2008 Woodie Awards
Disney's Muppets deserve to die
Rebecca Bauman
Issue date: 10/9/08 Section: After Hours
Bugs Bunny used to be funny. And he still is when I re-examine the old animated shorts produced during the Looney Toons heyday of the 1950s and '60s. But most of the talented individuals who brought him to life are now dead, and when he appears onscreen today - in films like 2003's "Looney Toons Back in Action"- he's stilted and forced. There's something synthetic about the character that was once so mischievous and droll and, well, alive.
If our fictitious cartoon characters lose their magic when those who once breathed life into them pass on, then why can't we accept that the same maxim might be true for other characters? Characters like, say, the Muppets?
After Jim Henson's death in 1990, his children took over the Jim Henson Company and, in turn, all Muppet-related enterprises. Ownership changed hands periodically over the next decade or so, and The Disney Company officially bought the rights to the Muppets in 2004.
But while the fuzzy, stuffed, part marionette/part puppets came with the deal, their spirits did not.
Jim Henson, who voiced Kermit the Frog, Rowlf the Dog and other stock characters within the Muppet family, of course, is long gone. Frank Oz, his partner in crime, who voiced characters like Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear, has retired from the Muppeteering game and has openly criticized the way in which Disney has handled the remaining Muppet characters. Jerry Juhl, Muppet head writer, the man who choreographed most Muppet interactions, who gave them their "voices" and shtick, died in 2005.
As Stewie Griffin pointed out in one episode of "The Family Guy," we now have "wrong-sounding Muppets." It's not only disconcerting, it's a little infuriating.
I mean, who do these people think they are, pretending to be Kermit the Frog, pretending to be Miss Piggy, pretending to be Fozzie and Rowlf? You arrogant impostors - you're making a mockery of my Muppets!
And for what? Why bother with the work of re-creating an already established character set?
If our fictitious cartoon characters lose their magic when those who once breathed life into them pass on, then why can't we accept that the same maxim might be true for other characters? Characters like, say, the Muppets?
After Jim Henson's death in 1990, his children took over the Jim Henson Company and, in turn, all Muppet-related enterprises. Ownership changed hands periodically over the next decade or so, and The Disney Company officially bought the rights to the Muppets in 2004.
But while the fuzzy, stuffed, part marionette/part puppets came with the deal, their spirits did not.
Jim Henson, who voiced Kermit the Frog, Rowlf the Dog and other stock characters within the Muppet family, of course, is long gone. Frank Oz, his partner in crime, who voiced characters like Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear, has retired from the Muppeteering game and has openly criticized the way in which Disney has handled the remaining Muppet characters. Jerry Juhl, Muppet head writer, the man who choreographed most Muppet interactions, who gave them their "voices" and shtick, died in 2005.
As Stewie Griffin pointed out in one episode of "The Family Guy," we now have "wrong-sounding Muppets." It's not only disconcerting, it's a little infuriating.
I mean, who do these people think they are, pretending to be Kermit the Frog, pretending to be Miss Piggy, pretending to be Fozzie and Rowlf? You arrogant impostors - you're making a mockery of my Muppets!
And for what? Why bother with the work of re-creating an already established character set?
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