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What would Jim Henson think? The company that bears his name is making a Muppet movie for adults. I guess we all have to grow up sometime, but it raises several questions: Does this mean we'll finally get to see what the Great Gonzo does with those chickens? Will Fozzie Bear show us his "wakka-wakka," and will it be funnier than his jokes? Will we discover Bert and Ernie's Rainbow Connection, and will Kermit be depicted putting his pointy lips on some pork loin? Unfortunately, the answer is no. This is not Sesame Street After Dark; instead The Jim Henson company is making a film noir featuring puppets. Somewhere Raymond Chandler is going "What da EFF?!!!"
Happytime Murders will bear the Henson Alternative logo, which I imagine will depict Statler and Waldorf pointing huge Viagra-infused boners at us. The film will feature humans and puppets in a tale of femme fatales and fatal encounters. According to Variety, the plot "centers on a puppet detective forced to solve a string of murders around the Happytime Gang, the cast of a popular children's show." Variety also stresses that the film contains "content created specifically and exclusively for adult audiences." Sounds intriguing, but familiar: Several years ago, prior to getting freaky with Samwise and Frodo (J.R.R. Tolkien's Bert and Ernie), Peter Jackson created the ne plus ultra of disgusting (and hilarious) adult puppet movies. Meet the Feebles was about a kiddie show whose puppet stars dabbled in drugs, murder, STD's and sex in the one orifice no one in their right mind would consider. If Happytime Murders is even remotely as disturbing as that film, Kermy may never be able to show his face in public again.
Coincidentally, this isn't the Jim Henson Company's first foray into adult-oriented films. If you thought Ralph Fiennes looked like a Muppet crossed with a bucket of KFC in The English Patient, it's because Jim Henson's company did his burn makeup. Happy times, indeed.
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Weren't the puppets in the Angel episode the Happytime Gang? Will they be the some puppets?
Just what I was thinking,Sarah: this new movie sounds almost identical to the "Smile Time" episode of Angel, just minus the vampires.
Don't forget Farscape. The Jim Henson Company has long been involved with producing intelligent adult entertainment of which Farscape was a shining example.
If this is as entertaining as Smile Time, I say bring it on! :)
It's weird, I've always considered Kermit and the other Muppets as aimed for adults anyway. Not so with Bert and Ernie or the Sesame Street group. Maybe what their pitching is more of a puppet version of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"????
Sounds more like "Who Censored Roger Rabbit" to me. Almost sounds like the same plot, too.
Actually Henson himself did a muppet sketch for the first Satuday Night Live. The sketch was definately not for kids.
Avenue Q, though not related to the Jim Henson Company, seems to have also already covered the "puppets for adults" ground as well.
I read that Jason Segel was working with Henson Company to do a new Muppet Movie. Is this it? It does sorta sound like the same format as the Dracula play at the end of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."
Well, Henson doesn't own the Muppets anymore. Disney owns the Muppets and The Children's Television Workshop owns Sesame Street so the Henson Company can't technically do anything with them.
No, the script was written by Todd Berger with Brian Henson set to direct.
The title and picture with this post is pretty misleading. If you read the Variety article, its clear that no actual Muppets (like Kermit) will be in this. The puppet creations will be by the Henson Company. It is not a Muppet movie (as Pinky mentioned, Disney owns the Muppets now).
Thanks for the info. Just found another post about this, if anyone is interested: http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/10/15/jim-henson-launches-happytime-murders-puppet-noir/.
sex in the one orifice no one in their right mind would consider
The ear?
I went to a Henson retrospective exhibit when it came through town, and a lot of his early work was very adult oriented - violent, suggestive, etc. He never pigeonholed puppets as kid stuff. Look at the early SNL work or some of his early commercials. Heck, even look at the Dark Crystal.
Seems like [i]Who Framed Roger Rabbit[/i] meets [i]Greg the Bunny[/i] to me, maybe with a more mature twist. Sounds great! :)
It also reminds me of a Canadian show, [i]Puppets Who Kill[/i]. Haven't seen it ('cause I have one of the few cable systems in Canada that doesn't carry that channel), but I hear it's pretty funny, if you're into that sort of thing.
I remember Henson's old SNL stuff. Some of it was pretty twisted.
I also was going to mention Jim Henson's Fantastic World to show that this film would delight Jim to no end.
Shades of "Meet the Feebles" and "Greg the Bunny"
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