Muppet Babies 2018 Review: Part 1

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The original Muppet Babies series was not part of my childhood because it was on a channel that we didn’t get at my house.  However, as a teenager I had a steady babysitting job and I watched Muppet Babies with those kids a lot, so I’m passingly familiar with it.  And yet, that was twenty-some years ago, so it’s no longer in the forefront of my consciousness.

All of which is just to say that, as I review the new Muppet Babies series (or, at least, the two episodes of it that I’ve seen), I won’t be making comparisons with the original series because the original series is largely lost to me in the mists of memory.

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Sesame Saturday: Bert Feels Silly

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So first of all, I have to take a moment to praise Frank Oz:  As Ernie is putting the scarf on Bert, it accidentally gets in his mouth, and Frank reacts the way a person would react if someone accidentally stuffed a scarf in one’s mouth.  It’s that combination of skill, commitment, and instinct that give the Muppets life.

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Sesame Saturday: A Sesame Special and a Searing Scratch

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EandB HensonOz.png

On April 7, 1989, I suffered an abraded cornea.

(“Abraded” is a fancy medical term for “scratched” that I didn’t learn until much later.)

I was 8 years old and in second grade.  It was a Friday, and unusually windy even by South Dakota standards.  The wind was out of the east and blowing so hard that it was almost horizontal.  After school, I had to walk directly into the wind to get to my carpool that would take me to my weekly Girl Scout meeting, and the wind blew some dirt or debris of some kind into my left eye.

All my life, people had told me not to rub my eyes, but no one had ever tried to explain why.  And I didn’t know any other way to dislodge foreign objects from my eye, so I just kept rubbing it, and it just kept hurting, and so on in a vicious cycle. 

So on the off-chance that there are any little kids reading this, let me pause for this public service announcement:  Don’t rub your eyes, kids, because you could accidentally scratch your eyeball, and that really, really hurts.

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Fraggle Friday: “Pebble Pox Blues”

Mary A. Tags: , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Slightly off-topic, but I was thinking about this one today because Lin-Manuel Miranda has shingles.

And while I of course feel sorry for him–because by all accounts, shingles is a miserable illness–I’m also shocked and disturbed because I didn’t know it was possible to get shingles in your 30s.  Lin is the same age I am; that means I’m susceptible too.  Crap.

(Unless, of course, it only attacks obscenely talented and successful thirty-somethings, in which case I’m off the hook.)

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Where Do You Stand?

Mary A. Tags: 6 Comments

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others.”
                                       –Martin Luther King, Jr.

Where do you stand?  How do you measure up?

Vote for Bean Bunny

Mary A. 1 Comment

Just to keep things in perspective, Easter Sunday was the first day that I had completely off in over two weeks, so it’s hard for me to keep up with what’s going on in the Muppet fan community. 😳

So I didn’t get around to mentioning this Muppet Madness tournament, even though it’s nearly halfway over already.  I’ve been voting for all Steve’s characters, even though doing so forced me to vote for Andy and Randy Pig  😬 (honestly, I was kind of relieved when they lost).

The remaining characters of Steve’s in the tournament are Kermit, Ernie (with Bert), and Bean Bunny, who is neck-and-neck with the Doozers and in danger of elimination.  Kermit has a comfortable lead over Scooter, but Ernie and Bert are barely edging the Swedish Chef with 51%.

I know it’s just a silly game that doesn’t really matter, but it’s kind of fun, and it’s at least a small way that we can show our support for our favorite puppeteer while we’re waiting for him to get his website back up and running.  Round 2 ends in approximately 6 hours, so let’s push Bean Bunny through to the next round and show the world what an adorable badass we think he is. 🐰

 

Bean Bunny Is a Total Badass… (not a joke)

Mary A. Tags: , , , , , , , 1 Comment

“This may be one of the most saccharine Henson specials ever. The bunnies are all extremely cutesy, the forest impossibly idyllic, and everything’s very happy, cheerful and colorful.“
                  –TV Tropes on The Tale of the Bunny Picnic

Oh, sure; it’s just a harmless story about cute little bunnies!

Granted, it’s not exactly Watership Down either, but when I watched it for the first time recently, I couldn’t even finish it in one sitting because I was so upset by it. 

Sure, the bunnies are cute and the colors are bright and the music is peppy, but much like Fraggle Rock, there are some serious themes hidden underneath the candy-colored exterior. Our Hero, Bean Bunny, is constantly bullied by his big brother, Lugsy, and the dog is blatantly and brazenly abused by the farmer.  Ladies and gentlemen, Jim Henson brings you the charming story of adorable animals being tormented and mistreated…enjoy!

But eventually I went back and finished it, because I knew the payoff had to be worth it…and it was.

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Muppet Heresy That Borders on Blasphemy (not a joke)

Mary A. Tags: , , , , , , 2 Comments

Today I ran across this video of a fan-made simulacrum of Kermit (not to be confused with Simula-Kerm) singing “Gethsemane” from Jesus Christ Superstar.  I hesitated to post it, even–especially–on Easter Sunday, because I felt that doing so bordered on blasphemy.  I may be a heretic, but I am not a blasphemer; a subtle distinction, but one that’s extremely important to me.

But there was one particular line in the song that struck me as poignant as it relates to the Schism:

“Show me there’s a reason for you wanting me to die.
You’re far too keen on ‘where’ and ‘how’…not so hot on ‘why.'”

It’s been approximately a year and a half, Disney.  Still waiting for you to show us the reason.

Minor and MAJOR News

Mary A. Tags: , , , , , 3 Comments

A few items of interest:

  1.   I decided that my domain name should reflect the name of my blog, so I added the domain name “frogoflamancha.blog.”  The “frogquixote” URL should still work, however.
  2.  I joined Twitter, so you can follow me @frogoflamancha.  My intention is to use it as a tool, not make it a way of life; we’ll see how that goes.

 

Now for the major news:

I don’t know if anyone else has tried to access Steve’s blog lately.  When I try it on my PC, I just get an error message, but when I tried it on my laptop, I got a maintenance page with the following message:

Hey All!

Things are changing, and I’ll be back ASAP.

Thanks for checking in,

S

So it’s a bit vague, and I don’t know exactly what he means by “things are changing,” but it certainly sounds as though, after these six long months, he’s finally getting ready to come back to the blog!

I’m not sure this warrants a full-on Kermit flail but it’s certainly cause for cautious optimism.

I don’t begrudge Steve the right to do whatever he wants with his blog, but the unfortunate consequence of him absenting himself when he did was that he had just banished the troll(s) from the comment section, and reading the comments had become infinitely more enjoyable.  So I’m hopeful that not only will we soon be enjoying more stories and insights from Steve but also having pleasant conversations in the comments section again.

My own words are insufficient to express my emotions at this development.  Take it, Wembley:

March for Our Lives: Songs and Solidarity

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“When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world. My hope is to leave the world a little better for having been there.”
                   –Jim Henson

To the Parkland students, and all March for Our Lives participants:

The courage, fortitude, and perseverance you have shown in the face of overwhelming adversity is both inspiring and humbling.  I graduated from high school in 1999, weeks after the Columbine shooting, and if my generation had done what you are doing now, maybe there wouldn’t have been a need for you to step up and speak out.  I can’t go back and change what is past, but I stand in solidarity with you now.

Jim Henson has always been a hero of mine, and you are now doing what he aspired to do, and ultimately succeeding in doing: making a difference and bettering the world.  Jim Henson believed in the power of children; he created Fraggle Rock in 1983 with the express purpose of bringing peace to the world.  

I know that you’re experiencing a lot of pushback, and I’m sure you understand that that only shows that you’re having an impact.  If the NRA weren’t scared of you, they wouldn’t waste their time or money trying to discredit you.  

Nevertheless, all that negativity can be tough to bear.  I know that you’re not lacking in strength, resilience, and determination, but I also know that you–that we–have a long, hard fight yet to be contested.  I’ve often found that music–particularly Muppet music–has the power to comfort and inspire, so I’ve curated a list of what I consider to be the best and most uplifting songs from Henson-related productions.  When the world seems dark and hopeless, I hope that they will bring a little light into your hearts.

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Time in a Bottle

Mary A. Tags: , , , , , , , , 5 Comments

Hello, all!  I haven’t posted anything of real substance for a while, and I wanted to take a minute to catch up.  I wanted to let you know that it is not my feelings and convictions that have changed; all that has changed is my schedule.

The good news is that I recently landed a new, open-ended, freelance writing gig (thank you, FlexJobs.com), and while it doesn’t pay much, I think that the experience I gain is going to be invaluable to me as I embark on this new career path.  The bad news is that, while I have given two weeks’ notice at my other part-time job, at the moment I am working three jobs, and while this is a temporary situation (until the end of the month) I’m sure you can imagine that my life is quite crazy and hectic at the moment, and free time for blogging is at a minimum as I try to manage my schedule and meet all my various commitments and deadlines.

I did, however, purchase and watch Frank Oz’s documentary Muppet Guys Talking yesterday, and it was probably the nicest brunch I’ve ever had (perhaps second only to this).  I could only afford to purchase the film, not all the extra stuff, but the film itself was well worth the 10 bucks or so.  I can heartily recommend it, and I’ve been informed today that it’s not going to be available forever, so I’d advise you to carpe diem and carpe documentary while you can.

When I have a free moment, I’ll come back and tell you my thoughts and feelings about it, but don’t expect it until April.

Speaking of The Dark Crystal…

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Back in 2013, JHC hosted a contest to write a story (or part of one) set in The Dark Crystal universe.  The winner got to write an entire novel set in The Dark Crystal universe.

I entered the contest.  I didn’t win. 

At the time it was kind of a bummer, but I knew it was always going to be a long shot, seeing as I came relatively late to The Dark Crystal and its mythos (although I went out of my way to do my homework on it and try to make up for lost time).  The thing that really bummed me out about it was that the stories that weren’t finalists or editors’ choice selections didn’t get any feedback, so I don’t know what they thought of it.  I mean, I can construe from the fact that it didn’t make it into the next phase of the competition that they didn’t love it, but whether that means that they merely liked it, or hated it, or were too bored by it to even form an opinion, I have no idea.

In retrospect, however, I’m glad that I didn’t win the contest, because then I would have been beholden to the Hensons and wouldn’t be able to speak out as candidly on their involvement in the Schism as I have been.

And yet, as long as I have this blog, and a small but interested audience, I was thinking that maybe I would post my story here.  That way, you could read and (hopefully) enjoy it, and I could finally get some feedback on it.

So if you’re interested in reading my Dark Crystal-inspired story, leave a comment, and if there’s enough interest, I will post it. 

Incidentally, here is something I wrote at the time regarding my process, in which I did some intertextual thinking about The Dark Crystal and Harry Potter and decided that the Mystics are a race of Dumbledores and the Skeksis are a race of Voldemorts.