Finally, after months of waiting, here it is!
Jim Henson's Creature Shop animatronics!
These will be a series of videos where we'll cover several animatronics and puppets made
by the amazing Creature shop!
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And now, here are five animatronics and suits made by the Jim Henson Creature Shop!
Labyrinth Hoggle
Jim Henson's and George Lucas's Labyrinth might be a much-loved film nowadays, but it
was not appreciated at all at the time.
When the film debuted in 1986, it had a poor performance at the box office; Fortunately,
people have learned to appreciate it, and the film has won a great following.
Labyrinth has a great story, fantastic effects, and incredible characters.
Who can forget the Goblin King played by David Bowie or Sarah played by Jennifer Connelly.
And, of course, the endless number of creatures that appear throughout the movie.
Among these creatures is Hoggle, a Dwarf who becomes a loyal friend of Sarah's after he
defies his master Jareth to accompany her on her quest.
Hoggle was voiced by Brian Henson and performed by Shari Weiser, and he was, of course, an
animatronic suit.
This animatronic was the most advanced animatronic created by the Jim Henson Creature shop at
the time, and it was also the most technologically elaborate having 18 electric motors.
Controlling Hoggle was a challenge that required five performers.
The first of these performers was Shari Weiser, who was inside the suit, coordinating all
of the character's body movements.
The other four puppeteers controlled all of the facial structures remotely.
But of course, five performers trying to get one character out of one puppet was a very
tough thing.
So basically, what it takes is a lot of rehearsing and getting to know each other so they could
be perfectly in sync.
Not only is controlling the animatronic hard but also interacting with it can be a challenge.
At the early stages of filming, stars Connelly and Bowie found it difficult to interact naturally
with the puppets they shared most of their scenes with, mainly because what they say
doesn't come from their mouths but from the side of the set.
But by the end of the film, it wasn't a challenge anymore.
Jim Henson knew that Hoggle was their most complex character, so he really wanted him
to be a big part of the film; that was why he became such an important supporting character
in the end.
Now, it is practically a policy in the Jim Henson Creature Shop that all, or at least
most of the costumes, props, and animatronics, are sent back to the shop after they're done
with the production photoshoots and public appearances.
The Henson family attempts to archive all of its puppets and animatronics, and it is
very rare for one to be out of the family's collection.
So it stands to reason that one of their most advanced animatronics should be archived in
the creature shop, right?
Well, that's not the case with Hoggle, After production wrapped, the Labyrinth crew packed
up the Hoggle puppet and shipped it off.
But for whatever reason, it got lost during the flight, and for a while, it remained abandoned.
But it thankfully made its way to the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama.
This store purchases unclaimed bags after the airlines search ninety days for the original
owner and then resells their contents.
And they obtained Hoggle the same way they get all these lost luggage items that are
for sale in the store.
But staff knew they had found something special, so they made Hoggle a permanent part of their
museum.
Staff says that they have heard from the Henson production company a handful of times over
the years since they've had Hoggle, but they just want to make sure that he's well taken
care of.
Which he is because the owners even had had a master doll repair him, and now he is completely
restored and displayed, front and center in the Alabama store.
TMNT I / Ninja Turtle Suit Animatronics
Let's go back to the 80s and 90s when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ruled the world.
These characters created by Kevin Eastman y Peter Laird were so popular that they could
be found everywhere, from toys to animated series, video games, costumes, and of course,
movies.
In March of 1990, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live-action film debuted.
This movie was a huge box office success, being the highest-grossing independent film
up to that time.
And a big part of this success was due to the work that the Jim Henson Creature Shop
did on the Turtles!
They were in charge of bringing Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michaelangelo to life!
These suits were created in the North London Creature Shop, which was open from 1978 to
2005.
To create these suits, the performers were first chosen.
Then a very accurate lifecast was created out of these performers and made them into
fiberglass molds.
The design of the turtles was made out of clay and made to fit the cast shape, and finally,
the latex parts were produced.
To create the animatronic heads, a frame made out of fiberglass was made, and then multiple
servo motors were integrated to be able to create the many facial expressions.
These masks were some of the most advanced animatronic masks at the time.
This head full of servos was capable of emulating an endless number of human expressions and
was worn just like a helmet.
The battery that powered the motors was hidden in the shell.
This allowed the actor to have maximum freedom of movement and comfort.
The facial expressions were controlled remotely by a puppeteer with a special hand control
full of different buttons.
This control allowed the puppeteer to create all types of different expressions on the
animatronic.
The expressions were programmed by computer.
Thanks to the many servos, expressions like anger or happiness could be recreated on the
helmet.
And not only that but micro-expressions like the eyebrow movement or the character's blinks.
One of the animatronic's more impressive functions was the lipsync.
This function worked through an infrared sensor that detected the shape of the puppeteer's
mouth remotely and then emulated it on the animatronic head in real-time.
As we said before, doing a credible interpretation is such a challenge because the suit performer
and the animatronic puppeteer have to be completely in sync so they can combine the face and body
movements perfectly.
These animatronic suits were very impressive!
But what happened to them after they were used for the film?
Fortunately, several of the costumes were saved and remained in perfect condition.
One of the Leonardo suits was saved for Kevin Eastman, co-creator of the Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles, after the production of the film was done.
He has kept it ever since and even restored it recently with the help of Tom Spina Designs.
He then gave fans the chance to bid on the fully restored Leonardo movie prop costume
through Prop Store's Entertainment Memorabilia auction on September 27th, 2016.
The restored Ninja Turtle costume sold for a little over $12,000.
So there was a happy ending for these suits!
Country Bear Movie Bears
Way before Disney began turning their most iconic animated movies into live-action, they
began making movies based on their most famous attractions.
This trend started with the Tower of Terror movie in 1997, then Mission to Mars in 2000,
and continued with the Country Bear Jamboree movie in 2002.
This film is a satire of "Behind the Music" rock and roll bands.
Beary, a young bear raised by a human family, attempts to trace his roots.
He meets up with the Country Bears, a long-since broken-up band, and he helps them reunite
for one final concert while searching for who he truly is.
The Country Bears was not well received by the public, but we can't deny that the work
put into the Bear animatronics is great!
And of course, it is because these animatronics were made by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.
Actually, according to many reviews, the only reason the movie is worth watching is because
of the animatronics and the way these expert puppeteers and voice actors made the bears
come alive.
Disney contacted Jim Henson's Creature Shop so they could create the bears for the film,
and the suit performers were selected and brought in for measurements and body casting.
It is very important to do this because this ensures a good costume fit, which helps the
suit performer do a good job on the creature's movements.
The bears were animatronic suits which is a mixture between a basic creature suit and
an animatronic, controlled by a puppeteer with a remote control.
There is so much teamwork needed between the suit performer and puppeteer to control these
animatronics because they need to be completely in sync with each other.
Two performers were assigned to each character.
So each bear has a suit-performer and a facial puppeteer.
The first thing the suit performer does is to become familiar with their costume.
Then, the puppeteer begins by programming the face.
That entails creating various facial expressions and attenuating each servo in the head to
a button on the joystick and jaw of the Big One System designed by the Jim Henson Company.
Also, unlike animated projects where the voices are recorded first, here the puppeteers worked
closely with the director, and it was their voices that were captured during the entire
shoot as they operated the animatronic heads.
This gave the Bears the ability to improv and be directed as on-set performers.
The stars' voices were recorded later.
The animatronic suits were not only used for the movie but also at the movie's premiere,
where the bears performed a live rock concert at El Capitan Theater in Hollywood.
And for a limited run, they performed before showings of the film.
This was done to a pre-recorded track, with animatronic puppeteers operating the faces
on the side of the stage.
This film might not be the best attraction-inspired movie Disney has ever done or even a good
one.
But it's definitely worth watching at least once!
You can watch it on Disney plus!
Muppet Carol Ghost of Christmas Present
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is one of the most iconic Christmas novels ever made.
So iconic that it has been recreated millions of times.
One of these is the Muppet Christmas Carol which came out in 1992.
This was the first Muppet movie made without Jim Henson, who had sadly passed away two
years earlier.
The film was directed by Brian Henson, Jim Henson's son.
He was 28 at the time and terrified of directing.
He even begged other people to direct, but he ended up doing a fantastic job!
When the team was working on the script, they wanted to do a complete parody, but then they
thought of something more interesting.
Nobody had ever captured the wonderful way Dickens described the scenes in his novel,
so they decided to have Charles Dickens narrating the movie, and who would be better to play
him than Gonzo?
The film's sets were pretty tricky because they were built to accommodate the Muppeteers,
so they were elevated to leave room for them to walk around.
Planks and platforms were put in place for Michale Caine, who played Scrooge and his
human co-stars, to walk on.
You can see how crucial careful foot placement was as the Muppets swarmed him singing the
opening song "Scrooge."
As you can see, this film was really ambitious, and there were many unique details while filming
it.
Each of the three Ghosts of Christmas was pretty challenging, but the results were remarkable.
The Ghost of Christmas past has an eerie, floating physicality.
To be able to achieve this look, Muppeteers were submerged in a tank of baby oil backed
by a green screen to record the performance.
This proved to be expensive and challenging to keep clean, so they had to switch to water.
Though the rod puppet's glues and paints interacted poorly with the water, they got the shots
they needed, and the scenes were a success.
But the most complex of all the spirits was the Ghost of Christmas Present.
He was part puppet, part animatronic, and part actor.
The puppet was created so a full-sized man could fit inside.
But across the room, Jerry Nelson performed the character's voice and expressions using
a remote control.
This was pretty challenging because two people brought the same character to life, so they
had to be perfectly synched.
It is incredible that they put so much work into this character, and it worked because
he's such a lovable and cute Ghost!
101 Dalmatians animals
101 Dalmatians is a huge classic, and so in 1996, Disney decided to create a live-action
remake of it.
The movie sadly did not have great reception with critics, and it was also very controversial
because many irresponsible people watched the movie, bought dalmatian puppies right
after, and then when they grew tired, abandoned them.
But despite these dilemmas, we can't deny the huge work that everybody who worked on
the project did.
Glenn Close as Cruella was terrific and terrifying at the same time.
But the best part of this remake was able to be done because of the enormous talent
of Industrial Light and Magic and Jim Henson's Creature Shop, who created effects and animatronics
for the film.
John Hughes' and Stephen Herek's intention was to use real animals to make "101 Dalmatians."
And they did.
However, there are some shots and scenes which would not have been possible without the wizardry
of these studios.
Jim Henson's Creature Shop was commissioned to produce a range of young and newborn animatronic
puppies.
Other animatronic creations include the back end of a horse (used to catapult Cruella through
a barn door), an Airedale dog, a dead tiger, and a raccoon and pig.
Industrial Light and Magic added puppies to scenes to give the illusion of 99 puppies
fleeing from Horace and Jasper, as well as digitally renovating the DeVil mansion and
multiplying Pongo and Perdy's puppies to give the illusion of 1,000 puppies.
To promote the movie, Disney recreated the Creature Shop inside of the now-retired Backstage
Pass attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
And they brought these animatronics so guests could see them and interact with them.
These animatronics were so cute, and we would love to see them back at the parks for a 101
Dalmatians attraction!
Which animatronics would you like to see in part 2 of this series?
Let us know in the comments!
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