muppets – PopCult Reviews

Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas (1977)
Written by Jerry Juhl and Paul Williams
Directed by Jim Henson

There is nothing else quite like the Muppets. Growing up in the 1980s & 90s, the Muppets were a constant presence in the media. Sesame Street lives on, and everyone knows who Kermit, Miss Piggy, and the rest are, but the Muppets and Jim Henson were more than that. You had films like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. There were shows as different as The Muppet Show, Muppet Babies, Fraggle Rock, and other less successful attempts. The throughline in all these things was the belief of Henson and his cohorts that incredible storytelling could still be done through the ancient art form of puppetry. Good puppetry completely blows the best digital effects out of the water. How a highly skilled puppeteer can manifest a multi-dimensional character is always more impressive.

The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
Written by Tom Patchett, Jay Tarses, Jerry Juhl, and Jack Rose
Directed by Jim Henson

By 1981, the Muppets were a scorchingly hot media franchise. Puppeteer Jim Henson had been growing a collective of fellow puppet enthusiasts since the 1950s. In the late 1960s, he was a major creative force in developing Sesame Street. Throughout the 1970s, Henson pitched the Muppets with a series of television specials. American networks weren’t interested in developing the concept into a television series; however, a British producer was. The Muppet Show debuted in 1978 on ITV and was later aired in first-run syndication on CBS. This led to the Muppet Movie in 1979, and it was clear a sequel would be in the works. Jim Henson had great ambition not just for these characters but the art form of puppetry.

Category: muppets

TV Review – Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas

Movie Review – The Great Muppet Caper