Labyrinth Adult Coloring Book!

Today is National Crayon Day!

The Muppets aren't the only Henson creation getting the "adult coloring book" treatement this year.

The magical inhabitants of Labyrinth will also be getting the hard to stay in the lines treatment this fall.

Fan Art by audreymolinatti

While neither the cover art or any sample pages have yet been released, we do know the book will have "over forty black and white illustrations showcasing the vibrant and compelling world of the Labyrinth and featuring fan-favorite characters (and creatures!) Jareth the Goblin King, Sarah, Hoggle, Sir Didymus, Ludo, the goblins and much more!"

Fan Art by audreymolinatti

It won't be released until October 10th, but you can pre-order from Amazon here.

Sesame Street Nominated for 10 More Emmys!

Last week the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced the nominees for the 44th Annual Daytime Emmy® Awards. 

Sesame Street garnered 10 nominations including one for Outstanding Pre-School Children’s Series and Ryan Dillon’s first nomination as Elmo!

The full list is below:

Outstanding Pre-School Children’s Series
Sesame Street
Executive Producer Carol-Lynn Parente
Senior Producer Benjamin Lehmann
Producer Mindy Fila
Line Producer Stephanie Longardo
Coordinating Producer April Coleman

Outstanding Promotional Announcement
Sesame Studios: Launch Campaign
Supervising Producer Kay Wilson Stallings
Producers Brande Bytheway, Jordan Geary, Todrick Hall, Dionne Nosek, Gianna Orzo
Producers/Directors Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead

Outstanding Performer in a Children’s, Pre-School Children’s, or Family Viewing Program
Ryan Dillon, as Elmo

Outstanding Writing in a Children’s, Pre-School Children’s or Family Viewing Program
Sesame Street
Head Writer Joey Mazzarino
Writers Molly Boylan, Geri Cole, Annie Evans, Christine Ferraro, Michael Goldberg, Emily Kingsley, Luis Santeiro, Ed Valentine, Belinda Ward, John Weidman

Outstanding Directing in a Children’s, Pre-School Children’s or Family Viewing Program
Sesame Street
Directors Ken Diego, Benjamin Lehmann, Joey Mazzarino, Scott Preston, Chuck Vinson, Matt Vogel, Nadine Zylstra

Outstanding Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design
Sesame Street
Production Designer David Gallo
Art Directors Keith Olsen, Randall Richards

Outstanding Technical Team
Sesame Street
Technical Directors Richie Drummond, Tom Guadarrama
Camera Operators Frank Biondo, Mark Britt, Jerry Cancel, Shaun Harkins
Senior Video James Meek

Outstanding Multiple Camera Editing
Sesame Street
Post Production Supervising Editor Todd E. James
Editors Jesse Averna, Ray Chin, Memo Salazar, Jordan Santora

Outstanding Sound Mixing – Live Action
Sesame Street
Production Mixer Chris Prinzivalli
Re-Recording Mixer Michael Barrett, Michael Croiter, Dick Maitland, C.A.S.

Outstanding Costume Design/Styling
Sesame Street
Costume Designers (Live Actors) Brian Hemesath, Matthew Hemesath
Costume Designers (Muppets) Mary Brehmer, Elizabeth Hara, Michelle Hickey, Rollie Krewson, Sarah Lafferty, Lara Maclean, Casey Miller, Constance Peterson, Jane Pien, Kate Rusek, Sierra Schoening, Sally Thomas, David Valentine, Jason Weber

We congratulate all the talented peopel at Sesame Street and wish them the best luck in taking all 10 trophies back to the street!

The 44th Daytime Emmy Awards will be held on April 30th, though no broadcast or streaming has been announced.

Labyrinth 2018 Wall Calendar!

Tired of 2017 already, and want it to be 2018? Wouldn't it be great if the goblin king and all the wonderful creatures from Labyrinth were there to make each month magic?

Well say your right words...
I wish, I wish, I wish there was a Labyrinth 2018 calendar ... right now!

Unfortunately, you still have to actually wait until January for 2018, but you can pretend beginning in August when Universe Publishing releases their 2018 Labyrinth Calendar!

You can pre-order from Amazon here. 

Miss Piggy Good 2 Grow tops!

Way back in 2014, we told you Good2Grow was releasing Kermit and Miss Piggy juice caps.

Since then we've seen the Kermit topper but never a Miss Piggy in sight.

That all changed earlier this month as their Miss Piggy toppers have finally been seen on store shelves.

You can find the divine swine topping Good2Grow juices at Toys R Us, your local supermarket, and wherever juice is sold. 

Happy World Puppetry Day!

Check out these excellent behind the scenes video from Muppets Most Wanted! 

Happy World Puppetry Day!

The Muppet performers from 2011's The Muppets

Dark Crystal Soundtrack Record Store Day Exclusive!

This year Record Store Day celebrates it's 10th anniversary of enticing people to visit their local music store with limited edition releases.

 

Past Record Store Day exclusive Muppet releases include The Muppet Movie soundtrack, John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together, and Sesame Road.

This year brings a reissue of the soundtrack to The Dark Crystal.

The Dark Crystal has been released on record before in with the film's original release in 1982. This time, however, Trevor Jone's music for the film will be released on "Crystal Clear" vinyl to represent the crystal itself. 

The cover has also been changed from the original release. It now features the Richard Amsel poster, similar to one used for La-La Land Records' exclusive 2007 CD reissue.

2007 La-La Land Records CD

From the official press release:

The Dark Crystal: The Original Soundtrack features Trevor Jones’ musical score written for the film, arranged specifically for an album listening experience. The album was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra at the legendary Abby road studios in 1982. The album has been reissued on CD in various countries throughout the last 35 years, but this is the first vinyl reissue since the film’s original release.

The Record Store Day exclusive version will be pressed on 140 gram vinyl be limited to 2,000 copies and have an "upgraded 400gsm thick LP Jacket." 

Record Store Day in April 22, 2017. 

Marvel Muppet Babies Omnibus!

Marvel announced that they are reprinting entire the 1985 -1989 run of the Muppet Babies comic series.

Regular Omibus Cover

Just like Marvel's Muppet Omnibus, the issues will come in a large hardcover book with both a regular cover and a limited edition variant cover (based on the original comic's issue 10 cover) by artist Marie Severin.

Limited Edition Omibus Cover

Issue #10 Cover

The Muppet Babies Comic book series was written by Stan Kay, Laura Hitchcock, Bill Prady, and Angelo Decesare, with art by Marie Severin, Jeff Butler, and Dean Yeagle.

As an extra bonus, not only will the omnibus include every Muppet Babies issue, it will also include Marvel's Super Special #32 - The Muppets Take Manhattan. The film that marked the Muppet babies debut!

You may recall, that back in 2014, we covered the Super Special for a Throwback Thursday!

Below this the official Omnibus synopsis 

They’re making their dreams come true — and they’ll do the same for you! It’s all your favorite Muppets, in pint-sized antics from their youth! There’ll be adventure! Romance! Great jokes! And more! Like the ghostly tale of the haunted nursery! The fable of Kermit and the Beanstalk! And the quest for the Idol of Doom! The Muppet Babies will be lost in time and lost in space, they’ll caper in Story Land and they’ll take flight as super heroes! They’ll even end up in a comic book! And your favorite fantasy-loving frog will step into the shoes of some of fiction’s greatest heroes! Plus: Relive the Muppet Babies’ first appearance in an amazing adaptation of The Muppets Take Manhattan! Collecting MUPPET BABIES #1-26 and MARVEL SUPER SPECIAL #32.

680 PGS./All Ages …$75.00

No release date or pre-order link yet, but will keep you posted!

Julie's Greenroom Takes The Stage!

Not only is today St. Paddy's Day, but it also marks another reason to wear green, the debut of the new Jim Henson Company series Julie's Greenroom.

The series was created by Julie Andrews and her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton. Both recently visited Good Morning America to promote the show:

Here is the original teaser announcement:

And the season 1 trailer:

With such a diverse cast, who Julie's favorite? Hugo the Duck!

You can read more about Julie's Greenroon from the New York Times, LA Times and USA Today who take a look at all the guest stars who'll be appearing!

All 13 episodes of the first season are available now on Netflix!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Muppets Art of Coloring Cover!

As we first reported back in September, The Muppet have an adult coloring book coming in May from "Art of Coloring,"

Now, thanks to reader Trevor King, we have our first look at the final cover art!

The book is scheduled to be released On May 2, 2017.

It's now available for pre-order on Amazon. 

Muppet Guys Talking Poster Revealed!

Frank Oz's new documentary "Muppet Guys Talking"  premiered this weekend at the SXSW (South by Southwest) festival.

Thanks to screen rant, not only do we have a first look at the poster, but a muppet guy talking about the making of the poster as well!

Dave Goelz wanted the poster to represent each of the cast members in a way that spoke to the performers hidden beneath the Muppets they puppeteered.

Goelz explained the reasoning behind the poster’s design as follows:

“It was just how do we convey the idea that you’re going to hear from the people under the characters. So, there were two levels of it that intrigued me. I did a lot of sketches of ideas. Hands are an obvious gateway. But if there’s nothing on the hands, there’s no puppet covering it, all of a sudden it’s unmasked. And then if the hand is coming out of a box of some kind, and we’re going to peek into the box, we’re going to find out the story of what makes the hands move.”

But not just any hands would do. Every living cast member pitched in, snapping a series of shots of their own hands in different Muppet performance positions, then sending them to Goelz. From there, a string of Pixar people cam into assist. Friend of the Muppeteers Pete Docter (Up) suggested Ratatouille composer Michael Giacchino, who suggested The Good Dinosaur director Peter Sohn for help composing this poster (see below). “Peter Sohn over at Pixar drew the safe for us,” Goelz said. Then Sohn took the hand shots of the cast, and began to fiddle in photoshop to pull them together into a pleasing picture. “Then he ran up against the wall of his photoshop skills, in terms of getting the color balance of the light sources working and everything,” Goelz explained.

Jerry Nelson’s photo proved a special challenge. By the time the cast snapshots were being taken, Nelson was gone. Thankfully, Bill Baretta (Pepe The Prawn, Bobo) found a photo he’d taken years before that had Nelson and Goelz crouching under a golf cart, the former’s bare hand raised in a Muppet pose for the camera operator’s reference. The original photo had been lost, but the scanned digital copy seen in Muppet Guys Talking allowed Nelson’s history-making hand to be added to the mix. Still, the low-res quality of the scan coupled with it being black and white meant Sohn was at a loss.

Goelz considered perhaps having the hands sketched like the safe, perhaps white on a black background. But Oz (Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear) pushed for the pictures, and a vibrant yellow backdrop. “And I said, ‘Well, I don’t know how you’re going to tie that together,'” Goelz recalled. “How are you going to tie photographs and an ink drawing and a yellow background? But it’s worth trying, so we went down that road.” But to get down that road, they needed one last favor. Goelz shared:

“I got this friend of mine who is a medical illustrator (Cindy Woolley)…medical illustrators illustrate medical textbooks and publications. They might look at a cadaver and draw what’s going on. They might look at a skeleton and do a graphic version of how a joint replacement works, that kind of thing. So she’s really good at drawing people. She’s really good at figuring out how to save a bad photoshop job. So she took the photoshop and just took a whole weekend figuring out how to work it, to get the colors to work. I think when Peter was working on it I switched a couple of arms so they’d be talking to each other. And between Peter Sohn and this lady, Cindy Woolley, they pulled it together. It took a lot of work.”

And all of it was volunteered, Oz noted. “What’s cool is all of these people also helped us for free,” Oz marveled. “They just wanted to be part of it. Dave had such a great idea. And then he talked to Pete, and Pete suggested Michael, who suggested Peter Sohn, and Dave had his friend (Wolley). And that all of this came about like it did is wonderful.” 

“It ended up feeling pretty good,” Goelz concurred. “It felt like it worked pretty well.” He shared the credit with his fellow Muppeteers as well, saying, “All this comes down to the value of a collaboration and how much we love working together.” But for Oz, it’s Goelz who deserves the credit. He said simply, “It’s Dave’s poster and we love it.”

Below is the scene from Muppets Tonight that was crucial in getting the image of Jerry's hand for the poster. (Jump to to 6:05 mark)

Funko Photos

We were Named Funko's "FUNactic of the week"! You can read our interview here and see more photos of the Funko items in the Muppet Stuff collection below:

Muppet Stuff Musuem Funko Showcase:

Muppet Pop:

Muppet Wacky Wobblers:

Sesame Street Pop:

Big Bird and Oscar Pop (Signed by Caroll Spinney):

Labyrinth and Dark Crystal Pop:

Dark Crystal ReAction:

Non Muppet related Items:

Roger Rabbit Pop:

Disney pop:

Deadpool pop (Signed By Rob Liefeld and Stan Lee):

Hanna-Barbera Pop: