You know what would be cool, Muppet Shorts

[Movies205]

I was thinking about my Looney Tunes Golden Collection and Walt Disney Treasure set and all the wonderful cartoon shorts and how they use to put them before movies. I think it be cool if they had some muppet shorts to put in front of movies, it get them back in the public's eye and it be cheaper. Though I doubt this would happen due to licencing and they need money...

 

[scarylarrywolf]

I seem to remember a Sesame Character short before some kiddie movie I went to see a couple years ago. I'm not sure what it was about -- I remember Cookie Monster coming on the screen as a big swirling mass of fur... Did anyone else see it?

--"Scary" Larry Wolf

 

[AndyWan Kenobi]

I thought of something similar a while ago--I thought that they should make fake muppet movie trailers to play before a movie. These would be trailers for muppet movies that will never actually get made, and that wouldn't be sustainable for more than a couple of minutes anyway. Back when I thought of it, I thought of "Muppet Titanic"--man, I'm old...

 

[Sidebottom]

I think it be cool if they had some muppet shorts to put in front of movies, it get them back in the public's eye and it be cheaper.

I think this is one of the best ideas I've heard in a long time.

Think of it -- what did Sam and Friends consist of? Shorts.

What is most of Sesame Street still made up of? Shorts.

What were the Land of Gorch segments? Shorts.

What were most of The Muppet Show, The Jim Henson Hour, and Muppets Tonight made up of? That's right, shorts.

So the Muppets are definitely accustomed to working in this sort of medium.

And think of the advantages it offered Looney Tunes -- not only did it get them into the public eye, but it also enabled them to try out lots of different characters and ideas and see right away which ones worked and which ones didn't (and then re-use the ones that worked and throw away the ones that didn't).

Strikes me as the sort of approach that Jim Henson would have loved.

When the Muppets make another movie, only people who already like the Muppets will go. But if they put shorts before movies, they'd get a lot more exposure -- and people who'd forgotten about the Muppets would rediscover how great they are.

Just my two cents, probably worth even less. After all, I'm just a fan and really don't know anything about the movie industry and how Henson would go about negotiating this sort of thing. But if it is feasible, I'd love to see it.

-Sidebottom

 

[Philo and Gunge]

I seem to remember a Sesame Character short before some kiddie movie I went to see a couple years ago. I'm not sure what it was about -- I remember Cookie Monster coming on the screen as a big swirling mass of fur... Did anyone else see it?

--"Scary" Larry Wolf

What movie was it? I might be able to get some information on the short.

 

[floydnjanicefan]

There used to be Muppet Shorts on Nickelodean. They were called Muppet moments, and they lasted for a minute or two. If I remember correctly, they frequently starred Bobo and some bears, Robin and the frog scouts (possibly with Kermit - I cant remember), and Andy and Randy. I know that they are not 5-10 minutes Looney Tune shorts, but they were something...

 

[Sidebottom]

There used to be Muppet Shorts on Nickelodean. They were called Muppet moments, and they lasted for a minute or two. If I remember correctly, they frequently starred Bobo and some bears, Robin and the frog scouts (possibly with Kermit - I cant remember), and Andy and Randy. I know that they are not 5-10 minutes Looney Tune shorts, but they were something...

They were called "Muppet Time". I never saw many of them, but I've heard they weren't too spectacular.

 

[floydnjanicefan]

Yeah, I dont remember them being that great.
I think the Muppets should definitely make some funny, short cartoons - maybe they could show them before kids/family movies...

 

[Mr.Penguin]

Scarylarrywolf, you saw "Sesame Street History of Film." It talked about the different film genres(musical,western) with Grover as a cowboy. It featured three songs (This Town 'Aint Big Enough for the Both of Us,This Town Is Big Enough for All of Us & This Town 'Aint Safe Enough for Any of Us)and all the main characters(except Big Bird) singing in panic. It was narrated by Alistar Cookie. The "story" part of it ended with a Muppet tornado. The last song was sang in a panic while the cast ran from a giant boulder and the tornado.
It played before "Muppets From Space" and I heard it also played before "Elmo in Grouchland."

"Se-same Street?...."
-Grover, Follow That Bird

-
Mr.Penguin

 

[Sidebottom]

Scarylarrywolf, you saw "Sesame Street History of Film."

Both that one and another that also played before movies, called "Don't Forget to Watch the Movie", are available at Scarecroe's website:

http://www.scarecroe.com/files/loews_abhoc_med.mov and http://www.scarecroe.com/files/loews_dftwtm_lg.mov

They're both really excellent, well-done, funny shorts. If the classic Muppets did a lot of stuff like that, geared towards an adult or family audience, I think that would be really terrific.

-Sidebottom