Basically, here’s the deal. Your favorite Muppet performers are going to be replaced. How do we know this? Because auditions are being held right now to that end. Jim Henson’s idea was that only one performer would bring each Muppet to life…this way, you had an actual character instead of Kermit or Fozzie being brought to life by just whoever happened to be closest to the puppet at the time.
Now, of course, since Brian Henson has sold his father’s legacy, it’s really well within Disney’s rights to do whatever the hell they want with the characters. This is not in question. However, by doing so, they run a very real risk of mismanaging the property into oblivion. Because they’re taking away the one thing that still makes the Muppets special. Or, to be this bluntly in exec-speak, the one thing that still makes us want to buy product based on those characters.
From the new website, Save the Muppets:
Without consistent performers, the Muppets will no longer be the Muppets. Kermit The Frog will become Kermit A Frog — and all for the sake of convenience. Fifty years of Muppet history is being thrown aside so that MHC can create an assembly-line of not-quite-Muppets. The artists who originated and honed the Muppet characters will be demoted, becoming part of a pool of on-call impressionists, hired day-to-day based on convenience, cost and the whim of [Muppets Holding Company] MHC.
The site tells you how to take action if you want to save some of your favorite characters from being put through the mindless corporate whorebaggery that is Disney. Do something now before it’s too late.
The entire Henson family came to a decision that Jim wanted to accomplish back in ’89-90.
Don’t be an ass and say that Brian “sold” his father’s legacy.