Jim Henson
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Netflix cancels 'Dark Crystal' prequel series after one season
Not even an Emmy award could save 'The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance' from Netflix's axe.
Apple TV+ adds every episode of 'Fraggle Rock' ahead of reboot
Apple TV+ now streams every episode of the original 'Fraggle Rock' as rumors swirl of a full-fledged reboot.
‘Fraggle Rock’ mini-series makes a surprise debut on Apple TV+
Apple TV+ has resurrected the classic '80s TV series, "Fraggle Rock." The series of mini episodes will feature both new and old songs.
New Disney+ talk show will be hosted by a Jim Henson alien puppet
Disney+ has added a new talk show entitled Earth to Ned to its lineup of non-scripted originals -- and it's hosted by a blue alien and his lieutenant. A blue Jim Henson puppet alien named Ned and his lieutenant Cornelius, to be exact, who were sent to our planet to scout for an invasion. The story is that the duo became obsessed with pop culture while investigating Earth and started abducting bringing real-life celebrity guests to their ship hidden deep underground in hopes of producing the ultimate late-night talk show.
'The Dark Crystal' Comic-Con preview goes behind the scenes
Besides The Witcher, Netflix also highlighted its upcoming The Dark Crystal prequel series at Comic-Con. Instead of another trailer, the video posted goes behind the scenes, talking to engineers and others at Jim Henson Company who have continued the tradition more than thirty years later for this ten episode run. According to director Louis Leterrier, hopefully the audience will "forget you're watching puppets." Stars like Mark Hamill and Taron Egerton showed up for the SDCC panel, where producer Lisa Henson said "This is the proudest thing that I've done since my siblings and myself started running the company." The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance will premiere on Netflix August 30th.
Netflix's 'Dark Crystal' trailer brings Thra back to life
Netflix has finally offered Dark Crystal fans a deeper look at its prequel series beyond some still images. The gorgeous first trailer for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance arrived Thursday, and the show seems to faithfully recreate Thra while building on upon the movie's depiction of the mysterious world.
Netflix's 'Dark Crystal' prequel series will premiere August 30th
Netflix has lined up a release date for its Dark Crystal prequel series. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance will be available for your enjoyment via your preferred streaming device on August 30th.
‘Farscape’ comes to Amazon Prime Video on March 19th
Fans of Farscape, the cult sci-fi show from 1999 that features a lost astronaut, deadly mercenaries, and puppets, are in for a treat. All four seasons of the Jim Henson Company series, newly remastered in HD, will be available to stream on Amazon Prime Video on March 19th. Curious viewers can ask Brian Henson, one of the show's creators, questions at a Facebook Live event on March 19th, at 12:45 PT.
Barely Related: Learn how to make Muppets at Maker Camp
Do you understand what we're talking about? We're talking about people learning the craft of Fraggle construction. Muppet building. David Bowie army creation. Skeksis manipulation. We're talking about birthing a Sweetums, a Bert, an Ernie, a Yoda, and we're talking about doing it live. This week in BEARly Related (wocka wocka wocka), let's turn away from the madness of Gamescom '14 and cast our eyes on those people creating other things in the world at large. MAKE Magazine and Google's Maker Camp is a summer program that runs for six weeks and invites anyone over 13-years-old (or younger kids accompanied by a parent) to hop online via Google+ and learn how to create a variety of things, ranging from sculpture to computer programs to simple machines. Friday brings the 2014 Maker Camp to a close with a bang: Today's lesson comes from Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Starting at 2PM EST, Sesame Street builder Julie Zobel, animatronics specialist John Criswell (who made these), and LA Creature Shop designer Peter Brooke (who made those) will join Creature Shop Challenge winner Robert Bennet for a presentation on the ins and outs of puppet creation. How to make their eyes, their limbs, their fur, and everything else that makes them magic come to life. Want to get in on the action? Participate over on Google+, and talk to people that hang out with Kermit the Frog FOR REAL. Join us in a quick break from a video game con week and marvel at how things like how to make the costumes in the good Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. [Images: Disney]
AT&T unearths Jim Henson's 1963 Robot short for Bell
AT&T has released some real gems from its videos archives over the past year, but it's truly outdone itself this week. It's dug up a rarely-seen short film titled Robot that Jim Henson made for Bell in 1963, which was intended to explain computers and data communications to business owners at "elite seminars." It does so with phrases like "Correction: the machine does not have a soul. It has no bothersome emotions. While mere mortals wallow in a sea of emotionalism, the machine is busy digesting vast oceans of information in a single, all-encompassing gulp." Enjoy.
Hyperspace Beacon: Homage to we hope this never makes it into SWTOR, but knowing our luck, it probably will
One of the best compliments you can give a creator is to make an homage to his work. The title of one of the Hyperspace Beacons was an homage to TOROCast articles. It's a way to tell the creator, "You're doing a good job. Keep up the good work." Not to mention, homages are a lot of fun. In fact, my first published work was an homage to the work of Charles Dickens. I wrote a story about what happened to the Cratchit children. But what happens when an homage goes too far? Every once in a while, the Hyperspace Beacon takes a side track and asks about ideas that should end up on the cutting room floor. We all know games have concepts that just don't work. Star Wars: The Old Republic will be no exception. This little humorous segment is called We hope this never makes it into SWTOR, but knowing our luck, it probably will -- or WHTNMIISWTORBKOLIPW, for short. Follow me after the break to see what "homageneous" ideas should never make it into the release of SWTOR, but knowing our luck, they will anyway.
Steve Jobs is a recipient of the Jim Henson Celebration Honor Award
Macworld is reporting that Steve Jobs is one of the recipients of the Jim Henson Celebration Honor – one of four Jim Henson Honors. Established in 2005, the awards program acknowledges organizations, individuals, or products that reflect the core values and philosophy of Jim Henson and the company he founded. Criteria used in the evaluation process include: a commitment to creativity, innovative applications of art and technology, and inspiration of others. Four people are honored every year. In addition to Steve Jobs, this year's other honorees are: The Jim Henson Community Honor – 826 National, a tutoring, writing, and publishing organization The Jim Henson Creativity Honor – Neill Blomkamp, director of the movie "District 9" The Jim Henson Technology Honor – YouTube Symphony Orchestra, the world's first collaborative orchestra From the official press release [PDF link], The Jim Henson Company stated that the Celebration Honor "goes to an individual, organization or product that makes the world a better place by inspiring people to celebrate life. A co-founder of Apple, Jobs has led the company and the creation of its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, iPod media player, iTunes media store and Mac computers." CEO Lisa Henson went on to say, "Steve Jobs has continuously broken new ground with technologies that allow existing media in all forms to be easily enjoyed and also by providing fantastic tools for artists, photographers, musicians and filmmakers of all skill levels." Jim Henson was one of the individuals featured in Apple's 1997 Think Different Campaign that many believe was central in rebuilding Apple's image in the minds of computer users.
Video: Resident Evil 5, now with more Muppets
Finally. Not a day goes by that we don't play Resident Evil 5 and think, "Man, this would be better with Muppets." Seemingly hearing our mental prayers, IGN and Black20 Studios have created Jim Henson's Resident Evil 5. It's pretty much exactly what you'd expect: Resident Evil 5 -- with Muppets. Of course, these aren't actual Muppets, but that doesn't really matter. If there's one thing Muppets have taught us over the years, it's how to pretend.Despite the silly premise, the video actually features pretty good zombie makeup and special effects, including some nice gunshot wounds. Also, we might prefer its cat-stroking, Bond villain version of Wesker to the whiny, pseudo-British one featured in the real Resident Evil 5. Check out the video after the break.
Spore, Shiggy honored with Jim Henson awards
Shigeru Miyamoto and Spore have been recognized by The Jim Henson Company as part of their annual "Jim Henson Honors" awards. The legendary game designer was bestowed the Celebration Honor, which goes to an "individual, organization or product that makes the world a better place by inspiring people to celebrate life." Mario, Donkey, Wii ... yeah, you know the drill.As for Spore, it took home the Technology Honor, probably because it allowed everyone to create their favorite Star Wars characters or giant penis monsters. The other not so game-related awards went to artist Shepard Falrey (Creativity Honor) and the Center for Puppetry Arts Distance Learning Center (Community Honor). Congratulations to everyone. We can't think of a better way to celebrate than with the video after the break. %Gallery-25321%
More Jim Henson classics on iTunes
iTunes users who also happen to be fans of a goblin David Bowie, Gelflings, Skeksis, Mystics and/or Jim Henson have reason to celebrate: two of Henson's cult classic films are now available on iTunes. The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth are now available for purchase at the iTunes Store. This comes on the heels of the Farscape and Fraggle Rock iTunes releases in January. If you've never been able to get the cry of the Skeksis or the image of a frighteningly glam Goblin King (with fantastic hair) out of your head, pop up iTunes and make some Jim Henson magic. While you're there, you can even grab the slightly watered-down musical numbers in the Labyrinth Soundtrack to go with it, as well as a copy of The Muppet Christmas Carol, just in case the kids need some lighter fare after The Dark Crystal. Can't beat that, right?
Roleplaying is like puppeteering
Jim Moreno writes quite a bit about roleplaying. For a long time he kept his own blog about the subject, and now he writes a special column about roleplaying for WoW WarCry, which precedes and in many ways inspired WoW Insider's own roleplaying column, All the World's a Stage. Jim's latest article struck me with an excellent point: roleplaying has often been compared to acting -- by myself no less -- when in fact it is closer to the art of puppeteering. He cites Jim Henson and Frank Oz as two of the best roleplayers ever, even though neither of them is known to have actually played roleplaying games. Both of them, however, used alternate physical bodies -- their puppets -- to tell stories and convey their characters to their audience, whereas regular actors would have used their own bodies and faces to portray their characters, no matter how different they are from one another. The example from Jim's article that stands out most in my mind is that of Yoda telling Luke, "There is no try, there is only do," conveying so clearly who this person Yoda is, what he stands for, what he talks, moves and looks like without ever giving a hint that the whole thing is just a "puppet with Frank Oz's hand sticking up his butt."Roleplaying, Jim says, is just the same. Instead of acting with our own bodies, we use the digital avatars that Blizzard has designed for us: we customize our characters with different abilities and appearances, but more than that, we give them actions and words that distinguish them as believable people, just like puppeteers do. A superb roleplayer can do what Frank Oz and Jim Henson did, only on a smaller scale; he can convey a sense of true depth, a human story, using a virtual puppet made of ones and zeros rather than cloth and plastics.This is just another example of how "roleplaying" is just a new form of the same basic creative endeavors that have been around for millennia. Someone who gets "freaked out" by roleplaying might as well get freaked out by Miss Piggy and the Cookie Monster, because roleplaying is basically just an adaptation of the puppeteering concept in a modern technological environment.
