steve whitmire

Short but Sweet: Steve Whitmire Q&A From Fanboy Expo in Knoxville, TN

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

A few weeks ago I got a Google alert on a brief interview that Steve Whitmire gave to a local news station in Knoxville, TN regarding the Fanboy Expo that was going on there. I hoped that would not be all that we heard out of Knoxville and happily, it is not. 

This morning, YouTube helpfully and accurately suggested that I might like this 25-minute Q&A that Steve gave at the Fanboy Expo. This panel was recorded and posted by Joseph Scarbrough, a name I recognize from the Muppet Pundit forum, even though I don’t think I ever interacted with him there, but a big “thank you” to him on the off-chance that he’s reading this.

This panel is a little different than some of the other panels we’ve seen. It’s shorter by approximately 20 minutes, and instead of the moderator sitting up front with Steve and asking him questions that we’ve already heard a gazillion times, he stood in the audience and helped with their questions. The whole thing pretty much consists of audience questions, so in that sense, it’s a true Q&A

Continue reading →

Google Alert: “Live” Steve Whitmire panel at Florida Supercon

Mary A. Uncategorized Tags: , , 3 Comments

This alert was sent two hours ago and I’m just seeing it now, so I don’t know how “live” it is, but it’s a video of Steve doing a panel discussion in Florida, and I’m watching it now. Check it out:

Oh, I didn’t know it was going to embed itself.  Cool!

It’s good that Steve has something to keep busy with while the O2 show’s been going on the in UK. I imagine that still has to sting at least a little.

Oh, I just realized that this is from several days ago, so it’s not live as in “happening this very minute,” but it was recorded live, and now it’s available for us to watch, so yay!

Muppet Babies 2018 Review: Part 2

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

I don’t know about you, but I could sure use some happy right about now, so here is my tragically belated and unreasonably long continuation of my review of Muppet Babies 2018.

(Part One of my review can be found here.)

Initially I was only going to watch and review the first episode of Muppet Babies because it was available for free on Amazon and YouTube.  Then I saw that episode 5 was going to feature characters of Steve’s, including Rizzo, and I was very curious to see how they would handle them, so I purchased and watched that one too.  Here I’ll be reviewing all four of the stories that I saw over the course of the two episodes.

Continue reading →

The World Turned Upside Down

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

As I mentioned previously, I still have feelings I need to work through in regard to the Schism, starting with how I first found out about it. It was through this disturbing introductory bit on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert:

It wasn’t just that the bit was tacky and unfunny; it was that they didn’t provide any explanation afterward. I sat through the entire subsequent monologue on the edge of my seat, screaming at the TV, “What’s going on with Steve Whitmire and Kermit?!? You can’t just turn my world 90 degrees on its axis without further comment or followup!”

Continue reading →

Muppets’ Fourth of July: Before and After

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

This is what the Fourth of July looked like before the Schism:

This is what the Fourth of July looks like after the Schism:

 

CONCLUSIONS:

  • The Fourth of July was much more fun before Steve’s unwarranted dismissal. Now it’s apparently just tears and kazoo anthems against a plain background (not that I have anything against plain blue backgrounds 😉 ).
  • That said, however, I do enjoy Walter’s kazoo harmonies. 
  • Daaaaaaaamn, Steve as Beaker totally killed the piccolo part on “Stars and Stripes Forever!”
  • On a related note, I never thought I would say this, but I MISS RIZZO!
  • Sam the Eagle clearly stopped plucking his eyebrow(s) sometime between 2009 and 2015.
  • It’s really difficult to take pride in a country where kids are put in cages by pumpkin-headed demagogues, which is an incongruous thing to post on a Muppet blog, but it’s something that unfortunately has to be iterated and reiterated until our lawmakers get the point.

Another Panel Discussion with Steve Whitmire? Must Be My Birthday!

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

It’s not my birthday today, but it was my birthday when Steve was in Ontario for the Niagara Falls Comic Con, so this video of a (the?) panel discussion he did there feels like a belated birthday present.

Continue reading →

Steve Whitmire visits Fanboy Expo

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

via wbir.com | Puppeteer Steve Whitmire visits Fanboy Expo

Steve gave an interview to a local news team in Knoxville, Tennessee while he’s there for the convention. It’s a nice little interview; the hosts are very gracious, and Steve seems relaxed and happy. One of the interviewers refers to Steve “voicing” characters but later asks about the specific challenges in puppetry, so I’ll forgive it. The other interviewer asks Steve about his future plans, and he says he’s working on “a few projects” in Atlanta but doesn’t get any more specific than that.

Continue reading →

Fraggle Friday: Fabulous Funkos

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

FUNVPO15044_1

 

It’s strange how every time I post answers to a Muppet-related survey, something comes along almost immediately thereafter to change my answer. Recently I posted updated answers to The Muppet Mindset’s “Great Muppet Survey” and listed my favorite Muppet merchandise as DVDs and plushes.

Well, all that has changed again, because I recently received the Wembley and Cotterpin Funko Pop figures as a birthday present, and I find them more delightful than I would have thought possible.

Continue reading →

Five Years Later: The Great Muppet Survey Revisited

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

In 2013, The Muppet Mindset had a feature called “The Great Muppet Survey” wherein they asked readers to respond to a bunch of Muppet-related questions and then published the results periodically. Five years ago today, they published my responses (this was back when I was spelling “Arlene” with an “i”).

What with all the recent changes in the Muppet world, I thought it would be interesting to go back and see if and how my responses have changed after 5 years.  And if it’s not interesting, too bad, because I’m going to do it anyway.  😉

For reference, here are my original responses from five years ago. I’m going to summarize my answers from 2013 here, and then I’m going to give my 2018 answers.

Continue reading →

Fraggle Friday: “Tree of Life”

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

“Beyond the Pond” is an underrated episode of Fraggle Rock that had the misfortune to fall between two exceptionally memorable episodes: “River of Life” and “Gone, But Not Forgotten.”  Having a similar theme to “River of Life,” but a considerably lighter touch, I think it tends to get lost in the shuffle.

Continue reading →

Steve at Great Philadelphia Comic Con

Mary A. Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

If you’ve been missing Steve as much as I have lately, have I got a treat for you!  Reader Andrew K alerted me to the existence of this three-part interview that Steve did a few days ago at the Great Philadelphia Comic Con.  Approximately 45 minutes of pure gold; a really pleasant, informative conversation that didn’t get into the controversial Schism stuff at all (not that I would have minded, but I know some people are tired of it).

Continue reading →

Muppet Babies 2018 Review: Part 1

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

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.

Continue reading →

Fraggle Friday: “Pebble Pox Blues”

Mary A. Uncategorized 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.)

Continue reading →

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

Mary A. Uncategorized 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.

Continue reading →