We Have a Picture of Walter AND MORE NEWS!

That's what I keep thinking. It's new internal features. Gonzo looked different than he does now when I met him and Dave a couple years back.

Now that I think about it, I really wish I would've asked Dave (or Gonzo ) about the new design. Would've made a good question. It's not like the puppet isn't Gonzo... it's just very angular and odd in places where it shouldn't be--the eyes and bottom lip. Traditionally Gonzo has been more rounded and I think that works better.

Gonzo doesn't like questions about his nose. I asked one and he tried to call security on me. LMAO! You'll never get a straight answer from a Muppet.

Hahaha! That is brilliant! I asked him his opinions on Elmo... fantastic response... "Elmo? Elmo's a weirdo! Have you ever heard him talk? It's always, 'Elmo this, Elmo that.' He never says 'I' or 'me'! I don't know how he got a job on educational television."

if they aren't at the forefront, it would ruin the whole thing for me. it'd be like we waited all this time for nothing.

Strangely, that wasn't actually the case. Shemin on the Muppet Cast said that Chef had never been considered for Muppet Kitchen because they already had past knowledge of him doing serious cooking that he didn't work. So Angelo was an original design.

Y'know i actually do feel there is concern - not quite as much for the movies content (although it does sound a little too human/walter driven to me but that remains to be seen), more for how the movie is marketed. Because it isn't down to what Segal thinks or wants. There are things Disney can do to influence how the media see the movie, but generally they will want to highlight the "star" to sell the most papers/magazines or get viewers to their shows. The Muppets haven't been around for a while but Segal is the current flavor of the month so obviously the press will go heavy on his involvement. I guess Disney may be fine with this if it actually gets people in movie theaters to sit down and watch the Muppets again (the start of bigger things - weekly tv show etc) but people definitely need to be walking away thinking "that was a great MUPPET movie".

When i saw Segal on Craig Ferguson and he was getting all this crowd reaction and amongst all his other projects and stories he gave the Muppets a casual mention, whilst it did get a good crowd pop, it was a bit worrying that they didn't even make a big deal out of it and he just seemed to see it as this cute little side project. His involvment is impressive, I just hope his fandom is enough that he remembers the Muppets are the true stars.

Now see... I disagree here. Maybe I was just biased and tunnel-visioned, but when I saw Segel on Craig Ferguson I saw him mention The Muppets as his biggest project--something he was hugely excited about. Did you not see how giddy he was when he told Craig he started it? He was positively glowing (and then Craig got all defensive and wondered where his part was). Not to mention that it got the biggest applauding response from the crowd throughout the whole segment.

I honestly think that, had Segel and Craig not been doing an email/Twitter reading/answering segment we would've heard a lot more Muppet talk. But it's just the way the segment wound up working, and Segel was sure to promote it in there. I definitely saw a huge Muppet fan sitting in that armchair that night.

I realize that they will most likely go with a celebrity for Walter's voice, but based on Watler's appearance and described personality, I could easily imagine Joey Mazzarino's voice coming from the character.

Hey, yeah that's true, hopefully it was just the format of the interview that meant they didn't mention The Muppets much. I just would have thought it would have been one of his main things to talk about.

Okay, I officially feel bad for critizing Walter off the bat the other day. It just came as a shock to me because he had that e-Bay bobbled-felt look that seemed amature...However, after going away from the site I suddenly realised that Walter obviously felt lonely in the world and was looking for others who felt the same as he does about the world and I realised (as others have done) that he's me. And that actually made me tear up a little...

I personally cannot WAIT for this movie now. (And also, I can see the characters being introduced in a slow-burn sort of way, a few here and a few there, much like in TMM so I am going to be doing a lot of screaming and cheering in the theatre as they reveal whose coming next!)

Wow Beau, I'm touched by what you said. I'm glad you where able to change your views, in such a emotional way that i think the Moive will be more to you then anyother one thus far.

I'm not excited by any of this. I love the Muppets, but nothing that I see in this article, or any previous ones, fills me with any sort of warm emotion. I just get this vague sense of dread.

I hope I'm wrong. Maybe I've just been disappointed by too many other franchises as they attempted to relaunch.

Alex

Man, that was beautiful!

I don't think we could get that same sort of feeling if he was this big detailed design like Mulch or something... It seems they're drawing a LOT of Sesame Street influence in the newer character designs. I thought at one point he wasn't even going to look like a Muppet (AM or otherwise) at all. The lack of features actually makes him more of an everyman, if you think about it.

Anyway...

I'm wondering... how much of a leash are they keeping on Segel and how much a lid they're putting on the project. They definitely want to say there's one coming, but I 'm wondering if they're telling Jason et al to keep a lid on it until the published magazine articles start popping up (here's the thing about Magazine articles....no one really reads magazines anymore, BUT when they finally publish a story after a few months, it sort of... well, officialises everything). The movie IS over a year away, and I'm sure they'll drive the push towards marketing the closer they get to the actual release date.

That's what I'm thinking too. We will get a lot of press that it's Segal's project, sure... but that's because it was. I'm sure Disney would have done something at some point, but the will to make a movie, especially one attached to a group that makes constant hit after hit films is the driving force. We wouldn't see the extent of comics, web videos, and all that stuff if they didn't say "Hey! We've got a movie coming up." Movie prehype is very important now, apparently. I've been seeing Tron Legacy toys before they even FINISHED the film. Heck, I was wondering if we were even getting that film, and we'd be stuck with toys. Plus, that dreadful Smurf project has lead a wave of Smurf Merchandise that goes back to 2008. Again, I'm sure Disney would have done something with the Muppets, but once there was rumors of a movie, things just started popping up.

That said, star power can't hurt either. The last theatrical movie was like the starting point for a director who was famous for meh kiddy films who either had no passion, no will to do a Muppet movie, or... well... just sucked as a director overall. What can you say when you're crowning theatrical achievement was the first Chipmunks movie? And that lack of passion/talent showed. There wasn't a good relationship between the writers and director among other things. Now, we got a celebrity who's a fan of something doing the film, and having like minded fans as everything from cameos to direction... maybe even the caterers. Other than the fact we're coming out of a wonderfully bizarre time where almost EVERYONE is a Muppet fan, having someone like that working on a movie, means we'll get a very good project out of it. Unlike some joyless bunch who are making a movie for the sake of making a movie, being completely and totally ignorant of the source material they care little about and using it as a notch on their resume so they can make something more meaningful (I'm Looking at you Dragonball Evolution).

And just so I'm the first to do so...Anyone want to join a Walter fanclub? Me thinks Water would do...I'm thinking of the BBB and the SWAEHB and such like, I wonder if Walter in his own little Walter world had a club like that for Fozzie or Piggy or something? (I also wonder if he knows what a J Henson is...)

I still think it would be awesome if there was a teaser trailer in front of TRON: Legacy.

It would indeed be crazy awesome! But... as far as I know, highly unlikely. Granted, there's no saying that Segel and Kermit or just a few of the Muppeteers got together to shoot a brief little teaser that just sort of says... "We're the Muppets and we're coming back strong with a new movie!" I suppose that's plausible. I guess we'll just have to wait and see... because, you're right, it would make sense for a Muppet teaser to come before Disney's biggest release of the winter. When does TRON come out, anyway? Same time as Tangled? I could also see a Muppet teaser going before that.

If they were to make one now, there just isn't enough time to get it in front of Tangled. That one comes out in barely a couple weeks, right? Dunno when Tron comes out. But any Disney movies starting up next year, possibly January at the earliest we could very well see one. If they, let's say, did a Teaser quite a while in advance, there could be a slim chance that they are indeed playing with those films. But I wouldn't expect to see anything until, maybe February... maybe early Spring.