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By Jonathan Klotz
| Revealed
The Muppets have been going by means of a tough decade following the cancellation of their The Workplace-impressed present, The Muppets, by ABC in 2015. There are not any new Muppet motion pictures on the horizon, and their final two exhibits, Muppets Now and Electrical Mayhem, had been buried on Disney+ with an estimated advertising and marketing funds of two cans tied collectively by a string.
Making the present state of the Muppets franchise even worse is that Disney is eradicating MuppetVision 3D from Hollywood Studios, which is notable because it was the final mission Jim Henson labored on earlier than his loss of life. That shouldn’t be too shocking, as Disney has additionally by no means launched The Jim Henson Hour, leaving it caught within the vault alongside Track of the South and Ernest Goes to Camp.
MuppeTelevision
The Jim Henson Hour was hosted by Henson himself, introducing each episode earlier than going into MuppeTelevision, a contemporary tackle the basic selection present with the gang accountable for a tv studio. Every episode had a distinct movie star visitor, similar to Louie Anderson and Ted Danson, with sketches that ranged from Fozzie turning into a weatherman to a pretend nature documentary that turns right into a battle between butterflies and caterpillars. As a lifelong fan of the Muppets, even I’ll admit that this a part of the present was uneven, and the brand new CGI muppet, Waldo, by no means caught on, however this did give us Bean Bunny, and it was solely half the episode.
The again half of every episode of The Jim Henson Hour was both an episode of The Storyteller, which tailored basic people tales, or a brand new fable for the present. These tales had been darker and extra severe than MuppeTelevision as they tried to retain the texture and tone of the supply materials, which made for an odd viewing expertise for youths who wished to see Kermit.
The Storyteller first aired in 1987 and received the Emmy for Finest Youngsters’s Programming for the episode “Hans the Hedgehog.” At the moment, you may stream the sequence to test it out for your self.
The Mini-Motion pictures
Not each episode of The Jim Henson Hour included The Storyteller, with one following Miss Piggy as she tries to interview celebrities in a section that was later revived for the Covid-era Muppets Now, and three had been hour-long motion pictures: Canine Metropolis, Residing with Dinosaurs, and Monster Maker. Canine Metropolis was a noir movie narrated by Rowlf, involving Muppets concerned within the mob and safety rackets, that might go on to turn into an animated Saturday Morning Cartoon within the 90s, whereas Residing with Dinosaurs was a extra straight-forward story of a stuffed dinosaur come to life to assist a baby navigate their fracturing residence life. Whereas each of these are enjoyable in their very own methods, it’s Monster Maker that left an impression on me once I first watched it that I’ve by no means been in a position to shake.
In what I contemplate to be the second-best episode of The Jim Henson Hour, Harry Dean Stanton performs a particular results grasp who takes on a younger apprentice, however one among his newest initiatives, the Ultragorgon, which seems like a mechanical dragon, involves life. It doesn’t go on a rampage; as a substitute, it turns into a mentor to the boy, providing life recommendation to get him by means of college and coping with his father, however slowly, it takes a darkish flip. The Ultragorgon, which Henson explains was dropped at life by eight completely different puppeteers, was a large piece of sensible impact wizardry voiced by Dumbledore himself, Michael Gambon.
You will discover each Canine Metropolis and Monster Maker on streaming as stand-alone movies, with none of The Jim Henson Hour framing gadgets. Nonetheless, one of the best episode of the sequence, which was launched in 1992 as a stand-alone particular, “Secrets and techniques of the Muppets,” can’t be discovered anyplace.
Henson pulls again the curtain and explains to children how the Creatures Store made the puppets for the present, how they’re operated on set, the wizardry behind getting them to journey bikes, after which exhibits the puppeteers liable for completely different Muppets, together with Henson, as Kermit, introducing Henson, the puppeteer. It’s some of the pleasant hours of tv that explains Hollywood magic to youngsters with out speaking all the way down to them, which Henson excelled at.
Disney Wants To Respect Henson’s Legacy
You may stream The Storyteller free of charge on Peacock, Amazon Freevee, and Crackle, whereas Dog City is on Tubi, and Monster Maker is on Tubi. It’s nice that the mini-movies are accessible to audiences as we speak, however MuppeTelevision stays lost to time.
Misplaced, too, are what I contemplate to be the guts and soul of The Jim Henson Hour, the segments with Jim Henson himself. These aren’t accessible anyplace. Henson was a inventive genius, and although his work lives on perpetually, Disney, the rights holder to the Muppets, is denying individuals entry to the final sequence he labored on earlier than he handed.
That’s why Disney’s announcement concerning the elimination of MuppetVision 3D from Hollywood Studios bothers followers a lot: it was Jim Henson’s closing work with the Muppets. For the reason that firm received’t launch The Jim Henson Hour, his closing sequence, there’s little religion that his final inventive work will likely be honored and remembered in any vogue by the company. It’s nice that the Muppets home band, Electrical Mayhem, is taking up the Rock’n’Curler Coaster, however that has no direct connection to Henson.
If Disney is maintaining the Carousel of Progress, the final journey at Magic Kingdom that Walt Disney labored on, Jim Henson deserves the identical stage of respect.
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