Minor Unfinished Projects
From Muppet Wiki
This is a list of minor Muppet projects that have not made it past the development stage, for which not enough information exists to constitute its own page.
Handmade Video
On May 7, 1990, Jim Henson filmed an introduction to a project the company was working on involving home movie cameras. For fifty seconds, he speaks to the viewer about how the "handycam" is changing the way video content is being created. Henson predicts that this change in technology will dictate a "whole new and different kind of television." The remaining nine minutes of the video follow what Henson calls "Three Guys and a Handycam." [1]
The Island of Lost Muppets
Proposed miniseries in the late 1980s that would have introduced new characters called the Orangs.[2]
Kermit's Christmas Capers
Kermit's Christmas Capers was announced as a proposed television special for the 2005 holiday season however the project was cancelled before filming due to changes in management with the Muppets Holding Company.[3]
Miss Piggy mystery books
A July, 1990 article in Publisher's Weekly described a merger between Muppet Press with Disney Press in "the impending acquisition of Henson Associates". The article mentioned that "plans are in the works for a line of Muppet Babies toddler books, a Miss Piggy mystery series and a biography of Henson by Louise Gikow."[4]
The Muppet Institute of Technology
In 1986, writer Douglas Adams was involved as a consultant on a proposed one-hour Muppet TV special about computer literacy, The Muppet Institute of Technology. Adams flew out to New York City to meet with Jim Henson and twenty other consultants for discussions. The project was never completed. [5] Adams' friend Christopher Cerf was also involved in the production. [6]
The Muppet Love Song Album
According to the Winter 1983 issue of Muppet Magazine, The Muppet Love Song Album was to be released by Warner Bros. Records shortly after Miss Piggy's Aerobique Exercise Workout Album.
Muppet Roast
A celebrity roast was pitched as an idea and sold to Disney in 2007 by Hugh Fink, Scott Ganz and Andrew Samson.[7]
Muppet Voyager
The 1988 article in Channels also mentioned an international Muppet project: "There are children in the world who have never heard of the Muppets, in China, Africa, India and the Soviet Union, and Henson is excited about reaching audiences in those countries. One project in development, Muppet Voyager, could serve as a vehicle for reaching some of them. It would shoot in a different country every week."[8]
MuppetMania
Proposed in the late 1980s for television. [2]
Muppets in Camelot
Muppets in Camelot had been mentioned by the Jim Henson Company many times in the late 1990s, and was "kicked around" for several years for a potential feature film. A script outline was produced, but the film didn't move forward into production.[9]
The Muppets Leave Hollywood
The Muppets Leave Hollywood was an outside script bought by the Henson Company in February 1998. In the script, the Muppets (playing themselves) are living the high life in Hollywood until Kermit decides they've lost their purpose in this greedy world and takes them all back to the swamp.[9]
The Muppets on the Orient Express
Project from the 1980s, for which John E. Barrett created concept photography featuring The Muppet Show cast in period costume as shifty, potential suspects at a train station. Concept photography went on display at The Muppets Say Cheese exhibit.
The Muppets' Run for President
An election special, intended to coincide with the 2008 Presidental election was written by Andrew Samson, Scott Ganz, and Hugh Fink for The Muppets Studio. The writing trio revealed the title and discussed the project, the inital pitch and its unfortunate fate in the 89th episode of The MuppetCast.[10] The special followed Miss Piggy's run for the White House (previously the home of President Animal).
The Musical Monsters of Turkey Hollow
The Musical Monsters of Turkey Hollow' was a proposed Thanksgiving television special with music intended to be written by Raymond Scott. No date exists in the Henson Archives for this special, but Mr. Scott's involvement implies that it may have been developed sometime between 1965 and 1969.[11]
Picture-book specials
Following the 1986 airings of The Tale of the Bunny Picnic on ABC and The Christmas Toy on HBO, the cable channel considered producing more in the series of "picture-book specials". A 1988 article in Channels, a magazine for the television industry, revealed that "Henson has ten specials in development that he would like to place, including a Valentine's Day program called Puppy Love starring Muppet dogs, and a special called The Lizards for the summer. These will eventually be turned into a series of videocassettes distributed by HA. And the books, published by Henson's publishing division with Scholastic, will further the publishing aspirations of the company."[12]
Pipe Dream
Pipe Dream is a lesser known Rodgers and Hammerstein musical which ran for 246 performances on Broadway in 1955, based on the novel Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck. A film version of the musical was proposed starring the Muppets. [13]
Screaming Edith
A 1993 Wall Street Journal article mentioned plans for a new Muppet project:
| [Brian] Henson's record label will soon introduce "Screaming Edith", a new Muppets hard-rock band whose videos Henson wants shown on MTV.[14]
| 
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Untitled superhero project
In the early 2000s, around the time when superhero movies were making a comeback, Craig Shemin proposed a film involving the Muppets getting superpowers.[15]
Sources
- ↑ YouTube video published April 09, 2008
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 MuppetZine #13, Summer 1995
- ↑ Muppet Central news September 17, 2005
- ↑ Schnol, Janet. "Disney to Launch Book Division with Startups and an Acquisition", Publisher's Weekly. July 27, 1990.
- ↑ Gaiman, Neil. Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion, Titan Books. 2003. p. 133.
- ↑ Simpson, M.J. Hitchhiker: A Biography of Douglas Adams, Justin, Charles & Co. 2005. p. 210.
- ↑ ToughPigs.com - My Day On a Muppet Movie Set
- ↑ Loevy, Diana. "Inside the House That Henson Built", Channels. March, 1988.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Muppet Central news June 5, 1998
- ↑ The MuppetCast episode #89 - December 21, 2008
- ↑ Manhattan Research, Inc. book, chapter by Karen Falk and Irwin Chusid.
- ↑ Loevy, Diana. "Inside the House That Henson Built", Channels. March, 1988.
- ↑ Mandelbaum, Ken. Not Since Carrie: 40 years of Broadway Musical Flops. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1992. p. 99.
- ↑ Cox, Meg. "Kermit's Keepers: Jim Henson Is Gone, But Muppets Thrive Under His Children", The Wall Street Journal. August 9, 1993.
- ↑ Personal communication, Scott Hanson and Craig Shemin
