Tag Kermit the Frog

George Lucas on Star Wars: The Risk of Yoda

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

***Think what you will about George Lucas. But in terms of Star Wars, it can all be traced back to him. That’s why I always find it so interesting to listen to him talk about it. His creative process, the reason certain decisions were made, and how these movies became the pop cultural staples they are. This space is dedicated to just that. This is “George Lucas on Star Wars.”***

***New around here? Check out Primary Ignition‘s “George Lucas on Star Wars” archive!***

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Yoda, Star Wars the Empire Strikes Back

The Scene: In the swamps of Dagobah, Luke encounters a small creature who we later learn to be Yoda, a wise Jedi Master.

George Lucas Says (via the Empire Strikes Back commentary track): “There was a huge challenge with this. I didn’t want Yoda to look like a man in a suit. So I made him two and a half feet tall, which would have been impossible to put anybody in [a suit that size]. … It was one of the scarier things in the movie. Because if he looked like Kermit, we would have been dead.”

I Say: I don’t think this risk gets talked about enough. I think the achievement that is Yoda has subsequently gotten lost in all the advancements in digital technology, many of which have ironically been spearheaded by George Lucas. Had puppeteer Frank Oz, puppet designer Stuart Freeborn, Empire director Irvin Kershner, and everybody involved in the creation of Yoda not been as talented as they were, the movie might have fallen on its face.

Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker, deserves a lot of credit for the creation of Yoda too. It’s one thing to create a realistic-looking puppet. It’s another thing to act alongside that puppet, react genuinely, and make it feel like a living being that could exist in the real world. Without Mark Hamill, Yoda as we know him today doesn’t exist.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Toy Chest Theater: The Mandalorian Collection, Vol. 1

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

As the trailer for the second season of The Mandalorian just dropped there’s no better time than now to bask in this show’s glory. We’re doing it with Rob Watches The Mandalorian, and we’re doing it here with “Toy Chest Theater.”

Enjoy!

Mando and the Child by Spencer Witt.

Mando and the Child by Bryan Konstantine.

Mando, the Child, Kermit, and Robin by instanobitoys.

Mando and cantina by Andy’s Toy Photography.

Mando and Cara Dune by mandalorianrunt.

 

Jim Henson/Muppets Spotlight – Kermit Sings “Rainbow Connection” Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

By Rob Siebert
The Original Human Muppet

In this time of social distancing, we’ve seen plenty of celebrities offer encouragement from their homes. We’ve even seen a bunch of them put on musical performances. But I think it’s safe to say none of them have given us anything quite like this.

Two days ago, Kermit the Frog took to the swamps (care of YouTube) to perform the classic, and for many of us nostalgic tearjerker, “Rainbow Connection.” Take a look.

Kermit has been performed by Matt Vogel since 2017. Vogel does a fine job, of course. But I don’t think it’s possible to hear that song and not feel touched by the essence of Jim Henson, and what his legacy still offers the world today.

So as always, thank you Mr. Henson. For your own special form of magic.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Toy Chest Theater: Kermit the…Hulk?

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Everybody dreams of being something bigger. Even little green frogs.

That’s what I love about this image from Indonesian toy photographer Kadir Alaydrus. On the surface, it seems like a silly image of the Hulk with a Muppet head. But it speaks to something universal. The caption reads, “Dream Big Little Guy.”

Then, barely a day after posting the above photo, Kadir was at it again. The caption for the image below reads, “Kermithropus Erectus: The evolution of Kermit the Frog.”

Technically, I think the figure on the right is Robin, Kermit’s nephew. But you get the idea.

Follow Primary Ignition on Twitter, or email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com.

Muppet Babies: The Reboot

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

So until this morning, I had no idea that Disney was reviving Muppet Babies. But low and behold, here we are…

I’m pretty much numb to the nostalgia effect at this point. I’ve made peace with the fact that the ’80s and ’90s are now exhumed pop cultural grave sites. So what the hell? Enjoy yourselves.

I mean, at least the show LOOKS good. For whatever reason, I’m drawn to the different textures. The frog skin on Kermit. Gonzo’s feathers. Fozzie looks like an actual teddy bear. It’s a fun show to look at.

So we’ve got this new character, Summer Penguin. She’s harmless, of course. But from a nostalgic perspective, she’s a little annoying. The artsy character they put in there for young girls with creative interests to identify with. When you look at it as an adult, it’s all very transparent.

But in the end, of course, it’s about the kids. And that’s how it should be. Despite the temptation, you can’t get possessive of this stuff as an adult. The best we can hope for is that it gets treated with a certain amount of love and respect. That definitely seems to be the case here.

You know who else did that really well? The people in charge of the new Duck Tales series. I’m sure it’s no coincidence they’re both Disney properties. That’s one of the reasons Disney now runs the damn world. They know what to do with their characters…

Email Rob at PrimaryIgnition@yahoo.com, or follow Primary Ignition on Twitter.

A Review of The Muppets – Nostalgia, Sentiment, and Chris Cooper Rapping

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

The-Muppets-2011-Movie-Final-PosterTITLE: The Muppets
STARRING: Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Rashida Jones, Jack Black
PUPPETEERS: Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Peter Linz, David Goelz, Bill Barretta
DIRECTOR: James Bobin
STUDIO: Walt Disney Pictures
RUN TIME: 120 min
RELEASED: November 23, 2011

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

I find it very fitting that a new Toy Story short was attached to The Muppets. Toy Story 3 was such a huge hit last year with it’s central theme about growing up that made many a grown man cry. But it also had a $200 million budget, cutting edge computer animation and an A-list cast. Nothing against the Toy Story films, but The Muppets proves you don’t need all those bells and whistles to make a movie as heartfelt, tremendously entertaining, and at times genuinely moving as that. This film did it with less than half that budget and a bunch of felt puppets.

The first Muppet movie in over a decade takes place quite a few years after Kermit, Miss Piggy and the rest of the gang have gone their separate ways. During a vacation to Hollywood, Walter (a new puppet character) and Gary (Jason Segel), two brothers and lifelong Muppet fanatics, discover that an oil tycoon (Chris Cooper) is preparing to bulldoze the building that The Muppet Show was performed in. Together with Gary’s girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams), they set out to reunite the Muppets and raise enough money to buy the theater back.

83361_oriIf there was ever any doubt that the Muppets still deserve their place of reverence in popular culture, this film shatters it. It hits just about every note it needs to hit to make it the perfect comeback movie for the franchise. There’s a significant nostalgia presence in the film, mostly for The Muppet Show and 1979′s The Muppet Movie. We also see the return of three classic Muppet songs, which should really warm the heart of old school Muppet fans like yours truly. Does that make me biased? Maybe, maybe not. I’d like to think it works well in the context of these characters being portrayed as entertainers making a comeback. Hopefully kids being exposed to the material for the first time find it as great as we did back in the day.

One of the great things about this move is that it’s essentially art imitating life. The Muppets have been around here and there, but since the property was purchased by The Walt Disney Company in 2004, nothing of great significance has been done with it. We got a couple of TV movies, some appearances in music videos and a some online content. But none of it seemed to generate enough interest in the franchise to really give it momentum again. As a result, the Muppets largely fell out of the limelight for awhile. It’s that touch of reality that gives this movie a bit more kick. When a network executive (Rashida Jones) tells Kermit and a room full of Muppets that they’re not famous anymore, your inner child squirms as you wonder if that’s actually true. As the characters are trying to raise the money, you’re rooting for them to succeed, just as many of us are rooting for this movie to be a success so we can have the Muppets back again. Had this movie not worked it would have been devastating for the franchise.

The Muppets, cast photoThankfully, it works as well as any of us could have hoped for. By touching on issues like family, love, friendship and finding your place in the world, while integrating some classic Muppet-style humor and music, this film becomes a piece of work I’d like to think Jim Henson himself would have been proud of. Frank Oz, who famously helped develop many of the Muppet characters, and puppeteered and voiced Miss Piggy and Fozzy Bear, allegedly opted not to contribute to the film because of how some of the characters were portrayed. As a fan, I’m not sure what his mindset could have been at the time. Kermit and the others are as great as they’ve always been, and now they’re being shown to a new generation of fans.

The world can be a pretty dark, scary place nowadays, and that’s exactly why the Muppets needed to resurface like this. Lord knows, this place could use a few more smiles these days. And who’s more qualified to make us smile as we try and find our own rainbow connection?

RATING: 9.5/10

Images from rottentomatoes.com.