We watched them get the band back together the first time with Muppet Guys Talking, a fun documentary we discussed two years ago here at borg. Now not even sheltering at home will hold back the fun-loving Muppet Guys, who are returning once again to share some more about Muppet creator Jim Henson, and the incredible creative process and their experience as Muppet performers, all while earning some money for front-line COVID-19 workers. Part in honor of Jim Henson, who passed away 30 years ago, and part reason to get some of our favorite people back together virtually, it’s all happening this Saturday, and everyone is invited.
The beginning of a new film references the scope of the success of the Muppets: In 1978 the Muppets were seen weekly by more than 235 million people in more than 102 countries, and Time Magazine called them “the most popular entertainment on Earth.” Created by Jim Henson in 1955 and starring in Sesame Street, in feature films, and in animated films, the Muppets endure to this day. Regularly returning on television and in movies, they continue to entertain and educate young and old alike. Frank Oz, the creator and actor behind Sesame Street and The Muppet Show’s Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Cookie Monster, Grover, Animal, and Sam the Eagle, Aughra and Chamberlain in The Dark Crystal, and the performer and voice of Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (and director of countless other films), has produced and directed a new film with four other original Muppet performers to recount the development–and fun–of working in their timeless fantasy world.
Feeling like an informal dinner party among old friends, but even more like the first hour of a 12-part series, Muppet Guys Talking–Secrets Behind the Show the Whole World Watched, is a wonderful, cheery glimpse at life working with Jim Henson, who Emmy-winning performer Frank Oz says “wanted to make a better world.” Originally premiering at last year’s South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas, the film will be available for fans everywhere for the first time next week at MuppetGuysTalking.com. Frank Oz brings together Emmy-winner Jerry Nelson, creator and performer of Count von Count, Snuffleupagus, Lew Zealand, Statler, Floyd, and Gobo Fraggle; Emmy-winner Dave Goelz, creator and performer of The Great Gonzo, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Zoot, and Fizzgig from The Dark Crystal; Emmy-winner Fran Brill, creator and performer of Prairie Dawn, Zoe, Little Bird, Betty Lou, and The Land of Gorch’s Vazh; and Bill Barretta, BTVA Award-winning creator and performer of Pepe the King Prawn, Johnny Fiama, Bobo the Bear, and Big Mean Carl. Along with providing insight into Muppet mastermind Jim Henson, the “Muppet Guys” provide some advice on creating characters that will be worthwhile to creators in many media, as well as offering a great peek into the job of performing with puppetry. The most difficult part? Yep, holding your arms over your head inside the Muppets for a very long time.
From John Denver and the Muppets Rocky Mountain Holiday. You don’t see the dozen human performers underneath the ground working the Muppets and speaking their lines.
Oz and Goelz recount major difficulties in the craft, like building a hole in the ground around a bonfire with a propane tank near their heads, so they could stand and perform their characters sitting around a real campfire above, as filmed for the famous John Denver Rocky Mountain Holiday TV special and album. They also discuss Henson performing the risky opening scene of The Muppet Movie, stuffed inside a tube submerged in a backlot, underwater stage swamp with a small TV monitor and his arms above his head to perform Kermit singing and playing banjo on “The Rainbow Connection.” The discussions among these friends are fun to watch, and the viewers will feel like they are a part of the room. And viewers can’t help but listen for the performers slipping in and out of various voices–like the sound of Grover and Cookie Monster from Oz a few times when he gets animated or is laughing. The most valuable bits center around what seems to be a shared tool among the performers–Oz developed a thorough backstory for each of his characters that never makes it beyond his own mind, to assist with his performance (like method acting).
Other highlights include Dave Goelz recounting how he got into the business when he was a young aspiring puppeteer working an office job at Hewlett-Packard, Bill Barretta discussing his inspiration for the King Prawn character Pepe, Fran Brill discussing her fix for performing while not being as tall as the others, and Jerry Nelson coming up with the voice of Snuffleupagus and discussing the late performer Richie Hunt (who performed characters including Scooter, Beaker, Statler, Janice and Sweetums). Sadly documentary contributor Jerry Nelson passed away before the premiere of the documentary at South by Southwest, and the show is dedicated to him.
Peter Mayhew, the actor known best for playing Chewbacca in all three Star Wars trilogies, passed away Tuesday, April 30, 2019, according to a message distributed by his family yesterday.
I was lucky to have gotten involved in the past 20 years with the convention circuit. It allowed me to meet some interesting people, including the gentle and soft-spoken actor. I saw him at five conventions over this time, and he was always that friendly gentleman you’d expect the man behind the furry suit to be. My first encounter was shaking his hand at the opening of an early Planet Comicon show. Unless you’re also 7 foot 3 inches tall, your hand was immediately lost in his King Kong-sized hand. When I met him he was either late or early to the show and had no helper so I offered to help him set up his table. His conversation getting ready for a line of fans eager to meet him was generous and warm.
I next saw him in that lull between the prequels and the current trilogy at San Diego Comic-Con in 2011, when nothing much was going on in the Star Wars universe and for all intents and purposes the movies were done for good. Folks wrongly accuse San Diego Comic-Con of being too busy to have meaningful experiences with others, but I always have found the opposite true. I spun around in one of the wide floor walkways to see Mr. Mayhew alone, leaning back in his chair, nobody around at all, just watching the attendees walk around, walking past him and not even realizing they’d passed by one of film’s greatest icons. It seemed sad that he didn’t have the longest lines of all, but I also felt lucky to get that much more time to chat and get his autograph. He wasn’t bothered by not being swarmed, just an older gent enjoying a day of people walking about. But the limelight would return only three years later after George Lucas sold Star Wars to Disney and J.J. Abrams tapped Mr. Mayhew to return to the role literally billions have loved him for over the past 42 years. And there he was again, back in the thick of it at the table read for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, only five years ago. Over the past five years his health gradually left it more difficult for Mr. Mayhew to do appearances, but I would see him three more times, each time still showing up for fans with a smile, happy to take a photograph or sign whatever nostalgic keepsakes fans brought to share with him.
My favorite memory of Mr. Mayhew was asking him about his experience working with Jim Henson on The Muppet Show in the famous Star Wars episode that aired February 21, 1980. He had been answering questions from the crowd at a Planet Comicon panel, questions he’d clearly answered hundreds of times before. But he lit up when I mentioned the Muppets. Watching the show as a nine-year-old, I found the episode to be the perfect, rare event (like the Holiday Special), with Mark Hamill being featured with R2-D2, C-3PO, and our favorite Wookiee, not just another guy in the suit but the real deal, Peter Mayhew, along with Kermit and friends. When TV shows aired in 1980 you had your eyes glued to the screen, because the idea you’d ever be able to watch the episode again was still a pipe dream. Mr. Mayhew said he hadn’t been asked about that episode before and it had been years since he even thought about it, but details all snapped back for him. He remarked about the joy of working with Jim Henson and said he was amazed that the Muppets above the floor were real characters that could interact with him and Hamill as if they were as real, as if by magic, and yet he stepped back and looked down to see a dozen people underneath, intertwined and synchronized to make it all appear so seamless to the audience. You can imagine what that giant, usually soft-spoken fellow looked like when he was excited about something. And anyone who ever met him could attest to the twinkle in his eyes that was part of who he was, those same eyes that revealed plenty of the real Mr. Mayhew behind the Wookiee suit that made it onto film and became part of his famous character.
Your annual list of scary, ghostly, spooky, creepy, slashery, and generally monstrous films is back. The goal? Not to miss your favorite Halloween movies in October, and maybe find some new favorites. Below we’ve provided hundreds of movies scheduled to air–hundreds to choose from with a mix of classics and modern fare. Syfy′s “31 Days of Halloween” is back (only the first 10 days of the month have been released so far), along with Freeform′s “31 Nights of Halloween.”AMC has its “Fear Fest” again, and as with last year you can get caught up on The Walking Dead airing throughout the month. Disney+ has the new Lego Star Wars Terrifying Tales streaming beginning October 1. Horror streaming service Shudder is… always… horror, although it has a “61 Days of Halloween” event for the season, which seems to reflect the worst of the back of the old video store horror wall. Luckily TCM is also back with your favorite classics, and if you’ve subscribed to the free Peacock streaming service, you’re really in luck–check out our rundown of their big Halloween movies and shows here. You’ll find this year all the usual suspects: Stephen King, Wes Craven, John Carpenter, Michael Myers, Blumshouse, Jason Voorhees, and Freddy Kruger.
All month long on streaming services and premium channels like Netflix and Starz you can watch horror movies including Shaun of the Dead, Jaws, Rear Window, The Lost Boys, The Boy, Cloverfield, Coraline, Van Helsing, John Carpenter’s The Thing, They Live, and Ghosts of Mars, Young Frankenstein, Resident Evil, House at the End of the Street, Zombieland, The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, Sleepy Hollow, Hollow Man, The Craft, and many more, plus series like The Twilight Zone, Ash vs. Evil Dead, Requiem, Bates Motel, and The Frankenstein Chronicles. 1979’s When a Stranger Calls is on Amazon Prime. Everything you see in AMC’s listings are offered via their on-demand services, so you should be able to watch those whenever you’d like. If all else fails, you can find your favorite ghost story or other horror classic on Vudu and Amazon Prime, where you can buy or rent our recommendations like The Fog (both versions, with the original on Amazon Prime), Crimson Peak, Attack the Block, The Birds, Let Me In, The Others, Winchester, The Watcher in the Woods, The Woman in Black, The Woman in White, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, The Ring, and the great family classic, Charles Schulz’s It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Need even more recommendations? Check our borg lists of past recommendations here–Halloween doesn’t arrive each year until we’ve watched The Watcher in the Woods and Silver Bullet.
So take notes and put your watch list into your DVR now so you don’t miss anything, especially useful for many of the marathons, which still frequently air in reverse order (?!). We’ve bolded some of our recommendations. All times listed are Central Time:
Friday, October 1, 2021
6:00 a.m. – King Kong (1933), TCM
8:00 a.m. – Tremors 3: Back to Perfection, AMC
8:00 a.m. – The Most Dangerous Game (1932), TCM
9:15 a.m. – The Vampire Bat (1933), TCM
10:00 a.m. – The Crooked Man, Syfy
10:30 a.m. – Pet Sematary, AMC
10:30 a.m. – The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, TCM
12:00 p.m. – Shut In, Syfy
12:30 p.m. – The Crazies, AMC
12:45 a.m. – White Zombie (1932), TCM
2:00 p.m. – Leprechaun 4 in Space, Syfy
2:00 p.m. – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932), TCM
3:00 p.m. – Friday the 13th, AMC
3:45 a.m. – Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), TCM
4:00 p.m. – The Addams Family (1991), Freeform
4:00 p.m. – Leprechaun 2, Syfy
5:00 p.m. – John Carpenter’sHalloween (1978), AMC
5:15 p.m. – Doctor X (1932), TCM
6:00 p.m. – Addams Family Values, Freeform
6:45 p.m. – Freaks (1932), TCM
7:00 p.m. – Halloween 2 (1981), AMC
8:00 p.m. – Tyler Perry’s Boo 2: A Madea Halloween, Syfy
8:00 p.m. – Hocus Pocus, Freeform
10:00 p.m. – Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, AMC
10:02 p.m. – Leprechaun in the Hood, Syfy
Life’s like a movie… write your own ending… keep believing… keep pretending…
Throughout the past year Brad Meltzer, noted fiction and non-fiction author and television personality (and DC Comics writer for the Identity Crisis and Green Arrow series) joined former Marvel Comics artist Christopher Eliopoulos to produce the Ordinary People Change the World series of books for young readers from Dial/Penguin/Random House. Each of these could–or should–be your child, your nephew, niece, grandchild, or other young friend’s first book. Back in September we previewed the most recent books in the series here at borg.com, featuring Dr. Jane Goodall and President George Washington. This month Meltzer and Eliopoulos are releasing their latest inspirational and educational book for kids, I am Jim Henson.
What is incredible about this book in the series is Eliopoulos’s success in seemingly including every Muppet you can think of one way or another, all his fuzzy and beloved characters from both Sesame Street and The Muppet Show. From Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy to Yoda and the movies Henson created, details of Henson’s life that will interest his fans are all here. Meltzer, writing in first person as Henson, recreates Henson’s influences and youth. Most importantly, Henson’s love of magic, imagination, and learning, and characters who taught everyone about laughter and kindness, will inspire new generations to look at his works again, and maybe even create their own.
Meltzer and Eliopoulos know Henson’s characters like fans do–some of the most memorable lines and images of them can be found tucked into the background and corners of each page.
This year Funko ReAction proved it can create the ultimate mix of nostalgia and quality. The toy line famous for bringing to fanboys and fangirls action figures that were never made when these modern classics played in theaters has released images of its sculpts and packaging for The Dark Crystal. The first figures from the ultimate 1980s fantasy film reveal Funko’s ReAction division’s best work so far.
We first heard about the ReAction line working on a project to bring to the market a set of figures from The Dark Crystalhere at borg.com way back in November 2013 when its first retro line-up hit the market, featuring characters from Alien. Funko has come a long way and proven to be a toy industry driver, particularly with its other toy lines like Pop! and Dorbz figures. The small yet surprisingly complete set from The Dark Crystal is reminiscent of the successful and similarly small set of Raiders of the Lost Ark figures from the early 1980s. Kudos are owed to Nena Ijiomah, aka Queen of Gates on Tumblr, the Funko 3D sculptor who simply nailed these designs. You really see the care that went into these figures from images of her original designs.
Jim Henson and Frank Oz, directing The Dark Crystal, along with Brian Froud’s Muppet creature creations, showed us a glimpse at what might have been had Henson lived out a longer life. Each of Froud’s unique beings–from the cute and toothy Fizzgig to the beautiful Landstrider, the creepy Skeksis, the haunting Garthim, the solemn mystic Ursol, and heroic Jen and Kira–all receive a loyal and respectable re-creation in this series. And each figure includes a piece of the purple crystal, so, as the Pokémon Go kids say “ya gotta catch ’em all.”
Two boxed sets are exclusives and not so easy to track down. The rest can be pre-ordered now from Entertainment Earth by clicking on the images above and below (after the break).
Joey Spiotto is an artist whose works are immediately recognizable. He has his own whimsical take on characters fans know and love–unique, but much like comic book cover artist Skottie Young he makes popular characters his own. Spiotto is well known for his parody covers for Little Golden Books–his Storytime series takes sci-fi, fantasy, and other pop culture favorites and uses a Muppet Babies-type change-up to show us characters as wee ones on the cover of their own little kids’ book. He’s taken on every franchise from Raiders of the Lost Ark, Terminator 2, Robocop, and Lost, to the Hamilton musical, from Mad Max: Fury Road, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, They Live, and Tron, to Donnie Darko. How often do you see one series of anything include homages to both Mr. Rogers and Donnie Darko? Individual prints of his Storytime series can be bought here and many have been compiled in his book available here at the artist’s Etsy store.
Now in stores is Spiotto’s latest book, Firefly–Back From the Black, a look at the characters of the fan favorite sci-fi series in the artist’s style and brand of humor. A latecomer to the Firefly series, Spiotto counts himself a fan, and he shows it through his many obscure references in page after page of single panel drawings. This is one where those who aren’t Firefly fans probably won’t understand what’s going on, but for those who are fans all the key characters are covered–spoofed, parodied, and maybe poked fun at more than a little bit. You’ll find plenty of images of Jayne sporting his cunning hat, including one of his Mom sewing his hat for him–an off-screen scene every Firefly fan has imagined. Fans of Spiotto’s first movie tie-in, 2015’s lovable look at Ridley Scott’s Aliens, Alien Next Door, will also like what the artist does here with the Firefly crew. The kind of book you’d see getting as a Christmas stocking stuffer for those dreaming of a return of Firefly, or a nice add-in to a future Firefly Cargo Crate, Firefly–Back From the Black is now available here from Amazon.
Spiotto fans also have just under a day left to take advantage of the artist’s Kickstarter campaign to launch a compilation book of his High Fidelity series of prints–it’s fully funded, but some great deals and incentives are still available. In this series he takes a similar twist on popular films and series as with his Storytime prints, but with High Fidelity the format is vintage 33 1/3 vinyl LP record album covers, and the characters become bands.
It’s the latest sensation. This generation’s Beanie Babies. Like last year’s Pokémon Go, collectors just “gotta catch ’em all.” And Funko, the toy company that makes them exclusively, has licensed seemingly any and every property on Earth for their POP! line of bobblehead dolls. Almost. Funko is always reaching for the next great franchise, the next cool character, the next thing for fanboys and fangirls to go nuts for.
Really. They’ve secured the licenses for nearly everything. Challenge us on that? How about Tupac Shakur? They made him into a vinyl POP! figure. Michael Jackson? Yep, in multiple outfits. Invisible Bilbo Baggins. The creature from Sharknado. Duck Dynasty? They made ’em. How about 1970s Elvis? Yep. Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars, The Muppets, and Game of Thrones? Of course. The Golden Girls? Nah…. yep! They made those, too. Piglet from Winnie the Pooh and Butters from South Park. The Elf on the Shelf? The cast of Friends? They’re just toying with us now.
But it doesn’t stop there. There’s Bob’s Big Boy and Bob’s Burgers.Parks and Recreation. BBC’s Sherlock. The cast from Lost. Universal Monsters. My Little Pony. NFL football. The Gilmore Girls. The A-Team. Pewdiepie from YouTube??? Gremlins. The Walking Dead. Power Rangers. The Exorcist. It goes on and on…
Is there no end to the properties that the Funko toy company will rematerialize into bobbleheads? They’ve got Santa Claus, Homer Simpson, David Bowie in Labyrinth, Breaking Bad, and the kids from Twilight. And the band members from Metallica. Thankfully they don’t yet have The Twilight Zone or we’d have to witness a frightening POP! of Billy Mumy’s victim Dan as the jack-in-the-box from “It’s a Good Life.” [[shudder]]
But this week’s release tops them all. Truly there is now one Funko POP! to rule them all. The real Top POP! But who could it be? Who is the big surprise? Drumroll, please…. The One POP! to Rule Them All is…
We at borg.com want to wish you a festive and safe New Year’s Eve and a spectacular 2017. We’re entering our seventh calendar year of daily updates here, and we want to say thanks for reading. We wish everyone a great new year.
We can all look forward to plenty of anniversaries ahead in 2017:
In the film industry John Ford, Buster Keaton, Stan Laurel, and Bela Lugosi had their film debuts 100 years ago.
Charles Schulz’s Woodstock from Peanuts turns 50.
The comic book characters Ghost Rider, Barbara Gordon, Deadman, Blue Beetle, and Ronan the Accuser turn 50. Huntress, Cerebus, and Judge Dredd turn 40.
Valerian, the lead character in the new Luc Besson movie Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, turns 50.
Star Wars turns 40. Look for a volley of marketing from Disney about this throughout the year to rival Star Trek’s fiftieth observance last year, including 48 variant covers from Marvel Comics, like this Stuart Immonen artwork:
Image Comics turns 25 in 2017. Look for some titles including The Walking Dead to drop to 25 cents for the month of February.
The Jungle Book, The Dirty Dozen, and the original Casino Royaleturn 50. Along with Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind turns 40. E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Blade Runner, Tron, and The Dark Crystalturn 35. Predator, The Princess Bride, and RoboCopturn 30. Unforgiven, A Few Good Men, The Muppet Christmas Carol, and My Cousin Vinny turn 25.
Fifty years ago–in 1967–The Beatles released its Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band LP, and Rolling Stone magazine published its first issue, and Marx Toys released their line of Best of the West toys, including Geronimo and Fighting Eagle, and the Fort Apache metal playset.
In science news from 1967, the world’s first heart transplant was performed, and NASA faced one of its lowest points as astronauts Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffey, and Ed White perished in the fateful launch of Apollo 1–all 50 years ago.
So there’s plenty to reflect on throughout 2017. But back to New Year’s… Six (yep, six!) years ago we posted a YouTube clip we thought we’d re-post here to welcome in the new year, from Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (and it’s now been watched nearly 18 million times!):
Thanks for coming back and thanks for following borg.com on Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr, or subscribing to daily updates, or just dropping by now and then to see what’s new.
Mark Hamill. Jedi, Joker, and Trickster. He’s my favorite genre celebrity, and in his first episode of his new pop culture collectibles series, Pop Culture Quest, Hamill hosts popular DC Comics artist and exec Jim Lee. Pop Culture Quest is a new series on the pay network Comic-Con HQ, but you can watch the entire first episode below.
Pop Culture Quest is a load of fun, and is similar to past pop culture collecting shows reviewed here at borg.com like Travel Channel’s Toy Hunter, and Syfy Channel’s Hollywood Treasure. This new series may top those series simply because of the access to Mark Hamill. Hamill–who we all know as Luke Skywalker, the voice of the animated Batman series’ Joker, and both the classic and current The Flash TV series’ villain The Trickster–hosts the show with a sidekick Muppet fellow named Pop. Hamill has a good sense of humor and proves to be not only every nerd’s idol, but a card-carrying nerd himself. Hamill knows his pop culture, as highlighted by his detailed knowledge of the history of DC Comics as he browses the West Coast DC headquarters. He’s also a solid interviewer, and reminded me of the poise in interviewing guests that William Shatner exhibited on his short-lived interview series Shatner’s Raw Nerve.
Photo of your humble borg.com Editor. What does it mean when you start to look like your idol?
Episode 1 follows Hamill as he tours the DC offices and talks shop with Jim Lee. Lee and Hamill agree to swap Hamill a sketch of The Joker in exchange for a voice message by Hamill that we get to watch performed during the coda for the episode. It’s good stuff all around.
Check out this first episode of Pop Culture Quest:
