordon Levitt and Jimmy Kimmel discussing Murray Monster, The Muppets, and amazing footage from Emily Blunt!



The fine folks responsible for the amazing documentary Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey have alerted us to the fact that the film is up for a PBS Independent Lens Audience Award! Up against many other PBS documentaries, Being Elmo has some stiff competition, but as Muppet fans, I think we've proven time and again that we're capable of rocking the vote in our favor! All you have to do is click the link above, scroll down to Being Elmo, and vote it 5 Stars and your vote is in! It's that simple! So get out there and help our this fantastic, moving film!

Muppet fan Davide Maugeri contacted me recently with information on a non-profit project he and a team are working on as a tribute to the classic Jim Henson/Disney television sitcom Dinosaurs. Check out the work Davide has already done with a little snippet of information about the project: "Recently I've teamed up with some workmates to make a CG tribute to Jim Henson. A one and a half minute animated short featuring two characters from one of our favorite Jim Henson shows, Baby and Earl Sinclair from Dinosaurs. We'd like to stress that it is only meant as a homage and tribute to the genius of Jim Henson which made the series possible. Since this was a big hit in the early 90's and it ended up forgotten, our main goal is to bring these characters back to life and remind people they still exist, and they still can make us laugh like they used to. Here is a sneak-peek picture that shows both the characters as they appear in their new CG look. The short should be complete by the holiday season (December)."

Last week marked the end of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, but I was in Walt Disney World so I missed some exciting news from the games: Grover, Elmo, and Abby Cadabby were present in London for a few days mingling with Olympic athletes and just having fun! Our friends at ToughPigs.com have a fantastic round-up of the video appearances the trio made across the pond, and be sure to check out the official Sesame Street Olympic Photo Album on Facebook!

Speaking of Sesame Street... they are currently in the process of an open casting call for a new human cast member on the show! Live in the New York area? Free on August 20th? Are you an actor fluent in Spanish and English? Then this audition is for you! Check out all the official information from Sesame Workshop below...
Male or female actor, 18-25, fluent in Spanish and English, comfortable with multiple Spanish dialects and accents. Good sense of humor. Must sing well. Actor should be comfortable with both physical and improvisational comedy. Actor should be warm, likable and engaging. Must be prepared to sing a cappella in Spanish and English.
DATE: Monday, August 20th
TIME: 10am – 2pm
LOCATION: Roseland Ballroom, 239 West 52nd Street, New York
Please bring a headshot and resume if you have one.
If you have any further questions, please contact Joe Lopick of McCorkle Casting at joe@mccorklecasting.com.

In "no one could have seen this coming" news, Legendary Entertainment Alliance announced early last week that they would be releasing the hilariously weird television special A Special Sesame Street Christmas on DVD on November 6 of this year. You can pre-order the DVD for only $12.98 right now on the L.E.A. website. Never heard of this infamous special? Check out the trailer for the special/DVD below (or just look at the awful DVD cover art at right) and you'll see what makes this piece so fantastically strange. I know I'll be owning it!









The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

Muppetology 101: Progressions of the Fraggle Rock Movie

Ryan Dosier - Welcome to summer school, class! If you had studied harder maybe you wouldn't be here... but I'm pretty sure you're all glued to your seats after our Muppet Labs lesson so maybe that's why you're here. Anyway... have students will teach I always say! And after last week's exciting revelation of two new writers for the Fraggle Rock movie, what better subject to discuss than the complicated and frustrating seven year history of this project? Here we go!

• 2005
• Fraggle Rock movie project first proposed by The Jim Henson Company in a press release during its 50th anniversary. 



Ahmet Zappa

• 2006
• In an interview, Brian Henson says, "Yes, we are writing a Fraggle Rock movie and trying to pull it together. We want the movie to do something that sort of stands next to the Fraggle Rock series rather than be a continuation of the show."
• In a press release, The Jim Henson Company stated that the film was indeed in the works with a script treatment being written by Ahmet Zappa.
• Ahmet Zappa discusses his plans for the film in an interview with MTV. States that he expects the movie to hit theaters in 2009, wants celebrity cameos, new songs, and lots of puppets. 



Cory Edwards

• 2008
• Yet another press release from The Jim Henson Company reveals that the Weinstein Company would be distributing the film with a new writer/director Cory Edwards (Hoodwinked), with Ahmet Zappa moved to Executive Producer spot.
• In the press release, Lisa Henson stated, "Our previous partnership with the Weinstein Company has proven to be a wonderful collaboration and we are confident that joining with them on this project will ensure audiences young and old will enjoy meeting Red, Gobo and the whole Fraggle gang. With Cory Edwards directing, this new Fraggle adventure will bring an exciting energy while honoring the heart, joy and hope of the original series."
• Edwards stated, "Jim Henson's work has had a huge influence on my life, so to get the chance to bring 'Fraggles' to the big screen is fantastic. Both Lisa and Harvey [Weinstein] have been very enthusiastic and supportive of my vision of this film. It's my goal to make Fraggle fans happy, as well as make a great stand-alone fantasy adventure film" in the same press release.
• 2009
• On his blog, Cory's Curiousities, Edwards discussed the film's music ("We are talking to some big people about being involved. MAJOR names. Everyone agrees that this music has to be more than 'kids rock,' or sing-songy stuff that is merely tolerable for adults."), script ("The other update is that I had a substantial creative meeting over at Henson on some bigger issues with the script. As excited as everyone has been about the screenplay, there were some larger, lingering notes. Notes about certain themes, about the length of time we spend in certain locations or on a certain character's story."), and delays in the project ("All parties are circling up to keep this ball moving down the field (although it's always more like pushing a boulder up a hill). For those of you who are frustrated and impatient about how long this is taking, Welcome To The Movie Business! This is nothing new. Each project of this size involves huge amounts of money and lots of people (and multiple companies) agreeing on the same creative, financial and strategic plans. And then some of those plans take a lot of time to execute.")
• Entertainment Weekly magazine featured this blurb in its December 2009 issue:  Director Cory Edwards (Hoodwinked) tells EW he is overseeing a big-screen revamp of the Henson-created Fraggle Rock, the much-beloved '80s TV show about tiny Muppet-esque creatures. "We've got a script we're very excited about, but it's been a very tricky balance," reveals Edwards. "We have to appeal to 10-year-olds as well as the nostalgic 30- and 40-year-olds." The latter camp need not worry about an excess of CGI jiggery-pokery. "This is old-school Muppet tricks," reassures Edwards. "I think it's more important to the fans than it would have been to Jim. He loved any tool of creation. But yeah, we're going to do puppets."
• 2010
• Numerous production holdups begin to surface this year. Edwards is the main news source on his blog with updates on the delays, mostly pinning the problems on the Weinstein Company. Said Edwards in April 2010, "There are many crazy things going on behind the scenes to get the film funded and to get the Weinstein Company completely committed. I'm very, very frustrated with the lack of progress, to put it lightly. The script is GOOD, guys. I'm excited about it and I stand by it...I'm at a loss. I'm ready to go, but the big decision-makers are not. I've become very personally invested in this thing, and I desperately want to give you all the Fraggle movie you've been dreaming of. I get goosebumps when I think about the movie that could be. I think it's still possible. However, I'm sad to say that you may not hear any updates on Fraggle Rock for a long time."
• In May, Edwards was interviewed by The Muppet Mindset and provided a bit more insight into the film.
• In June, Edwards posted on his blog that Weinstein had begun searching for a new screenwriter for the project. He, again, blames this on Weinstein's desire for an "edgier" Fraggle Rock. "I have said repeatedly that I will do my very best to make this Fraggle movie relevant and modern, to compete with everything else out there. But what I will NOT do is sabotage what made the property beloved in the first place." 
• 2011
• Edwards tells Entertainment Weekly that the project is no longer under the Weinstein Company anymore. Later that month, Craig Shemin revealed that the film will be put on hold until another production company is found for it.
• In October, the New Regency Company purchased the production rights for the film from The Jim Henson Company. New Regency is the studio behind the Alvin & the Chipmunks and Marmaduke big-screen adaptations.
• 2012
• In May, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that two new writers had been hired to pen the script for the Fraggle Rock movie project: Jim Byrkit and Alex Manugian, two co-writers of the Academy Award-winning animated film Rango.

Well... that's that! A very brief breakdown of the progression of the Fraggle Rock feature film project since 2005. Hopefully we'll actually see the film come to fruition this time.






The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

Fraggle Rock Movie Snags Rango Writers

Since 2005, The Jim Henson Company has been juggling around ideas for a feature film based on Jim Henson's classic, beloved television series Fraggle Rock. The Fraggles, Doozers ,and Gorgs and the world of Fraggle Rockis already very wide-reaching and cinematic in scope already, but the Henson Company seemed bent on bringing them to the big screen. The film has never gotten past the writing stage and sat in development purgatory at the Weinstein Company for many years, until last year when New Regency acquired the rights to the film. Little was said about the project after that... until last night.

Late last night The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that The Jim Henson Company has tapped two writers to tackle the Fraggle Rock movie script: Jim Burit and Alex Manugian, co-writers of last year's animated film Rango. This is a good sign, showing that not only are both Henson and New Regency keen on moving ahead with the Fraggle movie project, but they're also putting the project in the hands of two big-time writers who helped write an Oscar winning film last year.

I know that years of disappointment and wrong turns for this project have put a sour taste in the mouths of many fans about this proposed Fraggle movie, but I am choosing to remain optimistic. This is the biggest news on the Fraggle Rock movie in nearly four years and it's nice to see Henson moving forward with such a big project. What is also nice to see is big-name entertainment websites (such as The Huffington Post and CinemaBlend) getting excited over a Fraggle film. I can't wait to see what comes from this.

We'll have even more discussion on this exciting development later this week, but for now... Dance your cares away! A Fraggle movie may be on the way!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

Calling All Artists! Design for Fraggle Rock!

Greetings, Muppet fans! We're reaching out to YOU with a very exciting opportunity from our friends at The Jim Henson Company. We mentioned this contest on the site a few weeks ago, but we don't feel like we gave it the spotlight it deserves. The Jim Henson Company is hosting an art competition asking any and all artists to submit their design artwork based on Fraggle Rock! The prizes are multiple and incredibly awesome and the exposure it will bring you as an artist will be even more great. Check out the official press release below...

Since Fraggle Rock's creation in 1983 it has been seen in 80 countries and watched in a least ten different languages and, to this day, continues to enjoy a loyal international following. In celebration of Fraggle Rock's 30th anniversary, The Jim Henson Company is inviting artists to submit artwork* inspired by the world of Fraggle Rock and it's characters including the Fraggles, The Doozers, Sprocket, Traveling Matt and the Gorgs. One winner will have their artwork featured and produced on select merchandise items for Fraggle Rock's 30th anniversary, in addition to receiving a private tour of the Jim Henson design studios, followed by invitation to Fraggle Rock's 30th Anniversary party in Los Angeles.

*Artwork may consist of photographs, paintings, illustrations, drawings, graphic design or collages. Artists may also create 3D pieces but must submit high-res photographs of those creations. 

The Jim Henson Company's Choice

The winning design will be featured and produced in elements of Fraggle Rock's 30th anniversary merchandise line, which will be promoted and sold on their online store. In addition, the winner will receive:

• A private tour of The Jim Henson Company and attendance to Fraggle Rock's 30th anniversary party (travel and two nights' accommodation in Los Angeles for two provided)
• A framed copy of their artwork
• A feature on henson.com and Henson's Facebook page
• $2,500

Eight runners-up, as selected by The Jim Henson Company, will each receive:

• A feature on Henson.com and Henson's Facebook page
• A framed copy of their artwork
• $500

People's Choice
The highest voted artist will receive:

• A feature on Henson.com and Henson's Facebook page
• A framed copy of their artwork
• $500

Get Involved
Submit by: June 20, 2012
Vote: June 21, 2012 10am PST- June 28, 2012 10am PST
Winner(s) Announced: July 12, 2012

Visit the website for OFFICIAL RULES including how to submit and how designs will be chosen. If you are a reader of The Muppet Mindset and plan on submitting a piece to the contest, let us know by emailing us. We would love to feature your work on the site as well! Even more, we'd love to see one of our readers actually win this thing! Good luck to all!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com