What do you really want to see from the Classic Muppets?

[frogboy4]

I really don't think MBs ever took away from the normal muppets..but then, I saw MBs all the time growing up and did not see TMTM until just a year ago...

For better of for worse the Muppet Babies did actually take attention away from the classic Muppet gang because there was little actual Muppeteering going on at that time. The Muppets take Manhattan sort of ended most of the actual Muppets wide-scale exposure. The film paved the way for the Muppet Babies program - that initially ran on CBS from 1984-1990 (seven months after Jim Henson's death). They tried to infuse some puppetry with the Little Muppet Monsters, but it didn't work.

There is a generation of people that primarily know the Muppets through the Muppet Babies. That's a complaint of mine. I have been unfair to the program in the past, but it's not the Babies' fault for being popular. I wish they'd had more classic Muppets at the time. That's part of why Jim wanted to sell to Disney and free up his time from managing so that he could perform and create.

I would still like to see the Babies done with the same kind of motion capture puppetry that the Skrumps and Sid the Science Kid are using. I can definitely see a new DC morning program for the Muppet Babies, but I am glad they have decided to focus on strengthening the classic brand first.

I think the Muppetverse is big enough for all of this stuff.

 

[Drtooth]

The babies didn't take away from the Classic Muppets because the series still had the Muppet charm and didn't talk down to the audience, but the current Clubhouse format does take away from Mick and company because the Sensational Six (Mickey & Minnie, Donald & Daisy, Pluto, & Goofy)--in the series--have been reduced to teaching in Dora-esque (i.e. talking down to children) fashion, instead of being in the limelight like they ought to be as Disney's first original creations.

Even most of the other "babyfication" shows had the classic aspects of the characters. Even in something terrible and ill advised like "Yo Yogi." I think what made Muppet Babies work is that it treated its audience as an audience, and not as a segregated educational demographic group.

When the Babies imagined something, it was very dangerous and exciting. They went on huge adventures that actually had peril. And while imaginary, there was no doubt that they could get seriously hurt or worse. They dangled over pits, they had celings collapse on them, they were made prisoners numerous times... it was an actual action cartoon with the violence cut down to a more kiddy level, but it was still edge of your seat stuff ... well, for a preschooler show anyway.


The only thing I wanna see Mickey's Clubhouse for is the fact that Pete and Ludwig appear on occassion. But it's hardly the same class as House of Mouse or Mouse Works. The Dora model of educational TV is annoying, not as beneficial as everyone thinks it is. Even Sesame Street tried it, and it was a dismal failure for fans and viewers.

I REALLY hope if a new Muppet Babies show is made, we can get Hank Saroyan and Jeffery Scott and all the other classic writers, and they make it the same as the original, at least in terms of tone. Nothing like that terrible Backyardigans or Save the Wonderpets crap.

 

[Redsonga]

There is a generation of people that primarily know the Muppets through the Muppet Babies. That's a complaint of mine. I have been unfair to the program in the past, but it's not the Babies' fault for being popular.

I guess I am a part of that generation..it's not that we didn't see the muppet films or anything, I think I saw TMM or TGMC before I ever saw MBs, but MBs was always on from the time I was very little and I loved them (and still do) . I think of cartoons and live action as being on the same level though...

I hope there is a new Muppet Babies someday, I don't mind what kind as long as it is not Dora-ed. The idea of the MBs Dora-ed makes me want to cry ...

 

[Baby Gonzo]

I grew up watching Muppet Babies AND the Muppet Show AND Muppet specials such as The Frog Prince on Nick Jr. (And Fraggle Rock on the Disney Channel) I liked all of them for different reasons and even though Muppet Babies is not classic puppets, it was, I consider, an important part of my childhood. I do not think I would be the same person I am today, or at least have the same imagination without having that show as a foundation. I know that sounds like an exaggeration, but I remember watching the art episode (where the babies pretend the nursery was a museum) and then drawing my own pictures and taping them to the walls and and pretending my living room was a museum. Believe it or not, however many years later, I chose to study sequential art and become a comic artist. And even though Muppet Babies wasn't puppetry, I think it still had a message that the Muppets would be proud of.

 

[frogboy4]

I guess I am a part of that generation..it's not that we didn't see the muppet films or anything, I think I saw TMM or TGMC before I ever saw MBs, but MBs was always on from the time I was very little and I loved them (and still do) . I think of cartoons and live action as being on the same level though...

I hope there is a new Muppet Babies someday, I don't mind what kind as long as it is not Dora-ed. The idea of the MBs Dora-ed makes me want to cry ...

You're exactly right. The Muppet Babies program was always on - and it made up for most of the Muppet branding saturation for years. I believe the branding confusion came from poor strategy from the Henson Company at the time. It turned into the Muppets’ primary brand and that was an unintended mistake.

Nothing irks my fandom more than when I mention the Muppets and someone starts singing the Muppet Babies theme song. That show's thrill was very short-lived for me. I was 10 in 1984 and the show didn't really grab me the way that the classic Muppets did after the novelty of the animation wore off. I respect the program now and can appreciate portions of it (I can still remember Loose Tooth Boogie). It brought much joy to so many. If Disney ever lobotomized the babies like Dora I would write one angry letter.

I think Disney's focusing on attracting every age group to one part of the Muppet branding right now is the smart thing. Not babies, not animation, not anything but the classic Muppet Show characters - - for now. The strength of that brand will ultimately lend longevity to the others. I hope to see it all back in its golden glory one day - and I wouldn't mind seeing the classic Muppets in an animated project like Jim Henson had envisioned.

 

[Super Scooter]

I don't think I'd like to see a new Muppet Babies project, necessarily. However, DVDs would be fantastic! I hope they're released to DVD eventually. It deserves that, at least.

There was a lot of Muppet Babies merchandise around not too long ago. I got a Baby Rowlf doll out of it. They must still be fairly popular.

 

[Redsonga]

You're exactly right. The Muppet Babies program was always on - and it made up for most of the Muppet branding saturation for years. I believe the branding confusion came from poor strategy from the Henson Company at the time. It turned into the Muppets’ primary brand and that was an unintended mistake.

Nothing irks my fandom more than when I mention the Muppets and someone starts singing the Muppet Babies theme song. That show's thrill was very short-lived for me. I was 10 in 1984 and the show didn't really grab me the way that the classic Muppets did after the novelty of the animation wore off. I respect the program now and can appreciate portions of it (I can still remember Loose Tooth Boogie). It brought much joy to so many. If Disney ever lobotomized the babies like Dora I would write one angry letter.

*Was born in '83*
*just now realized you could have babysat her *

Well..I just meant, even if you felt as an older fan like we were missing something by seeing mostly the MBs that I as a younger fan never felt like I was ...Actually, now that I think of it, when I always saw the cartoon when I was little (since I never saw TMTM until last year) I thought the MBs weren't little versions of the Muppet movie muppets, but a totally new generation of them after the fact that just looked the same and had the same names ...

But anything but a Dora version, and I will be happy...Gosh, even worst what if they tried to Dora-ise the normal muppets o.o?

 

[wwfpooh]

If Columbia agrees, then Muppet Babies DVDs could probably be made.

But as much of a Muppet fan as I am, I also want Disney to bring back what good animation it once had & give its core six a good quality set of shorts--or even another TV series that's not done in Dora-style--again. I mean, if the leader of the club, his wife, and their friends can be used in two hit videogames (the Kingdom Hearts franchise) and have a history of shorts under their belt, then they surely can be treated better than being trodded out to talk down to one of Disney's own top demographics.

For after all, lest the company forget..."it all started with a mouse" and said mouse is one of The Muppets' oldest friends (one whom they've lampooned and spoofed constantly over the years), considering it was Walt's family--in the form of now-ex-chairman, Roy Disney--who worked out the deal with Jim before Mike Eisner & Bob Igor ruined a lot of it all (for incidentally, it was a lot of Eisner's post-Aladdin choices within the top level of the company--including the company's direction--that lead to Roy's resignation).

 

[Drtooth]

I don't think I'd like to see a new Muppet Babies project, necessarily.

I'd only want to see it if they can get all the same voice actors and writers and elements back. I do NOT want to see them ask where the yellow ball in the direct forground is for ten minutes....

 

[CensoredAlso]

All I can say is, I'd like to see adult humor, as opposed to immature humor.