The incredibly cool online animation thread

Post by **eddievalient** » March 20th, 2008, 3:50 pm

I can't remember where I read this (it may have been Jim Henson: The Works, which is an excellent book), but supposedly at one point Henson was having a meeting with Katzenberg to discuss Disney aquiring the Muppets. While he waited for JK to show up, he noticed some buzzards milling about outside and started explaining to the others there about how buzzards were noble creatures. JK came in and noticed the birds and the first thing he said was something like "D*** parasites, I wish they'd go away." Allegedly that one comment caused Henson to change his mind about selling his creations and they stayed in the family for years after his passing. And now you know...The Rest Of The Story.

Post by **ShyViolet** » March 21st, 2008, 10:09 am

Ha!

That's hilarious!

I read something along those lines as well (at Jim Hill media) quite a while ago, although it was a little different, JK said: "Yeah, we weren't able to kill all of them, but at least it stopped most of them from c*****pg all over everything," or something like that.

Post by **eddievalient** » March 21st, 2008, 1:46 pm

That's probably where I read it too, back when I used to read Jim Hill fanatically. Like I said, I can't remember. Oh well. I still recommend "Jim Henson: The Works". It's an expensive book (the main reason I haven't got it yet), but if you can afford it, it'd totally be worth it.

Post by **Randall** » March 21st, 2008, 1:56 pm

That book is terrific. One should also track down the Henson documentary, PBS's Great Performances: The World of Jim Henson. It has some amazing footage in it.

Post by **eddievalient** » March 21st, 2008, 5:03 pm

I've actually got that one taped from its original airing on PBS all those years ago. Unfortunately, due to the fact that we were still using rabbit ears at that point and picking PBS up from Georgia, the picture is extremely fuzzy and in some places is almost unwatchable. I'm aware that there was a VHS release of the special, but you'd think at this point it'd be pretty hard to track down. Do you know if it's available on DVD?

On the same subject, I've got some other Henson specials that my grandmother taped for us kids back in the day (she had cable, so the picture on these is pretty clear). One was called "Henson's Place: The Man Behind The Muppets" and I think it must have originally been from the BBC, due to the narrator being British. Another was a tribute to longtime Muppet songwriter Joe Raposo (from PBS), very touching with lots of great clips of his music. The last one is The Muppets 30th Anniversary Celebration. That one in particular is great fun. The set up is all the muppets from the various Henson series gathering in a banquet hall to reflect on their first 30 years. Lots of great clips and between-clip shenanigans. Being that the muppets are split between different companies now, it's likely that none of these specials will be seen again and that's a shame because they really are excellent.

*awkward silence*

Um...Too geeky?

Post by **Ben** » March 21st, 2008, 6:05 pm

Not at all!

The Muppet Show and The Great Muppet Caper, Dark Crystal and Labyrinth were all shot where I work, and I met Jim quite a few times. Amazing man, and anything I can collect on him is good in my eyes.

"The Works" is excellent...I have quite a few specials on tape also.

Post by **Randall** » March 21st, 2008, 9:23 pm

You.... met.... JIM????!!!

I have few regrets in life, but I've always regretted never having had the opportunity to meet Jim Henson.

Wow.

Post by **ShyViolet** » March 21st, 2008, 9:33 pm

Not at all!

The Muppet Show and The Great Muppet Caper, Dark Crystal and Labyrinth were all shot where I work, and I met Jim quite a few times. Amazing man, and anything I can collect on him is good in my eyes.

"The Works" is excellent...I have quite a few specials on tape also. Smile

That's SOOO awesome Ben!

Was "The Storyteller" filmed there too?

Post by **eddievalient** » March 22nd, 2008, 2:55 am

There's one thing that's been driving me nuts with curiosity. It was recently announced that someone had sold a screenplay for a Jim Henson biopic entitled, simply, "Henson". This could be good news (after all, "Ray" was one of the best movies of the decade and I knew nothing about Ray Charles when I watched it) but.....who are they going to cast? Who on this earth could possibly portray Jim Henson convincingly? He was such a unique spirit with a distinct sensibility, how are they going to make a film believable?

Post by **Randall** » March 22nd, 2008, 10:09 am

Oddly, Jason Lee popped into my head. You may scoff, but just think about think about him with that beard.

Of course, there's probably someone lesser known who would be much better. The main problem, as I see it, would be the voice. Jim's voice was so unique.

Post by **Ben** » March 22nd, 2008, 11:46 am

Steve Whitmire!

Yep, I was on the set of The Muppet Show many times as a kid. Saw the sets and how it was filmed. A BIG part of why I wanted to get into this crazy business. Jim was pretty good friends with my Dad - not like the best ever pals or anything, but Jim was friendly with whoever he met, y'know, so they knew each other. I was actually given a real Kermit puppet...not a toy, but an actual Kermit. It was one of the older ones they they used for the first two seasons, I think. However, being very young, and not knowing the value of such things, what did I do? I wrecked it. I shot my own 8mm short films with this Kermit, and in doing so put him through hell. He's somewhere in a container up at my Mum's now (with my genuine 2001 gorilla suit) , but well beyond saving. Unlike the Muppets, I didn't have a "stunt Kermit", of course, so he took a beating, got rolled down hills, thrown about, ended up in the sea (boy, that sea water will eat through anything) and even lost an eye (we replaced it with half a ping pong ball).

Lamentable...truly lamentable...

Yep, Storyteller was shot at Elstree too. I can kinda see Lee as Jim, but the voice would be all wrong. I think they'd need to go for an unknown, ultimately, just to keep it believable.

Post by **Randall** » March 22nd, 2008, 1:54 pm

A ... real..... KERMIT?!

Now I'm hyperventilating.

And... you... WRECKED HIM??!!!!

...feeling...woozy...

Post by **Ben** » March 22nd, 2008, 1:59 pm

I was young!

I was oblivious!

I was...STOOPID!!

Seriously...the amount of stuff I also used to have on tape that I erased is unbelievable too: TONS of original Wonderful World Of Disney, the entire original run of The Muppet Show, so many specials and one-offs that I've never been able to replace.

Back then so many things were repeated that I thought I'd have opportunities to grab better copies.

Grrrrrrrrrrr..................................

Post by **eddievalient** » March 22nd, 2008, 3:51 pm

You should do what I do when I tape stuff: never get rid of anything (unless you just didn't enjoy it at all, in which case it's okay). Example: I happened to catch Daria's series finale, "Is It College Yet?" in its original airing and it's a good thing I've held on to it because the complete version hasn't been seen since. For some odd reason, MTV cut seven minutes when they reaired it and the cut version is what's on dvd.

Example 2: At one point, the creators of The Blair Witch Project had a series on Fox called "Freakylinks" about paranormal investigators who put their finds on the titular website (which, in true viral-marketing fashion, actually existed during the show's run). It was an interesting series but unfortunately, lack of ratings did it in in less than a season. I did manage to tape several episodes (including the pilot) and that's good because the series has yet to show up on dvd.

Example 3: Before Vault Disney went away, I was lucky enough to catch a 2am airing of Make Mine Music that included the opening segment, "The Martins and The Coys" (one of the film's highlights IMO). When the film was released on dvd, that segment was cut and the complete version hasn't been seen since.

Ah, the life of a pop culture junkie. I could go on and on, but I'll not bore you with any more.

Post by **Ben** » March 23rd, 2008, 9:18 am

I still have my Martins And The Coys, thank goodness, from a logo-free TV airing here in the UK. In fact, I have all the uncut Disney features, one way or another.

My foolishness came from when I was very young. Before being a teenager, you just didn't think this stuff would not keep showing. After hitting being a teenager, I grew up, realised that all this was gold, and started holding on to it. I still have a TON of really amazing, really rare stuff that I didn't erase, but I just could kick myself when I think of what else I used to have.