how have I NEVER seen this?!? A MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (1992) Movie Reaction and Commentary
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
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Hope you enjoy my first time watching Brian Henson's A MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (1992) starring Michael Caine, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire and Frank Oz.
Please watch the original content on Netflix.
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You worked with the Muppets and you're asking whether we'd like to hear about that? Is that some sort of trick question?
I know, right? 😂 Of COURSE we'd want to hear the story of working with the Muppets and having conversations with them!
I’d like to know how the muppets were off-screen, I reckon it’s just a persona they put for the camera
@@JohtoJordan yeah I remember hearing a recording of Kermit going off on a Key Grip, Christian Bale style. Never meet your heroes, eh? Shame 🙁
Of course we want to hear stories
Two reasons this is not only the best screen Christmas Carol but by some way my favourite Christmas film - it doesn't attempt to fix what ain't broke (the story is incredibly faithful to the book and huge chunks of the dialogue and the narration are straight from the original text), and Michael Caine understands his mission here PERFECTLY. A silly Scrooge would ruin it, so his Scrooge isn't played for laughs. It is played dead straight, no matter what songs or slapstick go on around him - with the only notable exception right at the end when he's been enlightened. Just a gloriously-pitched performance.
I understand Caine only agreed to do it if he played it totally straight and didn't react to the Muppets as if they were puppets. And it works brilliantly.
@@lemonfreshrob Caine considers it one of his best roles, he watches it with his grandchildren every year.
@@lemonfreshrob Fantastic!
agreed its the perfect christmas movie to me i rewatch it every year on christmas
Caine said he'd play it as serious as if he were performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
"I found myself in conversations with Gonzo at the craft service table"... just took me to a whole new place. Yeah, that's fantastic. It's almost as if they fully exist and are inhabiting the world. They ARE - and that certainly makes it a slightly brighter, lighter world, doesn't it? Thanks for that! More Muppet stories would always be appreciated; and kudos to their literal 'handlers' for sticking to the job at all times.
when dDanny Trejo worked on the muppet's most wanted, he heard his mother had died. no-one was able to reach out to him until they decided to let kermit try as kermit. and it worked, helping the man through his time of grief.
I love this adaptation so much. The songs get stuck in my head literally for days. And Brian did a wonderful job.. It must have been hard for him, especially since Jim died relatively young out of nowhere, but it's a wonderful film to dedicate to him.
I definitely tear up when the ghost of christmas yet to come shows the aftermath of Tiny Tim's death too. Partly it's Scrooge tearing up as well, but a huge part of it is freakin' Kermit! Like you mentioned, just the movement of the puppeteers hand making Kermit's mouth twitch when thinking of his son makes it so much more sad.. You're right that it's an art to show proper emotion on a puppets face.
It’s the best version! Rizzo gets best lines though. “And I’m here for the food” and “light the lamp not the rat” 😂
We watch this every year usually on Christmas Eve.
He ain't hurt, didn't even break his concentration
Michael Caine is amazing as Scrooge. Definitely one of the best portrayals of the character
Oh God 30 years of watching this every year and only thanks to you do I find...Bob Marley! 😳
Me too! I NEVER caught that! 😂
Listening to Neil inadvertently and perfectly imitating Kermit’s voice while reacting is magical.
I think the version you watched had cut out Belle's song! When she leaves Scrooge there's supposed to be a really sad love ballad called "The Love Is Gone". It's heartbreaking, and the studio had them cut it for the DVD release for being too long and too sad for kids. But it adds a lot to Scrooge's character arc and it's the prelude to the end song "The Love We Found".
It was cut from the theatrical release too. The only way you can find it included anymore is on Disney+ in the Extras section for the movie.
@@ShadowyFox_86 Man, they didn't even cut it back into the movie?! That's terrible. I grew up watching it on a VHS, so it’s wild to watch the movie without it.
@@bananaboatcharlie It was cut from the theatrical version with the agreement that it would appear on home releases (*shakes fist at Jeffrey Katzenberf, who also wanted to cut Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid*), which is why it was on the VHS. But then they actually lost the original negative/master, so when it came time to restore it to an HD version, there was no way to do it. The original DVD release let you choose the widescreen theatrical version without the song or the SD version with it. The footage was actually only found in 2020 and last year Disney+ put it up as a separate extra scene on the Extras tab, but this year for the 30th anniversary they added a version with it intact. You do still have to go to the Extras tab, though, as the default is still the theatrical version. Just make sure to click the one that's labeled "full-length version" on the extras tab to see it in HD, with the song where it always should have been.
I'd love to hear you're Muppet tales. Definitely watch A Muppet Family Christmas. With the properties sold off to different studios, it's the only time we'll ever see The Muppets, the Seasame Street gang, the Fraggles, and even the Muppet Babies in one special. Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas is also a must this time of year.
In what I've just researched must have been 1993 I saw Patrick Stewart do his one-man version of this story at the Old Vic in London. Somehow I managed to get a front row seat on opening night, and the front row (apart from me) was dressed as Klingons and Vulcans. Patrick strode out, fixed them all with a glare and held up a big book: A CHRISTMAS CAROL. We weren't on the Enterprise any more.
But it was a brilliant performance, and remains the favourite version that I've seen. The Old Vic does the play every Christmas, each time with a different actor as Scrooge, and I've seen a few of those. And last year I saw a version at Alexandra Palace, written by Mark Gatiss of Sherlock and Doctor Who fame, amongst other things. Patrick's one sticks in the mind, though, for sheer energy and inventiveness.
If I may tell a little anecdote:
At the interval I squeezed my way into the tiny stalls bar and when I finally got to the counter I ordered a white wine. Manoeuvring backwards away from the bar, I stepped on the foot of the person behind me. I turned round to say sorry and looked up and up, because it was Stephen Fry. I was so surprised I took a step back, and did a full body-check bump on a person sitting at the bar. I spun round in mortification, and stammered my apologies - to Sir Ben Kingsley.
Not being a showbiz type, this is my claim to fame.
Oh yay Neil! This is my favourite Christmas film! My sister and I still watch it together every year - so much fun and I just love the songs!
Relevant to your interests: The Wee Free Men is being adapted into a film by the Jim Henson Company in association with Narrativia, with Rhianna Pratchett as the main writer.
This was announced in 2016, but it should happen some day. I hope.
"Would you like to hear about the time I worked with the Muppets?" Is the most redundant question in Internet history Neil.
Proceed. Immediately.
As for this movie. It is an absolute stone cold classic and as perfect as kids adaptations of Dickens can get. Caine's performance is staggering, he's dead straight and his journey is therefor even more impactful and heartfelt. The musical numbers make even a musical cynic like me sing along and the whole thing has a warmth and heart that defies explanation. It is also genuinely funny. It is a classic for reason.
Our son was born in 1992 so by the time he was 6 or 7 yrs old we watched this film every Xmas eve, and we could quote whole sections of the script. A brilliant film with tons of happy memories.
I was born in '88, and I've watched this every year since it came out. 😊 I'm the same way, 😅 can quote whole sections and it never gets old.
Did you watch the extended edition? It’s on the Disney+ extras and includes a deleted song with young Belle and Scrooge.
Having grown up in the suburbs of D.C., even though I wasn't born yet, my mother was around for Jim Henson's first show, Sam and Friends that only aired locally on WRC-TV in the D.C. market. Jim was only 18 years old when he answered an ad put out by the station for show ideas that could be quick time fillers before or after the news. Jim wasn't even into puppetry before then but he got his green sock and cut a ping pong ball in half and Kermit was born and the ~5 minute per episode Sam and Friends came into being with a life long carreer and an entire franchise along with it.
So my mother loved The Muppets from the start when watching Sam and Friends. I was born in 1975, so of course my mother sat down for Sesame Street when I was a toddler. When The Muppet Show began in the mid 70's, by 1978 we became one of the first houses in the neighborhood to have a vcr (a Betamax) and one thing my mother recorded faithfully was The Muppet Show every week.
We could fit about 4 episodes per tape and we ended up recording most of the episodes from seasons 3 - 5 and we got a few from season 2. I watched those tapes over and over as a kid. They were my favorite thing to watch. We also recorded any Muppet specials, and they did a BUNCH of Christmas ones, so I have no doubt it's some of these you were remembering seeing.
When The Muppet Movie came out in 1979, I saw it at least 5 times in the theater. Even though the part where Animal took the growth pills and grew bigger than a house scared the heck out of me! I mean, this movie was done in 1979, it was ALL practical effects and puppeteering, no cgi at all. Its AMAZING how they did it! How did they get an Animal that big? They used camera tricks here and there but they also just went ahead and built the damn puppet that big and used a crane to operate him! That suckered was really physically there and here I am a 4-year-old kid watching this on a 40 ft screen! Yeah it scared me!
But I loved the rest of the movie so much I kept on asking my grandmother to take back to see it over and over. When I knew the Animal scene was getting close I always started getting nervous until finally, just before it. I'd get up and walk out of the theater and ask the usher to tell me when it was over. They always did.
When Jim Henson died in 1990, I was 15 and finding out was like the worst gut punch to the stomach I ever had. Then the Muppets did a tribute special for Jim and I watched it "for old time's sake" thinking that while I felt bad about it, I'd grown old enough that I'd grown out of The Muppets...
I was ugly crying at the end. Ugly ugly ugly crying! They sang a song that was one of Jim's favorites and a callback to an episode of The Muppet Show and it broke me...completely. It was then I realized that if you love The Muppets, you NEVER outgrow them.
I also don't think their time has passed. They've made some huge missteps lately...well _Disney_ made huge missteps (Disney inheriting a beloved franchise and messing it up? Impossible! ) And what happened with Steve Whitmire is a crime!
But then they've done things that show that at times when the right people...people who care about The Muppets and understand them and what makes the brand work...when they get the chance to be in charge, The Muppets can be _almost_ as good and as relevant as they always were (they will never be completely as good as they were when Jim was alive though).
The Muppets (2011) did a good job of showing this. In my opinion though, the very underrated and sadly forgotten 2002 made-for-TV movie, It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie did it even better. The 2011 Muppets was a great tribute to The Muppet Show, but the 2002 movie was proof of concept that The Muppet Show could still be a thing, no matter what era.
When Weezer did their video for "Gone Fishin' " with The Muppets, it felt EXACTLY like the third act of any vintage Muppet Show, and it was great!!! Then OK Go did their cover of The Muppet Show theme and it felt like classic Muppets too.
But I think what best shows The Muppets' time still haven't passed is all the web videos they did a decade or so ago...Bohemian Rhapsody, Popcorn, Carol of the Bells, etc. If we got _that_ in the recent Muppet series I think it would have done a lot better!
Regarding the Ghost of Christ Past in this movie...oh yeah, it's creepy, and the uncanny valley is a big part of it. It's a lot like the gelflings from The Dark Crystal.
Any stories you have about working with The Muppets I'd love to hear! Another thing I loved about Jim Henson, he'd go on talk shows like Johnny Carson and he'd bring Kermit with him. You'd *see* Jim's arm coming out of Kermit and Jim never tried to be a ventriloquist, when Kermit talked, Jim's lips moved, only the beard provided a little cover. Yet still it felt like two distinct personalities out there. Jim would be talking and Kermit would be listening and agreeing, disagreeing, making his ownintersections, or being distracted by something else.
Whether as a writer, a cartoonist, a puppeteer, when you create a character you breathe life into them. Over time, I think you can partition your brain so you have this entire different entity's thought process separate from yours. You created who they are, what they are, but then you turn a part of your mind over to them and they grow from there as an individual. It's not any kind of mental illness like Dissociative Personality Disorder, your own mind still understands what's going on, it's just like...additional personality talent. So when I saw Jim or see any other Muppeteer with their puppet, I know they can force themselves to be in control, but they can also allow the puppet to he its own individual, and to me, that makes Kermit and Fozzie and Gonzo all real or real enough.
Sorry for the insanely long comment.
Best Regards and Happy Holidays!
We really need another Muppet adaptation of a classic novel- this and Treasure Island both worked brilliantly. If I ever had any entertainment industry clout I’d make it happen!
Agreed! 😊
Love that you caught the Bob Marley joke right away! Took me over 20 years 😂
19:05 - indeed: I believe that Caine said he would treat this as if he were working with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
When you were mentioning about the technical aspects of the film, it made me think that you might enjoy A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong. There's a couple '...Goes Wrong" specials and two seasons of The Goes Wrong Show, all put on by Mischief Theatre. They started on stage themselves but have had great success on the screen too. It's a comedy show about everything that can, and will, go wrong while putting on a play (especially putting on a play for TV).
I love A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong !!!
I love all the goes wrong production's they are brilliant I love the peter pan goes wrong too its epic
@@kirstygunn9149 me too!!! I was lucky to see them live when they first came to Broadway several years ago. Absolutely Hysterical !!! 🤣
My brother's birthday is Dec 23rd & he got this as a present the year it came out on VHS. We've watched it every Christmas Eve since including in 2019 on holiday in Spain on a tiny ipad Mini
What a lovely, wholesome tradition!
You absolutely ARE supposed to get choked up in The Muppet Christmas Carol! It's my favorite, and the most faithful (to date), adaptation! ❤😄👍🏻🎄 Great reaction!
Of COURSE I want to hear about your work with the Muppets!
Yeah I think Kermit hits so hard in his speech about Tiny Tim's passing because it was the first movie made since Jim Henson premature passing.
The Ghost of Xmas Present was operated in the same was as the Gorgs on Fraggle Rock. One performer wore the full body suit while the late great Jerry Nelson operated the mouth, eyes, and other facial features on the head by remote control offscreen. Nelson also provided the voice.
I would love to hear you talk more about working with the Muppets, Dave Goelz and Bill Baretta must have been a hoot as well as Steve Whitmire!
This is the definitive version of A Christmas Carol. Nothing else has ever come close for me.
Not even the other Disney's one with Jim Carey?
Did you skip Belle's song in your edit, or did you watch the original version without it. Recommend watching it if you missed it. You can find the scene on YT, or in the special features, I think.
The Full Version on Disney Plus now includes the song, fixing the huge error of leaving it out!
@@laplor it's hidden behind the extras menu, not default. Most people won't see it without someone telling them about it beforehand
@@JazzyWaffles And for this reason I tell everybody I can every chance I get.
There's a nice little joke a lot of people miss. Statler is Jacob and Waldorf is Robert. Obviously you can abbreviate Robert to Bob so he's Bob Marley.
How in hell have I watched this film so many times over the years and completely missed and not realised its Micheal Caine? I know he's much younger and abit more full in the face but still how did I miss that? He's even named straight off in the opening! I even had it on yesterday!
To answer about boxing day - Boxing day became a bank holiday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1871 with Scotland joining in about 100 years later. Although to start with these were days when the banks were closed to customers but the staff still had to go into work to carry out paperwork amd check accoutns etc.
I love that this film caught you up so emotionally 😊 Yes please tell us your Muppet story!
As a Brit, watching a British story with a quintessential British actor, can we all take a minute to appreciate the beauty that is Neil's teapot? 🫖
I'd love to hear you talk about working with muppets but also other shows too !!!
I heard this is actually the adaptation that most resembles the original!
In A Christmas Carol, Dickens is directly refuting two specific economic pamphlets of the time. Planet Money has a show about it.
This is the BEST version of this story.
Michael Caine was amazing in this.
"It's wierd that there's a purple witch populating the streets of London"....sounds like the London i remember....
During Scrooge's final walk with the crowd to Crachit's house you can see a shop in the background called "Micklewhite's". Maurice Micklewhite is Caine's real name.
Don't be bad about not watching it before. I saw this for the first time last Christmas Day, and intend to watch it again this year!
Full body shots of the muppets are achieved by building a false floor a few feet above the soundstage, and having the muppeteers work by CCTV below the false floor. The whole soundstage is a puppet stage.
I'm old enough to grown up with the Muppets and don't question the world, just enjoy the adventure
"Am I really crying over this fake felt frog and his fake felt frog son?" I feel like is a common response to this movie. Eventually you just give in and accept it, lol
"He's not taking this any less seriously than any "normal" role"
Oh no, not Michael Caine! His response upon being offered the role was "I'm going to play this like I'm playing with the royal Shakespeare company."
Sooo good. I was obsessed with this one when it came out. Glad you watched it! 🙌
It's so good!
It’s time to play the music. It’s time to light the lights. It’s time to tell us stories about the Muppet Show tonight!
Ever since we had this scene with Cain being scrooge, Honey Nut Cheerios had a heartwarming scrooge + cheerios commercial, loved it
My family watches this every Christmas.
Michael Caine played this as serious as a car crash and would talk to the muppets directly in between takes. One of the best Scrooges.
I would LOVE to hear about the time you worked with the Mupptes!
As for the base story itself, it is a very faithful adaption, and Michael Cane gives such a wonderful performance, playing it just like he's doing a straight performance, while playing against Muppets, but then those same Muppets(Kermit for instance) or rather the player behind the Muppet, gives such a performance THROUGH a cloth Muppet that you find yourself feeling the emotions of the story. So fun, and so so good.
I don't know if other commenters have covered this but nearly every " special effect" in this movie is what we would now call practical. It's one of the first times that digital composited was used to good effect. Computer graphics were not yet invest enough to perform most of the special shots in this movie. So the fog bank that arrives with the ghost of Christmas yet to come was a practical effect, captured in the lens with actual fog, and what you called stop motion as Rizzo danced on the roast goose was two two separate shots stitched together.
Aside from really being a very well told Christmas. Carol adaptation, this version of a Christmas. Carol was a real technological showcase in its day.
Muppet Christmas Carol > Elf. Fight me.
Now you need to see Blackadder's Christmas Carol.
I love this version and the muppets. I'm so glad you chose it to react to. I would love to hear about your experiences with the muppets. Merry Christmas and God bless us everyone
The thing that I loved was they decided to add another Marley and named him Robert which can be shortened to Bob (have to be old).
One of the shops in the background is called Micklewhites, this is Michael Caine's real surname.
Maurice Micklewhite.
Hey Neil, if you want to see a quintessential British Christmas tv/films you should watch 'The Snowman' and then its sequel 'The Snowman and the Snowdog'. Very touching and beautifully animated films. :)
And then the irn bru christmas advert 🤣
This is legitimately the best adaptation of the novel
Fun fact: Caine said he was going to play the role entirely straight not like a kids film but like he was doing it at the RSC
Love watching your reactions, you're so genuine and down to earth, make me smile ☺️
There's a little Easter egg in one of the exterior shots. There is a shop in the background called Micklewhite's, which is a reference to Michael Caine's real name, Maurice Micklewhite.
You have to remember that the change in Scrooge was genuine, because in the film (just like in the story), it specifically states that he was a better man for the rest of his life - thus the change was permanent and genuine.
HEAT-WAVE! THIS IS MY ISLAND IN THE SUN!
I have seen this too many time to count but i always crack up when the rats start singing 'This is my island in the sun'. There are so many versions of this classic. Resently here a theatre did a Drag version which was hysterical but again stuck to the basic story (Carol became Carole an ageing drag Queen). But a great version i saw last Christmas even though it was maybe 15 years old was set in modern day London and Scrooge was a loan shark and though tweeked a bit it was great
My family always watches this movie on Christmas Eve.
Easily the best version of this story, and probably the best Christmas film I've seen
Apparently Past was shot in underwater, to get that floating look
You lived the dream working with the Muppets 😯
One thing about the commitment to acting against puppets... I love Michael Caine, but it isn't necessarily his acting skills that sells it, it the Muppeteers.... dig up stories of other actors who've done Muppet movies, there are many tales of between takes they'll talk to the puppet about the next take and have forgotten there is a man laying on a rolling board at their feet. That kind of is the magic they make, not only on screen, but in person.
There is a song at the last bit of the Ghost of Christmas Past that they cut out because it was a little bit too depressing. It's on RUclips somewhere but I advise you to bring tissue it even makes a grown man cry
You worked with the Muppets? Hell yes we want to hear all about that!
One of my faves! (and I agree that the ghost of Christmas past is a bit unnerving looking 😂)
My local community theatre did a Seuss Christmas Carol , I played Past my costume was a combination of Cindi Lauper and Madonna. It was hilarious.
I think we’d all love to hear about your Muppet stories :-)
Apparently Scrooge in the story isn't a super rich character. He's upper middle class. I only learned that recently. It's also implied his father was abusive and hated him especially.
Absolutely, PLEASE tell us more about working with the Muppets! And this is my family's favorite Christmas movie, enough that it doesn't feel like Christmas until we watch it.
Neil pouring the ☕️!!!!!!! Love it!
Yes we want to hear you talk about working with the Muppets
If you are going to watch Christmas movies/shows you haven’t seen and like UK shows then you NEEED to watch Peter Pan Goes Wrong and A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, both are Legendarily good!
Of course we want to hear. Subbed for it
Don't know if you're into Dr Who - but 2010's xmas ep ''A Christmas Carol' is really good. It helps a little if you've seen the previous season [ for a cupla characters back story ] but you could watch as a stand alone and still enjoy it. It's set on another planet [ but still VERY earth like ] and in a Victorian-esque time-line. Still the best xmas Who special, I love it.
Would like to hear you tales about the muppets. This film is a classic, I think one of the best versions of A Christmas Carole. Follows the original story well but still has muppets chaos going on.
It’s amazing that puppets can provoke more emotion than real life actors at times. Kermit as Bob Cratchitt mourning his son is so heartbreaking and it’s up there with Mickey Mouse in ‘Mickey’s Christmas Carol’ where he doesn’t even say anything at his sons grave and then leaves Tim’s crutch on his headstone 😢
Muppet stories now please 🙏.
Whenever Michael Caine talks about this role he always says how he only took the role if he could play it straight "as if he were doing it withy the Royal Shakespeare company."
I also found an article where he said that one reason he chose to do it was so that his seven-year-old daughter could see him acting, as none of his other films were suitable for young children to watch. And now he watches it with his grandkids.
Michael Caine apparently looked at the job & script before him and said "I am gonna play this ONE HUNDRED PERCENT Straight" and the movie is better for it.
I love Muppet Wizard of Oz and I LOVE this Christmas Carol adaptation.
Pretty much the best Christmas movie of all time. Amazed it's taken you this long to see it - we are the same age and I've seen it about a dozen times. Still - never too late to catch up on a classic :)
So pleased to see you using a teapot and not brewing a cuppa in a mug like a lot of people I know!
Also can't believe this came out in '92. I vividly remember watching it in the cinema.
Most Muppet sets are 4 or 5 feet off the studio floor. That's how they get the full body stuff done.
Would love to see your take on some of Mischief theatre's Goes Wrong christmas stuff. They did A Christmas Carol with Derek Jacobi and other original plays
Still one of the best Christmas movies ever. I would love to hear more of your tales from movie / TV productions. I think you'd enjoy Peter Pan goes wrong and Christmas carol goes wrong
It’s kind of funny that this version - the funny version with singing and puppets - is genuinely closest to the Christmas Carol text of all the adaptations I’ve seen. A ton of Gonzo’s narration and other characters’ lines are straight from the book. (Everything vicious Scrooge says, for one, and the speech ending ‘more of gravy than of grave’for two.)
The bit with where you asked if Belle was going to die, I think you are thinking about Scrooge's sister, Fred's mother. She doesn't get used in most adaptations, but she died in childbirth in one of the few film versions I have seen that has her
Love this movie. Love to hear more about the muppets.
You gotta checkout Elf so good. 😜😎🇬🇧
The Upstart Crow episode that's themed to Christmas Carol is great as well. The whole series would be awesome for reaction. David Mitchell as Shakespeare is oddly perfect :)
THE best Muppet film
Easily the best version of A Christmas Carol. I'm delighted that you hadn't seen it so I could watch it with you.
Apologies for the whole bunch of random thoughts, but this movie is part of my DNA. My family watches it every year and certain quotes have become part of the family idiolect, like "Nah, it was the frog's idea!" and "And badly dressed!" *gasp!*. Also, my Costume Technology professor worked on this film -- and he made the dressing gown for the Ghost of Christmas Present that you liked!! The Ghost of Christmas Past is definitely too creepy and uncanny valley, although I like the floating effect they got. There's a song that got cut from your version called "The Love is Gone" (there's a whole story) and you should watch it just for Michael Caine's extraordinary acting. This was the first project after Jim Henson's death and the little man who comes out of Scrooge's cuckoo clock is modeled on him. I will never get over how the name in the book is Fezziwig and all they had to do was change one letter to Fozziwig. As you said, Michael Caine does an extraordinary job committing to the reality of the muppets. My favorite fact about "muppet reality" comes from Bret McKenzie (of Flight of the Conchords), who wrote songs for several recent muppet movies: he had to change a line referencing something like "when I was just a little piece of felt," because you can't talk about muppet creation that way.
Subscribing because you called it "Muppeteering."
Big running commentary/infodump incoming
3:52 I'm pretty sure the opening sequence was done with a miniature set.
5:33 Puppet performing a puppet!
5:43 What you aren't seeing is that Micheal Caine is walking on what's basically a narrow plank, with a four foot drop below him, since the sets are elevated about four feet, and have removable flooring to accommodate the puppeteers.
8:10 I'm pretty sure that wide shot is an incredibly well done and seamless composite, actually. But generally, full body shots are done with bunraku style, with 3 puppeteers wearing full body suits, with the puppeteers being composited out later.
10:16: They heckle everything! Including the text of the novella itself!
11:02: You are such an idiot
11:42: She was actually a large rod puppet floating in a tank of water, which was composited into the shot in post, to give it that uncanny ghostly effect.
12:12 that's a bit of a stealth pun, since Gonzo is sitting on a shelf with busts of famous authors, and who is he playing in this movie? Charles Dickens
14:20: You didn't show it, but silent Rowlf cameo there, since he didn't have a voice at this point
16:42: Christmas Present is a full body puppet, but there's another person (in this case, Jerry Nelson) remotely puppeteering the face and doing voice, al la the Gorgs from Fraggle Rock.
18:24 Because let's be honest. No one really wants to see a Frig.
19:25 You had conversations with Gonzo at the Craft Services table? I want to hear that story.
20:57 The other fun thing about that is that Micheal Caine couldn't hear director Brian Henson's cue to turn around over the sound of the fog machines, so his surprise there is genuine.
22:46: I think it hits especially hard here, since the loss of Jim and Richard were still just so fresh. The losses shook the Muppet crew to their core, and so much of the emotion and heart got channeled into this movie.
22:58 The way Caine plays this scene is just, so good. Scrooge already knows exactly who's name is on that stone, and is doing everything he can to deny it, until he is forced to face it. Too many other versions play it for some sort of weird shock value, while missing the point that it's not that he's dead that is the horrifying thing. It's that he's dead, and not only do people not care. they actively celebrate it.
23:23: You cut it, but the match cut from the Spirit's robe to Scrooge's bedroom is one of my favorite movie cuts of all time. It's so simple, yet incredibly effective.
I think my favourite depiction of Scrooge was actually in a BBC series called Dickensian, which was essentially a Dickens crossover between many of his characters: Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Mr Bumble, Miss Haversham, Feagan, Nancy, Bill Sykes and many more.
The plots are all prequel stories prior to the respective books, eg. Miss Haversham is a young lady who's just inherited her father's estate and money.
It balances the stories well, with some stellar performances. I'd highly recommend tracking it down if you can. Only got the one series.
33:53 its funny cause this one you just watched is actually precisely already 30 years old
I love this film, definitely one of, if not the best version of the story.
And personally, I would love to hear you talk about your time working on Muppet Wizard Of OZ!
I worked on 'Muppets From Space' as a background puppeteer. Just sayin'.