Although I might not have liked the large Muppets when I was younger I will admit right now that I was, and still am, a Muppet fanatic. I was brought up with Fraggle Rock, The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, The Muppet Movies, Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal. I watched them all the time, had the figures, the plush toys, the videos and the bed covers and I now even own two Master Replica Animal and Gonzo Photo Puppets (1:1 scale perfect replicas of the actual Muppet puppets) which sit happily in the corner of my room...
When news was released a while back that a Fraggle Rock movie was in development I was quite excited, especially when I heard they were making it for all of us that grew up with the series rather than just for the new generation of kids. Little has been heard of that production and now I find out that the Dark Crysta sequel "The Power of the Dark Crystal" is also being made and going forward very soon.
MTV recently interviewed Jim's son; Brian Henson (co-CEO with his sister Lisa) and the following is an exert from that interview:
Henson told us that "Fraggle Rock" is "still in very active development. Very active development. That has a very strong script." Woosh. See that emphasis on the second 'very'? That's all Henson baby. He was emphatic in his "Fraggle" talk.
And that's not all! "It'll have a strong musical component," he said. "It'll be expanded to an older audience. 'Fraggle Rock' [the TV show] was presented... for a pretty exclusively children's audience. The feature film does expand it to be more accessible to a wider audience."
"We have a 'Dark Crystal' sequel, called 'The Power of the Dark Crystal.' It has a very strong script." More emphasis. I like that, Mr. Henson. Enthusiasm. It's infectious. I'm already excited about these projects, and hearing your comments only amplifies that.
"Both of those projects... are very close to going into pre-production," Henson said. "They're both really ready to go. [The studio is] just [in the process of] putting together the final finance pieces and the final distribution pieces."
Excellent news for Henson fans such as myself but the question is "When"? No dates seem to be secured at this time so even though Brian says they're "very active" that doesn't tell us when we should be expecting them... Oh well, it's enough for me that we're getting the movies in the first place!
Long live Muppets, in any form they come in!
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