Statler & Waldorf on movies.com

[theprawncracker]

The new one's up!!! And S&W have new performers!!! Who are these mysterious men? And how'd they get there???

And Nick, Ep. 7 has Bobo.

 

[theprawncracker]

Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!

They ALL have new voices!!! Statler, Waldorf, Dr. Teeth, and Animal! And they all sound fabulous! IMHO of course. Animal especcially sounds more like Frank than Eric's. I also thought this one was absolutely HILLARIOUS!!!

I'm kind of worried about Steve, Dave, Bill, and Eric though...You don't think that the new Disney CEO has anything to do with this do you? I'm thinking that it's just because of Kermit's trip around the world that they're gone, but...

 

[MrsPepper]

Prawnie, I have a feeling that the new performers have yet to do much, as the toronto auditions have not yet happened, and there hasn't been a whole lot of time for training or anything just yet.

The new voices threw me at first because I was not expecting it, but they all sounded pretty good to me. Especially the part with Dr Teeth (was that Bill Baretta, I can't even tell these things anymore) and Animal. That was cute. And when Waldorf was trying to climb over the balcony, I laughed, mostly at the way he said Ow.

Cute episode, though not one of the most memorable episodes so far. What movies did they review in this one again? But yeah.

Are they changng it to a weekly thing, since they only mentioned one movie that they will be reviewing next time?

 

[theprawncracker]

I don't think it was Bill performing Dr. Teeth. His Teeth voice is deeper.

And, on the site it says that the new ep. won't be up until the 26th, so it's still bi-weekly. Oh well. And I geuss you're right about the new puppeteers, especially since the Toronto auditions haven't happened yet. But, I still want to know who these new performers are. And where Steve, Dave and Bill are.

 

[MrsPepper]

Maybe they're off working on that muppet christmas special we hear rumours about... That would be awesome.

I haven't trained my ear to Bill Baretta's voice just yet, I don't think, since I find it hard to determine the similarities between his characters.
Wow, the "trained my ear" part sounded really dorky. But do you know what I mean? For the most part, it's relatively easy to determine which muppet performer is which character just from listening. Except this case. ><

 

[MWoO]

Yeah, Steve and Dave are Likely busy. These are the same performers who did the original episode that apprently was not suppose to be released. Itsounds like the guy who did Waldorf this time was doing Dr. Teeth and I would guess Animal was done by the guy doing Statler.

Since there are productions in the making I would assume alternative performers will be used a lot for the reviews. I'm ok with that I guess. I mean I would rather the real performers be used for real productions and have these alternates swapped in for the reviews when needed.

The thing with Animal was funny. Animal's performer was a little weak in the puppet work though. Waldorf trying to go over the balcony was hilarious though.

 

[MrsPepper]

Hey, welcome back MWoO. I agree with the bit about Waldorf, that was seriously funny.

 

[GelflingWaldo]

Web Show Recast

Victor Yerrid and Drew Massey are now lending their talent to Statler and Waldorf in the additional small budget outsource bits (Movies.com’s “From the Balcony” and ESPN’S “Reel Classics Extra”). Some of you may remember them from the pilot episode of From the Balcony a few months ago. They are now the key performers of the little bi-weekly "From the Balcony" webshow.

Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, and Bill Baretta (who were the regulars on “From the Balcony”) are off doing other more “important” things and Disney does not want to burden them with the weekly job of these small low budget segments. Will they come back to the webshow? At this time it is unclear, if the show's recast is temporary, if they will come back full-time again, or if they will even show up for a "guest spot" or two. Those speculating if Statler and Waldorf will be permanently taken from Dave and Steve can rest a little easier, although they are not going to be performing them these segments, I was told the characters have not been recast. Victor and Drew, who are two free-lance puppeteers, are just working the characters on these small projects and bits lending their talents to perform the classic characters for viewers.

Agree with this practice or not, that’s what is happening. If you disagree with this than join the “Save the Muppets” movement – if you don’t mind the alternate performers, that’s your right, enjoy the new bits and embrace the new performers.

Remember that there are a lot of other things that the key performers do - Steve is traveling the world with Kermit this year (stopping at 50 places), there are Sesame projects, and the Henson Company has things, and the Muppets have a whole bunch of things in the works, plus these guys all have lives - and Disney (and the performers) feel that it is not in their best interests to do have them on this little webshow right now.

Personally, I think these two do a pretty good job. Their Statler and Waldorf are (in my opinion) closer to Jim and Richard's than they are to Dave and Steve's - but I don't hate them, they do a good job and the show is entertaining. The Dr. Teeth and Animal were not spot on vocally, but the spirit was there. The voices are not a dead match, but I can over look that - they still felt like the Muppets. I just hope that the original performers don't get pushed away by cheaper "replacements". I just hope that the "replacements" stay with the small stuff, while the "big guys" continue to entertain us in the big stuff (and even some small stuff too).

More Information: http://muppetnewsflash.blogspot.com/2005/10/new-cast-on-muppet-web-show.html

 

[MrsPepper]

Ah, thank you, GelflingWaldo. You always show up just when we need you, to shed light on something really important.

Personally I thought that they were great. I liked seeing Dr. Teeth come back. Very Cool.

 

[theprawncracker]

Thanks GelfingWaldo! You're a great help!

After watching it a few more times, I think Dr. Teeth's voice was a little to different. But it was great to see him again.