This is due to the fact that Disney not only bought the Muppet characters (as in characters from The Muppet Show, and it's succeeding movies), but in their greed, have trademarked the term "Muppet" as their own. Now, because of this, some people feel that other characters no longer count as being "Muppets", such as the Sesame Street characters, Fraggle Rock characters, even the Puppet Up! characters that appeared on last night's Grammys, and other such characters from other Henson projects (that are NOT under Disney's control).
Now, sure, legally, they CAN'T be refered to as "Muppets" since Disney owns the term, and does not apply them to these other characters; if you ask me, I feel that as long as the characters originate from, and are conceived by the Jim Henson Company, the Jim Henson Creature Shop, anyone working for Henson, etc, they are still "Muppets", either way, and I believe Sesame Workshop feels the same way, as the closing credits for Sesame Street STILL refers to the characters as "The Muppets of Sesame Street".
What are your thoughts?
Sandy Kenyon and other media outlets have been referring to them as Muppets, so while they may not "legally" be Muppets, everyone is still going to call them Muppets, so that's what they are!
ReplyDeleteOH MY GOD!! I hate when I have a long post and it gets deleted because I wasn't logged on! Glitch to the glitchy glitch ugh.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, sum up.
I agree that any creation that began as a Muppet should continue being called a muppet despite any trademarking that has happened recently or not so recently.
However, I disagree that anything coming from the creature shop is a muppet. I'd have to search out the clip (but I won't because I'm lazy) but Jim himself has acknowledged that he would prefer creatures not for the Muppet show, fraggle rock, or sesame street are not Muppets, but Henson Creature Shop Creations. Even productions that he was deeply involved in such as Labyrinth, or Dark Crystal contain no muppets. All of the creations therein are Creature Shop Creations.
Kevin's comment: Amanda is passionate about Muppet matters.
lol