What's wrong with Baby Rowlf?

[Baby Rowlf]

Okay, I'm sure you guys have heard my whimperings as of late. With the Muppet Babies coming into the spotlight again, we're seeing the puppets used again, and there's new merchandise that's starting to emerge. But the thing that has me a little miffed is that they've been focusing on either the main 5 Babies (Babies Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, and Animal), or bumping it up to seven to include Babies Scooter and Skeeter. But in none of these have I seen Baby Rowlf! He was even absent in the recent publicity shoot that King Prawn posted, replaced by Baby Animal!

What's going on? Even in the Babies' first run he was scarce, and only seemed to be merchandised/featured as a last resort! In the show he was pretty much a bit player, in the comics he was only a tag along and rarely said anything if he showed up at all, and in the book club Weekly Reader had about the Babies back in the 80s, he was the only one who didn't get a book that starred him.

Personally, I don't get it. Why isn't he that marketable? He's cute and fluffy, and he's entertaining with his little baby piano! Besides, he's not only one of the 6 original Muppet Babies, but he's one of the original classic Muppets!! Maybe one of you guys can shed some light on the subject. What do you think the deal is?

 

[Fozzie Bear]

It's because he's Rowlf, one of the most popular and important of Muppets.

He's such an important JHC character that if the JHC uses him in certain ways, the "Rowlf" fans may not find the use to the full integrity of the character and that would make you even more upset, right?

 

[Fozzie Bear]

I was posting to Baby Rowlf really, but I don't mean that anybody is really upset, just that it MIGHT make someone upset if a character isn't handled right.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

That, and I never caught the mouth interior before; good catch. hmm...

 

[Thijs]

Baby Rowlf has always been my favourite MB, and Fozzie, I can never choose. Baby Rowlf has the best design I think.

 

[Don'tLiveonMoon]

I always liked Baby Rowlf. Piano player that I am, I gotta appreciate a dog who can tickle the ol' ivories the way he can! It is a shame that he's getting the short end of the stick. I felt the same way when Care Bears started reappearing in stores, and I saw all of them except my favorite, Good Luck Bear! I have since managed to see a couple of them, but he is vastly underrepresented.
Erin

 

[Zack the Dog]

Hey hey everyone, seems Henson hasn't forgot are little Rowlfy wowlfy!....althought it's for girls now, so don't get your hopes up... unless your a girl of coures

http://www.hottopic.com/store/product.asp?LS=0&ITEM=208915

zack

 

[Baby Rowlf]

Hey hey everyone, seems Henson hasn't forgot are little Rowlfy wowlfy!....althought it's for girls now, so don't get your hopes up... unless your a girl of coures

http://www.hottopic.com/store/product.asp?LS=0&ITEM=208915

zack

Sweet!!! It's about time someone paid attention to him! That shirt is SO mine!

As for Fozzie's comments, I see what you mean. In fact, after I posted my initial post something occurred to me. With the other Muppets, baby versions of them are easy because they're already wild and crazy to begin with and have traits that would make them entertaining as toddlers. With Rowlf however, that gets tricky. Sure he's got his dry sense of humour and wit, and he can tell jokes at times that are just as bad as Fozzie's (Lookit Veterinarian's Hospital.). He's also educated and so a lot of his personality is based on that.

How do you trickle that down into a baby version? It's not easy to do. I honestly think that was a trouble area, myself. Personality-wise, Baby Rowlf was quiet, and pretty much left everyone else to their own devices. On the occasion when he DID act as rowdy as the rest of the Babies, even I have to admit it didn't fit right. Normally he was much calmer, and served as the "straight man" (or straight-puppy) of the Nursery.

As the show went on though, especially after Henson died, the characters changed drastically in personality, and Baby Rowlf was no exception. It's like they tried to emphasize the straight-man role a little too much, and thus Baby Rowlf became much more cynical, and intolerant of everyone else, and what little sense of humour he had vanished. That and they started making him talk slang a little too much, like "radical, cool, trippin' " etc.

*whew* That said, I think Baby Rowlf could be best described as "the Muppet Baby no one knew what to do with".

Insight, guys?

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Talking slang is NOT integrity of Rowlf the Dog. They could have let him use musical terminology as slang, or even "groovy" or "hip." Radical is NOT something Rowlf would say...not back then anyways.

If you figure it, Rowlf has been around even longer than Kermit. He's an old soul in the Muppet world, and deserves an INTELLIGENT spotlight. His timing and credibility on joke telling (and being PUNny) is part of his intelligence.

Burns and Allen, for example. Gracie had to be one smart lady to be that dumb on screen. Same goes for Rowlf's bad jokes.

*Raises root beer*
Here's to one of the smartest dogs I ever never knew in person!
*gulp!*

 

[Aaron]

here Here!