The Muppets Character Encyclopedia coming Feb. 7 2014

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minor muppetz

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I just read that there will be a Muppet Character Encyclopedia coming out February 7, 2014. Although Muppet Wiki is likely a better encyclopedia, I am very excited about this. It will be released by DK, which has released many great visual guide books for many properties, including Disney and Looney Tunes (I have those two, and they are awesome), as well as Star Wars and many superheroes (I wouldn't be surprised if they have also put out a Star Trek guide, but I don't know if they have).

I've read that this will be 200 pages. So it'd better be filled with characters. The description at Muppet Wiki (which currently has it on the "Upcoming Muppet books" page, but I feel this should be its own article) says that each page profiles a different character, which makes me wonder if it's just 200 characters (or 100, depending on if the profiles are two-page spreads) or if there'll be pages spotlighting many characters as well as individual pages for the main characters.

I hope Disney knows that it owns the Jim Henson Hour characters now*. I also wonder if this will include characters like P.J. and Kai-Lee, Angelo, the original characters from Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony, anybody from Muppet Meeting Films, Little Muppet Monsters, Muppet Time, or Mr. Willoby's Christmas Tree, or Lindy from two of the Sing-Alongs. I wonder if it'll have one-shot characters who only appeared in one sketch on any Muppet series (I can see characters who only appeared in one movie being included). I wonder if The Electric Mayhem will all be covered in a two-page spread or if they'll all get their own pages (I can see Animal getting his own page AND a page for the whole band, though I wouldn't do it that way). I wonder if we'll learn the official names of any characters we don't know the names of (like each member of The Gogolala Jubilee Jugband, the Solid Foam Drummer, or even the drummer from Inner Tube).

I also wonder if this will have behind-the-scenes info, such as mentioning the performers for each character. Considering that in the past few years Disney has avoided having the performers appear as themselves in behind-the-scenes stuff and bonus features, I wouldn't be surprised. I also wonder if there'll be much info on any non-Disney productions that have featured Muppets. I can see it mentioning Kermit's role on Sesame Street, and various Muppet guest appearances on non-Disney/non-Henson shows, but I wonder if it would acknowledge, say, Rowlf's hosting gig on the Dog City special or Kermit's now-edited-out cameos in Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas and The Christmas Toy.

*In 2010 the writer of Muppet Snow White wanted to include characters from The Jim Henson Hour, but was told that Boom couldn't include them. I'm not sure if Disney thought they didn't own the rights to the characters or if Boom's license was limited to specific Muppet productions.
 

muppetperson

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Isn't Marvel also putting out a character encyclopedia ? They will be competing against each other!
 

rowlfy662

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This sounds very interesting and will definitely be picking it up when it is realeased. Looks like Craig Shemin is finished writing so i'm hoping we do get some minor characters like Digit, Seymour, Marvin Suggs, Lewis Kazzager, Gorgon Heap the list continues wondering if maybe the Jim Jerry and Frank characters will be in it or are they still owned by the Jim Henson Company either way it will be awesome can't wait for this to go on my book shelf
 

minor muppetz

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I heard that there's going to be 200 pages, and read that many characters will get a full page. Somehow, I think I might be misreading/misunderstanding that, and it's possible some pages will have multiple characters, and that some might have more than a page. I could be wrong, and of course that 200-pages probably won't just count character sections (it probably counts an introduction, chapter title pages, index, etc.). But last night I thought of 200 characters who could get a page each. I didn't write them down, but it was fun doing so, though I did include some characters separately who would probably be grouped into duos or groups (and at the same time also listed a few groups of characters as one).
Hopefully it'll have brand-new pictures. And this got me thinking, what if it was only original photos (I know, we'll likely get many old photos, even the ones that Disney won't stop using)? Of course that means the only characters who could be featured are ones whose puppets still exist (good thing many characters were rebuilt a few years ago... and I wonder if they would use photos of puppets that are in museums, if no workable puppet exists).
I don't know if the book will be presented with the characters in alphabetical order, by production, by character types (main characters, duos, musicians, animals, what), but I was thinking of what how I'd do it:
  • Chapter 1: Main Muppets - Sections on Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Rowlf, Scooter, Pepe, and maybe Animal and Rizzo (otherwise they'd be in the next chapter).
  • Chapter 2: The Muppet Show
  • Chapter 3: The Jim Henson Hour
  • Chapter 4: Muppets Tonight
  • Chapter 5: Movies and Specials - spotlighting characters from the Tales from Muppetland specials, Tale of the Bunny Picnic, Mr. Willoby's Christmas Tree, The Muppets Take Manhattan, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppet Treasure Island, Muppets from Space, Kermit's Swamp Years, The Muppets, and Muppets Most Wanted.
  • Chapter 6: Other Productions - Characters who wouldn't fit in the other chapters. Ma Bear, Wally, Angelo, P.J., Kai-Lee, Lindy, Mo Frackle, Hippocritic Oaf, and characters from Muppet Meeting Films, Muppet Babies, Little Muppet Monsters, Muppet Time, From the Balcony, and maybe also illustrated characters and characters from My Muppets Show (though I could do without illustrated/video game characters in this book).
This is going to be a hard four-month waiting period....
 

MuppetsRule

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Really looking forward to adding this to my collection.
 

dwayne1115

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Finally a Muppet writer doing what they should do, write something for the Muppets!
 

minor muppetz

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You know, I'm a lot more excited about this release than I was of Imagination Illustrated and Jim Henson: The Biography.

This will be the first non-fiction book on just the Muppets. There's been books on the works of Jim Henson, and specific productions, and there's been quite a few non-fiction Sesame Street books. But there haven't really been any such books for The Muppets from The Muppet Show family of characters. There have been non-fiction behind-the-scenes books for The Muppet Show and Muppets from Space, but those mainly focus on just one Muppet production each. Kermit's "Before You Leap" book kinda counts a little, but it's written from Kermit's point of view, as if he's real and not a fictional character, so it does include some fiction along with the biography.

Hopefully this won't turn out to be a disappointment. When the 2006 daily Muppet calendar came out I was hoping for pictures of many characters, but not only was it mostly just the main characters (Lips did turn up in one photo with The Electric Mayhem) but many of the same images seemed to be reused for no reason, I think some reappeared several pages in a row (I haven't looked at it in years). And there haven't been any new daily calendars since. And when the Muppet sticker book came out to promote "The Muppets", I was hoping it would include many characters, but the sticker book was limited to main characters and stickers of props and set pieces. I never bought it.
 

dwayne1115

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I hope that they don't use the same old pictures that have been used countless times. I hope some new pictures are done, with some old rare pictures we may have not seen in a long time.
I also think it will be very interesting what they will do with the Jim Henson Hour, and maybe Muppet babies.
 
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