Jim Henson: The Biography Paperback Now Available!

Brian Jay Jones' excellent book, Jim Henson: The Biography is now available in paperback!

Changes in the paperback vs hardcover include a line mentioning the new Muppet ABC series and corrections to the minor errors brought to Jones' attention through the MuppetWiki.

These include: 

• Page 138 incorrectly states that a Cinderella series was pitched to CBS. It was actually a series based on Snow White that was pitched to CBS. The fairy tale was changed from Snow White to Cinderella after it was pitched to ABC.
• Page 177 incorrectly lists Featherstone among a group of characters who first appeared in Tales of the Tinkerdee, which the character did not appear in.
• Page 429 incorrectly says that two episodes of The Jim Henson Hour didn't air during the show's original NBC run. Actually, it was three episodes - Episode 110: Secrets of the Muppets, Episode 111: Living with Dinosaurs, and Episode 112: Food.
• Page 429 also refers to Episode 105: First Show as "The Ratings Game". "The Ratings Game" was one of many episode titles made up for an episode guide in MuppetZine that found its way to various websites and were the titles listed on Muppet Wiki until early 2013 when the official titles for the MuppeTelevision segments were found.

You can order your copy from Amazon here. 

Sesame Street Launches Sesame Studios!

Today Sesame Street launched Sesame Studios, their new Youtube channel featuring  
"original stories and songs, full of new friends, all with the same educational goodness you'd expect from Sesame Street."

No existing Muppet or human Sesame characters are featured, instead your host is Marvie - a green motion capture puppet, which Sesame describes as "your lively host and new best friend." 

Entertainment Tonight spoke with creators behind the new digital channel:

“Sesame Street was the original disrupter in kids’ media,” said Steve Youngwood, Chief Operating Officer of Sesame Workshop. “When Sesame Street began, [creator] Joan Ganz Cooney said, ‘It’s not whether kids are learning from television, but what they are learning.’ The same is true today with preschoolers and YouTube Kids. We are a creative workshop with a 45 year history of breaking new ground. Sesame Studios represents another new frontier for us; one where we can bring our educational expertise to an emerging platform for our audiences.” 

Sesame Studios will be featured on the YouTube Kids app, which has exceeded over 10 billion views in the last year. Ellen DeGeneres also recently launched a new playlist on the app to showcase her favorite Kids of YouTube, from singers to dancers to “the smartest of smarties.”

You can check out the initial videos below:

You can subscribe to their channel here to see all the new Sesame Studio goodies as new video are uploaded each week. 

Labyrinth Worm Plush Slippers!

Ello! Check out these new slippers from Toy Vault featuring the Worm from Labyrinth. 

The perfect footware while having yourself a nice cuppa tea.

It would be nice if one was was the misses instead of both being the just the Worm, though. 

It's available now from Entertainment Earth. If you want to go that that way click here. 

May The 4th Be With You!

Happy Star Wars Day from Animal Fett!

Three New Labyrinth Comics Coming Soon!

Just when you think there couldn't be any more new Labyrinth items celebrating the film's 30th Anniversary, along comes Archaia who has announced not one, not two, but three new comics!

The first, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: 30th Anniversary Special, will be out in August. The 48-page comic will be comprised of short stories based on some of the ancillary characters like Sir Didymus, Ludo, and Ambrosius. Most of the stories were previously released for past Free Comic Book Days, though two new stories will be included as well.

Labyrinth: Tales will follow in September. The book will be a square-bound picture children’s style book featuring short stories illustrated by Cory Godbey. Some of the stories will also be featured in the 30th Anniversary Special, but more in a more kid-friendly format. This will be available at book stores such as Barnes & Noble, while the 30th Anniversary Special will only be at comic book stores.

In November, Archaia will release Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Artist Tribute. It'll be an oversized art book featuring work by comic artists Mike Allred, Dave McKean, Eric Powell, Jill Thompson, David Mack, Faith Erin Hicks as well as online fans who created art based on their love of the Labyrinth world.

For more info, be sure to check out Entertainment Weekly’s interview with BOOM/Archaia editor Sierra Hahn.

"No, YOU Shut Up!" Shuts Up!

The Henson Alternative show No, YOU Shut Up! has been cancelled by the Fusion Network. 

For those unfamiliar with the show, No, You Shut Up! was a news talk show created by the former head writer and executive producer of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and produced by The Jim Henson Company under its Henson Alternative banner.

The series starred Henson puppeteers Drew Massey, Colleen Smith, Ted Michaels, Michael Oosterom, and Victor Yerrid and featured many others during it's 3 1/2 year run including Julianne Buescher, Tyler Bunch,Artie Esposito, Bruce Lanoil, Paul Rugg, and Allan Trautman. 

Star Paul F. Tompkins posted this thank you to the cast and crew on this website yesterday:

On Friday afternoon, I got a phone call from our producers at The Henson Company, telling me that No, YOU Shut Up! had been canceled by the Fusion network after three-and-a-quarter seasons.

It has been my privilege to work alongside the people who made this show happen every week. I am proud of the work we’ve done. The show really made me laugh!

Thanks to my old friends Nelson Walters, who ran the show, and Bryan Paulk, our co-executive producer, who could have taken other jobs but came aboard because they believed in me. Thanks to our writers Kevin Haulihan and CeCe Pleasants for their hard work and unfailing enthusiasm. These four people wrote the show. That’s it. Four people.

Thanks to the puppeteers, Drew Massey, Ted Michaels, Michael Oosterom, Colleen Smith and Victor Yerrid. I met all of them through this show and now can’t imagine not having worked with them forever. They made me laugh so, SO much. I am glad, at least, that I get to continue playing with them on my podcast from time to time.

Thanks to our researchers, Albro Lundy and Maggie Monahan. They were the entirety of our research department and they never complained. And they contributed far more to the show than just news clips. 

Thanks to all the folks at Henson and Fusion who believed in the show. We had hardly any notes over the years, and what notes we had never intruded on the creative process. I’m grateful for that. I hope that Fusion will keep the episodes up on YouTube for people to see.

Thanks to our crew– cameras, sound, lights, editing– for rolling with all of our weird ideas, especially considering we never got to have proper rehearsals. Usually a show like this would have at least ten times the staff that we had, and have the luxury of time to work it all out well in advance of actual shooting. To produce a topical show is a lot of work, and the fact that NYSU got it done with such a tiny amount of personnel leaves me awestruck. 

Thanks to all of our amazing guests over the years. I can’t believe the people we got to be on this show. Thanks especially to Scott Aukerman,John Hodgman, and Patton Oswalt, who promoted the show even when they weren’t on it and without being asked to do so..

Thanks to David Javerbaum, who created the show, for thinking of me for the job in the first place. It’s a big deal when someone just offers you a job outright– a HUGE deal– and I am grateful to him forever for this one. Television is, for most of us who work in it, a career that involves many many many jobs as the years go on. Not all of them have a lasting impact on your life. This one will.

Finally, thanks to the people who watched the show. On behalf of everyone who worked on this program, we love you.

See you further on down the road.

Full episodes of the show are available on their youtube channel. 

New Labyrinth Story For Free Comic Book Day!

Saturday is free comic book day and once agian Boom's sampler will feature a new Labyrinth story!

Look for it at your local comic shop Saturday!