Muppet*Vision 3D: Jim Henson's Final Bow

Disney was a giant in so many industries, from the film industry, animation industry, music industry and television industry. There was one entertainment aspect that they never truly pursued as there was already a massive force leading the way, and that was the Jim Henson Company in the puppet industry. Despite both companies arriving to success on their own, with 1955 being a pivotal year for both of them with the opening of Disneyland and Jim producing his very first TV show Sam and Friends, the two companies later joined forces to bring The Muppets content over to Disney parks. This would be one of the last things Jim Henson would be a part of.

Jim Henson. Image from: https://www.kqed.org/arts/13912071/cjms-jim-henson-exhibit-highlights-impact-innovation-of-the-man-behind-the-muppets

the history of the muppets

Jim Henson was surrounded by visual arts as a young child. His grandmother was a painter, quilter, and needleworker, and he was able to begin picking up techniques just by being around her. His older brother Paul also indulged in Jim’s magnetic pull to the arts and helped him experiment. In 1954, at the age of 18, Jim began his television career with WTOP-TV in Washington. He began straight away with puppets, and not long after, was offered his own block of morning television for his own show called Sam and Friends. Sam and Friends ran for 6 years until 1961, and was a collection of characters who would lip-sync to popular songs and comedy routines, perform skits, and would be a medium for Jim to experiment new techniques on. Most notably, this is when Jim began using the television set as a puppet stage rather than filming an actual puppet stage which was the standard at the time. This was also the very first introduction of Kermit the Frog. The original Kermit puppet was made of an old coat owned by Jim’s mother and a pair of old jeans he had in possession as well. Much like Walt was with Mickey, Jim was Kermit’s original puppeteer.

Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog. Image from: https://today.umd.edu/five-things-you-didnt-know-about-jim-hensons-time-terp-f21599e6-cce1-4afc-9d56-6fc7cb9c1a36

Jim began to grow his team during the uprising success of Sam and Friends, as he started to be in demand more and more, to make other television appearances on talk shows, creating commercials, and make series regulars for other shows. Some of the original team included Jane Nebel (Henson’s future wife), Jerry Juhl, David Lazer, and Frank Oz. Frank got his start in the puppeteering industry at the age of 19, when he was asked by Henson to join the team. One of their first and most memorable projects is the creation of Rowlf the Dog.

Jim Henson’s team. Image from: https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/03/21/frank-ozs-new-documentary-muppet-guys-talking-revisits-the-creation-of-the-iconic-characters

sesame street

In 1966, Jim was approached by Joan Ganz Cooney, who wanted to create a children’s educational program called Sesame Street, that featured a cast of puppets to teach different lessons each week. Given Jim’s growing reputation and team, he worked tirelessly to create unique characters that would captivate young audiences and encourage them to learn. What interested Henson in this new project was that Sesame Street also intended to target social concerns and give platforms to topics that weren’t popular on television, including gender equity, disabilities, racial injustice, crisis response, and more.

Officially airing in 1969, the original cast of puppets included Grover (who was unnamed during the first season, but sometimes went by Fuzzy Face), Oscar the Grouch (who was originally orange), Bert and Ernie, Big Bird, and Cookie Monster (who was repurposed from his original use in a General Foods commercial). Jim Henson took on the role of Ernie and sometimes made appearances as Kermit in the show, Frank Oz was Bert, Grover, and Cookie Monster, and Caroll Spinney played Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. Despite Elmo’s major popularity and later becoming the frontrunner of the show, he was not a part of the original cast, and did not appear on the show until 1984.

Bert and Ernie. Image from: https://www.slashfilm.com/590155/frank-oz-wants-to-play-with-the-muppets-again-but-disney-doesnt-want-me/

the muppet show on tv

During the time of Sesame Street development, Jim was pitching the idea of The Muppet Show to different networks, but to no avail for many years. But finally, after gaining national attention from Sesame Street, The Muppet Show was picked up at a studio in London called ATV Studios in 1975. Much like Sesame Street and Sam and Friends, it would be a cast of regular characters who would sing, dance, and interact with guest stars each week, including Julie Andrews, Carol Burnett, Steve Martin, Gene Kelly, and more.

Julie Andrews on The Muppet Show. Image from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxsR_-6UxHE

The original cast included the showrunner Kermit the Frog, his strong counterpart Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Rowlf the Dog, Scooter, Animal, Sam Eagle, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Statler and Waldorf, The Swedish Chef, Uncle Deadly, Crazy Harry, Robin the Frog, Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, and Hilda. Several more characters were added as seasons went on, and the show lasted for 5 seasons with 120 total episodes. The series opened the door to the film industry for Henson’s company, and several spinoffs with the main cast were produced, like The Muppet Movie (1979), The Great Muppet Caper (1981), and The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984).

jim henson and lucasfilm ltd.

Jim Henson and George Lucas had a unique tie to each other in the movie-making business, as they both used their creative imaginations to dream up worlds and characters that required great technological advancement. George Lucas is best known for being the founder of Lucasfilm LTD., and the creator of both the Star Wars franchise and the Indiana Jones franchise. During the development of the Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back, Henson consulted on the Yoda puppet and even recommended Frank Oz’s specialty to puppeteer and voice Yoda for the film. This would become one of Frank’s most popular roles, as he went on to perform him in Return of the Jedi (1983), The Phantom Menace (1999), and The Last Jedi (2017).

After this brief consultation work, Lucas and Henson worked together again on one of Jim’s directorial projects Labyrinth (1986). The film starred David Bowie as Goblin King Jareth, Jennifer Connelly as 16-year old Sarah, and Toby Froud as younger brother Toby. This would be yet another pivotal project for Henson as he developed his skills with animatronics as well, and would be the start of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, which still runs today.

Jennifer Connelly in Labyrinth. Image from: https://news.sky.com/story/labyrinth-sequel-scott-derrickson-to-direct-follow-up-to-1986-fantasy-film-11995432

disney and jim henson collaborate on muppet*vision 3d

In the early 2000s, nearing the end of Michael Eisner’s reign as CEO of the Walt Disney Company, they began the venture into purchasing and acquiring already established entertainment companies. In 2006, Pixar was purchased by Disney through Bob Iger and Steve Jobs’ relationship. In 2009, Marvel was acquired by Disney. But before both of these studios, Disney executives were in talks with Jim Henson directly in the 1990s about purchasing The Muppets franchise, creating a Muppets universe in Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios, and dedicating much of its park and film space to Henson. The first merger they worked on together was Muppet*Vision 3D, which would live in Hollywood Studios as a 15-minute show attraction for guests to be immersed in the world of the Muppets.

Tragically, Muppet*Vision 3D would be the very last project Jim Henson worked on and directed, as he passed away from complications with pneumonia on May 16, 1990. Disney’s plans to create a whole Muppet land were put on the back burner, but Frank Oz stepped up to complete Muppet*Vision 3D to see Jim’s vision through. The show would debut exactly a year after Henson’s death on May 16, 1991. The attraction would also make a debut on February 8, 2001 with the opening of California Adventure. It would feature visual gags, nods to the original Muppet Show, songs from some of the former films, and audio-animatronic versions of Statler and Waldorf who sit in an opera box above the audience. Reflective of Jim Henson and Walt Disney’s legacies of advancing technology, the story of the show would focus on Kermit trying to demonstrate the “new” three-dimensional technology, with the rest of the cast causing chaos throughout the run.

Muppet*Vision 3D in California Adventure. Image from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3BnvG8wB4w

Disney officially trademarked and owned The Muppets in 2004, and they continued to distribute materials such as The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), and Muppet Treasure Island (1996). After 2004, Disney also created new television specials and feature films inspired by the work of Henson, and his vision lived on. Muppet*Vision 3D officially closed in California Adventure in 2014, but the Florida version still operates today.