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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. The Muppets are now owned by The Walt Disney Company.
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.
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. For many years Muppets were covered in Antron nylon fleece, which is no longer manufactured. Yarn, nylon string, or, most commonly, artificial 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, or from fishing floats (as in the case of the Fraggles). Muppets may represent humans, anthropomorphic animals, realistic animals, robots or anthropomorphic objects, extra-terrestrial creatures, mythical beings, or other unidentifed or newly imagined creatures.
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.
Films and Specials
Jim Henson films:
- 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 Muppet Masterpieces:
- A Muppet Family Christmas (TV) (1987)
- The Muppets at Walt Disney World (TV) (1990)
- Kermit's Swamp Years (Direct-to-Video) (2002)
Famous Muppets
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. Muppets also appeared on some early episodes 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, The Empire Strikes Back, 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, in 2004, The Walt Disney Company bought the Muppets. 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).
Save the Muppets campaign
In the fall of 2005, the Muppets Holding Company held open auditions for puppeteers, casting alternate performers for the main Muppet characters. In October, Muppeteers Dave Goelz and Steve Whitmire were replaced on the Movies.com webshow "Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony," with different puppeteers taking over the roles of Statler & Waldorf. Fearing that the core Muppeteers would be replaced by a team of alternates, a group of Muppet fans started a fan campaign, Save the Muppets. The group is gathering signatures on an online petition, and hopes to reverse MHC's plans to cast alternate performers.
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 produced by the Jim Henson Company, and will directly parody America's Next Top Model. The show will feature many famous Muppets holding a talent contest to find the next muppet to add to their famous group. The show will tentatively air in Spring or Summer of 2006.
Regional usage
In the British Isles and Australia the word muppet has come to be used as a mild term of abuse, meaning a stupid, incompetent, or possibly geeky 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
- The Simpsons episode 3F15: "A Fish Called Selma":
- Lisa: "Dad, what's a Muppet?"
- Homer: "Well, it's not quite a mop, it's not quite a puppet, but oh-ho man......so to answer your question, I don't know."
- The film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels: "Hatchet" Harry: "I don't want to know who you use, as long as they're not complete muppets."
- The music video for the Weezer song "Keep Fishin', is premised on the band performing on The Muppet Show and features appearances by several characters.
- On September 28, 2005, the United States Postal Service released a "Jim Henson and the Muppets" postage stamp series.
See also
References
- United States Postal Service (September 28, 2005). Jim Henson, Muppets, get stamps of approval. Press Release.
External links
- Save the Muppets
- Kermitage
- Muppets.com
- Tough Pigs
- Muppet Central
- All Muppets
- Encyclopedia of Television