I may have given up on the Call of Duty games a year or two ago, but I still look fondly on the first game I ever owned on my Xbox 360, Call of Duty: World at War. If you’ve played that game (or Black Ops), you’re probably aware that legendary actor and all-around badass Gary Oldman voiced the Russian character Viktor Reznov. Well, Mr. Oldman was on Conan recently and the topic of video game voiceovers got brought up, and to the delight of geeks everywhere he spouted off a few Viktor Reznov phrases rather loudly.
I’ve always wandered what legit actors think about lending their voices to video games, and it looks like Oldman is a good sport about it.
If you listened to our last episode of Bubble Pipe Theater, you heard me mention ‘A Muppet Family Christmas’ as I rambled on about the Muppets with Tim and Rob. I can’t believe I haven’t written about it on the site before, because it just may be my all-time favorite holiday special. It’s a unique blend of Henson characters that just couldn’t be possible today with Disney owning the Muppets.
‘A Muppet Family Christmas’ first aired on television way back in 1987 and I just have vague memories of seeing it as a kid. It wasn’t until 2003 when I picked up the (now out of print) DVD that I fell in love with it. The hour-long show is the perfect blend of Christmas warmth and the classic Muppet humor we grew to love with The Muppet Show and the early movies. Without further ado, I’d like to kick off a new series here on the site with 10 Awesome Things about ‘A Muppet Family Christmas.’ Read More
I’ve loved the work of Jim Henson my entire life, and it seems like each year my appreciation of his creativity grows more and more. Even with his life being cut tragically short, his body of work is huge. As you could tell from our Muppet podcast last week, everyone has different parts of Muppet history that they remember the most, and there are plenty of pieces to pick up on later in life and enjoy for the first time. For me, Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas is one of the pieces of Muppet history that I didn’t see much as a kid, but now love as an adult.
There are a lot more dedicated Emmet Otter fans than me out there, but I recently did some digging, learning as much as I could about the special and comparing home video versions, so I thought I’d share the love a little bit. Read More
Heads up Fraggle Rock fans: Amazon’s got a great deal on the Fraggle Rock: Complete Series Collection DVD set. This is the newer version (which is packaged a lot nicer than the huge one I have) and is normally a lot more expensive, but it’s a Gold Box Deal today on Amazon. If you’ve got some kiddoes around the house or your name is Rob and you mentioned on a podcast that you never really watched Fraggle Rock, you should probably buy this.
In 1984, the Muppets were on a bit of downslide. The Muppet Show had ended its five-season run in 1981, the same year the Muppets had last been on the big screen in The Great Muppet Caper. That’s not to say that Henson and company were bored by any means. 1982 had seen the all-puppet feature film, The Dark Crystal, and Fraggle Rock was introduced on HBO in 1983. And, of course, there was always Big Bird and his friends on Sesame Street to keep Muppeteers busy. But the Muppets – Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie, and the rest of the gang – were sort of off the radar at the time. They’d had a few TV specials here and there, and The Muppet Show was still being shown in syndication, but the characters were essentially shelved while Henson focused on other creative ventures.
But that all changed when their new film, The Muppets Take Manhattan, was released in theaters. It wasn’t that the film itself, which told of Kermit’s journey to bring the Muppets to Broadway, was a huge success. In fact, of the six original Muppet features, Manhattan ranks #5 with a box office take of only $25 million (Muppets from Space is #6, which should surprise no one). However, there was one scene in Manhattan that was destined to bring the Muppets back into the spotlight.
If you were alive in 1984, you probably loved this scene; I know I did. The little Muppets were adorable and the song was a catchy 1950′s throwback, complete with Fozzie, Gonzo, and Scooter backup singers. Although it is cuter than cute, if you think about it, there’s no reason for the scene to exist; it’s a dream sequence (not a flashback), and it’s inclusion doesn’t progress the story at all. It feels like a scene from another film, and there is some indication that this is not entirely by accident. Read More
