Monday Morning Inspiration: Plane Crazy Storyboard Pages

This story sketch was drawn by legendary animator Ub Iwerks during the production of the very first Mickey Mouse cartoon.

Mark Sonntag posted these fantastic storyboard pages from Plane Crazy (the very first Mickey Mouse cartoon ever made) on his Tag Toonz blog about a week ago. They are really good, especially considering the crude nature of animation at that time. A lot of people don't know this, but storyboard is a process that was invented at the Disney studio. As Mark points out, actual storyboards weren't in use at Disney until about 1932 so these are technically just "story sketches" created by the legnedary Ub Iwerks, who helped Walt Disney create Mickey Mouse.

Spotting this was kind of timely for me because I'm currently reading Neal Gabler's Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination. I've read several biographies of Disney, but I think Gabler's is the definiative one. If you have an interest in Disney or animation in general and haven't read it yet, you should.

Studio DC: Almost Live

Disney Channel superstar Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana) sings with the Electric Mayhem on Studio DC: Almost Live.

I didn't catch this past weekend's Studio DC: Almost Live!, but it's the latest component of Disney's strategy to reintroduce the Muppets and make them culturally relevant again (see previous post). As if to remove any doubt that they're serious about making the whole Muppet thing work this time (really!), they've brought out their big guns - Disney Channel megastars like Miley Cyrus, Ashley Tisdale and the Jonas Brothers - to co-star with the Muppets (I'm told that if you're under 16 years of age these people are, like, the best thing ever).

For those of you who like your Muppet analysis with a side of snark, check out what the Tough Pigs have to say about it. As for me, well, I'll just say that a world where Kermit the Frog needs the endorsement of a 15 year pop star in order to succeed is a world I don't want to live in anymore (sigh).

Look for a second "Studio DC" special with the Muppets and more Disney Channel tween stars this October.

Weekend Puppet News Omnibus

I've had an insanely busy week, hence the lack of updates. To make up for it here's a quick run down of recent news and developments from around the puppet interwebs:

• Potter Puppet Pals have been nominated for a YouTube Award in the comedy category for their video The Mysterious Ticking Noise. You can show your support and vote for it at www.youtube.com/ytawards07.
  
  
• Disney has green lighted a new Muppet movie.
  
  
• Puppet meets puppet when Stephen Colbert interviews Emperor Palpatine in the latest phase of Brian Hogg's grand Colbert puppet scheme (if you like it, Digg it).
  
  
• Canadian indie rock darling and occasional puppeteer Feist is teaming up with the acclaimed Old Trout Puppet Workshop for her next music video.

Well, I think that about catches me up. I'll be back with more soon!

Early Disney Animatronics

Julie Andrews sings with the first animatronic motion picture puppet - a robin.

Quick question...what's the very first motion picture ever to feature an animatronic puppet? The Dark Crystal? Nope. The Empire Strikes Back? Guess again. Believe it or not, the answer is actually Mary Poppins!

Walt Disney of course pioneered the field of animatronics and, as this short video about early Disney animatronics explains, Mary Poppins was the very first Disney film to utilize Walt's brand new toys. Anybody else notice how the contraption being worn by a man in a chair around the 1:10 mark of the video is really, really similar to a modern motion capture rig? And this was the early `60s!

Say what they will about Disney, there's no disputing that he was a man who was way, way ahead of his time.

Finding Nemo Puppet Musical Video

Puppeteer Lexy Fridell poses with Dory, her puppet alter ego in Finding Nemo: The Musical at Disney World.

If you like puppetry - and once again I ask, what are you doing reading this blog if you don't? - you have got to drop what you're doing and watch this terrific video about the Finding Nemo musical at Disney World, which has been mentioned here on the blog before (see previous post). The video includes some great clips from the show along with interviews with puppeteer Lexy Fridell (Dory), designer Michael Curry (best known for his work on Lion King) and writers Robert Lopez (co-creator of Avenue Q) and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

The show has been completely sold out four times a day since it opened and it looks absolutely stunning, with dozens of giant puppets and puppeteers singing and performing puppets while suspended in mid-air on cables (sometimes upside down!).

Thanks to the always-informative Brian Stokes for the great link!

The Muppet Mobile Lab Visits Pixar

Bunsen and Beaker pay a visit to Pixar earlier this week.

The Muppet Mobile Lab (see previous post) rolled in to Pixar for a visit on Tuesday and there's a photoset with pics available at Flickr as well as video from the visit on Blip.tv. It looks like Steve Whitmire was there performing Kermit too. Be sure to check out all the notes on the Flickr photos, they show just show detailed Bunsen and Beaker's ride really is.

A big thank you goes out to Dawn Endico for taking the pics and video and sharing them!

Muppet Mobile Lab Video

Videos of test runs for Disney's Muppet Mobile Labs have surfaced on the web.

Following up on yesterday's post about the new Muppet Mobile Labs at Disney's California Adventure theme park, three different videos of Bunsen and Beaker in action have surfaced. You can find one each at The Disney Blog, The Muppet Newsflash and Google Video. This looks really awesome, not that we should be surprised considering how much work and money Disney has poured in to this project.

Can you imagine when they get to the point where they can have Kermit, Fozzie and the rest of the gang walking down Main Street USA? I mean c'mon, how cool would that be?

Jim Henson, I think, would be impressed.

Taking Muppets to the Next Level

New "living characters" Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker greet guests at Disneyland.

Walt Disney Imagineering is using new technology to take the Muppets to whole new level. They've created free-roaming, interactive animatronic versions of Muppet characters Beaker and Bunsen Honeydew (link via Pidgeonblog). What makes these new versions of Beaker and Bunsen unique is that not only are they not tied to a specific location or attraction, but they're fully interactive and capable of "seeing" and "talking" to tourists at Disney theme parks without a visible puppeteer in sight, much like Disney's Turtle Talk With Crush digital puppetry attraction.

The roving Muppet Labs attraction is part of Disney's "Living Character Initiative", an effort to produce realistically interactive characters that park guests can interact with. No video of Bunsen and Beaker in action has surfaced yet, but most of the Disney and Muppet fan sites have been buzzing about this attraction ever since word of it first leaked out and it looks like it will be a big hit with Disney theme park visitors. Imagineering is testing the characters in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot at Disney's California Adventure through this weekend. No word yet on when they will become a permanent attraction at the park.

Cross-posted from PuppetBuilding.com.

New Muppet Mini-Series?

Kermit the Frog may be in for a busy year...one report claims Disney is likely to greenlight a brand new Muppet mini-series.

More information rumours are surfacing about the proposed new Muppet show that Disney is reportedly considering. TVSeriesFinale.com says that the recently-shot 2007 Muppet Presentation Pilot might be developed in to a new mini-series. The site also says that unnamed sources have indicated to them that it's very likely the the mini-series will be green lit and quickly moved into production. According to the report, if that happens the mini-series could be on air before the end of the year and if successful could possibly lead to a new regular series.

As always, consider this all rumour until there is some kind of official announcement. Still, things are starting to look up for Muppet fans in 2007.

Thanks to Brian for the tip!

Disney Characters Get New Heads

Mickey and Minnie Mouse with their new animatronic heads at the Dream Along with Mickey show at the Magic Kingdom.

With all the animatronics technology at Disney's disposal, this is something I am surprised they didn't do years ago...turn their costume characters in to full body animatronic puppets with fully articulated faces. Well, the lip sync and eye blinks are likely prerecorded so perhaps these aren't technically puppets, but it's still a good idea and a great use of animatronics. It looks really good!

Disney previews Finding Nemo puppet musical

A scene from the new Finding Nemo musical Disney is staging in Florida.

Disney previewed their new Finding Nemo musical (see previous post) that's coming to the company's Animal Kingdom theme park in Florida. Some video clips can be found at LaughingPlace.com. I'm not quite sure this will be the Lion King-esque master piece some people are expecting, but it looks great and the puppets are fantastic!

Disney uses a lot of puppetry techniques to bring the Nemo characters to life in their theme parks. One example is the Turtle Talk with Crush attraction, which uses state-of-the-art digital puppetry to allow animated Pixar characters to interact with an audience in real-time.

Muppet Wizard of Oz trailer online

The trailer for ABC's Muppet Wizard of Oz that aired Christmas Day has made it online (Tough Pigs has a shot-by-shot summary of the trailer available as well). I have to admit that I was not very enthusiastic about this when I first heard about it, but if the trailer is any indication this is going to be a very funny film.

What's the new Pepe catch phrase everyone will be quoting next year? My money says it'll be "what happens in Emerald City...stays in Emerald City."