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The Muppets

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The Muppets are a group of puppets and costume characters, and the company created by Jim Henson. Individually, a Muppet is properly any one of the puppets built by the Jim Henson Workshop. Though the term is often used erroneously to refer to any puppet that resembles the distinctive style of The Muppet Show and Sesame Street characters, the term is both an informal name and legal trademark linked to the characters created by The Jim Henson Company. After frequently changing hands since the death of creator Jim Henson in 1990, The Muppets have been owned by The Walt Disney Company, through the Muppets Holding Company, since early 2004.

File:Movie muppet movie.jpg
The Muppet Movie, closing scene.
File:Jim Henson's Muppets.png
The old Jim Henson's Muppets Logo, from 2002-2004

The word "Muppet" itself was said by Henson to have been created by combining the words "marionette" and "puppet"; however, Henson was also known to have stated that it was just something he liked the sound of, and he made up the "marionette/puppet" story while talking to a journalist because it sounded plausible. [1]

Muppets are distinguished from ventriloquist "dummies", which are typically animated only in the head and face, in that their arms or other features are also mobile and expressive. Muppets are typically made of softer materials. They are also presented as being independent of the puppeteer, who is usually not visible, hidden behind a set or outside of the camera frame.

Appearance

The most common design for a Jim Henson Muppet is a character with a very wide mouth and large protruding eyes. The puppets are often molded or carved out of polyfoam, and then covered with fabric called Antron fleece. Yarn, nylon string, or (most commonly) ostrich feathers are used to create hair. As there is no "eye store" from which they can be purchased, Muppet eyes are often made (as in the case of the original Kermit) from ping-pong balls, from fishing floats, or from a special hemispherical toy called a Wacky Stax. Muppets may represent humans, anthropomorphic animals, realistic animals, robots or anthropomorphic objects, extra-terrestrial creatures, mythical beings or other unidentifed, newly imagined creatures.

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An anything Muppet family on Sesame Street.

Operation

The puppeteer typically holds the puppet above his head or in front of his body, and operates the hands and arms with a Y-shaped control rod. One consequence of this design is that most Muppets are left handed as the puppeteer uses his right hand to operate the head while operating the arm rod with his left hand. There are many other common designs and means of operation. In advanced puppets, several puppeteers may control a single character; the performer who controls the mouth usually provides the voice for the character. As technology has evolved, the Jim Henson team and other puppeteers have developed an enormous variety of means to operate puppets for film and television, including the use of suspended rigs, internal motors, remote radio control, and computer enhanced and superimposed images. Creative use of a mix of technologies has allowed for scenes in which Muppets appear to be riding a bicycle, rowing a boat, and even dancing onstage with no puppeteer in sight.

Muppets and their performers

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John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together.

The only major, unretired characters only portrayed by one puppeteer are Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Gonzo, Floyd, Pepe, Rizzo the Rat, Robin, and Zoot.

  • Animal (Frank Oz before 2000 to work on other movies, then Eric Jacobson on 2001)
  • Beaker (Richard Hunt until his death in 1992, currently Steve Whitmire)
  • Crazy Harry (Jerry Nelson, long absent until 2005 in The Muppets' Wizard of Oz)
  • Dr. Bunsen Honeydew (Dave Goelz)
  • Dr. Teeth (Jim Henson until his death in 1990, currently Bill Baretta)
  • Floyd (Jerry Nelson)
  • Fozzie Bear (Frank Oz before 2000 to work on other movies, then Eric Jacobson on 2001)
  • Gonzo (Dave Goelz)
  • Janice (Richard Hunt until his death in 1992, currently Brian Henson)
  • Kermit (Jim Henson until his death in 1990, currently Steve Whitmire)
  • Link Hogthrob (Jim Henson, character not really seen since)
  • Marvin Suggs (Frank Oz, character not really seen since)
  • Miss Piggy (Frank Oz before 2000 to work on other movies, then Eric Jacobson on 2001)
  • Pepe (Bill Baretta)
  • Rizzo The Rat (Steve Whitmire)
  • Robin (Jerry Nelson)
  • Rowlf (Jim Henson until his death in 1990, currently Bill Baretta)
  • Sam The Eagle (Frank Oz before 2000 to work on other movies, then Eric Jacobson on 2001)
  • Scooter (Richard Hunt until his death in 1992, then Adam Hunt, then Brian Henson, currently Ricky Boyd)
  • Statler (Richard Hunt until his death 1992, then Jerry Nelson, currently Steve Whitmire)
  • Swedish Chef (Frank Oz and Jim Henson's voice, Bill Barreta after Henson's death in 1990)
  • Sweetums (Richard Hunt until his death in 1992, currently John Henson)
  • Waldorf (Jim Henson until his death in 1990, currently Dave Goelz)
  • Zoot (David Goelz)

Films and Specials

Jim Henson films
Sam and Friends (1955) (Regarded as the "Birth of the Muppets").
The Muppet Movie (1979)
The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)
Brian Henson films
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
Muppet Treasure Island (1996)
Muppets From Space (1999)
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002)(TV)
The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005)(TV)
Other major Muppet productions
Emmet-Otter's Jug-band Christmas (1977)
John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together (TV) (1979)
A Muppet Family Christmas (TV) (1987)
The Muppets at Walt Disney World (TV) (1990)
Jim Henson's MuppetVision 3D (Walt Disney 3D Film) (1991)
Kermit's Swamp Years (Direct-to-Video) (2002)

Famous Muppets

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Red from Fraggle Rock.

Famous Muppets include Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Big Bird, Bert and Ernie, Elmo, and Oscar the Grouch. The most widely known television shows featuring Muppets are Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, and The Muppet Show. A recurring adult-oriented cast of Muppets (in a setting known as the “Land of Gortch”) were part of the first season of Saturday Night Live. Other, less popular series have included The Jim Henson Hour and Muppets Tonight. The puppet characters of Farscape, The Storyteller, The Hoobs, and Dinosaurs, as well as from the films Labyrinth, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and The Dark Crystal, are not considered Muppets, although they were also made by the Jim Henson Creature Shop. For a history of Jim Henson's Muppets, see Jim Henson.

After earlier unsuccessful attempts, The Walt Disney Company finally bought the Muppets in 2004. Exceptions include characters appearing on Sesame Street (as they were previously sold to Sesame Workshop), the Fraggles of Fraggle Rock, along with the above-mentioned non-"Muppet"-brand characters.

The show's popularity has been so expansive that Muppet characters have been treated as celebrities in their own right, including presenting at the Academy Awards, making cameos in Rocky III and An American Werewolf in London, and being interviewed on the newsmagazine 60 Minutes. Kermit the Frog was also interviewed early on in Jon Stewart's run on The Daily Show.

Muppet-like and Muppet-inspired puppets star in the 2004 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Avenue Q (which disavows any relationship with Sesame Workshop or the Jim Henson Company).

America's Next Muppet

In 2005, ABC announced it was purchasing a six-episode mini-series titled America's Next Muppet. The mini-series is going to be produced by The Jim Henson Company for Disney, and is going to be a direct parody of America's Next Top Model. The show is going to feature many famous Muppets holding a talent contest to find the next Muppet to add to their famous group. The show is tentatively scheduled to air in spring or summer of 2006.

Regional usage

In the British Isles the word muppet has come to be used as a mild term of abuse, meaning a stupid, incompetent, or moronic person, or the obvious interpretation of someone who is inanimated or somehow not there. The Swedish translation mupp is often used in a similar manner.

Cultural references

File:Fishinvid1024.jpg
The Muppets in Weezer's 'Keep Fishin'"
Lisa: "Dad, what's a Muppet?"
Homer: "Well, it's not quite a mop, it's not quite a puppet, but oh-ho man...[laughs]...so to answer your question, I don't know."

See also

References

  1. ^ United States Postal Service (September 28, 2005). Jim Henson, Muppets, get stamps of approval. Press Release.


Official Sites:

Fan Sites:

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