Your Thoughts: Muppet Central's 20th Birthday

Phillip

Phillip

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Happy birthday! Muppet Central is now 20 years old. The site and our original forum debuted 20 years ago on January 28, 1998. Muppet Central Radio began two years later on January 28, 2000.

Back when the site first started The Jim Henson Company still owned all of their original properties including the Muppets and Sesame Street. Two new feature films were in development simultaneously, Muppets From Space and Elmo in Grouchland. The Children's Television Workshop was gearing up for their upcoming 30th anniversary and The Jim Henson Company was developing an ambitious sci-fi series that would eventually become Farscape. Even though many changes have occurred throughout the EM.TV and Disney years, we’ve been honored to be a small part of it and to provide a place for fan discussion and interaction.

We want to thank all of the staff, past and present who have given so much of their time and giftings to make Muppet Central a great place. Every member here is a vital part of what makes Muppet Central special. Thanks for doing your part in keeping Jim Henson’s vision of the Muppets alive. We believe great days are ahead.

While we’re celebrating 20 years, we are also looking towards the future. Answer the below questions and let us know your predictions for 2018:

(1) What do you think the future holds for the Muppets especially with Matt Vogel's recast as Kermit, the return of Muppet Babies and the live Muppets Santa Barbara show this March? On February 17, it will have been 14 years since Disney bought the Muppet characters so they aren't the new property anymore, especially with money makers like Fox, Star Wars and Marvel now in the family.

(2) What would you like to see Sesame Street produce or release in 2018? What do you think of the HBO deal so far? Sesame Street continues to rebound with the departure of beloved veteran cast members and Muppeteers. The good news of the HBO deal is that we are guaranteed a 50th season which might not have happened if the show stayed solely on PBS.

(3) What are your hopes for new productions from The Jim Henson Company in 2018? With the upcoming Dark Crystal prequel series "Age of Resistance", continued development on Happytime Murders and Splash and Bubbles on PBS, the Henson Company appears poised for a breakthrough in the years to come. Will it happen? We're still waiting for the Fraggle Rock movie that's been in development for years.

(4) What are some of your favorite Muppet Central memories or traditions from the past 20 years?

Happy birthday everyone!

 
Froggy Fool

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Even though I've only been a member since November, I can see that this place is really awesome, and look forward to spending more time on the forums.:smile::smile:
 
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MikaelaMuppet

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Phillip said:
Happy birthday! Muppet Central is now 20 years old. The site and our original forum debuted 20 years ago on January 28, 1998. Muppet Central Radio began two years later on January 28, 2000.

Back when the site first started The Jim Henson Company still owned all of their original properties including the Muppets and Sesame Street. Two new feature films were in development simultaneously, Muppets From Space and Elmo in Grouchland. The Children's Television Workshop was gearing up for their upcoming 30th anniversary and The Jim Henson Company was developing an ambitious sci-fi series that would eventually become Farscape. Even though many changes have occurred throughout the EM.TV and Disney years, we’ve been honored to be a small part of it and to provide a place for fan discussion and interaction.

We want to thank all of the staff, past and present who have given so much of their time and giftings to make Muppet Central a great place. Every member here is a vital part of what makes Muppet Central special. Thanks for doing your part in keeping Jim Henson’s vision of the Muppets alive. We believe great days are ahead.

While we’re celebrating 20 years, we are also looking towards the future. Answer the below questions and let us know your predictions for 2018:

(1) What do you think the future holds for the Muppets especially with Matt Vogel's recast as Kermit, the return of Muppet Babies and the live Muppets Santa Barbara show this March? On February 17, it will have been 14 years since Disney bought the Muppet characters so they aren't the new property anymore, especially with money makers like Fox, Star Wars and Marvel now in the family.

(2) What would you like to see Sesame Street produce or release in 2018? What do you think of the HBO deal so far? Sesame Street continues to rebound with the departure of beloved veteran cast members and Muppeteers. The good news of the HBO deal is that we are guaranteed a 50th season which might not have happened if the show stayed solely on PBS.

(3) What are your hopes for new productions from The Jim Henson Company in 2018? With the upcoming Dark Crystal prequel series "Age of Resistance", continued development on Happytime Murders and Splash and Bubbles on PBS, the Henson Company appears poised for a breakthrough in the years to come. Will it happen? We're still waiting for the Fraggle Rock movie that's been in development for years.

(4) What are some of your favorite Muppet Central memories or traditions from the past 20 years?

Happy birthday everyone!

Click to expand...
I’ve only been here for a few years, but probably the holiday music and the Jerry Nelson tribute.
 
Pig'sSaysAdios

Pig'sSaysAdios

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Phillip said:
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Anyone else kind of creeped out by Big Bird in that picture? He looks kind of like an impostor that they just photoshopped in later. No, just me? OK.

Anyways, Happy 20th Birthday MC! It's been lot's of fun and i've made a lot of cool friends. Let's all do our best to make this a year of understanding, no fighting, and just enjoying The Muppets together!

As for my hopes for the future, I just hope they're still making that Sesame Street movie.
 
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D'Snowth

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It's amazing that MC has kept going strong all these years, even as forums and message boards have slowly fizzled out in recent years due to the ever-increasing use of social media and what have you. But I'm happy to have been a part of MC for nearly 15 of its 20 years; I've seen a lot happen during those years, I've seen people come and go, I've seen the forum itself go through about three different hosts, and I've seen how the community has grown - while it was always a sizable community, it was certainly a lot smaller back then than it is now; MC is perhaps the largest community I've ever been a part of, and yet despite that, it's always remained (for the most part) one of the most welcoming and inclusive communities online, and I certainly think of the people here as family - all things that most other forums out there severely lack (even the small ones).

Now, to answer the questions. . . .

1. The future is always uncertain, and I really don't know what will become of the Muppets, but it does kind of seem like ever since they recast Kermit, they've been trying to really bolster the Muppets as much as they can right now: two live shows within months of each other? That's a pretty big deal. The MB reboot already seems to be controversial since apparently a lot of purists aren't happy about Skeeter being replaced by a penguin. But, as with everything else, time will tell.

2. I hadn't really thought about it, but as far as the deal itself goes, I think I can say that I'm at least relieved that SS has some stability right now, given the uncertainty of the future of PBS since Trump is dismantling the Corporation for Public Broadcast and the National Endowment for the Arts, since apparently we need to spend more money on what's already the strongest, most powerful, and most expensive military in the world.

3. I hope that JHC will somehow experience an epiphany and realize just what a mistake it was bringing in Melissa McCarthy on the HAPPYTIME MURDERS movie and even having her handle the script, and maybe get rid of her and try to rework the movie before it's too late. Doubt that'll happen though, but whatever.

4. Biased of course, but much of my favorite memories are from my earlier years here at MC, when there was a smaller number of us, and we were extremely close-knit, so it wasn't uncommon for us to engage in overall silliness and zaniness across the forum. I miss the days when we all had our regular forum series going like THE MOPPET FAMILY, TKO, and NO DAY BUT TODAY; and I miss the days of Dave's (Vic Romano) Weekly Muppet Visuals. Other memories I remember include when Prawnie and I were racing each other to 10,000 posts; how I really overblew my 5th anniversary on the forum in 2008 (I think even Shane said he'd hate to see what my autobiography in book form would look like, lol); when Mat B. Regard was trolling us all that day with his King Agrippa alter ego and we were all freaked the Elmo out; and speaking of which, I remember when MrsPepper and I were planning this really elaborate April Fool's prank on everybody, but she decided at the last spirit it would be a little too mean-spirited, and we probably shouldn't do it.
 
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