Well, folks … here we go again.
I don’t think Disney purposely timed its promotion of the new streaming Muppet series on Disney+ to coincide with the anniversary of the kerfuffle over the Schism three years ago. Nevertheless, a lot of casual fans are somehow still confused over the recast, and so the story is getting rehashed again in the press, sometimes fairly accurately and other times considerably less so.
I just realized that I haven’t posted anything here since the last Cave-In, at least not on the main page. Where did this month go? Straight to hell, if there’s any justice. Although one could say that this month WAS hell, and that’s a valid argument, too. It’s just a good thing that Weldon taught us all coping strategies last month, because boy, do we need them.
Fortunately, this was a really fun episode that provided a welcome respite. The premise sounds vaguely familiar to us Muppet Pundit veterans. Coincidence? I think not. (I don’t KNOW, but I THINK not.)
Generally speaking, I think Cave-In keeps getting more fun all the time. This one struck me as particularly playful. As a complete sucker for literary references, I really liked the joke about “Ozymandias.”
I don’t particularly know why the anniversaries that end in 0 and 5 take on extra significance. I know that I like them because I’m bad at math and they make calculations a little easier for me. But Jim Henson’s death coincided with a moment when I was starting to make the gradual transition from childhood to adulthood, and this anniversary comes at a moment that I’m about to enter a new decade and a new phase in my adult life, so that gives it personal significance for me.
My sister has three kids, and from the time each of them were in their cradles, I’ve been giving them Muppet-themed gifts.
About a year and a half ago, I gave them a Muppet-related Christmas trifle. My niece, who’s nine years old today, got very excited when she saw it. “I LOVE the Muppets!” she gushed.
It was one of the proudest moments of my life. I just sat back and said to myself, “I’ve done my job.”
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that this Saturday, May 16th, marks the 30th anniversary of Jim Henson’s death. To commemorate the occasion, the four surviving performers involved in Muppet Guys Talking are holding a livestreaming event at 4:00 p.m. ET that afternoon.
You can register for free by clicking the following link:
http://www.MuppetGuysTalking.com/jim
Once you register, you will also have the opportunity to submit questions, which I presume they will make an effort to answer during the conversation.
According to the confirmation email, those who register will receive a special viewing link via email the day before. It also says that it will be available for replay to those who register, regardless of whether or not you view the original livestream.
Registration is free, but the registration page also says that the livestream will be a COVID-19 fundraiser. Not sure how that’s supposed to work, but I guess we’ll find out on Saturday.
About a month ago now, I guess, a new short-form series featuring the Fraggle Rock characters was announced. Redundantly titled Fraggle Rock: Rock On!, it premiered its first five-minute episode three weeks ago. Premise: the Fraggle Five use new radish-based technology in the form of “Doozer tubes” to communicate with each other, and with Traveling Matt, remotely.
Before the series premiered, I had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, Fraggle Rock is precisely the right content for this peculiar moment in history because it’s all about meeting adversity with courage, compassion, and yes, even joy. On the other hand, one of the most wonderful things about the original Fraggle Rock is that it’s almost completely timeless. If they make a new, obliquely topical Fraggle Rock series, I wondered to myself, isn’t it going to lose that timeless quality?
Obviously, from a practical, Doylist perspective, I completely understand the need for the puppeteers to work distantly from one another. But from a Watsonian view, why would the Fraggles have to be in isolation? Wouldn’t you think that living underground would be an effective quarantine?
Then, of course, there was the big question: What of Wembley?
I watched the first episode online, and it answered a lot of my questions and alleviated some of my misgivings. But only some.
The “Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo” premieres May 27th on HBO’s streaming service. There’s a lot about it I don’t understand. Why is a 3-year-old hosting a talk show? Is this really happening, or is it supposed to be in Elmo’s imagination? What are the other Sesame Street characters going to get to do? Is there an educational objective of some sort, or is this just for fun?
It looks entertaining from the trailer, but then, so did “Elmo’s Play Date,” and we all remember how THAT turned out. It seems like it would be a lot more efficient just to make the main Sesame Street series fun and entertaining for all ages again, but that’s none of my business.
Now I can tell you what Steve told me back in November about these mid-episode pieces without spoiling anything. He told me that Weldon was going to do a “Mickey Mouse Club” parody recruiting members for the Troll Mob, and then Bret Iwan was going to come in and talk to him.
I told you last week that I didn’t know exactly what to expect, and that’s true, because, as I recall, Steve didn’t go into much more detail than that. (I sort of had the mistaken idea that Bret was going to talk to Weldon as Mickey; not sure how that happened.) So I didn’t know what to expect, and I was not prepared.
Weldon’s guest on Friday’s Cave-In is Bret Iwan. For those of you who do not recognize the name (and who, like me, didn’t see the subtle emblem in the background until JUST NOW), Bret Iwan is the current voice of Mickey Mouse.
So this oughtta be good.
A few days ago, I expressed my disappointment about the recent Sesame Street special, but then I thought about it and wondered if I was being unfair. After all, I’m about ten times older than the targeted age demographic. I started thinking that maybe a better criterion by which to judge would be what I would have thought of the special if I’d watched it as a four-year-old instead of an almost 40-year-old.
Obviously, I lost that perspective a long time ago, but the idea was so intriguing to me that I’m trying to re-approximate it.
Well, I watched “Elmo’s Play Date” last night and immediately regretted spreading the word about it. It turned out to be a gigantic disappointment.
At least, as a middle-aged woman with no kids, it was a giant disappointment to me. But perhaps I’m being too uncharitable. Perhaps the intended purpose of the special was to distract young children for a half an hour. If so, it sounds like it was a roaring success.
UPDATE: Apparently, the special is airing on PBS Kids in primetime on April 14th, and then the next day, April 15th, during the usual Sesame Street timeslot for your local market.
“Elmo’s Play Date” is a Sesame Street special set to air on Tuesday, April 14th at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT simultaneously on HBO, PBS Kids and a number of other channels and platforms.
There are three things I want to say about this:
He posted this yesterday, so I guess tomorrow is now tonight. I’m not on Facebook so I can’t participate, but could someone do me a favor? If there’s video of it that endures after the event concludes, can you send me a link so I can see it and share it? I’d really appreciate it. Thanks!
I’m sure you’re already aware of it, but Episode 8 of Cave-In went up on Sunday. I wondered what it would be like since there’s so much legitimate misery in the world at the moment. I should have had more faith, however. Weldon (and therefore Steve) kept it light and fun, and I found it to be one of the best episodes so far (not THE best; that’s still Episode 5, in my opinion), except that I’m not thrilled with my part in it.
I had a lot of things that I felt I could talk about, some that were COVID-related and some not, so I thought I would wait to decide to see whatever other people were talking about first, and if they were all talking about the pandemic, I would try to talk about something else.
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