What did you think about puppetry as a kid? Does it have the stigma of being a kid's thing for a good reason? Can it be anything else?
I've always kind of both loved and hated Henson's approach to it, and I could never decide if it was just really accomplished children's entertainment or an artform pushed by somebody who had their roots in entertaining children.
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Adored puppetry and the works of Henson. My childhood Muppet obsession was what lead me to Star Wars and kaiju films.
Puppetry getting trapped in the "Just for kids" ghetto is probably because of television just like it is for animation. Lot of television puppetry was mostly kids stuff, but what let Jim Henson catch on was his stuff had a more subversive quality to it and capable of appealing to the whole family. Still, Sesame Street being the king of PBS kids shows that it was, that shadow of kids entertainer loomed over Jim's career his whole life and made things harder for him. His efforts to push the medium past the normie's comfort zones with all those 80s Creature Shop projects didn't really find their audience until after he died. The internet won't shut up about Labyrinth, but I prefer the Dark Crystal and I think one of the comfiest TV shows ever made is Storyteller
Avenue Q is a great adult puppet show.
Avenue Q's whole point was that it took a children's thing and made it raunchy. I'm not sure if it counts.
candle cove had puppets, right?
>Can it be anything else?
Yes. Yes it can.
I find DHMIS to be pretty good
Scared me
why?
Avenue Q actually had some interesting views, and it was literally trying to be a Sesame Street for adults. I think there was more to it than just raunch. I still think Everyone's a Little Bit Racist is pure genius.
loved it, its a shame disney hates money and literally 3 of the 8 total muppet tv show seasons are on dvd, i dont even think they all came out on vhs
Shamefully, I find myself sexually attracted to Fraggles.
creepy movements
It was teaching you about being a young adult in the same way Sesame Street teaches being a kid. Brilliant idea honestly.
no one is here to judge you, user.
holy fuck, what freak!
Man, I was just looking at those Dozers wondering why there's no fat ass or thick rule 63 to be found.
>rule 63
No need for that, Cotterpin's pretty cute.
I thought they were really disturbing. It's hard to explain. I was fine with Sesame Street for some reason, but everything else just felt dirty and twisted and depressing. I'm completely fine with it now, but I remember it being a thing until I was like nine or ten, when I would see some kids show like Between the Lions on PBS while flipping through and being completely creeped out by it.
It felt like everything was made in an Eastern Bloc TV station/sweatshop, if that makes any sense. Oh God, those full-body suits were the worst.
...
I dunno, user... I'd do them.
Dammit. Now the song's stuck in my head.
Honestly, I don't think that's a bad thing.
>dat bass line
You'd like to rock their fraggle, huh? Doozer em in the gorg?
Nah, I'd start by grabbing a few Boobers and moving my way down to their Sidebottoms. Then I'd do the Mokey-Pokey with their Sprockets until they're all Red and Wembley. Then we'd all collapse in a Madame Trash-Heap until it's time for me to Gobo home to Outer Space.
I kinda wish they looked like that in the show...
Moar?
>last few posts
not this Sup Forums, not this pls
Dance your cares away.
YES this.
Please, Sup Forums, I've been waiting so long...
I like Dark Crystal but this was a movie that was supposed to have not one, but two made up languages and be entirely in subtitles. The opening sequence wouldn't even have subtitles.
It's a daring movie, even with the english voice work and the effects are amazing but concept wise it's a tad hard to get into.
I would watch a Muppet adaptation of any work of classic literature.
Yes, even that one.
>He thinks that people on Sup Forums want fuck a fraggle
How fucking new are you? Nothing is above getting the dick on this board.
They lay eggs, so they probably don't fuck anyway.
>There is an opening
And that is all that matters.
I thought Fraggle Rock was a knock off of other Henson stuff when I was little. I think they showed reruns on Nick Jr or something in the early 90s
We need more Muppet lewds in general. I recall when Skeeter (from the comics) was a brief flavor of the month. She was super bangable.
...
Neat.
...
Are these part of a book or something?
Yeah, it's called Imagination Illustrated. It's a nice collection of concept art and photos. I'm going to throw up a few.
1Michael Frith’s design for Tug. 2Boo, Tug, and Molly with some chickens and penguins. 3Michael Frith’s design for a penguin, a staple of Muppet comedy. 4The Little Muppet Monsters in their basement studio. 5The Saturday morning lineup as advertised in TV Guide. 6The Henson licensing department’s newsletter featuring the Monsters.
Cool, I'm loving them. Thanks!
1John Hurt (center) plays the Storyteller in “A Story Short.” 2Brian Henson (with his dad) performed the Storyteller’s dog. 3Set design by Roger Hall for “The Soldier and Death,” one of two episodes Jim directed himself. 4Storyboard panels from the first Storyteller episode, “Hans My Hedgehog.” 5After getting a positive response to “Hans” from NBC, producer Duncan Kenworthy solicited designs from Brian Froud for additional episodes. 6Hans the Hedgehog, played by Ailsa Berk. 7Jim valued the gift of storytelling and added storyteller characters to several of his shows. Michael Frith designed this one for Fraggle Rock.
This might have been the worst project he was ever behind. Look up the pilot if you feel sadistic enough.
1+4Ron Mueck’s character designs. 2Fred Newman in Puppetman. 3Jim with the cast of Puppetman: Lisa Waltz, Richard Hunt, and Fred Newman. 5Jim’s storyboard panels for the Puppetman opening.
1Co-directors Jim and Frank Oz on the set of The Dark Crystal. 2On set in the Crystal Chamber. 3+6Brian Froud’s sketches of Skeksis. 4Brian Froud’s watercolor of the Chamberlain Skeksis’s ceremonial banner from The Dark Crystal. 5Numerous puppeteers, including Louise Gold, Jim, Dave Goelz, and Rollie Krewson, were required to perform the disgrace of the Chamberlain Skeksis. 7Storyboard panel featuring a scene in the Crystal Chamber.
1Costume design for Miss Piggy’s fantasy conceived by Calista Hendrickson and sketched by Michael Frith. 2Publicity still of Miss Piggy and her fellow water ballerinas. 3Memo from choreographer Anita Mann listing requirements for shooting Miss Piggy’s fantasy sequence. 4Caroly Wilcox’s memo outlining ways to shoot the parachute sequence. 5Storyboard panels drawn by Bill Stallion from the parachute credit sequence from the end of the film.
1Tad Krzanowski, Jim, and Franz “Faz” Fazakas in Battersea Park shooting the bicycle scene for The Great Muppet Caper. 2+3Jim’s notes and plot ideas for his second Muppet feature film, 1979. 4Storyboard for the bicycle scene in The Great Muppet Caper. 5Map plan for the bicycle scene in The Great Muppet Caper. 6After discovering marionette skills on The Great Muppet Caper, Brian Henson used them on various shoots including The Muppets Take Manhattan. 7Kermit and Miss Piggy on bicycles in Battersea Park.
1The movie finale. 2Kermit’s musical performances are lauded by an LA film processing company. 3Michael Frith’s design for Gonzo’s plumbing truck decoration for the film. 4Orson Welles gave Jim this drawing after his cameo as movie mogul Lew Lord in the film. 5The fan club newsletter highlighted the royal premiere and Miss Piggy’s pursuit of an Academy Award.
1Wendy Midener building Kira. 2Jim and his daughter Cheryl on the set of The Muppet Show (with Tony Randall). 3The beginning of Jim’s initial Dark Crystal outline. 4+5+6Jim’s notes about the world of The Dark Crystal.
1Jim with an actual giant crystal at an exhibit in Paris that displayed creatures from the film with mineralogical specimens. 2Jim with Frank Oz at The Dark Crystal premiere. 3The marquee of the Loews Astor Plaza Theater in New York on December 13, 1982. 4Invitation to The Dark Crystal New York premiere and party. 5Fascination with the making of the film continued, and Cinefantastique featured Jim on the cover in spring 1983.
1+2Pages from Jim’s idea notebook for Labyrinth. 3Jim’s ambitious plans resulted in complicated scenes like the Escher-inspired one depicted here in the storyboard by Martin Asbury. 4Dennis Lee (left) with Fraggle Rock composer Philip Balsam (and Travelling Matt). 5Jim with his Labyrinth collaborator, George Lucas. 6Detail from cover page from Jim’s shooting script. 7Brian Froud’s concept art of a baby stolen by goblins.
1Jim Henson’s Creature Shop public announcement following Dreamchild. 2Inside cover of Jim’s childhood copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland inscribed in his hand. 3Puppeteers on the Dreamchild set. 4+6Characters created by the Henson Creature Shop under Lyle Conway’s supervision. 5The London Creature Shop in a sketch by Michael Dixon. 7Script pages from Dreamchild.
These are really cool, user, thanks for sharing.
I've got to get to sleep now, but I hope this thread's still here tomorrow, so I can see the rest.
1Jim on set with David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly. 2Invitation to Jim’s Labyrinth pre-production party drawn by Brian Froud. 3Concept sketch for Sarah’s fall through the Shaft of Hands. 4Elliot Scott’s scenic design for the Hedge Maze. 5Elliot Scott’s design for Ludo’s scene with the talking door knockers. 6Puppeteer assignments for the Fireys.
there are hundreds of shows and skits with adult puppetry that are good, you didnt even need to make a thread, just google it.
Heading to bed myself. I'll throw up more early stuff tomorrow if the thread is still around.
1David Bowie as the Goblin King among his subjects. 2+4+5+6+7+8Brian Froud’s goblin designs. 3Brian Froud with goblin puppets.
the thing you have to understand that henson's style contained a great deal of 'grown up' but supremely outdated stylings. things based on old theatre. and not just performances, but attitudes and understandings. A time when cartoons were aired in theatres and nobody gave any fucks what kids saw or did.
>They lay eggs, so they probably don't fuck anyway.
if they're hard shell eggs then they at least rub cloacas
"No, You Shut Up" is pretty damn good for a satirical news talk show, and the concept was quite interesting too.
Fraggle Rock had some of the best songs in a kids show.
That was one of the important things about Jim Henson. He didnt insult the intelligence of children.
Crank Yankers and Team America are the only works featuring puppets I can think of that was aimed exclusively at adults that weren't on some level a parody of children's works.
i just want to note you mean hand puppets and marionettes. Puppetmaster (and a number of fullmoon productions) uses rod puppets, and even technically something like Krampus uses puppets of various forms, just not with a persons arm in it all the time, and benefited from robotics, just like labyrinth/dark crystal and farscape did. the teddy bear was actually a rod puppet similar to most of the muppets
Any chance of more lewd Muppets today?
1 Jim as a high school senior. 2 An unpublished cartoon by Jim. 3 Ad for Jim’s college poster business. 4 Jim’s cover art for The Midget Mag. 5+6+7 Jim’s program designs for the University of Maryland theater department.
1Jim’s photo behind the scenes at WRC’s Circle 4 Ranch. 2Pierre, one of Jim’s first puppets from 1954. 3Jim’s sketches behind the scenes at WRC. 4Promotional postcard with Sam and his friend Kermit. 5Jim and Jane with Sam, Mushmellon, and Kermit. 6Sam appearing on WRC’s Footlight Theater.
1Early TV Guide ad featuring Sam and Friends. 2Sam. 3Jim and Jane with Sam and Friends. 4Sam and Friends title card drawn by Jim. 5Jim’s sketch of Sam and Kermit.
1Jim’s sketch of the Wilkins Coffee facility on Rhode Island Avenue in Washington, DC. 2Storyboard for Wilkins commercial “Foot Down.” 3Advertising card featuring Wilkins and Wontkins. 4Jim’s design sketches for Wilkins Coffee. 5Jim’s concept sketch of Wilkins and Wontkins. 6Wilkins and Wontkins puppets.
1The Northern Virginia Sun’s story on Jim, Jane, and the creation of a Muppet. 2Jim and Jane on their wedding day. 3Jim and Jane with baby Lisa. 4Jim’s design for Chicken Liver, otherwise known as Theodore. 5Jim’s concept for his promotional brochure.
1 Cut-paper animation element for a musical short Jim called Look Jazz, See Jazz. 2 Jim working at his animation stand. 3 Jim’s unrealized character concepts from 1960. 4 Jim’s notebook used to chart the animation to the soundtrack of Time Piece. 5 Jim, Jane, and Lisa Henson in front of their Bethesda home. 6 Jim’s sketch of his Maryland home where he had his workshop. 7+8 Elements from Jim’s animated short about an ambitious grape.
1Jim’s sketch of Jerry in Berlin. 2 Jerry, Jim, and Jane with the Sam and Friends gang. 3 Jim’s snapshot of Jerry in Berlin. 4 Jim and Jerry with the mechanical puppet they performed in Germany.
1Shrinkel, Stretchel, and Taminella Grinderfall from a Pak-Nit industrial sales film. 2Jim’s Hansel and Gretel puppets, late 1950s. 3Storyboard panel for Rumple Wrinkle Shrinkel Stretchl Stiltzkin industrial sales film for Pak-Nit. 4Jim’s sketchbook concepts for Tinkerdee characters. 5Storyboard panel of Tinkerdee Kermit. 6Jim’s set design for Hansel and Gretel. 7Jerry Juhl’s script for The Land of Tinkerdee, 1964.
1Jim and Jane Henson on the set of the Purina commercial. 2Jim’s New York view, around the corner from his future apartment. 3Jim’s sketches of Rowlf. 4Rowlf with his builder, Don Sahlin. 5Onky, another gloved-hand puppet made in 1962.
1Early press highlighting Rowlf’s popularity, 1963. 2Frank Oz, Rowlf, and Jim, mid-1960s. 3Rowlf with Jimmy Dean, about 1964. 4Jimmy Dean Show script for Rowlf by Frank Peppiatt and John Aylesworth. 5Rowlf and Jimmy Dean, 1964. 6The Hensons’ house in Greenwich, Connecticut.
1Attention-grabbing ads for Time Piece that ran in Variety during the Oscar race. 2Promotional brochure featuring a winged Jim. 3Jim's planning notes. 4Jim after diving into a pool for a scene from Time Piece. 5Time Piece storyboard panel. 6Jerry Juhl and Frank Oz on location in New York.
1Jim’s storyboard for a Wilson’s Meats commercial with the requisite bad pun. 2Don Sahlin and Jerry Juhl help the La Choy Dragon breathe fire. 3Jim’s design for the La Choy dragon. 4Jim’s design for the Southern Colonel. 5The Southern Colonel braves the train tracks for Southern Bread. 6Photo storyboard for Aurora bath tissue showing the gloved hand.
1+2+3Jim’s character designs for “Sclrap Flyap.” 4Jim’s lyric sheet for “Money” with notes regarding props. 5Jim’s 45 rpm record of “Money.” 6Jim and his tongue-in-cheek sculpture, Shrine to the Almighty Dollar. 7Jerry Juhl, Don Sahlin, and Jane Henson perform “Sclrap Flyap” on The Today Show in 1963. 8The “Sclrap Flyap” puppets.
1Jim’s design of two monsters, the Flute Snatcher and the Wheel Stealer, for General Foods. 2The Wheel Stealer, the Flute Snatcher, and the Crown Grabber created for General Foods. 3+4The monster that ate the machine in Jim’s 1968 IBM meeting film. 5Jim’s 1963 idea for a big-eyed monster. 6Jim’s sketch of a fuzzy monster in an alien landscape from 1963. 7Storyboard panel featuring Arnold the Munching Monster for a Munchos commercial for Frito-Lay.
1Panels from Jim’s storyboard for an IBM film. 2The first Rowlf IBM script written by Jerry Juhl. 3Jim on set for IBM with a guitar he decorated for Rowlf. 4The astrological chart drawn by Jim and used by Rowlf in his role as Lorenzo Shazam in 1970. 5David Lazer with Rowlf, Jim, and Jerry Juhl.
1Jim’s Falling Down House character designed for an FHA public service announcement. 2Jim and Don Sahlin on set with executives from the FHA. 3Jim’s FHA public service announcement storyboard. 4Jim’s FHA idea for a character that anticipates a certain grouch on Sesame Street. 5Nutty Bird designed by Jim for the Royal Crown Cola campaign.
1Ed Sullivan with Jim and Kermit. 2Jim’s drawing of the dryer-hose puppets performing to Al Hirt’s rendition of “Java.” 3A selection of characters from Jim’s variety show repertory company. 4Jim’s design for the Rock ’n’ Roll Monster. 5Jim’s idea for a father and son monster bit. 6Another Ed Sullivan Show bit, The String Quartet.
1Stop-motion knights created by Jim and Don Sahlin for a Sesame Street counting film in 1970. 2As a teenager, Jim drew this cartoon featuring his idea of a heroic knight. 3Jim’s design for Sir Linit. 4Sir Linit with his namesake product. 5Sir Linit in action.
1An annotated photo of a test ceiling for Cyclia. 2Jim’s idea was to project images on both the faceted ceiling and on dancers dressed in white bodysuits. 3Jim’s design for the faceted ceiling. 4Jim’s design for the Cyclia dome exterior. 5Furniture designs for Cyclia.
1Promotional photo for Youth ’68. 2Jim’s list of Los Angeles interviews with musicians for Youth ’68. 3Young people interviewed for Youth ’68. 4Interview transcripts cut up and pasted together to create Jim’s editing script for Youth ’68. 5Dance sequence from Youth ’68.
1Jim’s bird ideas for a live stage show. 2The marionette version of Kenner-Bird in the Easy-Bake Oven commercial. 3Jim’s bird designs. 4Jim’s annotated storyboard for the Easy-Bake Oven. 5Jim’s puppets based on The Wizard of Id by Johnny Hart and Brant Parker.
1Joan Ganz Cooney and her Sesame Street friends in the 1970s. 2Jim’s designs for Ernie and Bert were developed in tandem as the characters were meant to play off of one another from the beginning. 3Jim and Jon Stone’s mutual admiration was key to their successful collaboration. 4Jim sketched numerous birds for Sesame Street before settling on the design for Big Bird. 5John, Brian, Lisa, and Cheryl Henson around 1969. The following year, Heather would join the family. 6Bert and Ernie finger puppets, produced in 1971. 7Jim’s original sketch for Oscar the Grouch showed him in magenta fur. 8Jim’s variations on the Anything Muppets, blank puppets that could be transformed into any type of character.
1+3+4Jim’s designs for the 1965 unaired pilot version of Cinderella. 2Jim’s design for his first fairy tale king, King Goshposh, 1962. 5Jim and R.J. Reynolds executives consult with Splurge on their promotional plan for Hey Cinderella!, 1970. 6Jim’s design for his first big monster Splurge, 1965. 7R.J. Reynolds booklet promoting their products and Hey Cinderella!, 1970. 8Promotional ticket reminding viewers about Hey Cinderella!
1Puppeteer Jerry Nelson, who played the monk, with Jerry Juhl, who served as an extra. 2Jim directing on the set of The Cube. 3Jim’s design for the logo for The Cube. 4A newspaper advertisement promoting the program. 5Production shots of Richard Schaal in The Cube. 6NBC’s press release describing the program.
1Jim’s storyboard panels from his Select-A-Vision slide film, 1969.
1Jim’s storyboard panel for the Number 8 Baker film. 2Alex Stevens, with a fake moustache, as the clumsy Baker. 3Brian Henson in the Number 3 film. 4+5Jim’s storyboard panels from the opening sequence for the Baker counting films. 6+7+8+9Jim’s storyboard panels for the Number 3 Baker film.
1Kermit Love’s drawing used to determine the construction of Big Bird. 2Jim’s design for Big Bird showing a simplified look at how he is performed. 3An accomplished cartoonist, Caroll Spinney sent his friends this visual account of his life in New York with his holiday greetings. 4Kermit Love and Big Bird, and 5Caroll Spinney in Public Television’s IMAGE magazine. 6Big Bird on the cover of Time magazine at the start of season two.
1+2Jim’s ideas for puppets based on the Beatles. 3The Glutton, another Sullivan Show character. 4Jim’s list of ideas for Ed Sullivan Show appearances. 5Jim on East 67th Street around 1970. 6Jim’s design for the Flat Top character to use in his “Come Together” appearance on Ed Sullivan. 7Muppets sing “Come Together” on The Ed Sullivan Show.
1Jim’s notes and sketches for the Number 4 film made using the Scanimate system. 2Jim’s storyboard for his Number 5 film which he made by shooting still images of a painting as it progressed. 3The script for the Number 10 Scanimate film with Jim’s annotations. 4Jim’s storyboard for the Number 4 film. 5+6+7The Henson’s Greenwich house (top) was the model for the dollhouse Jim built for his daughter Cheryl. 8Two girls, two dolls, Cheryl’s dollhouse, and the cat as they appeared in Jim’s Number 2 film.
1Jim directing Thig on the set of The Great Santa Claus Switch. 2Jim’s illustration for his show proposal, mid-1960s. 3List of potential villain names from 1963. 4An array of Frackles as imagined by Jim. 5Jim with his son John, Ernie, and Lothar from The Great Santa Clause Switch. 6Jim’s Frackle sketches.
1Kermit and other frogs with Princess Melora (played by Trudy Young) and the human Sir Robin the Brave (played by Gordon Thomson). 2Jim’s press kit artwork for The Frog Prince. 3Jim’s sketches of his ogre-like monster, Sweetums. 4Promotional stickers for The Frog Prince. 5Jim, Sweetums, and Robin pose on The Frog Prince set. 6The Henson family in 1971: (left to right) Jane, Heather, Jim’s dad Paul, Lisa, Cheryl, Jim, Brian, John. 7Jim’s rough designs for Taminella Grinderfall, his fairy-tale witch.
1+3Nancy Sinatra and the oversized Thog sing Richard and Robert Sherman’s “Fortuosity” from The Happiest Millionaire. 2Jim testing out Big Bossman on the roof of his 67th Street office. 4+5After performing his giant feather creatures called Bossmen to Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move” with Nancy Sinatra, Jim sketched these ideas to translate them to a Broadway show. 6Jim designed an oversized version of his Mahna Mahna character for the live stage, performing him with Nancy Sinatra instead of the Snowths.
1Jim on set with Kermit, Caleb Siles, Farmer Lardpork, Mean Floyd, and Mordecai Sledge. 2Bonnie Erickson’s design for Caleb’s face, to be worn over an actor’s face. 3The barnyard animals created for The Muppet Musicians of Bremen. 4Jim’s directing script indicates whether a character would be performed as a hand puppet or a marionette. 5When designer Michael Frith started working with Jim in the early 1970s, his characters, like this sketch of Rover Joe, had a slightly more realistic feel to them. 6The chicken chorus in Bremen.
1Jim’s robot designs for a trade show and corporate meetings, early 1960s. 2+3Jim’s initial designs for SAM the Robot for Sesame Street. 4SAM the Robot. 5+7Jim worked with Jerry Juhl in creating his first robot puppet. 6Jim’s machine puppet created for IBM in the late 1960s.
1+4+6Jim’s artwork created to pitch his Broadway show idea. 2Performer Dave Goelz was originally hired by Jim as a puppet designer and builder. These designs for the Broadway show project were some of his earliest efforts. 3+5Jim’s rough ideas for his live Broadway style review.
1Jim and Bonnie Erickson with puppets she created. 2+3Bonnie Erickson’s ideas for caricature puppets based on Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and Jerry Nelson. 4Press coverage of the Muppets’ 1973 appearance on The Dick Cavett Show. 5Puppet builder Caroly Wilcox’s ideas for the changing faces of the Southern Colonel performed on an earlier Cavett Show appearance. 6Jim’s script for “Mama Don’t ’Low.”
1+6+7Jim’s fantasy car doodles, late 1960s. 2Jim and Sam in his Thunderbird near his home in University Park, Maryland, 1956. 3Jim, ready to graduate from the University of Maryland in 1960, stands by his Rolls Royce. 4Kermit takes the wheel of Jim’s 1978 Lotus. 5Jim poses in his Porsche Speedster around 1961.