Jane Henson, R.I.P.
Jane Henson, die Witwe von Jim, ist gestern im Alter von 78 Jahren verstorben. Die Dame hat mit ihrem Mann die erste Henson-TV-Show und dort die erste Version von Kermit entwickelt und sie war seine erste Co-Puppenspielerin. Die beiden spielen jetzt irgendwo anders mit Gonzo und Big Bird. R.I.P. Hier die Tribute-Seite der Henson Company.
Ich hatte für heute eigentlich ein Posting mit einem Todes-Referenzen-Supercut in Jim Hensons Fraggles vorgesehen, das verschiebe ich um ein paar Tage, wäre angesichts der Meldung hier äußerst unpassend und pietätlos. Schlaf gut, Jane.
Happy 30th, Fraggles!
Huch, hätte ich fast vergessen: Heute genau vor 30 Jahren strahlte CBS die erste Folge von Jim Hensons „Fraggle Rock“ aus, seiner Nachfolge-Show nach den Muppets. Von Muppetwiki:
Fraggles are a noble race – fearless, dignified, and intellectual. They represent the very pinnacle of civilization and culture. A Fraggle is most assuredly the best of all possible creatures. Music is the greatest of the Fraggles’ art forms, but Fraggles also possess uncanny curiosity and great athletic ability. Fraggles naturally have physical prowess and a dance-like grace.“
- Uncle Traveling Matt, “Beginnings”
Oben Eclectic Methods Remix des Themes und YT-User Elvenarcher11 hat einen großen Teil der Folgen online gestellt und in vier Staffel-Playlists sortiert. Außerdem hab’ ich noch die 1987er Doku „Down At Fraggle Rock – Behind The Scenes“ gefunden, nach dem Klick Loch-Im-Knie-Overdose… LET THE MUSIC PLAY: Gib mir den Rest, Baby…
The Muppet Institute of Technology that never was, featuring Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams und Jim Henson haben für eine Weile, nachdem sie über die Games zu Labyrinth und Dark Crystal in Kontakt kamen, an einem Muppet-Special über Technologie und Computer gearbeitet: Das Muppet Institute of Technology. Ich würde mir zwei Arme abhacken lassen, um das Teil hier zu sehen.
Jim’s goal was to raise awareness about the potential for personal computer use and dispel fears about their complexity. In a one-hour television special, the familiar Muppets would (according to the pitch material), “spark the public’s interest in computing,” in an entertaining fashion, highlighting all sorts of hardware and software being used in special effects, digital animation, and robotics. Viewers would get a tour of the fictional institute – a series of computer-generated rooms manipulated by the dean, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, and stumble on various characters taking advantage of computers’ capabilities. Fozzie, for example, would be hard at work in the “Department of Artificial Stupidity,” proving that computers are only as funny as the bears that program them. Hinting at what would come in The Jim Henson Hour, viewers, “…might even see Jim Henson himself using an input device called a ‘Waldo’ to manipulate a digitally-controlled puppet.”
While the show was never produced, the development process gave Jim and Douglas Adams a chance to get to know each other and explore a shared passion. It seems fitting that when production started on the 2005 film of Adams’s classic Hitchhiker’s Guide, Jim Henson’s Creature Shop would create animatronic creatures like the slovenly Vogons, the Babel Fish, and Marvin the robot, perhaps a relative of the robot designed by Michael Frith for the MIT project.
9/13/1983 – ‘Dinner with Douglas Adams – 1st met.’ (via io9)
1963 Robot-Short by Jim Henson
Jim Hensons 1963 Robot-Kurzfilm für ein Business-Seminar aus dem AT&T-Archive.
Jim Henson made this film in 1963 for The Bell System. Specifically, it was made for an elite seminar given for business owners, on the then-brand-new topic — Data Communications. […]
The organizers of the seminar, Inpro, actually set the tone for the film in a three-page memo from one of Inpro’s principals, Ted Mills to Henson. Mills outlined the nascent, but growing relationship between man and machine: a relationship not without tension and resentment: “He [the robot] is sure that All Men Basically Want to Play Golf, and not run businesses — if he can do it better.” (Mills also later designed the ride for the Bell System at the 1964 World’s Fair.) Henson’s execution is not only true to Mills’ vision, but he also puts his own unique, irreverent spin on the material.
Jim Hensons Google Doodle
Freilich hat Google Jim Henson an seinem 75sten Geburtstag ein Doodle gedingst. Man muss ein bisschen damit rumspielen.
Ernie, Scarlettjohanssonning
Ernie takes a crack at “Scarlett Johanssonning” oder wie’s ein Kommentator auf Reddit ausdrückt: „Scarlett JimHensonning“ (Vorher: Scarlettjohanssoning)
Doku: The World of Jim Henson
(Youtube Direkthenson, via Clockworker)
Schicke Doku über Jim Henson aus dem Jahr 1994.
An excellent biography of the Muppet master, this 85-minute film from the PBS show Great Performances mixes the history of Henson’s projects with plenty of sketches that any fan age 6 and older should enjoy. The film shows the incredible range of Henson’s creations, starting in 1955 with “Sam and Friends” then moving on to Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, and beyond. It illustrates the breadth of his genius, from creating entirely new worlds in film (The Dark Crystal) to pithy ’60s TV commercials that achieved branding and a laugh in less than six seconds. There’s footage that most fans haven’t seen in years, or at all: a regular bit from The Jimmy Dean Show; tantalizing bits of his 1965 Oscar-nominated short, Time Piece; appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show; his explanation of Wall Street on Nightline; and Miss Piggy’s hilarious deconstruction of Morley Safer on 60 Minutes.
Orson Welles’ supercreepy Interview with Jim Henson
Das supercreepige Ende der nie ausgestrahlten Orson Welles Show mit Jim Henson und Frank Oz. Von Wikipedia:
The Orson Welles Show was an unsold television talk show pilot. It has never been broadcast or released. Filming began in September 1978 and the project was completed around February 1979. […] Welles interviewed Burt Reynolds (taking several questions from the audience,) Jim Henson and Frank Oz, and performed two magic tricks assisted by Angie Dickinson. Several of The Muppets were featured in taped segments, including Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo the Great and Animal.
Muppets at Disney World
(Youtube Direktmuppets, via MeFi)
1990 besuchten die Muppets Disney World, das letzte Projekt von Jim Henson: „As this was the last Muppets project worked on before Jim Henson’s death, it was the last time Henson performed the voices for many of his best-known characters, including Rowlf, the Swedish Chef, and Kermit. Henson died just days after the broadcast premiere.“ Oben das Intro davon, die restlichen Teile nach dem Klick.
Letzte Woche ging übrigens ein Video mit Jim Henson rum, der 15 Minuten lang zeigte, wie man Muppets bastelt. Da ich letzte Woche aber irgendwie keine Lust auf Muppets hatte (soll vorkommen, ist aber sehr selten), bringe ich das jetzt erst hier am Rande weil’s ja super reinpasst: Jim Henson and Muppeteers show kids how to make puppets from simple things like socks. This video aired on Public Television in 1969, prior to Sesame Street, on Iowa Public Television’s “Volume See” kids’ show.
The vintage IBM-Muppet Show
(Youtube Direktmuppets, via /.)
Jemand hat kürzlich vier alte Clips bei Youtube hochgeladen, die frühe Versionen der Muppets bei IBM-Trainingsfilmen zeigen. Guckt euch nur mal das Cookie-Monster oben an… es hat Zähne! Uaaaah!
Mehr Infos und weitere Clips bei Technologizer:
IBM. The Muppets. Two venerable institutions-but not ones we tend to associate with each other. Yet in the late 1960s, before most people had ever seen a computer in person or could identify a Muppet on sight, the two teamed up when IBM contracted with Jim Henson for a series of short films designed to help its sales staff. Little known today, these remain fresh, funny, and surprisingly irreverent. Henson would return to their gags and situations in his famous later works–and he plucked the Cookie Monster from one of them when assembling the Muppet cast for Sesame Street in 1969.
Remembering Jim Henson
(Youtube Direktjim, via Neatorama)
Vor zwei Tagen und zwanzig Jahren starb mit Jim Henson einer der kreativsten Menschen unserer Zeit. Im Video oben erzählt Frank Oz (Yoda, Dark Crystal) die Story, als Jimi Henson ihn nackt in einer Pose fotografierte und daraus ein Muppet-Psycho-Weihnachtsgeschenk bastelte. Und das Ende des Videos wird Euch das Herz brechen.
Geekdad hat noch ein paar weitere Videos in einem langen Artikel über Jim Henson: Twenty Years Later, Remembering Jim Henson.
The Jim Henson Character Breakdown
Madatoms hat eine sehr schöne Übersicht über ganz speziellen Charaktere aus dem Jim Henson-Universum. Bei creepy Gonzo und seinem Interspecies-Ding mit Hühnern lag ich unter’m Tisch.
Violent Jim Henson Coffee-Commercials from the 50s
Das da oben ist eine Sammlung von ziemlich gewalttätigen 1957er Kaffeewerbespots vom Muppets-Erfinder Jim Henson, darin erschiesst, zerbombt und erschlägt ein Muppet namens Wilkins einen anderen namens Wontkins. Superpunch hat mehr Links zu alten Henson-Commercials, Snip:
The ads starred the cheerful Wilkins, who liked Wilkins Coffee, and the grumpy Wontkins, who hated it. Wilkins would often do serious harm to Wontkins in the ads — blowing him up, stabbing him with a knife, and smashing him with a club, among many other violent acts.
Wilkins and Wontkins were generally the only characters in the commercials, though on rare occasions, such critters as a Muppet whale or baby birds would appear. Company owner Mr. Wilkins was also invoked more than once.
The characters proved so popular that in October 1958, the company offered vinyl puppets of Wilkins and Wontkins through the mail for $1.00 and a coffee can label. The offer on the can said, “Hey Kids! I’m Wilkins — he’s Wontkins — you see us on TV!” Obviously, Wilkins Coffee and Henson knew that the Muppet characters had kid appeal, although this doesn’t seem to have had any effect on the use of violence and terror in the ads.
Big Bird singt auf Jim Hensons Begräbnis
(Youtube Direkthenson, via BoingBoing)
18 Jahre ist es nun her, dass Jim Henson starb. Auf seinem Begräbnis sang sein Big Bird, ein großer gelber Vogel, Kermits Song „It’s not easy being green“ und mir steht hier hochoffiziell das Wasser in den Augen. Es wird mal wieder Zeit für eine Jim Henson-Dark Crystal-Labyrinth-Gedächtnis-Session.
