A Chat with Louise Gikow, part 2

Hey, how about that interview with Louise Gikow from the other day? Wasn't that fantastic? Sorry, what's that? You think it should've been longer? Well you are in luck, my furry friend! Part two of our chat with Louise is right here, right now!

ToughPigs: How did you get started in your career with the Muppets?

Louise Gikow: When I was very young, I was a graduate student of Medieval Literature at Columbia University. I got my Masters and decided that it was insane to be a Medievalist. It was a bad economic time and nobody wanted professors of medieval literature. I also realized that university teaching and the university atmosphere was probably not for me. I wanted real life. So I left, answered an ad in the New York Times, and got a job at the National Lampoon Magazine for six years. I worked with everyone from Doug Kenney to Henry Beard to John Belushi, because I was a production assistant on the first Lemmings show. I’ve been so incredibly lucky. I was there for about six years as the Senior Copy Editor, and then I decided that I didn’t want to be working for that magazine when I’d hit a ripe old age. I loved it madly, but it was time for me to move on, so I quit and freelanced for a while. And while I was freelancing, my friend Mark Saltzman, who had been writing for Sesame Street, called me and said that they were starting Muppet Magazine and they were looking for freelance-permanent staff. And I became the Managing Editor of that.

TP: So Muppet Magazine was your first job with the Muppets?

LG: Yeah, it was my first Muppet experience. I worked there for about a year, and it was a great gig for me, because I would come in irregularly and I made about $12,000 a year, which at that time was an enormous part of my income, which goes to show you how the world has changed. After about a year, Jane Leventhal, who was the head of publishing, who is the older sister of J.P. Leventhal, who is the publisher of [the Sesame Street 40th Anniversary book], called me up and said she’d like me to come and work full-time in the publishing division. I really like freelancing, and I like having permanent jobs, but I really don’t like transitioning between the two. And I told Jane a few weeks later that I had a nightmare the night after she asked me to come where she was chasing me around the office with a meat cleaver, shouting “Come join us! Come join us!” And I was running away going “No, no, I don’t want to! I like freelancing!” But I went and joined them anyway because it was one of those things you couldn’t pass up. I was lucky enough very soon afterward to become kind of an ad-hoc creative group that Jim gathered of people from a variety of places, and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and I guess he liked my big mouth and my ideas enough to invite me to all the meetings. So I didn’t do the scriptwriting very much for him, but I did a lot of bits and pieces like PR and internal films and things like that. Mostly I was a part of this brain trust kind of thing. And Jim… oh Jim, Jim was a wonderful guy. I miss him very much. He used to gather people together for these weekends, and he would hire the most amazing people, people who were famous in a variety of fields, and we’d go in and they’d tell you these fascinating things about their fields and we’d brainstorm about what we can do. It was just a joy, we were so lucky.

I did that for 11 years, past when Jim died, probably longer than I should have, mostly because I just loved it there and it was hard to leave. Then I got a job starting a publishing and multimedia division at Nickelodeon, and I thought I really had to try it. So I spent two years at Nickelodeon, and I learned more there than I had at any other job in my life, and it’s influenced everything I’ve done since, because it was more about what makes a successful show, what makes a successful network. And then Chris Cerf asked me to join Sirius Thinking, where I worked for seven or eight years, and I’ve got two Emmys to show for it. Then I left to freelance and I’ve been freelancing ever since.

I was always a book writer, I became a script writer, I helped develop shows like Johnny and the Sprites, I wrote the last two planetarium shows. And as a part of my freelance work, I got a call one day from J.P. Leventhal, and he told me about the 40th anniversary book, and he asked if it was a project I’d be interested in writing. Because when The Works was done, I was pretty instrumental in the publishing division, rewriting it and getting it all together. So I said you betcha. I know they’ve tried to do it before and haven’t really been able to. There was Sesame Street Unpaved, which was a different kind of book, and I think they planned on a 25th anniversary book in-house, but it was very difficult. I think one reason why it was possible now is because of the perspective. The world is changing so much and Sesame Street is still here, and it demands a celebration. It took a long time to get the project off the ground and it took a long time to get it done.

TP: You have written books for more of the Muppet franchises than just about anyone: Muppets, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, Muppet Babies, Muppet Kids, Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss., Labyrinth. Did you have a favorite franchise to work with?

LG: I love Fraggle Rock, I really do. I mean, I love them all, but there was something about Fraggle Rock that was joyous and amazing, and the people were extraordinary. It’s really inspired other people. John Tartaglia was inspired by Fraggle Rock to do Johnny and the Sprites. It has extraordinary music, it’s such a wonderful show. And it breaks my heart that more people don’t know about it, and I know they’re bringing it back now in DVDs, and I’m hoping that they really promote it because. It was a show that was ahead of its time in terms of a broadcast situation because it was on HBO and HBO wasn’t big enough. And the only place where it became popular was that band between America and Canada, because all of the northern states could pick up the signal from CBC. So we’d get huge numbers in Buffalo of Fraggle Rock fans because they could get it on television.

The other one that was close to my heart was the Palestinian-Jordanian-Israeli Sesame Street co-production. It was an amazing opportunity to work with those people, and to do something to really make a difference. That’s where Gary Knell is really standing out now, and that’s where he’s dug his heels in, saying this is how we’re going to change the world. I think Joan [Ganz Cooney] really wanted to change the world when she began, but I think she was thinking of the American world. And very soon after it became the international world. So to be a part of international for Sesame Workshop was an additional gift. I worked for Jim Henson for 11 years and it was all amazing, I loved it dearly, but that was something that let you wake up feeling good every day.

TP: Going back to the books, how did it work when you’d get an assignment? Did you pitch ideas, or would you get a note saying “We need a book about Wembley”?

LG: I’ll tell you the story about the first book I ever wrote. I wrote over 100 books, some under pseudonyms. I wrote under “Emily Paul” and “Rebecca Grand”. Emily Pauline is my niece, and Rebecca Grand was my grandmother. I liked both of those names, and I thought they sounded sort of professional. Now I can say it since no one will care anymore. Anyway, what would happen was we’d make a deal with the publisher, and they’d say how many books they want and how many pages in each book. So you really started with a format, and you’d know the kind of book you’d want to do and the age range of the kids who will read it. I was going to write the first Fraggle Rock books myself because they didn’t give us any lead time, and the show wasn’t going to be on for a while, and it was difficult to explain to people what the show was going to be. I was involved in production, I was at the set in Toronto, I knew about the show. So we were going to do the first books in-house and then outsource the later ones. You don’t want to do them all yourself, because then you don’t get any interesting voices. But I decided for the first book I ever wrote for them that I’d write “What’s a Fraggle?” I love rhyme, I love Dr. Seuss, and I wanted to write a sort of funny explanatory book for kids, because I thought it was a good way to start the line. Very often I would talk to the publisher about the book, or I would talk to [editor] Jane [Levinson] about my ideas, but this one I didn’t. We had a meeting where Jane told us what the formats were, and I said I’d like to do a book about Fraggles. She said let’s try a book like that, and then I went back to my office and wrote it in five minutes and came back and said “You mean like this?” She thought I was out of my mind. I’m sort of hyper when I get excited, and I’m a very fast typist. But I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and it was basically published verbatim, just as I wrote it. I don’t think there was a single word change. Jane really liked it and the publisher liked it, but God knows not all books were like that.

The way it works is, if the order is for eight books, you’d look at them and say “Let’s do a general book with all of the Fraggles, let’s do five featuring the main characters, and a Doozer book…” and I did a “What’s a Doozer?” book too, and I thought that had a genius idea, that the way Fraggles start was that there was a lazy Doozer who at a lot and didn’t exercise, so he became bigger and bigger and eventually became a Fraggle. So it’s part of Doozer lore that Fraggles are basically useless Doozers.

TP: You also wrote a lot of the Muppet Kids books. Was that any more difficult because you didn’t have source material to pull from, like Fraggle Rock or Muppet Babies?

LG: We were very careful on Muppet Kids. If you work for the Muppets for as long as we did, you really know these characters well. There were always creative kickoff meetings for things like this where we’d talk about how it would work, who would these kids be, where would they live, what would they look like and how would they behave?

The first time I came on board, when I was working for Muppet Magazine, I was writing the Miss Piggy column. The way you write a lot of this stuff, especially when you’re not the character yourself, is you get the voice of the character in your head. When I first began to do that, I had a meeting with Frank Oz. Frank was very particular about Miss Piggy at the time, and he spoke to me for a couple hours about Piggy. He told me the classic pig’s beginning story, born on a farm, lots of brothers. He was extremely helpful to me, because he told me where he got her from and from where he derived this extraordinary character and all the things that sort of made her her. So you’d get to know these characters like you know your friends. And I may not have known my best friend when she was 15, but I know who she was when she was 15. The essence of a person is the essence of a person. You know that Piggy started out scrabbling the yard with all her brothers, elbowing her brothers out of the way so she could get her share of the food because she was smaller, so she had to learn to be aggressive early on. So you know the kind of kid she was in grade school, and you know the kind of kid she was in junior high. She probably never went to college, and she’s probably embarrassed by that fact, because she had to go out and earn a living… To know who a character is is everything.

TP: You wrote the Sing Along with Kermit and Friends tapes. How was it different writing for Jim Henson, rather than just his characters in the books?

LG: Luckily for me, Jim was comfortable enough with what I’d written to just read them. Jerry Nelson, who’s just the most talented puppeteer, voice artist, character builder, and just an amazing and wonderful guy, did Robin on a number of those and was just amazing. I’m trying to think if it made any difference, and the truth is that it didn’t. Whatever I wrote they had to like, as far as I was concerned. It wasn’t a matter of whether they were going to read it or if they were going to read it and say it out loud. It was a little confrontational emotionally for me when they did it, but it was also very pleasurable. I loved working with them, they were brilliant, and I just loved being among them. But the books were just as important to me to get right, and if I didn’t write my best and do my best to get the voices right, I wouldn’t have been doing my job. And because everyone was so incredibly supportive, it was such a joy to work with them, it never occurred to me to be scared. It was actually more fun and more joyous, and I think the reason why I moved from writing books to doing more production is because I get to work with more people like that.

TP: I know that there are a good deal of inside jokes in the Muppet books. Were you ever caricaturized in any of your books?

LG: No, not as far as I know. My name was occasionally used as a character, but not artistically. Although I did play Miss Preen in the National Lampoon Yearbook. If you go back and find Miss Preen the guidance counselor, that was me.
Many special thanks to Louise Gikow for chatting with us! Keep an eye out for Sesame Street: A Celebration of Forty Years of Life on the Street, due in stores this November!

Click here to ask What's a Fraggle on the ToughPigs forum!

joe.toughpigs@gmail.com

Review: Sesame Street: A Celebration - Forty Years of Life on the Street

How do most average schmos mark their 40th birthday? They might have some cake, get some crappy novelty gifts like a “40 Isn’t Old If You’re a Tree” t-shirt, and endure a lot of jokes about being over the hill. But Sesame Street is no ordinary schmo. It’s one of the greatest TV shows of the last five centuries, which is why it deserves a big fancy book like the brand-new Sesame Street: A Celebration – Forty Years of Life on the Street by Louise Gikow. That's a pretty long title, but then, Sesame Street is a pretty long street.

The first thing you’ll notice about this book is that it’s massive. It’s a coffee table book, yeah, but you might just have to get a bigger coffee table to accommodate it. And if you were to hand the book to a small child of Sesame Street-watching age, he would most likely wobble unsteadily for a moment before adorably toppling over. This is a good thing: The bigger a book like this is, the more comprehensive it's likely to be, and we've been waiting for a Sesame book that we can not only sink our teeth into, but devour hungrily, Cookie Monster-style.

The second thing you’ll notice about the book is that the pictures are amazing. Even if you’ve read the previous behind-the-scenes books, seen the various TV specials about the show, and downloaded Muppet Wiki directly into your brain, I gurantee you will come across pictures you’ve never seen before.

It’s just as well the book is too big for me to take on the subway, because I would constantly be disturbing my fellow passengers with exclamations upon seeing all these cool and rare photos. Hey look, it’s Brian Meehl in China, wearing Barkley's head and feet! Hey look, it’s a promotional shot of the entire Muppet and human cast having a huge party on the “Around the Corner” set! Hey holy crap, it’s a shot of Jim Henson trying on Bert and Frank Oz trying on Ernie at an early workshop session!

The third thing you'll notice is that the book is equally perfect for the casual fan and the hardcore geek. About half of it is all the expected stuff, like how the show got started, how Maria and Luis got married, yada yada yada. That's all well and good for most of the book-buying public. But those of us who know how to spell "Snuffleupagus" without looking it up need more, and this book delivers. There are sections about how the set is built, how the music is recorded, the cartoons seen on the show, the various studios the show has occupied... and there are lots of tidbits throughout the book that I never knew: Slimey the worm's voice is that of sound effects editor Dick Maitland! Caroll Spinney still uses the exact same monitor when performing Big Bird that he used in the first season! Bobby Payne performed Telly in his first appearance! And so on.

And consider the fact that by the halfway point of the book, Sesame camera operator Frank Biondo has already been mentioned, like, eight times. That's right -- cameraman Frank Biondo is a major character in the book, and that is awesome. These shout-outs come during the pages that describe production on recent and yet-to-be-aired episodes, which really make you feel like you're there. Louise Gikow was a great choice to write this book, as she’s more than just a casual fan, she's an insider, having worked with the Jim Henson Company and Sesame Workshop on numerous projects.

I was initially a bit disappointed that there wasn’t a 40th anniversary TV special, but now I think this book is actually better. At 300 pages, it can delve into a little bit of everything instead of just showing us the same old boring clip of Ernie singing “Rubber Duckie” again.

As I said, it’s great for both geeks and normal people, and anyone can pick up the book and either read it straight through from beginning to end, or open it to any random page and find something to love. If you get sick of reading, you can stick the bonus DVD in your DVD player and watch the show’s first episode. Sure, you’ve already seen it, but it’s always fun to watch orange Oscar yell at Gordon #1.

So this is a book for anyone, basically, who’s ever heard of Sesame Street. I'm so glad it exists, and from cover to cover, it reminds me how glad I am that Sesame Street exists.



Come back later this week for part two of our interview with this book's own author Louise Gikow! And click here to give Sesame Street a crappy novelty 40th birthday gift on the Tough Pigs forum!

ToughPigsRyan@yahoo.com

ToughPigs on the MuppetCast #5

Ryan and Joe (that's me!) are the super special guests on the latest episode of The MuppetCast! We had a hearty chat with Steve Swanson about all the news and goings-on in the world of Muppets.

Click here to give a listen to the podcast. I hope you don't get tired of our voices, because we sure don't.

The MuppetCast updates weekly, so keep an eye on the website for future episodes! If my math is right, that's like a thousand episodes a year!

Click here to sing along with a podcast on the ToughPigs forum!

A Chat with Louise Gikow, part 1

The release of the epic coffee table book Sesame Street: A Celebration of Forty Years of Life on the Street is on the cusp of showing up on your doorstep (y'know, assuming you did the smart thing by pre-ordering it on Amazon.com). Rather than wait patiently on the stoop for the mailman, we took this opportunity to sit down for a chat with Louise Gikow, the book's writer and editor.

Stop back around these parts later this week for part 2 of our chat with Louise, when we'll be talking about her entire career with the Muppets. But for now, let's learn a thing or two about her work on Sesame Street: A Celebration!

ToughPigs: Can you tell us about some of the research you had to do for the book?

Louise Gikow: I was very lucky because I was with Sesame Workshop, and I knew many of the people involved. Many of the puppeteers, a lot of the writers, we were in and out of each other’s pockets over the years, and I love them all dearly. So one of the things I did was talk to every person I possibly could on the staff. And really, that was most of the research I had to do. That and my own knowledge of everything. I knew Richard Hunt very well, I knew Jim, I knew Jon Stone. I did use the internet. I used, God bless you, your site and I used the Muppet Wiki a lot. And I have to say, it’s extraordinary what you guys do. I will tell you, people at the Workshop have gotten information about what the Workshop is going to do from you guys before they even knew it was happening. There’s a habit at the Workshop, it’s a very casual work environment, that when some people got hired, they didn’t even know they were hired until somebody mentioned to them a week before shooting, “Oh by the way, we’re sending you your ticket,” and it’s like “So I got the job?”

I had to use the obituaries, sadly much more than I wanted to. But the truth is that most of what I did was talk to people. And it’s ironic because some of my interviews will sound like interviews that have been done in the past because people tend to give the same interviews over and over again, but I got them from the horses’ mouths. I was lucky enough to work with Betsy Loredo, who is a wonderful editor, who did a tremendous amount of work on this book. We had a conversation years ago, and we both felt really strongly that we wanted the book to not be a tombstone on what maybe some people think is a show that is no longer being produced. And what I envisioned was pretty much what happened. That season, I went on set for many, many days, I’d get there before 9 and I left when everybody left, and I sat in a chair on the set, and I got to meet all the members of the staff that I’d seen but never got a chance to talk to, and I literally scribbled in my notebook constantly. I wanted to get a sense in the book about actual production. I wanted this to be a book that people who are interested in television production could read and get a sense of what the show’s production is about. I really wanted to pay tribute to the people on staff who were the unsung heroes, not just the puppeteers. The technical people, the lightning people, cameramen, and really make sure they all show up in the book.

TP: Did you collaborate at all with Michael Davis?

LG: No, that was a completely separate project, but I think we’re appearing on a couple panels together. Actually, I still have to read his book. I specifically didn’t read it because I didn’t want to be influenced by it. He was writing at the same time I was, and I really wanted it to be my voice and the voice of the people who were in it, and it was too close a timeline. But because the books were so close, I wanted them to be different. I really wish him the best, and I want his book to sell well, I want our book to sell well. I think if they’re different, they’ll support one another. I also think it’s great that he was able to express a different point of view and really go after a different aspect of the whole thing. It was more me staying out of his hair because he got his haircut first, so I can’t say he had to stay out of mine. When I first went on set, everyone said “I’ve already talked to somebody who’s doing a book.” And I said, “But you didn’t talk to me! Who is this person?” I didn’t know about [Street Gang], and neither did publishing because it was another division of Sesame that had given him access. But they got used to me because I just sort of sat around and was very nice and smiled a lot. I was very well-behaved.

TP: What were some of the most challenging parts of writing and editing the book?

LG: It’s probably more publishing stuff; I know you’re more interested in Workshop stuff. That part was not challenging, everybody was very generous with their time, everyone was really willing, the materials were unbelievably rich. The problem was that writing a book like this is chicken and egg. When I spoke with my editor, and knowing the Workshop like I do, I asked her how she wanted me to do it, because there is an enormous treasure trove of images and information and letters and memorabilia, but we didn’t know what they were yet. They weren’t accessible yet because we hadn’t begun the research process. Each chapter starts out with an on-set visit and something that relates to that chapter, either puppeteering or behind-the-scenes or licensing or whatever. That part I could write because it was fresh. But the rest of the book was based on things that we didn’t have available. Normally if you’re writing a big coffee table book on just about anything, you’d have the images already, and your writing would determine what images you used. I couldn’t do that because I never knew what images were available. So the biggest challenge was writing an entire manuscript of many hundreds of pages, and then completely rewrite it for the most part because of what we discovered. We wrote it first, and some of it stayed, but some of it was cut because we didn’t have images, but more importantly, more images became available and we had to rewrite to that. And up until the last minute, we were rewriting to things that were surfacing weeks before it was due.

TP: Did you have a favorite part of making the book?

LG: Talking to the people. I got a chance to meet a lot of people I’d heard about. Frank Biondo, Caroll Spinney I didn’t know well, a lot of the actors and actresses. But talking to everyone was so extraordinary. And having an excuse to spend four hours with Steve [Whitmire], who I never get to see. Spending a little more time with Matt Vogel, who I vaguely knew. Getting to know Joan [Ganz Cooney], who I had met but never really spoken with. I got to watch the older interviews done with the American Television Institute. I just loved it. It was one of the main reasons why I agreed to write the book. What a gift, to be able to spend your life near people like that. It’s like, how did I end up here by answering an ad in the New York Times? These are the greatest people. I work with geniuses, whatever that word means.

TP: What about your least favorite part?

LG: It had to be all of the people I didn't meet. What I’m talking about is all the people who I didn’t get a chance to talk to. I mean, office managers from 1979. I send my thanks to everyone who was involved, all the people I couldn’t talk to as well as the ones I could, because every single one of them left a bit of themselves in the company and on the show.

TP: Was it difficult to find a balance in the book between the old years of Sesame Street and the new?

LG: Not really, no. I didn’t feel that there was. I’d like to think that I did a good job at keeping it balanced. Clearly there’s an awful lot of early stuff here, but I wanted to reflect what production is like right now and how it has changed.

One of the things I really wanted to do, and this is specifically to you and to [the Muppet Wiki] and all the fans out there, but I really wanted to put at least one thing in the book that you didn’t know, but I don’t know if I succeeded because you guys know everything! Many of the images I’m sure you’ve never seen, but I hope there’s at least a point of view or something that you guys will really like. It’s you guys who have kept it alive in an extraordinary way, and it’s humbling to everyone at the Workshop, and we admire you enormously. And it’s why I always felt that there was a little ToughPig sitting on my shoulder saying, is it good enough, is it original enough, is it unique enough, will you like it?

TP: I’m glad we were involved somehow! Was there anything in the book that you wanted to be in it, but had to cut?

LG: The truth of the matter is that you can’t include everything you want in a book like this. I wish I could have acknowledged every single person. Another thing that had to get cut was a lot of the on-set stuff. There were an awful lot of funny lines and interesting things that I had to let go of. I wrote a book that’s probably three times the length of the one that came out. But there’s nothing specific, nothing that stands out as a hole in the book.

TP: Since you’re one of a few people who has really delved into Sesame Street’s 40-year history recently, is there an era where you feel like the show was at its peak?

LG: Not really, no. The truth of the matter is that there are peak moments throughout. For example, there’s a description in the book of Jim and Frank in a recording session doing Bert and Ernie, and some of it was scripted and some of it was ad-libbed, and what comes out on the screen is just extraordinary. A couple of those moments with the kids, like Jon Jon, are just amazing moments. The sad moments, like Mr. Hooper, and the reveal of Snuffy. I like to think the show is sort of like a life. As a newborn, you take lots and lots of pictures, but less as it gets older. But that doesn’t mean that graduations and jobs and so many moments through a person’s life aren’t as important. The entire 40-year arc for me is a highlight.
Click here for part two of our interview with Louise Gikow, where you'll see Louise talk about her career writing for the Muppets!

Click here to be the little ToughPig on Louise's shoulder on the ToughPigs forum!

joe.toughpigs@gmail.com

American Apparel Ruins Sesame Street's Birthday

Earlier this month, Sesame Workshop announced that they are entering a deal with American Apparel to produce four new t-shirt designs featuring Sesame Street characters to help celebrate the show's 40th anniversary.

Did the folks at Sesame Workshop forget to Google American Apparel? Because this is a terrible, terrible idea.

Take five seconds and do a Google Image search for "American Apparel" (but only when your boss isn't lurking about). You'll see advertisements with pictures of young girls with their legs spread wide, without tops on, showing an unnecessary amount of skin, and otherwise bearing their assets. Some of these girls are professional porn stars, and some of these girls look like they're spread eagle on the floor of a dirty warehouse. Now picture those same girls modeling Sesame Street shirts. That doesn't seem like the sort of image we normally see in an ad for a Big Bird tee.

Behind the scenes, things aren't so much better. American Apparel CEO Dov Charney has been accused more than a few times of sexual harassment, and has proven to be quite a sleazeball outside of the office as well. They've had their fair share of scandals, which should have raised a red flag or two to Sesame.

But beyond the pornographic advertising and disgusting CEO, we're still just talking about t-shirts, right? Maybe if the shirts are pretty, we can overlook the name on the label and enjoy our Sesame Street merch. Sadly, the illustrations don't quite chalk up to the Sesame shirts we've enjoyed over the years. Simple line-drawings that look more like fan art drawn by a kid in junior high (no offense to all you 12-year-old fan artists out there!) don't seem like something that would either benefit a worldwide company like American Apparel or do Sesame Street's 40th anniversary justice.

The worst of the bunch, however, is the image at the top of this article. Though I've obscured the naughty bits, the pantsless girl in question is most likely going commando. The image, which was grabbed straight from American Apparel's website, actually blurred out the crotch (poorly, I might add), presumably because their model was dressed a little bit too casual. I guess nobody told her that she's modeling a shirt with images of preschool characters.

So in short, Sesame Workshop needs to screen their licensing partners a little better, and possibly find one that would be a bit more appropriate. I recommend something a little less porny.
Click here to slip into something a little more comfortable on the ToughPigs forum!

joe.toughpigs@gmail.com

Yo, Where My Wild Things At??

On those few occasions when we’re not talking about Muppets or Fraggles or Gordon’s mustache, chances are we’re taking a long, hard look at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Usually that ends with a discussion about a flash-in-the-pan straight-to-DVD special that will be forgotten after your morning mimosa, but this time it surprised us with the cinematic epic that is Where the Wild Things Are.

In case you’ve been living under a pile of monsters lately, Where the Wild Things Are is Spike Jonze’s adaptation of the classic Maurice Sendak book. The story revolves around Max, the wolf costume-wearing, ADD-riddled child who runs away from home and into a fantastic world of his own imagination. In this new land, he meets a clan of beasts voiced by an unlikely cadre of celebrities: James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Catherine O’Hara, Forest Whitaker, Chris Cooper, and Lauren Ambrose. Naturally, Max becomes their king and has a whole lot of fun Wild Rumpusing and making us wish we were 12 again.

Jonze does a phenomenal job at putting the audience into such a strange world while still making it feel natural. The Wild Things are fully fleshed-out characters (which must’ve been difficult when your source material is a picture book) who would have been comfortable in any pre-teen’s imagination.

Of course, a big part of the success of the film’s realism is due to the Creature Shop. The creatures are essentially full-bodied puppets with CGI faces. But after maybe two seconds of trying to imagine people inside the costumes, you’ll forget about the science of filmmaking and fall backwards and upside-down into movie magic. The puppetry was flawless and natural, while the CGI was used lightly enough to be hardly noticeable. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, Spike Jonze actually held auditions for real Wild Things to cast in his movie, because those things look pretty dang life-like.

Of course, the real magic of the film is how it really makes you feel like a kid again. And I’m sure that the one thing that everyone reading a Muppet blog would agree on is that there’s nothing greater than a film that puts adults like us in that ageless mindset. It’s why the Muppets and Sesame Street have stayed so fresh and entertaining over the years, and it’s all thanks to the brilliant minds of Spike Jonze and the visionaries at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.

This is far from the first time the world of Wild Things and the world of the Muppets have crossed paths. Maurice Sendak was on the National Board of Advisors for the Children's Television Workshop during Sesame Street’s early days. He also contributed several sketches for Sesame Street, and Where the Wild Things Are was read by Bob on the test pilot (though it’s sadly absent from the Old School DVD). The book also appears in Sarah’s bedroom in Labyrinth, and Sendak got a “Special Thanks” credit at the end of the film. And of course, there’s always Doglion.

But don’t take LeVar Burton’s word for it! Here are some reviews of the film from some of the toughest critics in the biz (“biz” is what we call “business” in the biz).

Beautiful. I want to go see it again as soon as possible.
-ToughPigs’ Own Anthony

I really felt like a kid.
-ToughPigs’ Own Scott

The movie was so, so good. Beautiful puppets, too. And everything.
-ToughPigs’ Own Marianne

I can't wait to see it again.
-ToughPigs’ Own Michal

The movie was amazing!
-ToughPigs’ Own Max

It brought back such rich childhood memories. Fantastic film. I couldn't believe how intensely emotional it was for a so-called kids flick. Just beautiful.
-ToughPigs' Own Daniel
Click here to let the Wild Rumpus start on the ToughPigs forum!

joe.toughpigs@gmail.com

Wikiatrivia 2!

Do you have your Thinking Cap on? Well, take it off right now and put on your Remembering Stuff About the Muppets Cap, because it's time once again for Wikitrivia! Below are a bunch of trivia questions about stuff that's on Muppet Wiki. Maybe you already know all this stuff because you're a great big geek, but if not, click on the answer links for the answers to the questions and craploads of further info.

And yes, I know you could just hover your mouse over the links to see the answers without reading the articles, but that would be cheating, and if you did that I would be very disappointed in you. I might even cry, and no one wants to see that.

1. According to his original performer Toby Towson, which Sesame Street character was initially conceived as "an acrobatic ape?"
Click here for the answer!

2. The town of Coos Bay, Oregon inspired the name for what far-out fictitious location occasionally seen on The Muppet Show?
Click here for the answer!

3. What's the name of the donkey from The Muppet Musicians of Bremen?
Click here for the answer!

4. Who is the only actor to make cameos in two theatrically released Muppet movies?
Click here for the answer!

5. From what college do the Muppets graduate in The Muppets Take Manhattan?
Click here for the answer!

6. Which of the three main characters on Little Muppet Monsters was performed by Richard Hunt?
Click here for the answer!

7. Who is the mayor of Waterville in Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas?
Click here for the answer!

8. Where can you find a statue of Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog sitting on a bench?
Click here for the answer!

9. In the Fraggle Rock episode "Boober's Quiet Day," who is Boober forced to impersonate?
Click here for the answer!

10. What's the name of the seedy dive where Kermit first meets Fozzie in The Muppet Movie?
Click here for the answer!

11. What starchy deity is briefly worshipped by the citizens of Pangaea in an episode of Dinosaurs?
Click here for the answer!

12. What's the closing number of the Peter Sellers episode of The Muppet Show?
Click here for the answer!

13. Which Muppet rock band performed the song "Rock 'n' Roll Readers" on Sesame Street?
Click here for the answer!

14. A robot version of which American president ran amok on the Paula Abdul episode of Muppets Tonight?
Click here for the answer!

15. According to a 1977 Sesame Street song, what is Bert's favorite number?
Click here for the answer!

So, how'd you do? Click here to compare scores on the Tough Pigs forum!

ToughPigsRyan@yahoo.com

No Sesame 'Til Brooklyn!

In the next step to help celebrate Sesame Street's 40th anniversary, Sesame Workshop is teaming up with two of my favorite celebrities: Brooklyn, New York and libraries.

The Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza will be slewing a host of events (sorry, that's hosting a slew of events) through November, including the exhibit "Sesame Street: A Celebration of 40 Years of Life on the Street". The exhibit will run from November 14 to February 21, and will include Muppets and show props, scripts and sheet music, and photographs and animation cels. I heard a rumor that they might have Emilio Delgado in a glass case, but that's probably not true.

When the exhibit opens on November 14, the Brooklyn Public Library will hold a Family Fun Day, in which you can be among the first to see the displays and meet a real life walkaround Elmo! We don't have word yet if it will be Kevin Clash in the Elmo suit, but don't get your hopes up. Or get them up, what do I care?

On November 21, Bob "Bob" McGrath will be on hand to kick out a few jams for the kids (and the Bobketeers like myself, who will be standing in the back row). Bob's concert will start at 1:00pm.

Following Bob's operetta, Louise Gikow will moderate a panel discussion about Sesame Street's 40th anniversary and the upcoming book, Sesame Street: A Celebration. Panel members include Fran Brill, puppet builder Rollie Krewson, Bob McGrath, Carol-Lynn Parente, and Chris Cerf. Panel watchers will include me. The panel will start at 4:00pm on November 21.

To reserve your free tickets for the two events, call the Brooklyn Public Library at 718-230-2100.
Finally, all 60 Brooklyn Public Libraries will have limited edition Elmo library cards to dole out to budding readers. There are only 30,000 cards, so get yours fast! And if you don't want a new library card (or if you're one of those "non-Brooklynites"), they will also be giving away free Sesame Street bookmarks, coming in four different designs.

If you live near the New York area, be sure to stop by and see the exhibit! And if you attend the panel discussion, come say hello to your ToughPigs friends!
Click here to crack open a book on the ToughPigs forum!

joe.toughpigs@gmail.com

News! Links! Katy Perry!

Hey, did you hear Kermit the Frog won the Nobel Peace Prize this week? If not, that's probably because it's not true. But here's some stuff that did happen recently.

Katy Perry goes Muppet chic
The world took notice (and by "the world," I mean celebrity bloggers) when Lady Gaga wore Muppet-themed clothing recently. So at the 2010 Jean Charles de Castelbajac fashion show, Katy Perry was all like, "I wanna do that too!" and she wore this Muppet print dress. To be honest, I think it actually looks pretty good... At any rate, I'd rather my prom date wear this dress than the Animal-head skirt Lady Gaga wore. So do we want to take bets on who will be the next singer to show up in public wearing Muppets? I'm gonna guess either Fergie, Britney Spears, or Susan Boyle.

Muppets on Extreme Makeover Home Edition
Details are still pretty vague on this one, but apparently the Muppets will be appearing on an episode on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition this season. Over on the Tough Pigs forum, this news has led to a lively discussion about whether the Makeover show is a force for good or evil in the television world. What do you think?

Fraggle Rock Easter DVD coming
Fraggle Rock was a television show about non-human characters that lived in caves underground and had no knowledge or understanding of human culture or traditions. So it makes no sense at all that there's a Fraggle Easter DVD coming out on February 9, 2010, but it will be interesting to see which episodes are on it.

Letters to Santa on DVD
In case you missed it, A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa was released on DVD on September 29th. The list price is $26.99, which seems pretty steep for an hour-long TV special, but the above-linked Amazon.com has it for $16.99. I'll confess that I don't own it yet... but I have an important question for anyone who does: Exactly how awesome is the collectible o-sleeve???

Sid the vaccinated kid
Do you have kids who are skittish about getting a shot? Then set your DVR for the October 26 episode of the Henson Company's series Sid the Science Kid. It's a special episode all about vaccination, and the press release promises "a fun learning experience filled with music, games, and lots of laughs. In other words, it'll give your kid completely unrealistic expectations about what it's like to get vaccinated. Enjoy!

Marty Robinson blogs
Marty Robinson is the veteran Sesame Street Muppet performer who plays Telly and Snuffy. Annie Evans is a Sesame writer. They happen to be married, and together they have two kids... and a blog. There are lots of interesting posts there about the recent Daytime Emmys appearance, and working on international co-productions, and all kinds of other stuff. Check it out.

Sesame Street joins forces with American Apparel
I don't know much about American Apparel, except that they always advertise on the back page of the print edition of The Onion, which always makes me self-conscious about reading it on the subway, what with the suggestively posed, half-naked, dead-eyed models. So it seems like an odd choice for a new line of Sesame Street clothes, including t-shirt designs like the one seen here. And aren't their clothes really expensive, anyway? As you can tell, I'm not salivating over this development, but if that's what you're into, keep an eye for it, I guess.

Labyrinth & Dark Crystal on Blu-ray, Starlog posts Jim Henson interview
Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal were just released on Blu-ray. I don't have a Blu-ray player, but that's a pretty persuasive argument for owning one. I mean, I've gone on record as saying The Dark Crystal isn't that great a movie, but I'd still probably buy it on Blu-ray just because it would look so cool.

Anway, to mark this occasion, the science-fiction magazine Starlog has posted an interview Jim Henson did in 1986 when Labyrinth was released. There's some stuff I'd never heard before about the film's development, and it includes this quote from Henson: "Computer-generated stuff will be the biggest single change in film in the next 10 years," thus proving once again that Jim Henson was some kind of super-powered fortune-telling genius.

Where the Wild Things Are opens this week
The film adaptation of the classic kids' book Where the Wild Things Are opens Friday, October 16. Jim Henson's Creature Shop built the titular wild things, which look pretty great. People are really excited for this movie, so let's cross our fingers and hope that excitement is justified.

Thanks to various folks at the Tough Pigs forum for bringing various stories to our attention. Speaking of which, click here to discuss all these stories on the Tough Pigs forum!

ToughPigsRyan@yahoo.com

Communist Pigs, Yankee Frogs, and Marlo Thomas

How did the Cold War end? Maybe you thought it was the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, but in reality, the seeds were sown by Marlo Thomas three years earlier… and she never could have done it without the Muppets, in a TV special that you probably haven’t seen. In 1988, Thomas produced a TV special called Free to Be… a Family.



It was a follow-up of sorts to Free to Be… You and Me, her lovely 1974 special which explained how boys and girls are equal, and people who are different can still be friends, and other stuff that everyone really should have already figured out by 1974.

The Free to Be… a Family TV special is an international variety show, as kids in Moscow meet kids in the New York City via the magic of television. Penn and Teller teach the kids how to do a magic trick, a Russian rock singer sings a song with words I can’t understand (Honestly, it’s like he’s not even speaking English), and Robin Williams shows up to be hyper for a few minutes.

The other executive producer of the special was longtime Sesame Street contributor Christopher Cerf, and it was written by Cerf with Sesame writer Norman Stiles and Sesame composer Sarah Durkee… all of which explains why there are Muppets in the show. The first Muppets we see are Kermit and his (non-Sesame) pal Miss Piggy, in a filmed segment demonstrating how the American puppets traveled to Moscow to meet with a Russian puppet character to “hammer out the terms of this show.”



Piggy doesn’t say much, so I’m guessing Frank Oz wasn’t present for the filming, (photographic evidence from Muppet Wiki suggests Piggy was puppeteered by Kathy Mullen) but they’re really in Russia, so I’m guessing Jim Henson made the trip, which is pretty impressive. Less impressive is the Russian puppet character, Kruscha the Pig (whose name I’m probably spelling wrong. If anyone reading this is familiar with Russian children’s television, please correct me). Compared to the expressiveness of Kermit and Piggy, Kruscha looks pretty lame. He’s really just a fancy finger puppet, and his mouth doesn’t even move. No wonder the Soviet Union failed, if that’s the best puppet they could come up with to represent their nation.

Kermit and Kruscha’s negotiations involve a lot of yelling and banging on the table, but finally, as Marlo Thomas tells us, “the exact details of our show were agreed upon.”


The next time we see Muppets in the special is a segment called “Pig to Frog,” which is presented as a panel discussion between “a distinguished panel of Americans, and an equally distinguished panel of Soviets" who "participate in a frank and open discussion” of their differences. The American panel includes two Honkers, a penguin, and Meryl Sheep; in other words, the very definition of the word “distinguished.”


So this is the weirdest part of the special. The purpose of the whole project is to teach kids that their counterparts in a Communist country are just like them, and that citizens of both countries have a lot to offer each other. But in this segment, Kermit talks about how crappy life in the Soviet Union is, and then Kruscha talks about how terrible life in the USA is. It’s completely contrary to the message of the show!

They’re pretty funny, though. Kermit shows us a Soviet elephant who lost his job and the love of his life…


…and Kruscha tells the story of a homeless bear, performed by Kevin Clash, who just can't catch a break.



I’ve never been to 540 Park Avenue in NYC – a web search tells me it’s the Regency Hotel – but if I ever find myself passing by, I’m going to look for this sign:

This bit features an appearance by Whoopi Goldberg, in what would be the briefest, most random cameo of her career until Letters to Santa: A Muppets Christmas 21 years later.


So basically, the “Pig to Frog” sequence teaches us that Americans and Soviets can never get along, and that both countries are awful places to live. So much for druzhba.

But wait, there’s still more Muppets! An ongoing gag in Free to Be… a Family is the premise that the satellite link between Moscow and New York is maintained by Lily Tomlin’s character Ernestine the operator. She sits in a control room inside a van parked on the street, and of course she gets to count ringy-dingys.

About halfway through the show, Ernestine informs Marlo Thomas that if she wants to continue the connection, she’ll have to feed the parking meter. Thomas doesn’t have any change, but she’s rescued by a passing Honker, who gives her a quarter. But where has he been keeping that quarter? Honkers don’t wear no pants -- they ain’t got no pockets!


There’s one more super-brief appearance by a Muppet who shows up in a montage, but I’ll let you see for yourself in the following YouTube clip, which contains the rest of the aforementioned Muppet moments too.





And here’s a fascinating tidbit if you’re a fan of the sitcom Scrubs: One of the American kids who gets to talk to his Russian penpal is Donald Faison, who would grow up to play Turk on that show. And Faison’s younger brother Olamide was the third actor to play Miles on Sesame Street, which just goes to show you that everything and everyone in the world is inexorably linked to Sesame Street forever.

In conclusion: If Marlo Thomas ever writes a memoir, she should definitely call it Rescued by a Passing Honker.
Click here to talk about Communist puppets on the Tough Pigs forum!

ToughPigsRyan@yahoo.com

Video Roundup: Muppet commercials and Sesame's 40th

Do you remember the days when you had to sit in front of your TV all day just to catch a glimpse of that commercial everyone is talking about? Or when you actually had to wait for the new season of your favorite show to debut before seeing what they had in store for you? Me neither.

This new-fangled age of immediacy on the internet has completely spoiled me. Now as soon as something Muppety shows up, we can share the wealth! And in the past week, a lot of Sesame Street and Muppet videos have been begging to be shared. Let's take a peek:

The latest videos to hit the net are the Muppet Monsters on Disney.com, celebrating the Pagan candy holiday, Halloween. Give a click and see Big Mean Carl, Yorick (the skull, not the purple dude), Mo Frackle, and some other spooky-yet-obscure characters tell some not-so-scary jokes.
There was a surprise cameo or two on last week's episode of Dancing with the Stars, featuring Animal, Gonzo, and Aaron Carter. That last guy isn't a Muppet, but he does dance to one of their favorite jams.

The Muppets have been popping up all over the Disney websites lately, promoting Disney's "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" campaign. Three commercials have already hit the net, the first of which (featuring James Denton) can be seen below. The other two aren't on YouTube yet, but you can watch Miss Piggy lock eyes with Taye Diggs here and butt heads with Teri Hatcher here.

From the same campaign, Kermit and Piggy donned their hardhats (to protect their puppeteers' hands, I guess) to officially announce "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day." According to the video uploader, this took place on September 29, which hopefully means that Steve Whitmire is back performing Kermit. Charity shmarity, I'm just glad Steve is back!

Next month, Sesame Street starts its 40th season, making it only ten years away from joining AARP. To get us started on the party early, they released some videos to keep us amused. First, take a look at the updated opening sequence. The hipper version of the theme song is still in play, but now we get to see Cookie Monster eating chalk (what, are they turning him into Chalk Monster now??).

Following in the footsteps of her First Lady brethren (sistren?), Michelle Obama is slated to appear on Sesame Street to talk about the all-important issue of gardening. How much longer must we endure Obama's liberal agenda???

In order to give Leslie Carrara's arms a rest, Abby Cadabby will be appearing as a much more static (and creepy-eyed) version of herself in the CGI segment, "Abby's Flying Fairy School". I wonder what she did to get kicked out of Storybook Community School...

It didn't take long for Apple to sneak some product placement into Sesame Street. When do you think we'll see the "I'm a Mac/I'm the letters P and C" parody?

Lastly, the video that's been hitting all the blogs in the right places, we've got Sesame Street's Mad Men parody. It's exactly like Mad Men, except less sexism and cigarettes, and more Joey Mazzarino. The sketch is also notable for the triumphant return of Frank Oz, who performs a better Don Draper than John Hamm himself.

Click here to write an ad for the Happy Honey Bear account on the ToughPigs forum!

joe.toughpigs@gmail.com

ToughPigs Art: Gorch But Not Forgotten

A few months back, we spotlighted the incredibly talented Jay Fosgitt. At the end of said spotlight, I promised to follow-up with his "Gorch But Not Forgotten" comic strip. Sure, we may be a little late, but our timing couldn't be better.

Jay's first graphic novel, "Dead Duck", is being published by Ape Entertainment, set for release on November 25th. According to Muppet comics cover artist David Peterson, "Jay has a remarkable sense of humor, blending together the sensibilities of the Muppets, the Marx Bros, Monty Python and Benny Hill." Hopefully since you're on this website, you enjoy at least two of those things. Click here to preorder the book from Amazon.com and then brag that you were a fan of Jay Fosgitt before anyone else.

In equally exciting news, Jay recently pitched his "Gorch But Not Forgotten" series to Archaia Comics (the publisher of the upcoming Fraggle Rock, Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth comics), so the comics you're about to read may be just the beginning of this new Gorch saga. Hopefully Archaia will be smart enough not to turn a good thing down, and the success of "Dead Duck" will help get those Gorch comics into our hands.

So without further ado, I bring you Jay Fosgitt's "Gorch But Not Forgotten". (Remember, click for embiggening!)

Click here to shave one of the Sex in the City stars on the ToughPigs forum!

joe.toughpigs@gmail.com

Kid-Tested, Dino-Approved

Let’s say, hypothetically, that you’ve got problems at home. You have a little Girl Who Likes Dinosaurs, facing off every morning with your little Boy Who Likes Trains. They do nothing but fight over what to play, because she’s only interested in DinoPark and he only cares for his Thomas PVCs.

Fortunately for you, the Jim Henson Company has devised a solution: television! More specifically, Dinosaur Train, the first show designed to bring together children with diverse interests by catering to dinosaur and train aficionados alike. Finally, a little peace and quiet after breakfast.

In fact, Dinosaur Train, which debuted in September, revels in diversity. Although you may look different, enjoy unusual talents and pastimes, and eat a diet that should almost certainly include your siblings, Dinosaur Train promises that you and your natural enemies can live together in harmony. The show stars three baby Pteranodons – Shiny, Tiny, and Don – and their brother Buddy, a Tyrannosaurus who just happened to hatch in their nest alongside them. And until Buddy inevitably succumbs to the call of the wild, the foursome has set out to explore the Mesozoic together.

These explorations involve the chums embracing new differences (Buddy’s a better tracker, but Tiny can hide in crawl spaces), and itching to learn more about a particular dinosaur in each episode – the fastest one, the largest one, or that thing with feathers. Invariably, intellectual curiosity leads the gang to… wait for it… the Dinosaur Train! The kids will chat with the Barney Fife-like conductor before stepping off to visit with Mrs. Velociraptor or Mrs. Argentinosaurus (somehow it’s usually the mom) and her child, play a few games, learn a bit of dino-trivia, and take the train home. Enter the live action paleontologist Dr. Scott and a gaggle of human children to elaborate on a couple of details, plus a businesslike fellow in a fedora popping in with downers such as, “Point of fact: Dinosaurs did not put on fashion shows.” Rinse and repeat.

The show gives kiddie and adult viewers plenty to enjoy. We get catchy songs and off-the-cuff rhymes (check out the teacher guide and video page for the rockabilly theme song and further treats) along with a kicky score, sparkling views of the Pteranodon family’s seaside nest, and a fully fleshed-out cast. Buddy and Tiny, clearly the stars, find non-irritating ways to conduct their investigations, using the word “hypothesis” at least once per episode. Shiny acts and talks uncannily like Lucy van Pelt. And Don may be a bit slow on the uptake, but his habit of collecting odd curiosities and his affinity for spontaneous silly dances have thoroughly won my heart.

Dinosaur Train-watching only becomes harrowing if you expect a logical, feasible story about plausible characters set in a fact-based environment. I can accept the idea of a family of friendly, talking cretaceans, and even their vaguely anthropomorphic games like Dinosuar Hopscotch and Dinoball. Matters start to get sticky, though, when the show’s double agenda of depicting a relatively peaceful society, as well as some degree of scientific accuracy, necessarily undermines itself.

Countless creatures on the show – from Troodons to frogs – exchange lighthearted chit-chat with our heroes, who could easily start eating them, or each other, any minute. To learn a species’ full rap sheet we need the basics: How many football fields long, and elephants heavy, is it? Is this creature a carnivore, omnivore, or herbivore (or more specifically, a fish-hunter like the Pteranodons)? Rather than avoiding the subject of food, Dinosaur Train jumps through hoops to address it. To get around potential ickiness, the fish on the show conveniently don’t talk, and Tyrannosaurs’ favorite dish is the shadily procured “carrion,” an ambiguous pile of bones and viscous red goo. Could Shiny’s elderly Aunt Cloise have gotten mixed in there? Too late now.

Another device that fits the show’s storytelling methods, as well as my penchant for finding loopholes, is the way each species occupies its own corner of this veritable zoo. Valerie the raptor can only leave Velociraptor Valley by taking the Dinosaur Train through a Time Tunnel (even traveling within one’s own time period always incurs a Time Tunnel, and probably a Time Tunnel Toll). Why doesn’t traveling back to the Triassic ever disrupt the space-time continuum? More pressingly, why can’t multiple species coexist on the same soil? What kind of scientific authenticity, not to mention healthy social model, is this? It’s as though the U.N. sat down and laid out its very own prehistoric partition plan, so that Pteranodon Terrace wouldn’t include enough T-rexes to constitute a majority voting block.

I ask this as though 3-6 year olds really give a hoot, and they surely don’t. In the Dinosaur Train universe, relationships between the characters carry far more weight than their place on the food chain. In my favorite episode so far, Dolores Tyrannosaurus and her daughter Annie stop by for a visit, with mauling nowhere on their agenda. Buddy enjoys sharing his T-Rex talents with Annie so thoroughly that Tiny, feeling unneeded, sulks off on her own; Buddy wins Tiny back by reminding her that as siblings and best friends, they have far more commonalities than differences – and therein lies the true charm of Dinosaur Train. In episodes to come, Dolores and Annie will welcome our adventurers into Rexville as equals, and meanwhile I’ll welcome them all equally into my living room.

Click here to discuss Dinosaur Train on the ToughPigs forum!