Wimzies House?

[Gerbert]

Ok so my daughter Avy was playing a MMOPRG or atleast i think its called An MMOPRG anyway she stopped and called me in the living room and It was A Sesame Street/Fraggle Rock Knockoff. It Just Happended. I read Wikipedia And The Jim Henson Company Filed A lawsuit. Anyway help me find more info on this knockoff

 

[D'Snowth]

It wasn't really a knock-off persay, yes, JHC did file a lawsuit against them, but it's only because the characters looked too Muppety... actually, a few Muppet people were involved with this show - Jim Kroupa designed and built the characters, meanwhile Chris Cerf and Norman Stiles were creative consultants for the show.

It's actually a really good and cute little show, I used to love to watch it during summer vacation everyday... I wouldn't call it a knock-off, it was actually quite an original concept, and it really did have educational value as well.

 

[JJandJanice]

The characters do look a lot like Fraggle Rock type creatures. I can see why the Jim Henson Company would sue.

 

[Drtooth]

meanwhile Chris Cerf and Norman Stiles were creative consultants for the show.

They really should have consulted a LOT more.

It's not as bad as I remember it, after catching an episode on This (weird digital network that runs bad movies no one has ever heard of), but I still have a lot of problems with the show. I really think the music was clumsy, and used "La La La" too much (and not in the same way "Sing" does), and I object to the fact they have voice actors reading a script and puppeteers miming to that vocal track... as us Muppet fans know, improvisation is very crucial to puppeteering... otherwise Cookie wouldn't Cowabunga, Piggy wouldn't Hi YAH, and Grover and Bert wouldn't faint. But other than that, it's much better than I remember, but not by much. I do like the character designs and puppets, though.

 

[D'Snowth]

The characters do look a lot like Fraggle Rock type creatures. I can see why the Jim Henson Company would sue.

Sometimes, I wonder though if JHC at the point was suing simply to try to have a monopoly on television puppetry? You know, in a way, if that was the case, that'd be like the Disney company suing another animation company because they feel their characters look too Disney-esque.

and I object to the fact they have voice actors reading a script and puppeteers miming to that vocal track... as us Muppet fans know, improvisation is very crucial to puppeteering... otherwise Cookie wouldn't Cowabunga, Piggy wouldn't Hi YAH, and Grover and Bert wouldn't faint. But other than that, it's much better than I remember, but not by much. I do like the character designs and puppets, though.

That's really my only quibble with the show, but I try not to dwell on it too much, as there's been other show that have done that as well... take a lot of Sid and Marty Krofft's show.

 

[JJandJanice]

Sometimes, I wonder though if JHC at the point was suing simply to try to have a monopoly on television puppetry? You know, in a way, if that was the case, that'd be like the Disney company suing another animation company because they feel their characters look too Disney-esque.
.

It could be, that does make sense. When a company does perfect a certain style of doing something only to see some other company try to redo well I kind understand why they would sue.

Though to some degree I would have to say that the Muppet style of puppeteering has had an influence in many non-Henson puppet shows.I guess the JHC just felt this show was too close to home, since unlike say Eureeka's Castle where they had more original design characters, I guess the JHC felt this wasn't original design. I do agree they look very Fraggle Rock like, but I don't think that was what they intented.

 

[D'Snowth]

It could be, that does make sense. When a company does perfect a certain style of doing something only to see some other company try to redo well I kind understand why they would sue.

Though to some degree I would have to say that the Muppet style of puppeteering has had an influence in many non-Henson puppet shows.I guess the JHC just felt this show was too close to home, since unlike say Eureeka's Castle where they had more original design characters, I guess the JHC felt this wasn't original design. I do agree they look very Fraggle Rock like, but I don't think that was what they intented.

Too true... whenever I design new characters for myself, I usually try my hardest and my best to make sure they have a lot of originality to them, though admittedly, Steve's design was borrowed and changed slightly from an AM monster from SST, and I honestly didn't intend to do so much with him to the point that he would become my signature character like he has. But other than him, I design all my own characters with my own flare.

 

[JJandJanice]

Too true... whenever I design new characters for myself, I usually try my hardest and my best to make sure they have a lot of originality to them, though admittedly, Steve's design was borrowed and changed slightly from an AM monster from SST, and I honestly didn't intend to do so much with him to the point that he would become my signature character like he has. But other than him, I design all my own characters with my own flare.

Yeah I design my own characters as well, so I know what you mean.

 

[Drtooth]

Sometimes, I wonder though if JHC at the point was suing simply to try to have a monopoly on television puppetry? You know, in a way, if that was the case, that'd be like the Disney company suing another animation company because they feel their characters look too Disney-esque.

I'm really getting the idea that someone felt it was an inferior project, and didn't want anyone to mistake it for a Henson project. I can't say I dislike it as much as I used to, but the fact that it had such lame music and had dubbed puppeteering really made it a very weak show. Shows like Puzzle Place, Between the lions, and all that, while they share the same puppeteers as Sesame Street (and in the case of Lions, writers and musicians... mainly that left SS in a huff) they also have very high standards of puppetry and writing and all that that Wimzie could have had, but doesn't.

That said, it STILL bugs the crap out of me that Disney NEVER sues the lame little companies that just so happen to release cheap DTV movies that just so happen to have similar characters and stories (in some cases, the same fairy tales) at the same time when the movies come to theaters... maybe just not trying to look hypocritical after all the parallels between Kimba the White Lion and The Lion King.

 

[APRena]

Before I cared much about the actual quality of these types of shows, I really, REALLY loved this show. I was convinced it was the Muppets (until I read the Wiki entry and was exposed to all this...) and that was perfectly fine. Another Sesame Street, yay!

In retrospect, it is cute, but not as awesome as Sesame Street. Kind of a more sucessful Little Muppet Monsters.