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Posted: Aug 06 2009 01:17 am

Quote:

The Jim Henson Company is back in business! The beloved studio has been announcing multiple projects over the last few years, including Jason Segel's Muppets movie and a Monster Safari movie most recently, but when will actually see any of these get made? That's just the question that Adam Rosenberg at MTV asked Brian Henson, son of the legendary Jim Henson, who is now running the Jim Henson Company. And the good news is that the Fraggle Rock movie announced many years ago and the Dark Crystal sequel also announced years ago are both very close to starting pre-production. Bring on more Henson!

First up, the Fraggle Rock movie is "still in very active development. Very active development. That has a very strong script." He also adds: "It'll have a strong musical component. 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." Considering that most of the kids who watched Fraggle Rock when it was on TV from 1983 to 1987 are now in their 20s and 30s, they might as well cater to that older audience or they'll miss out on all those fans who would still flock to theaters.

As for the sequel to Frank Oz and Jim Henson's 1982 classic The Dark Crystal, to be called The Power of the Dark Crystal, it's pretty much in the same situation, according to Henson. "It has a very strong script. Both of those projects… are very close to going into pre-production," he 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." I'm not the biggest fan of either Fraggle Rock or Dark Crystal, but I'm just excited to see the Jim Henson Co. back in action in a big way. Hopefully both of these get a green light much sooner than later!

http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/08/05/updates-from-henson-on-fraggle-rock-and-a-dark-crystal-sequel/

not sure how i feel about a movie based on fraggle rock, or even a sequel to the dark crystal

Posted: Aug 06 2009 01:43 pm

Anything Jim Henson is cool.
I am, however, concerned about appealing to the older audience for Fraggle Rock. What are they going to do, strategically place soiled condoms and Jim Beam bottles on Madame Trash-heap?

Posted: Aug 07 2009 03:04 am

Damn, Fraggle Rock was the biggest mindfuck of a series ever. It came on after The Joy of Painting on my PBS station, too, so you can imagine how fucked up my afternoons were.

Posted: Aug 07 2009 11:42 am

I didn't watch Fraggle Rock so much, I was more raised on Sesame Street. Mister Rogers and Lambchop.

That said, anything Jim Henson related is awesome and deserves attention.

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

Joy of Painting made me what I am today. Laughing

Posted: Aug 07 2009 12:43 pm

joshwoodzell wrote:

Joy of Painting made me what I am today. Laughing

Posted: Aug 07 2009 02:34 pm

I watched all of those shows however when I was younger I didn't understand that the majority of the shows were reruns (I used to watch the older Transformers and G.I. Joe and I thought the stuff I was viewing was all new). I grew up with a lot of Henson-based television and movies however I sometimes worry that the kids that will inevitably go see these movies will be so jaded that the magic behind the puppetry (if that is indeed what they will be using).

On the other hand if they decide to go CGI on us, will it really be anything remotely like the original products? I love the Henson Company's work however I worry that either kids will be too jaded due to today's modern special effects to care about Henson-style puppetry (or whatever you call it, when I was a kid I loved the amount of detail behind the puppets) or they will just overlook the movies if they decide to use CGI instead. Maybe the situation isn't so black and white though.

Posted: Jun 18 2010 01:20 pm

Necrobumping due to new info on the Fraggle Rock movie:

Writer/Director Cory Edwards' blog wrote:

Fraggle fans, I am trying to keep the torch lit for all of you. But we are going to have to weather a few more storms. There are some dark days ahead, my friends. Not to be too alarmist, but I am struggling to stay in control of my own movie at this point. The Weinstein Company gives me no confidence these days. Why?

For starters, they have begun the search for a new writer, presumably to rewrite my entire script from scratch. Now I'm a big boy -- I can take the blow if my skills are not up to the high, high standards of the Weinstein Company (he said with too much sarcasm in his voice). But this is happening behind my back, without consulting me or even asking my opinion. I enjoy working with other writers and have no doubt that the RIGHT person could help make any script better. But to not even ask me? Adding insult to injury, the search is basically an open assignment. This means the net has been cast wide, virtually posting in the "classifieds" of the movie business. The Fraggles do not deserve such treatment.

Rest assured, I still have a deal to direct. Which means my hands WILL be on this script. That makes this move by the studio all the more baffling. Hey guys, you know what would be easier? Asking the director to help you get the script in shape, instead of running in your own circles and then showing me something later that I'll probably hate.

"Oh, Cory, 'hate' is a strong word. How do you know you're going to hate it?" I'll tell you why.

The only overall note coming from the studio is this: "Not edgy enough."

"EDGY." That's the note. That's what they are trying to do to the Fraggle Rock movie. EDGE it up! Let me say right now that "edgy" is one of my least favorite words. Since my earliest days in the client video business, "edgy" has been a sign of someone who doesn't know what they want. Not only is "edgy" a nebulous, abstract word that means something different to everyone, but it chases the immediate whims of pop culture. WHAT is edgy?? Faster edits? Rock music for the score? Boober wearing some gangsta bling? I have no idea. What I DO know is that the word "edgy" should not be anywhere near this movie.

What if "Toy Story" was edgy? "Toy Story" can be relevant, sharply written, and fast paced, but it has a genuine heart and sincere characters. Like "Toy Story," Fraggle Rock's success is not only due to it's anti-edginess, but in its absolute DEFIANCE of all that is edgy and trendy and pop in this world.

I have said repeatedly that I will do my very best to make this Fraggle movie relevant and modern, to compete with everything else out there. But what I will NOT do is sabotage what made the property beloved in the first place.

"Wild Wild West" anyone?

I thought this was all worth reporting, and to let you know that I, too, am concerned. Perhaps this will get the studio to pick up the phone and actually engage me again.

Keep the Fraggle fire burning! And while it's burning, throw that frakking word "edgy" into the fire, will ya?

Pictures of what he feel would be "edgy" in the link where they come up: http://coryscuriosities.blogspot.com/2010/06/edgy-alert.html

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

Maybe they should hire Christopher Nolan to rewrite the script and make it gritty and edgy.