Were MFS and EIG filmed at the same time?

minor muppetz

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Muppets From Space and The Adventures Of Elmo In Grouchland were both released in theatres in 1999, a few months apart from each other. Does anybody know if these were both filmed around the same time?

My reason for thinking this is because of the puppeteers. Kermit didn't appear in Elmo In Grouchland, but Steve Whitmire did perform Ernie and some non-regular characters. All of Ernies scenes were shot in front of a blue screen, so his scenes could have all been shot in less than 30 minutes. Steve might have just happened to be on the set to perform some of the non-regular characters. Also, most of those characters only appeared in one scene each. And the majority of Stuckweeds scene involved him singing, and songs are always recorded before they are filmed.

Frank Oz only performed voices in Muppets from Space. Since Ernies scenes could have all been shot in a short period of time, then so could berts. Grover only appeared in one scene. Cookie Monster went with the main cast to look for elmo, but he only had a few lines. I think that if Frank Oz only dubbed voices for any character, it would probably be cookie monster. In fact, Cookie Monsters presence in grouchland seemed a bit pointless. Herry Monster or Baby Bear could have come along.

Kevin Clash spent most of the movie performing Elmo, as well as other characters, but in Muppets from Space, I think he only performed Clifford, who didn't really do much in the movie (and all of his scenes took place at either the boarding house or cape doom). He might have been busy performing Elmo elsewhere. I know that kevin Clash physically performed Clifford, since I have seen a picture of him performing Clifford in this movie.

Jerry Nelson didn't do much in MFS. Out of his regular characters, only Robin, Statler, and Floyd had lines, and they all were at the boarding house, which coudl have all been filmed in a day. The most major character he performed was Ubergonzo, who only appeared in one scene. However, he did do more work in EIG, performing the mayor and some other characters. However, his regular SS characters were underused. The Count only had a few liens, and it's obvious that he dubbed Fat Blues lines (since the person editing the movie forgot to loop one of fat Blues lines). jerry nelsons other characters did not appear at all, and Herry Monster and Mumford were both still being used as major characters on a regular basis back then.

Dave Goelz and Bill Barretta don't normally perform on Sesame Street, but they both performed in both movies, although they performed more in Muppets From Space. In EIG, Dave Goelz only performed a giant chicken (and i think the mouse that took Huxlys ping pong ball) in what was basically a cameo. Bill Barretta was listed as an additional muppet performer, and it sounds like he performed the grouch who said that he couldn't speak english. He might not have performed for the majority of the movie.

What does everybody think? Or know?
 
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