ToughPigs

It's been almost a month since I announced the "Who Will Be Jim" contest, and we're ready to crown the winners! Ok, so there aren't any actual "winners," much like in a soccer game. Except that sometimes people do win in soccer. So maybe that wasn't the best analogy. The special prize for those of you who participated in giving us your thoughts on who could play Jim Henson and Company is getting to see your name in print in a Muppet Fan blog. Congrats!

Now let's get to the Jims (and Franks and Jerrys and Richards, etc)!

Jim Henson

Robert Downey Jr. (suggested by Kynan)


Steve Whitmire (suggested by Kellie)


Johnny Depp (suggested by Neil)


Josh Charles (suggested by Kynan)


Jeff Daniels (suggested by Brad)


John Cusack (suggested by Kynan)


William Hurt (suggested by Joe)


Jason Segal (suggested by Kynan)


Daniel Day-Lewis (suggested by Ryan)


Ryan Gosling (suggested by Brad)


Jeff Bridges (suggested by Joe)


Cate Blanchett (suggested by Peter)


Frank Oz

Peter Sarsgaard (suggested by Kynan)


David Cross (suggested by Brad)


Bernie Brillstein

Robert Prosky (suggested by Andrew)


Richard Dreyfuss (suggested by Kynan)


Jerry Juhl

Andy Richter (suggested by Ryan)


Philip Seymour Hoffman (suggested by Tom)


David Lazer

Tony Shaloub (suggested by Kynan)


Bradley Whitford (suggested by Kynan)


Lew Grade

Robbie Coltrane (suggested by Ryan)


Jim Broadbent (suggested by Andrew)


Bob Hoskins (suggested by Andrew)


Maurice LaMarche (suggested by Michal)


Richard Hunt

BJ Novak (suggested by Kynan)


Jay Baruchel (suggested by Kynan)


Hank Azaria (suggested by Joe)


Jane Henson

Maggie Gyllenhaal (suggested by Kynan)


Chris Langham

Hugh Laurie (suggested by Ryan)


Dave Goelz

Joshua Malina (suggested by Kynan)


So, if anyone from the offices of Penny Marshall are reading, now you know who to cast. See, we make it easy for you!

And if anyone has more ideas for who you think should play Jim & Co., please stop by the ToughPigs forum and let us know!
Click here to discuss the many beards of Jim on the ToughPigs forum!

Labels: fan art, fanaticism, Muppet movies

Have you ever wondered what Ryan and Joe's voices sound like? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then you're in luck! ToughPigs' own Senior Contributors were interviewed by Steve Swanson last week, and now we're featured on his latest podcast!

Tune in and you'll hear what Joe really thinks of Mr. Magorium, Ryan's obscure Muppet impressions, and who Pepe the King Prawn is romantically linked to.

If you're an impatient fellow, the ToughPigs interview starts about 34 minutes into the podcast (UPDATE: the MP3 version starts at 34 minutes, but it starts at 47 minutes when you play it directly through the MuppetCast website.. no idea why that is), but I recommend listening to the whole dang thing. Steve puts a lot of effort into the show every week, and the quality speaks for itself.

Click here to listen to the podcast, and go to MuppetCast.com every week for podcasty goodness.

Labels: fanaticism, internet

This past Sunday, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the New York Toy Fair, where all of the toy companies come out to show their wares. ToughPigs' own Martha and Andrea were with me as we used our finely-tuned Sixth Sense to spot anything with a Sesame or Muppet logo. And that Sixth Sense was invaluable, as there were hundreds upon hundreds of booths. We were lucky enough to see some great toys that are coming out in the next year, and what kind of friend would I be if I didn't share the news? A pretty crummy friend, that's what. Well, crummy ain't in my profile, so here's some fun things to whet your whistle.

Master Replicas/Corgi

It's times like these that I wish I had a business card with the ToughPigs logo. Because dropping the "I write for a Muppet fan website" shout-out is apparently good enough to get us inside Corgi's closed doors, but not good enough to take pictures or ask detailed questions. Thankfully someone out there was able to grab photos, so you can see what I'm talking about.

The Kermit, Animal, Gonzo, and Fozzie Master Replicas photo puppets were on display. It was the first time I'd seen the Animal, Gonzo and Fozzie ones up close. There's a lot of good to be said for Animal, though I'm still convinced that his facial hair is all wrong. But the ostridge feathers are very pretty, and they flow like he's alive when there's a breeze. Gonzo looks great, with the exception of his nose, which is not-so-arguably the most important feature to get right. I understand the problems that arise when using foam, but I would have much preferred if they caved in and built a nose out of hard plastic. Fozzie, as TP's own Martha put it, makes up for all of the ugly Fozzie merchandise we've ever had. He's beautiful and perfect. I can't think of anything bad to say about him. He's a little shorter than I pictured him, but it fits with the sizes of the other photo puppets. I can only hope that he's affordable, as I pretty much need to own one.


The other Muppet product in Corgi's hidden room was five small Electric Mayhem figurines. They were very pretty, but the design was just flawed enough to make a shopper second-guess. The person I spoke to didn't have any details, but she said that the figures will be sold on the higher-end. Meaning that if they aren't perfect, and they're a little more expensive, they'll probably sell approximately 3 of them. And they'll all be Animal, because everyone loves Animal. Eat drums.



Gund

The Gund showroom was also closed to the public, so we decided to be sneaky and see how much we could see before someone noticed us. Most of the toys were nothing new. Dolls and puppets and some Abby Cadabby stuff. What caught my eye was a beautiful Count von Count doll. He really looked just like the puppet, and I'll shell out some dough for it. Another new (to me, at least) item I saw was Twiddlebug finger puppets. It's an idea so natural, I'm upset with myself for not thinking of it first. At that point, someone realized that we weren't important and we were shown the door. Well, the joke's on you, Gund, because I'm promoting your products anyway! Ha HA!

MINDstyle/Dark Horse

MINDstyle and Dark Horse had two booths across from each other, so forgive me if I didn't bother to tell them apart. They had all of the City Critters out on display, which are very nice. Not quite as Muppety as I'd like, but they're fun little toys. There were three Dark Crystal statues on display, including a pretty statue of Jen and Kira with the Crystal Shard. But the highlights were the Fraggle Rock toys.


First off, there is an 8" Doozer. And he's beautiful. Though Doozers are so simple, I'd imagine they'd be hard to mess up (I'm sure that won't stop the toy companies from trying). They had just received the Doozer that morning, so they didn't have any details yet, but they said he will probably be on a slightly higher-end than an action figure. I'll do some research to try and find out more about it.


The other Fraggle surprise was the upcoming Fraggle Rock blind-boxed figures. They're maybe about 2 1/2" tall, slightly stylized, and very very pretty. Characters include: Gobo, Mokey, Wembley, Boober, Red, Traveling Matt, two Doozers on a Doozer construction, the Trash Heap's head, Pa Gorg's head, Sprocket's head (with bowl), and two generic Fraggles. I'm a little surprised that they included the two generic Fraggles above Junior or Ma Gorg, Cantus, Convincing John, or even some sort of variant (Boober dressed as the Old Gypsy Lady?). The other strange part is that each character is placed on top of an alphabet block. I'd think that these would be marketed toward an older crowd, so the "educational" value might be better left off. Plus, I have no idea what learning letters has to do with Fraggle Rock. But other than that, these figures are terrific, and I can't wait to own them. I'm not excited about the blind-boxes, but a Muppet fan's gotta do what a Muppet fan's gotta do. And that's spend a lot of money.

Toy Vault

The good people at Toy Vault were nice enough to let me take pictures, so I'll let them speak for themselves. And in case my photo skillz aren't good enough for you, here you'll see a pillow with the Dark Crystal logo, a plush Fizzgig (with giant, scary opening mouth), plush of Rygel from Farscape, Labyrinth Door Knocker plush (I can only assume the other one will be produced as well), and a Talking Ludo plush (unfortunately, the demo didn't have the voice chip yet, but he's adorable anyway).



Deal Makers

This is a Dutch company that makes Sesamstraat wooden toys like scooters, toy trains, toy cars, and the like. Their American counterpart will soon be selling these toys (with the Sesame Street logo, I'd wager), and I happen to think they're cutie patootie. I especially like the cars, which wobble as they roll. They've got a vintage look to them, and I'm a sucker for toys that don't even try to be "realistic". Just a wooden ball with Ernie's face painted on it, that's all I need. Also pictured are some Sesamstraat bicycle bells. Not yo-yo's, as I originally assumed.




Putumayo Kids

The last booth we visited was Putumayo Kids, which specializes in international CDs and DVDs. They had a video playing of their new release, called "Sesame Street Playground," which is a compilation of songs and skits from all of the different Sesame Street productions from around the world (subtitled for the mono-lingualled like myself). The video looked like a lot of fun, and it's always interesting to see Elmo trouncing about in some foreign nation. The DVD will come packaged with a CD, so get ready for some new-to-us material from Sesame Workshop! The art in the image is the final album art without the text added yet.


Unfortunately, we were not able to get access to the Fisher Price room where they were unveiling the new Elmo Live doll. But you can see some video of the unbelievable living Elmo here.

So, I hope you enjoyed this quick review of Toy Fair, and I hope you feel like you were there too. If you do, you owe me $8 for the cab. C'mon man, we said we were splitting it! Don't be that guy.

Click here to get all excited over toys that won't hit the shelves for another 8 months on the ToughPigs forum!

Labels: DVD, Fraggle Rock, Master Replicas, merchandise, review, Sesame Street

In honor of St. Valentines Day, I'd like to celebrate the notion of Love amongst Muppets. And in honor of those of us who are single, I'd like to avoid anything actually having to do with Love by presenting a book about the oh-so-generic notion of Togetherness.

And with that arousing sentiment, the ToughPig Book Club presents: The Together Book! Please have a readaround and head on over to the ToughPigs forum to discuss ad nauseum (or, for the camera shy, you can e-mail your clever comments to joe.toughpigs@gmail.com). After the mockery dies down, I'll post the best comments here on ToughPigs.com. Now stop reading this paragraph and get to the Togetherness!

















Suggested Discussion Questions:

1.) What is it about the residents of Sesame Street that urges them to run, not walk, with whatever object is nearby toward a Muppet with a minor stumbling block?

2.) What's up with Bert's devilish grin? Does he know that he's carrying something that is utterly useless to the situation? Is this how he gets his jollies?

3.) Is Cookie Monster setting a bad example for the kids by eating a sand cake? Is he setting a bad example for Ernie? Is Ernie the victim or the instigator?

4.) Is Farley two-timing Betty Lou by holding hands with Roosevelt Franklin? That hussy!!

5.) Can I hire illustrator Roger Bradfield to draw the story of my life? Because I think I love him.
Click here to add your comments/concerns/conundrums on the ToughPigs forum! Or click here to e-mail them directly to Joe.

Labels: book club, Sesame Street

Every day I receive Google news alerts for the word "Muppet," informing me of when and where that delightful word has come up on the web. It seems like at least once a week a result comes up that's somebody posting a video clip of "Mahna Mahna" in their blog or on their website. I've been getting these alerts for over a year now, and "Mahna Mahna" still shows up on a regular basis. It seems like it’s been passed around the internet more than any other clip that doesn’t involve breath mints and cola or rock stars on exercise machines. Often it's accompanied by enthusiastic comments like "I love this one!" or "this is my favorite muppets song!!!!!!!11"

Why is this the single most beloved and best remembered musical number from the show? There were hundreds of musical moments over the 120 episodes of the series, and yet the representative one is a bit from the very first episode that stars none of the regular characters. Why? Is it because the arrangement of the song is infectiously catchy? Is it because the design of the puppets is pleasing to the eye? Is it the brilliant performance by Jim Henson as Mahna Mahna?

I believe it goes deeper than all of these. Clearly, when we watch "Mahna Mahna," we're seeing a reflection of ourselves that causes a spark of recognition to flare up inside us, and it’s this spark that draws us – internet users from all walks of life – to revisit this clip over and over again.

Perhaps there are those who, on some level, see themselves as the Snowths, the pink cow/pig creatures who sing the "doo-dooo doo doo-doo" part. These people crave order and reason; to them, the Snowths represent the Apollonian ideal of self-control. The Snowths have clearly spent copious amounts of time carefully rehearsing for this performance, and they are determined to get it right. You can see it in their reaction to Mahna Mahna: They are completely unamused when he starts ad-libbing, threatening to derail the whole number with his random shenanigans. Those who view the clip and respond positively to the Snowths have the same desire for things to go precisely as planned; additionally, they may have horns.

On the other hand, there are those in the audience who (consciously or not) identify with Mahna Mahna. Mahna Mahna is the shaggy humanoid character who sings the “mahna mahna” parts of the song, and he is a true free spirit. He has an insatiable urge to express his individualism, and he’s going to do it even if it the results are too chaotic for the Snowths to handle. He’s the nonconformist, the iconoclast, the scruffy, unwashed hippie, representing the Dionysian philosophy of following one’s natural instincts. It’s highly likely that he never even looked at the sheet music before showing up for the show that day, instead relying on improvised scatting to make his way through the song. He believes rehearsal would only serve to destroy the energy in his spontaneous performance, a belief echoed in the hearts and minds of those who view the clip in silent admiration of him.

And yet, in the Muppet Show musical number “Mahna Mahna,” neither of the two differing viewpoints is presented as superior to the other. Can you imagine what it would be like if the song consisted of the Snowths alone on the stage, singing “Doo-dooo doo doo-doo” without any kind of counterpoint? Unbelievably boring is what it would be like, despite their any attempts at arm-swinging choreography. But if it were a solo by Mahna Mahna, it wouldn’t be any better. It would just be some fellow repeatedly stating his name and mumbling nonsense syllables, and without the presence of the Snowths as “straight men” it simply would not be funny.

The message, then, is that both lifestyle choices are valid. Some people may be Mahna Mahnas and other people may be Snowths, but that doesn’t mean they can’t produce a heck of a catchy song when they get together. It’s quite obvious to me that this is the true reason for the enduring popularity of this Muppet Show segment, and any other simplistic interpretation (e.g. “It’s funny!”) is unquestionably wrong.

So keep circulating that clip, citizens of the internet! Blog it all over the world! Continue spreading the archetypal message of tolerance and cooperation! And perhaps one day we will finally divine the answer to the only question still remaining: Are those supposed to be sunglasses or his eyeballs?

Click here to discuss the Mahna Mahna phenomenon on the Tough Pigs forum!

ToughPigsRyan@yahoo.com

Labels: essay, internet, mahna mahna, the muppet show

Lots of folks got lots of ideas over on the ToughPigs forum about who's got the chops to play Jim Henson in a possible feature film. But as we all know, Jim's only part of the story. Who will play Frank Oz? Steve Whitmire? Jerry Juhl? Frank Biondo?

Yeah, all bets are off! Cast everyone in The Works! Get your tuchus over to the ToughPigs forum and add in your $0.02. Or, if you're camera shy, you can send an e-mail to yours truly at joe.toughpigs@gmail.com.

Image courtesy of ToughPigs' own Brad!

Labels: fan art, fanaticism, Muppet movies

According to the internets, it's official (or would that make it "e-fficial"?): there is a Jim Henson biopic in the works. The movie will be about Jim's life, successes, tribulations, and maybe some puppets. That is, if the Jim Henson Company, Disney, and Sesame Workshop can all allow the puppets to be in the film. Or else we might be getting two hours of a tall guy with a beard with nothing on his hands.

But the question remains: who out there can fill the shoes of the man behind the frog? I mean, other than this guy. Head on over to the ToughPigs forum with an idea or two. Feel free to post pictures (double points for fancy Photoshopping), and we'll post the results here on ToughPigs.com next week.

Prizes for the best choices will include bragging rights and a walk-on role in the upcoming Frazzle documentary.

Labels: fan art, fanaticism, Muppet movies