It's Time To Meet the Muppets!

Tom's Whatnot (l.) and mine (r.), with their
singamajigs, sitting on top of some of my
Disney books. We embrace our geekdom!

I love the Muppets. (I even have one of my own from the Whatnot Workshop! See picture.) Smart, weird grown-ups who were smart, weird kids wear their love of the Muppets as a badge of honor. It kind of amazes me that a show that was so subversive was able to find a wide audience on primetime TV. I think that it goes to show that audiences are usually more intelligent than they are given credit for being. If you make them laugh and let them think, they will follow you to the most outrageous places. And The Muppet Show was pretty far out there. 


Growing up, I was a bit young to catch The Muppet Show. I began to appreciate it more when I became an adult. My knowledge of the Muppet characters was shaped by two things, for the most part. The first was Muppet Babies, which I would give my eyeteeth for a DVD release of. Unfortunately, there seem to be rights issues related to film clips used in the series and no release is planned as of now.

The Muppet Babies had such a grand sense of adventure. They had wild imaginations that took them anywhere and were a group of wacky misfits who created a family unit. They seemed so independent, with Nanny's green striped stockings only stepping in occasionally to check up on them. I remember loving the show, having the Happy Meal toys, and shaking my tush to the awesome 50's rock style theme song. Remember it? If not, it will take you all of three seconds for it all to come rushing back to you. Please to enjoy.

The other way I knew of the Muppets was through the three Muppet movies that were a staple of childhood in the 80's- The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan.  The Great Muppet Caper was always my favorite. Looking back now, it makes perfect sense. With a big Busby Berkeley homage, a musical number on bicycles, mystery, intrigue, Miss Piggy's triumphant motorcycle entrance, over-the-top costumes and Diana Rigg, there was plenty to keep my tiny brain transfixed.

I'd like to see the Statue of Liberty rock
a one piece as well as Miss Piggy does.

Of course, I also loved Muppet*Vision 3-D in what used to be Disney-MGM Studios. It's still there, though the park is now Disney's Hollywood Studios. The entire area is tons of fun and full of Muppet mischief. I am a huge fan of the fabulous fountain and all of the fantastic touches and details that Disney Parks are famous for adding. The movie itself still holds up very well. I remember back in the day when seeing a 3D movie was a big to-do. Theme parks were pretty much the only places where it was possible. Now, you can go to almost any movie theater, cough up and extra five bucks and you can see a whole array of second rate movies in three dimensions. The headaches, dark screens and feeling you have been had are free of charge, thankfully. What is great about the Muppet 3D movie at the Parks is that it is an experience. It is immersive. The theater is integral, the pre-show is clever, it involves costumed characters and animatronics that break the fourth wall... er... screen. And it's flat out funny. It uses the 3D effects in clever ways and maintains the quirky sense of humor that is so quintessentially Jim Henson's.

I don't know if you have heard, but there is a new movie featuring the Muppets on the way this Thanksgiving called The Muppets. Direct. To the point. No bells and whistles. Me likey. No doubts about what you're gonna see when you buy a ticket. You'll see the Muppets. And that is awesomesauce. The team behind Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which I have not seen, is behind this, so I am going on blind faith that they put the film in good hands.

When they started putting out trailers, it became obvious that the people in the marketing department were being very smart, creating a campaign that pokes fun at other films brilliantly with tongue planted firmly in cheek. When I saw the first trailer, I thought, "Ooh, awesome. Amy Adams is in another movie! What is this?" I thought it was some typical romantic comedy and then... BOOM! Muppets! My brain melted with excitement!

I am obsessed with Amy Adams. Soon I will talk about Enchanted and how I feel gypped by the fact that Giselle isn't a full-blown princess.

They followed this trailer with two more in a similar vein. This one is a parody of The Hangover 2.

And this one is a parody of The Green Lantern. 

The parodies were funny. I thought it was a really great way to put the movie and the characters on the radar in a big way. But they have finally released a trailer that is actually a preview of the movie in earnest. And it looks radtastic. 

They had me at "fart shoes". I must say that the way they are rolling out the movie has been very well-played. They have built buzz and gotten people very excited about Muppet domination. I, for one, can't wait! 

I leave you with one more video of my favorite Muppet. Make sure you watch it with captions turned on.

So who is your favorite Muppet? And how stoked are you about The Muppets this Thanksgiving?!? If the answer is "Not very," then please don't tell me. I respect you too much not to respect you anymore.

Taken Over By the Force

Full disclosure- I am not much of a Star Wars fan. In fact, I have never seen any of the movies to this day. I will now duck to avoid any light sabers thrown at my head. Sorry 'bout it. It's especially odd since I am a child of the Eighties. But I was too busy watching Jem

and playing with Spiderman and He-Man, though mostly with Teela to tell the truth. Because she was the girl.

That is, of course, when I wasn't forcing my poor sister to play with Barbies or My Little Pony and trying to convince her that it was her idea in the first place. Star Wars wasn't really on my radar.

My first time really stepping into the Star Wars universe was actually on Star Tours in the Nineties at what was then Disney-MGM Studios. I'm pretty sure it was on a trip there with my middle school drama club, the Junior Company. We decked ourselves out in purple ringer t-shirts with our names emblazoned on the back, packed ourselves into a couple of large vans and made the four hour trek to Orlando from Tallahassee.

We were a gaggle of over-the-top teenage misfits, spending the trip down talking deeply about the deep things that middle school misfits who have found their kindred talk about. That and looking for the Cafe Risque billboards featuring a woman, probably named Desyre, with hair that belonged squarely in 1986 and cherry red lips declaring "We Bare All!" For a not yet out of the closet gayby, those billboards were both fascinating and terrifying in equal measure. Gay males have an odd pull towards with overly done up, overly sexualized women, from Mae West to The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas to Lady Gaga. Don't ask me why. Facts is facts. Pigs is pigs.

But the most exciting part for me would always be when Desyre would finally fade into the distance and the billboards for the latest Disney concoctions would begin to pop up. They were always clever and did such a good job representing the amazing experience that you were sure to have on the attraction.

I would be hard pressed to fully explain the wonderfully exhilarating knot that forms in your stomach as a kid driving to Disney and seeing those billboards if you didn't experience it for yourself. It was a pure rush of anticipatory joy to have those high flying ads whet your appetite for what's to come. Honestly, for me, seeing those billboards is still one of the best highs in the world. Those moments full of the promise of things to come are some of the most magical.

Undoubtedly, the new hot ride was Star Tours. And I'm sure that we waited in the pre-Fast Pass era line and gossiped the time away. And when we finally hopped into our StarSpeeder 3000, I was blown away. This was before you could go to the mall and ride a motion simulator. This was the kind of thing you could only do at Disney. I believe there was also the now defunct Body Wars, where you were shrunk down to the size of an atom and shot into someone's body, at the time. Which I assume is akin to a high tech version of what it must have been like on Adventure Through Inner Space at Disneyland.

Even with no emotional ties whatsoever to the characters or knowledge of the backstory, the ride did exactly what Disney attractions excel at. It took me to another world where I could suspend my imagination and do something I could never do in the real world. It did not birth any more interest in Star Wars in me, but I'm sure that for superfans the feeling they get is exponentially more intense. Riding it for them must be what it was like for me to ride the Alice in Wonderland ride at Disneyland for the first time last year. It was like they had created an attraction- a whole world- just for me. I almost piddled myself. That's part of the genius of Imagineering. They can create a land engineered to accommodate thousands of people that feels like they had no one else but you on their minds.

I say all this to say, they have released a new video that shows a day in Disney with Darth Vader. It made me laugh out loud. Whoever is producing these promo videos is really hitting 'em out of the park lately.

I love when he pulls the light saber on the ghost in the Haunted Mansion especially, but kudos to them for making comic gold out of the juxtaposition of the character (who I know is a bad guy and- spoiler alert!- Luke's father) engaging in typical Disney activities. Genius.