Your Thoughts: New Green and Red Christmas CD

[Marky]

Is it all-new material?

 

[theprawncracker]

Is it all-new material?

Yup, all new, all awesome. It's the first completely original Muppet album in forever! I recomend it to everyone!

 

[The Whatevers]

I'd buy it... but I live in Australia. I doubt it'll come here.

 

[mrsieve]

Gotta love Pepes background comments in North Pole Comedy Club .

 

[Janice & Mokey's Man]

It's been a long time since I've seen Boogie in the Barnyard, so I don't remember him singing half a line that Janice started.

Janice doesn't start it...Lips sings "Well the barnyard is jumpiiiiiiiiiin'/Ev'rybody havin' a fling" (paraphrase, may not be 100% accurate)...and then Janice sings the 2nd part of the bridge, "Even Old MacDonaaaald/Had to do a little cornish swing"---if Lips weren't around, the whole bridge would've been Janice's. Some of my animosity here also stems from the fact that I've always had a bit of a grudge with Janice vocals being sacrificed for Floyd, and this time it's for Lips. Take "Can You Picture That?" for instance---does Dr. Teeth ask Janice to take a verse? No, he asks Floyd. So Floyd gets an entire verse all his own, where Janice only gets a couple of lines, and the bridge with Floyd. It's a terrific song, but I've always wished Janice sang more in it. One thing they even loved about Richard was his incredible vocal ability in singing, so whenever Janice is kinda glossed over in an EM song that perplexes me.

I know that you do dislike quite a few characters for stealing from Janice. I know you dislike Scooter because he stole time from Janice (since they were both performed by Richard Hunt). I know that when Rizzo replaced Janice in series 4 of the action figures that you boycotted mentioning his name (I don't know if you still feel that way towards Rizzo).

Well, I don't overall "dislike" Scooter. I know the reality that because of obvious puppeteer limitations, not all of a person's characters will have equal screen time or presence. And while a few years ago Scooter really bugged me in regards to this, I've lightened up on it some. Sure I'll watch TMS and sometimes think "Man, if only they'd let Janice come in instead of Scooter for this backstage antic/scene", etc., but I know there are Rowlf fans and and Dr. Teeth fans and other fans who don't get what they want either. But then there's the issue of 2 of Frank's characters, Piggy and Fozzie, both being huge backstage presences...so if I think of that, then the lack of utilizing Janice backstage will annoy me more. lol

And I totally forgot about my Rizzo boycott. LOL!

Really!

I did!

I was surprised when I saw a post by you saying that you liked Hilda, since she and Janice were both performed by Eren Ozker in the first season, and she stole time away from Janice. Are there any Fraggle Rock characters you dislike because they stole from Mokey?

Well I don't care about Eren's Janice, only Richard's. That is the Janice I know and love. I remember a bit of Eren's Janice from childhood TMS re-runs on Saturday afternoons in the mid-80s, but I fell in love with Richard's Janice. That is Janice to me. In fact when I watch season 1 I so often think "Man, if only Richard had done Janice from the beginning...that's a whole extra season of Classic Janice we could have had...*sigh*..." And the fact she had so much screen time then too (since many characters hadn't arrived yet) is another kick in the Muppet-fur-covered pants.

Your fraggle question is interesting---maybe in part because it's so unexpected, LOL. Well, I don't begrudge Cotterpin because, let's face it, Mokey has a WORLD of more screen time in comparison! Part of me used to be a little jealous though that Cotterpin was so attached to Red, and not Mokey. But then I just think that Kathy was "chosen" to play Cotterpin, so Mokey had to be sacrificed for just a bit. lol

I do however not care much for Philo. I love Gunge. I find Gunge to be much more physically appealing to look at (as far as a rattish creature can be, LOL)...his big googly eyes are cute, and he looks good with his dark gray fur. Whereas I don't care for Philo's half-open eyes or his dull pink-mauveish fur. He just doesn't do much for me. And then when I got the Fraggle Rock season 1 set, I really didn't like hearing how Dave Goelz competed with Richard for the character (when it was conceived as 1 instead of 2). I was like, come on Dave, you have two major characters, Boober and Uncle Matt. Richard only has Junior, and he's not even in most episodes! So that didn't impress me about Dave and I didn't like that (yet I can't help but like Dave gernally when I see him in the bonus material). Which maybe added a bit more to my general apathy for Philo, but I don't "hate" Philo or anything, I just really dig Gunge. It is neat to have a 3rd Trash Heap gang member, but I wish they could have at least made him more pleasant to look at, lol.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Some of my animosity here also stems from the fact that I've always had a bit of a grudge with Janice vocals being sacrificed for Floyd, and this time it's for Lips. Take "Can You Picture That?" for instance---does Dr. Teeth ask Janice to take a verse? No, he asks Floyd. So Floyd gets an entire verse all his own, where Janice only gets a couple of lines, and the bridge with Floyd. It's a terrific song, but I've always wished Janice sang more in it. One thing they even loved about Richard was his incredible vocal ability in singing, so whenever Janice is kinda glossed over in an EM song that perplexes me.

Yeah, that always bothered me too; I love Floyd but sometimes I wished I could hear Janice better! And my first thought was that Janice wasn't given equal time because she was a woman, lol. But that's probably not it, they probably just wanted to give Floyd more to do since he was Jerry's only main character.

 

[Janice & Mokey's Man]

they probably just wanted to give Floyd more to do since he was Jerry's only main character.

That's probably it, and I just need to remember that, although it won't make my Janice-craving that much better, lol. Richard at least had Scooter and Statler and Beaker as mainstays, whereas poor Jerry only had Floyd as his most-main character (and even kinda "lost" Statler to Richard).

 

[CensoredAlso]

And also Jerry and Richard were so good at harmonizing in their songs.

 

[minor muppetz]

It is sad that Janice didn't sing more often. During the first season, she usually only sang back-up, and I think she sang a solo line in the Caberet number in the Joel Grey number. I think that Eren Ozker wasn't very comfortable with her singing (though she often sang as Wanda, who was supposed to be a bad singer, so it really didn't matter how good her performers singing was). Janice often sang solo lines in Electric Mayhem songs, but she really didn't have any solos or lead-singing numbers untill late in the shows run, when she sang I Get By with a Little Help from My Friends (probably the closest thing she had to a solo number, though the rest of the band appeared at the end), Rockin' Robin (the only Electric Mayhem number where she was the lead singer), and It's in His Kiss (not really a lead-singing number, but she shared vocals with Linda Ronstadt and two namesless back-up singers, and it's her only major number with a guest star, so that counts for something).

Regarding Floyd, while he was much more major on The Muppet Show and in the movies, he really didn't have many great scenes in the movies, while the other members had more memorable lines and scenes. There's so much to talk about regarding Janice in the movies, such as her talking about running around naked on the beach, saying she doens't take her clothes off for anyone, arguing with Gonzo, tunning up her harp, sunbathing at the Happiness Hotel, where with Floyd, there's just him introducing the band, taking Animal for a walk, suggesting that hot mustard gets put on the bars, and letting Animal cut in front of him in the bathroom line.

To try to get this subject back on topic, I was wondering if the booklet includes photos of Janice or any other characters who don't sing on this album.

 

[AndyWan Kenobi]

To try to get this subject back on topic, I was wondering if the booklet includes photos of Janice or any other characters who don't sing on this album.

From what I remember, no. I think it's Kermit, Piggy, and the Swedish Chef. Maybe Fozzie or Rowlf, but I would have to go out to the car to check, and I'd have to put my shoes on to go do that, and I've have to get up from the couch to go do that, and, well, you see where this is going...