The Jim Henson Company is working on a new adventure series that will team Walking Dead star Norman Reedus with Brian and Wendy Froud.
Intended for a family audience, the primetime adventure series, will feature an entirely new universe of creatures created by the Frouds.
“Norman Reedus, the Frouds and the Jim Henson Company coming together to create a show is the mashup of my dreams,” said president of TV at The Jim Henson Company, Halle Stanford. “Norman is an artist, and when I suggested to him, what if we create a series with the Frounds together that explores his love of magical creatures, he was so excited.”
Reedus calls that “an understatement. They are masters in the fantasy world-building space. I mean, a show about goblins, trolls and otherworldly creatures? There’s nobody in the universe better suited for that than the Henson Company.”
“We want to make hope cool it is an urban fantasy. It will be a magical world. But I feel like Norman is going to help us bring the ‘punk’ back in ‘hope punk.’ I also think that people kind of like that punk in Henson’s legacy. The Muppets were the underdogs, our Labyrinth Goblin King with David Bowie was so cool…"
“When you say ‘Jim Henson,’ it invokes something in people,” she adds. “So I’m hoping those that felt inspired by him, like Norman Reedus, will look to us as a new home to create these types of stories that are transformative and entertaining, and having something to say, but also wanting to kind of push the medium of television.”
Stanford also talked to Variety about other Henson projects including Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, Harriet the Spy, Word Party, and The Dark Crystal: The Age of Resistance.
“I just definitely felt the world needed more Fraggles. We needed more hope right now in the world,” says Stanford, who has clocked nearly 25 years at the company via various stints there. “We did a lot of talking to kids and teachers and parents, and we came up with a lot of topics that you can see them in the show. A lot having to do with science, and talking about sustainability, social justice and repairing problems that we create. We have a lot of conversation about identity. We discovered there’s a lot of anxiety in children.
“It feels so true to Fraggle Rock as it’s made by fans,” she adds. “They were very aware of how we had to transform it for a modern-day audience, not just with the topics we’re talking about, but the sophistication of comedy, the way that it’s filmed, making it exciting.”
Even though Netflix canceled The Dark Crystal: The Age of Resistance, Stanford hasn’t given up on figuring out a new way into that franchise.
“We are nimble, we are resilient. We are ready to jump. The minute anyone would like to jump back into Thra, it is a world that we will continue to build on and think about,” she added that the Henson Company is eager to expand further into family-oriented primetime fare in fantasy and science fiction.
The Jim Henson Company has hired a new Global Licensing Manager.
Shane Mang recently joined The Jim Henson Company as Executive Director of Global Consumer Products where is job will be overseeing licensing activities for beloved brands, classic franchises and upcoming new properties.
Mang joins The Jim Henson Company from DHX Media, where he was their Business Development Manager – Americas. During his time at DHX he managed Teletubbies, Mega Man, Caillou, Inspector Gadget, Degrassi and more. As part of his duties at DHX included managing a network of partners including licensees and manufacturers, licensing agencies, sales teams, toy distributors, and mass and specialty North American retailers. Prior to that, Mang served as Manager, Licensing and Distribution at Nerd Corps Entertainment.
Mang will report to Chris Lytton, COO & EVP of Business Affairs who had this to say about him:
“Shane is a best in class executive with a deep knowledge of the licensing and merchandising industry and the key players in the field. His expertise and enthusiasm are sure to drive growth across the Company’s entire global consumer products lineup,” said Lytton.
According to Animation Magazine Mang will be in charge of animated properties such as Dot. which recently renewed for a second season launching fall 2018 (produced by Industrial Brothers in association with The Jim Henson Company and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation); the Emmy-nominated Dinosaur Train,Doozers, which wil debut its second season this summer on Hulu; the Emmy-nominated Splash and Bubbles (co-produced with Herschend Studios); and Word Party.
Mang will also oversee classic Henson titles like Farscape, Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth, and The Dark Crystal.
Once again I was shocked by how little, and yet how much Muppet merch will be available - if you looked hard enough!
I got my Muppet sixth sense ready to go and scoured the Javits Center to find as much as I could!
This year I decided to break everything up by company/brand. First up is Sesame Workshop. Sesame Street: As a consistent brand for 47 years Sesame Street items were spread out all over the show in many different categories.
Vivitar:
Has a set of walkie talkies and a musician kit:
The walkie talkies are available now at TOys R Us, the rest at Barnes & Noble. Kalan: Has lanyards, buttons, keychains, and more!
Below are some some shots from their catalog.
They can be found at Toys R US, Dollar General, 5 Below, and more.
Sun-Staches: These Sesame Street glasses,
are available now on Sun Staches website, but no retail location has been announced yet.
Delta Children: Has a line of Sesame children's furniture:
They're primarily sold online at Amazon, Target, Walmart, and through Delta Children's website. Thunder Press/Silver Dolphin: Has a line of Sesame activity and picture books:
Roommates:
Continues to have their Sesame wall decor.
Available on their website.
Bendon: Sesame Imagine Ink Activity book
Identity Games:
Sesame Find it!
a
Elmo's World Hide and Seek will be available this spring, while you can find the Sesame Street Find it! this summer at Barnes & Noble.
Little Kids:
These bubble machines are available now. Gund: Has a lot of Sesame plush, many has been out for some time:
These Sesame friends beanbag size plush came out late last year:
New this year are these bedtime Elmo and Cookie Monster:
Baseball Elmo:
Lunch box Cookie Monster and Elmo that come with all the plush food below:
Medicon: On the adult size of things, Meicon has some amazingly detailed non-articulated Sesame Street figures coming out this summer:
WowWee:
Their Elmoji robot is aimed at helping preschool kids learn to code using Sesame Street emoji's!
You can check out in action below from this year's CES show:
and learn more about it at Gizmodo. It will be available later this year.
Hasbro: Wrapping our trip to the street, it seems Hasbro is releasing a new version of Tickle Me Elmo.
Our friends at ToughPigs.com were able to check out the Hasbro showroom where they snapped this photo of it:
The Jim Henson Company: Dinosaur Train: Jazwares:
Has a whole line of Dinosaur Train products on the way and not all of it will be available on the US.
The "All Aboard Engine" and other cars (not shown) in it's scale are only being released internationally.
The Mini Train is available now:
While the plush and mini figures will be available this fall at Walmart
For $3 each, you'll also be able to collect 12 blind boxed hackable dinos at Walmart this fall as well. Toy Factory:
Having good claw machine and arcade skills will be the only way to catch these Dinosaur Train plush.
Coming in March / April to US & Canada arcades, claw machines, and amusement parks.
Word Party: Snap Toys!: Netflix's first Henson show kicks off it's 3rd season with a line of plush:
The small plush will run around $10, the large $20. They will be available late spring April / May-ish.
The talking versions will run around $25 and be out in the fall. They don't have major retail outlet yet, but you be able get them at Snaptoys.com
The Dark Crystal & Labyrinth: Funko:
Other then the already released Dark Crystal & Labyrinth Pop! there wasn't anything new at Funko which was surprising.
Their Dark Crystal Pop! figures won "Collectable of The Year" and "People's Choice of the year" at the show!
Which was news to even a few of Funko employees at the show!
Super 7:
OK, here's some toy industry scoop. The ReAction line was started by Super 7 and was then co-produced/ released by Funko and Super 7. This year they decided to part ways and Super 7 regained complete control.
That means ReAction are now just with Super 7, and not joint with Funko. Super 7 does not have the licence to make items based on Jim Henson Company properties. Those were Funko's and came as part of their joint deal.
This means that the Dark Crystal line is done for now. They'd would like to produce more, but they would have to bring it up with Funko, which is still possible.
In terms of the figures that were produced, you may have noticed that many of the carded figured don't stay on the card very long. The glue issue has been addressed and fixed and any future runs will be secure to the boards. The Loyal Subjects:
More scoop! The Loyal Subjects has teamed up with the Jim Henson Company
to produce Dark Crystal & Labyrinth blind box figures!
While none were on display they should be out for next year's Toy Fair as they're scheduled to be released until summer 2018!
There will also be a 2018 NYCC exclusive.
McFarland Toys: Will release a large 7" Labyrinth Jareth, The Goblin King figure next fall/ winter.
It will retail for $19.99
There is also word they are making The Dark Crystal's Jen & Kira:
Fraggle Rock: Super Impulse: Has a whole line of Fraggle stuff on the way:
Medium Red and Gobo plush:
Small plush featuring Red, Gobo, Wembley, Boober, Monkey and a Doozer:
Here is a height comparison to the large and medium size plush:
Look closely and you'll see that the Fraggle's hair has been laced with glitter type substance!
When you squeeze the large Red she talks!
When you push the large Gobo's hand, he sings the Fraggle Rock theme song!
The small, medium, & large plush will be available in April/May and cost around $13, $15, and $20. Red & Gogo keychains:
will cost around $8. Vinyl blind bags:
will be available in the fall and cost around $2 each. The entire Fraggle line will be available at Thinkgeek. Toy Factory: Again having good claw machine and arcade skills will be the only way to get these Fraggle Rock plush.
They come in two sizes and will coming in March / April to US & Canada arcades, claw machines, and amusement parks.
Manhattan Toy:
Still has Fraggle license as well, though it no longer contains Mokey, Sprocket, Jr Gorg, or the Doozers.
NECA: Has a line of large Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figures based on the 1990 movie, in which the characters were designed by Jm Henson's Creature Shop.
They are extremely detailed.
Donatello is out now, the rest will released through the year and cost around US $100 each! The Muppets:
Monogram International: Had their previously released Fozzie Key Holder, but it's didn't seem like they had any other Muppet items
Ty: Had their previously released Kermit Beanie Buddy, but stil no other Muppets.
Diamond Select Toys: Showed off their newly released Muppet items:
And showed off their upcoming releases as well, including these Muppet Show tumblers:
Those will be available in March.
Series 3 of DST's Muppet Action Figures will be available sometime around May. Packaged together are Rowlf, Mahna Mahna and Crazy Harry:
Interestingly, I was informed that Crazy Harry wasn't allowed to include dynamite, a canon, or any other instruments of destruction, so he comes with a camera instead.
Floyd and Janice:
Miss Piggy, will come with FooFoo, and a Penguin, though NOT Gloria Estefan:
Piggy will also come with with something she's always wanted....her own Walk of Fame star!
And a frame that I'm assuming will have a picture of Kermit.
Series 4 will be available in late summer and include The Swedish Chef, a Chicken, and a boatload of accessories!
Sam Eagle and Rizzo:
Dr. Teeth and Zoot:
Unlike Series one and two, there will be no barebones Toys R Us / Barnes & Noble versions. They will only be available at comic, specialty stores, and online like Amazon. We were also urged to stress that pre-ordering is HIGHLY encouraged to help continue the line. Sun-Staches: In addition to their Sesame line, Sun Staches also has a line of Muppet glasses:
They come in Miss Piggy:
Kermit:
and Animal:
They will be available later this year on Sunstaches.com - retail is as yet unknown There will also have a exclusive D23Miss Piggy version. Goma Toys: Has a series of large vinylmation like figures called Disney Shorts available in Mexico:
The first series features Kermit!
This will be available in the US Late 2017 early 2018 for now just Mexico and Amazon.mx and are $9.99 each. Well that's about wraps it up another Toy Fair, but before we go - while not specifically Henson related, over at The Coop's booth:
I happened to spot this Tribble purse:
It could be easily remade into Fizzgig. If anyone at The Jim Henson Company is reading this - that idea is a freebie.
And that wraps up our fabulous 2017 Toy Fair coverage. Ciao!
