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selenak1.) Angel the Series: Smile Time. Pure genius. Not least because in addition to all the hilarity, they didn't forget to make what the puppets do genuinenly scary. Also, writer David Fury playing the puppet-played puppeteer is one of the best inside gags around. But the crowning achievement of the episode is of course puppet!Angel, having the best Angel/Spike fight ever, finally asking Nina the werewolf for a date and vamping out. GENIUS.
2.) Augsburger Puppenkiste: Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer. The puppeteers of the Augsburger Puppenkiste are responsible for many an enjoyable dramatisation of German children's books, but this one, of Michael Ende's first novel for children, is a well deserved classic of classics. Ende, who disliked or downright hated the movie version of The Never-Ending Story and had mixed feelings about the rest, nonetheless adored this one as did and do many children watching it on tv or dvd, including yours truly. And I can still sing the songs, too. *intones* "Eine Insel mit zwei Bergen...."
3.) Farscape. The entire series, obviously. The short version of the conversation one keeps having with mundanes always goes like this: "But muppets! How can I take sci fi with muppets seriously?" "The muppets will make you cry.". The longer version involves sitting the mundane in front of the episode The Way We Weren't. Counter arguments are invalid.
4.) The Empire Strikes Back: Yoda. And one more for Jim Henson. It's easy to forget these days, but in the early 80s Yoda was pretty revolutionary as far as aliens go, definitely not a man in a suit anymore, and never less than entirely believable. Also: I'm pretty much indifferent to most issues that get the classic SW crowd upset; I couldn't care less whether Han shoots first, and I dig that look at all the other planets celebrating the Emperor's downfall at the end of RotJ, etc. However: GCI Yoda never did it for me. There's nothing to be done about the late Frank Oz' demise, alas, but still: next time George L. gets the urge to reedit the films, he should insert puppet Yoda in AotC and RotS, I tell you. Because puppet Yoda is the best.
5.) With puppets like that, you know you should be glad!. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
2.) Augsburger Puppenkiste: Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer. The puppeteers of the Augsburger Puppenkiste are responsible for many an enjoyable dramatisation of German children's books, but this one, of Michael Ende's first novel for children, is a well deserved classic of classics. Ende, who disliked or downright hated the movie version of The Never-Ending Story and had mixed feelings about the rest, nonetheless adored this one as did and do many children watching it on tv or dvd, including yours truly. And I can still sing the songs, too. *intones* "Eine Insel mit zwei Bergen...."
3.) Farscape. The entire series, obviously. The short version of the conversation one keeps having with mundanes always goes like this: "But muppets! How can I take sci fi with muppets seriously?" "The muppets will make you cry.". The longer version involves sitting the mundane in front of the episode The Way We Weren't. Counter arguments are invalid.
4.) The Empire Strikes Back: Yoda. And one more for Jim Henson. It's easy to forget these days, but in the early 80s Yoda was pretty revolutionary as far as aliens go, definitely not a man in a suit anymore, and never less than entirely believable. Also: I'm pretty much indifferent to most issues that get the classic SW crowd upset; I couldn't care less whether Han shoots first, and I dig that look at all the other planets celebrating the Emperor's downfall at the end of RotJ, etc. However: GCI Yoda never did it for me. There's nothing to be done about the late Frank Oz' demise, alas, but still: next time George L. gets the urge to reedit the films, he should insert puppet Yoda in AotC and RotS, I tell you. Because puppet Yoda is the best.
5.) With puppets like that, you know you should be glad!. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-10 12:58 pm (UTC)Oh, Pilot. *sob*
Have you seen the new Muppets movie? It is an argument along these lines as well. Not the sci-fi part, but the writers/directors/producers did a wonderful Henson-worthy job of making the Muppets well-rounded with strengths and weaknesses and all.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-10 06:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-10 08:12 pm (UTC)Hell YEAH! Whoever wrote this was smoking the good crack!
and also ditto on Jim Knopf. :) I loved that show as a kid and even when I read the books later on, I had the images from the tv show to supplement the ones in my head. There's a great example of a successful adaptation. Unlike The Neverending Story, which I thought at the time was an enjoyable movie by itself but had very little to do with the book. The book is in an entirely different league. I wasn't surprised that Michael Ende wanted his name removed from that project.