Jim Henson's Construction Site

[Muppetsdownunder]

Hi, I found 2 videos on ebay and they are videos of a show called Jim Henson's Construction Site. I have never even heard of this show, does anyone know anything about this?

By the looks of the photos of the video, they arent even puppets.

here is the link to the ebay item.
thanks,
from, Paul

 

[Secret Squirrel]

Paul. Henson's UK division produced Jim Henson's Construction Site in 1999. (I did a little searching and if it's screening in Australia, you will find it on the ABC network.)

A complicated motion control rig and animatronic characters were used for this show. Regular Henson performer Mak Wilson was one of the key puppeteers.

Here's a link: http://www.creatureshop.com/main_prod_tele_06.html

secret squirrel

 

[Luke]

I think there's been a few seasons of it since, it was very popular on CITV here in the UK. They are lots of little radio control animatronic vehicles on a construction site set. The camera is down low so that it looks like real scale vehicles on a construction site. Same people on the production team as Hoobs, Brian Herring (Hubba Hubba) being another of the key puppeteers.

 

[Muppetsdownunder]

Thankyou very much for your help. I think I have seen that show on the TV before but never have watched it. I never would have thought it was a Jim Henson Production.

Thanks,
from Paul

 

[Buck-Beaver]

I've always thought it was very similar to another kid's show, "Scoop and Dozy" which was produced in Halifax and ran on CBC here in Canada for a couple of years. Both shows appeared around the same time, I am not sure which was actually on air first or whether one was a case of copying the other. They are very, very similar in look and style from what I've seen. I think some of the ex-Fraggle Rockers did Scoop and Dozy.

 

[Muppetsdownunder]

There seems to be a few shows around that are similar to this, revolving around machinery.

 

[Scooch]

Construction Site

Hi Guys,

There were a lot of similar programs that all came out at the same time. It wasn't a case of 'coying', it just happened that way. We were unfortunate in that 'Bob the Builder' beat us to the post and also had a massive amount of publicity.

Construction Site was really done as an inhouse exercise to combine the talents of the Creature Shop and the Jim Henson Company and to give some of its members the chance to direct... such as myself. It turned out to be a very expensive exercise at that!

It was a lot of fun to do as well as a fantastic challenge. Combining animatronic characters with a Titanic sized motion control rig should be a recipe for disaster, but it wasn't and the results were fantastic and gave it two BAFTA nominations for best live action children's production.

Hope this answers some of your questions.

Mak Wilson
(co-producer/co-director and performer of Scooch and Lug)

 

[ianf]

Construction Site - Where Did It Go?

I purchased three construction site videos for my triplets when they were 18 months, and they've *adored* the series ever since. I've recommended it to many others, with lots of positive feedback. My youngest, who is also mildly autistic, carries the video box featuring Scooch (his favorite character) in lieu of having a real Scooch toy to play with. Every single cement mixer we pass on the road is always called Maxine, too!

Seeing James carry a VHS box around and tuck it to bed next to his toys made me go searching for some Construction Site toys. Nothing. I then searched for DVD releases from any zone of the series to at least give the kids some variations from the three tapes they have. Nothing there either. I gather it ran for at least four series, but aside from some press releases online, it's like the show never happened.

Am I looking in the wrong places? If anyone has any pointers to places I could purchase the series and especially any toys, I'd really appreciate it.

And Mac (and anyone else from the show who is reading): thank you. You've given my kids many hours of joy, and I'm sure the show will be fondly remembered by them for many years to come.

Ian.