Idea Man - Blog Posts

I finally was able to watch “Jim Henson Idea Man”

I adored it omg. I’m such a huge fan of the muppets and the other creations of Jim Henson and look up to him so much as a creator. It’s amazing to know that there were/are other people out there who feel like their time is going by just too quickly to be able to create everything they want to. No matter how much time I get, the things I create with that time, no matter if they change the world or not, are worth it.

That said, here’s the sketchbook page I filled while watching the documentary!

I wrote down some of my favorite quotes, but I know my handwriting isn’t always legible.

“The fact that he did Sesame Street instead of a series of nightclubs”

“Gretl is back from the moon!”

“Train of thought editing.”

“I’ve learned to walk around in my own head. That may sound silly to you but it’s been very, very helpful to me.”

“He wasn’t scared of dying… he believed there was something else there.”

“He wasn’t a musician but he thought like one.”

All that aside, thoughts on the funky puppet guy who takes up the bottom half of the page? Hair or no hair?

I just watched the new Jim Henson documentary…

Overall it was very good, well paced, great visuals and editing. I learned a lot about Jim Henson and the company that I didn’t before and more behind the scenes that I hadn’t seen/heard which is always a treat!

I cried three times. 🫣👌 I had to fight the primal urge to pause the documentary and point out to my family where and what movie/show/episode every clip was from. This was my “did you know Viggo Mortensen actually broke his toe” scene.

I will say, I do think they very QUICKLY went over the disney merger and didn’t even mention the fallout with Disney after Jim’s death.

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The main problem I had was that SOME puppeteers got spot lights, interviews or arrows pointing out the individuals. And while I appreciate that these individuals got some recognition (which they 100% should), I think the documentary should have been consistent and do this with every new important/fundamental puppeteer to the film.

I alreay have!!! I was able to EASILY point out Karen Prell, Louise Gold, Richard Hunt, Jerry Nelson, Kevin Clash, Steve whitmire, etc. But an average viewer wouldn’t know who is who and what they contributed to the company!

I just think it’s intriguing who they chose to highlight and who they left out.

And I’ve noticed this happen in other muppet documentaries, like “Street Gang,” where they barely glossed over Richard Hunt and Jerry Nelson’s contributions to the show. (I’ve mentioned this problem here before. (Queer erasure during pride month? 🙄))

It would be such an easy problem to fix! Just a quick arrow to point out any new puppeteer or cast member to the Jim Henson Company. Maybe list their job/their characters so a main stream audience could identify them.

I can think of several founding members who are still alive today that were not interviewed. Maybe these people were asked to come in, IDK, but I would have loved to hear from more people you don’t hear from often.

I could definitely tell the documentary was really trying to avoid the “Steve Whitmire” sized elephant in the room, even though he was in SO MANY shots. I can guarantee that if he was still with the company he would have been featured heavily in the documentary.

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One last thing…

They interviewed Michael Frith, where was my girl Kathryn Mullen?? (His wife.) She hasn’t done anything in over a decade, are you okay?? Blink if you need help. 👁️👄👁️😐😑😐😑