minor muppetz
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Recently, I've noticed that, in the US, before Jim Henson's death in 1990 pretty much all video deals were short-lived and seemed to focus on a single type of video. In other countries, companies such as Virgin Video and Palace released more productions on video (including some specials that haven't been released on VHS in the US or even on DVD). After Jim Henson's death, pretty much all video deals were long-term.
Does anybody seem to know why this might have been? Could the company have just not been interested in grouping all the Jim Henson Productions under one label/company?
The first Henson video releases were the Muppet Home Video releases, distributed by the Walt Disney Company. This only included four specials based on children's stories and two Fraggle Rock compilations (one of which was the only release by the Muppet Music Home Video label, but still used a Muppet Home Video opening logo sequence).
Then there was the Jim Henson's Muppet Video series by Playhouse Video, containing ten Muppet Show compilations. Of course Playhouse was the childrens division of CBS/FOX, which at the time at the video rights to the first three Muppet movies, so in a way the same company released ten compilations and the movies. Too bad the movies weren't released under the Muppet Video label as well.
And during that time HBO Home Video released several Fraggle Rock videos, though considering HBO broadcast the show, it makes a bit of sense that HBO released the videos then (maybe that was part of the initial contract).
And then in the late-1980s, Kids Klassics released the Muppet Babies Video Storybook releases, which began in either 1986 or 1987 (and McDonald Home Video released episodes of the show at some point in the late-1980s), Lorimar released the Jim Henson's Play-Along Video series in 1988, and also in 1988 You're the Director and Muppet Madness were released for the Interactivision console (since that was basically a video game console it makes sense for a different company to make it; there weren't many VHS-based game systems).
After Henson's death, the company had many long-term video deals, with Buena Vista (Jim Henson Video), Columbia Home Video (Jim Henson Home Entertainment), Hit! (also Jim Henson Home Entertainment, though the main company got more emphasis than the Henson label), and Lionsgate (which hasn't used any special video label for it's Henson releases).
Does anybody seem to know why this might have been? Could the company have just not been interested in grouping all the Jim Henson Productions under one label/company?
The first Henson video releases were the Muppet Home Video releases, distributed by the Walt Disney Company. This only included four specials based on children's stories and two Fraggle Rock compilations (one of which was the only release by the Muppet Music Home Video label, but still used a Muppet Home Video opening logo sequence).
Then there was the Jim Henson's Muppet Video series by Playhouse Video, containing ten Muppet Show compilations. Of course Playhouse was the childrens division of CBS/FOX, which at the time at the video rights to the first three Muppet movies, so in a way the same company released ten compilations and the movies. Too bad the movies weren't released under the Muppet Video label as well.
And during that time HBO Home Video released several Fraggle Rock videos, though considering HBO broadcast the show, it makes a bit of sense that HBO released the videos then (maybe that was part of the initial contract).
And then in the late-1980s, Kids Klassics released the Muppet Babies Video Storybook releases, which began in either 1986 or 1987 (and McDonald Home Video released episodes of the show at some point in the late-1980s), Lorimar released the Jim Henson's Play-Along Video series in 1988, and also in 1988 You're the Director and Muppet Madness were released for the Interactivision console (since that was basically a video game console it makes sense for a different company to make it; there weren't many VHS-based game systems).
After Henson's death, the company had many long-term video deals, with Buena Vista (Jim Henson Video), Columbia Home Video (Jim Henson Home Entertainment), Hit! (also Jim Henson Home Entertainment, though the main company got more emphasis than the Henson label), and Lionsgate (which hasn't used any special video label for it's Henson releases).