Because, Talking Time. You are... A Top 50 Puppets Countdown

[Violentvixen]

Wow I have not seen so many of these. Farscape, Labyrinth, Gremlins. Seen a little of Alf (and the cartoon but barely remember a thing) and Tremors.

WAYANG KULIT

57 Points; 2 Votes; Kirin (#7), Violetvixen (#8)
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*Fist bump to @Kirin * I did NOT expect anyone else to put shadow puppets of any kind on the list so I'm very pleased!

I also want to note that at about 1:10 in this video they start showing both what it looks like to the audience and what the puppeteer is doing backstage which is cool.

I was vaguely aware of shadow puppets as a kid but in middle school we did a field trip or something and I got to see a proper production that was on tour. Absolutely stunning. If any of you ever get an opportunity to see this go, the videos do not really express how amazing these are. Also the music seriously echoes through your body, it's such a powerful experience.

Statler and Waldorf were a late cut from my list, entirely based on the assumption that others would have them on theirs. Glad that worked out, whew.

 

[Kirin]

*Fist bump to @Kirin *

I’ve come across Wayang Kulit references a few random times in my life (perhaps most recently in Sluggy Freelance of all places) but I don’t think I’ve ever had the opportunity to experience a real professional live performance.

Also, you really should see Labyrinth!

 

[Johnny Unusual]

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STATLER & WALDORF
59 Points; 2 Votes; Johnny Unusual (#2), Torzelbaum (#11 Waldorf, #12 Statler)

The Ultimate Peanut Gallery
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No episode of The Muppet Show was ever complete without the heckling of these two crusty old fogeys. Statler (the tall one) and Waldorf (the one with the moustache) were named after famous hotels, for some reason. Their main purpose on the show is to provide acerbic commentary on the various sketches, and to make Fozzie Bear's life miserable. Their schtick has become so popular that they have appeared on many other shows, from ESPN to Jimmy Kimmel.

Both Statler and Waldorf are voiced by Richard Hunt.

"We're pretty good so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised we outrank Fozzie."
"I am."
"You are? Why?"
"Is there really anyone more rank than Fozzie?"

 

[Issun]

Special weekend bonus content: The Making of Gremlins 2:

 

[Issun]

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LAMB CHOP
59 Points; 3 Votes; Torzelbaum (#15), Dracula (#16), JBear (#18)

This is the post that never ends
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Perhaps the world's most famous sock puppet, Lamb Chop began her career as a guest with her puppeteer/supporting act Shari Lewis on Captain Kangaroo in 1956. Shari and Lamb Chop then spent a few years in the 1960s on local morning show Hi, Mom! before launching The Shari Lewis Show. The part of Lamb Chop's career that is near and dear to the hearts of our voters here, though, is the 1990s show Lamb Chop's Play Along, which managed to use the puppet's mischievous sense of humor and childlike innocence with healthy doses of whimsy, curiosity, song and compassion. It was a wonderful mix, and one of the decade's best children's shows.

It's no wonder that Shari Lewis became an entertainer, with her father being a stage magician (New York's "official magician, no less), and receiving instruction in everything from juggling to ventriloquism. While she's done plenty of other entertainment work, she will always be remembered for Lamb Chop, whom she surely imbued with many of her own qualities. Her life was tragically cut short in 1998 by pneumonia, but her daughter, Mallory, has continued the Lamb Chop legacy in Shari's stead, though Mallory acknowledges she's only carrying her mother's torch, and could never replace her.

 

[Issun]

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THE FIREYS

69 Points; 3 Votes; Kirin (#10), Bulgakov (#12), Lokii (#17)

Chilly Down

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In a movie full of absurdities, the scene with the Fireys is the most nonsensical bit of all. They have nothing to do with anything, and yet try imagining Labyrinth without them. They add flavor to the world. They're dumb party bros in the form of screechy-voiced beasts, and the only reason they pose a danger to Sarah is because they figure if they can detach their limbs and heads, then she must be able to do the same so just let us take your head off so you can, like, lighten up, man.


The Fireys were operated by a crapton of people and voiced by Kevin Clash, Charles Augins (who also choreographed the scene), Danny John-Jules, and Richard Bodkin.

 

[Falselogic]

Much to my regret I completely forgot about Lamb Chop.

 

[Violentvixen]

I don't know how but Lamp Chop was just not something I ever saw. No clue at all how I completely missed it, but I don't even remember friends or family ever mentioning her. I don't think it was until I was in college and someone mentioned old shows that I really became aware of her. Weird.

 

[Adrenaline]

This is the song that never ends
Yes it goes on and on my friends
Some people started singing it not knowing what it was
And they'll continue singing it forever just because

 

[Dracula]

Lamb Chop's Playalong is a property I hadn't revisited since I was a Kid Drac watching a Sheri Lewis tape over and over (which, yes, did include the Song That Never Ends, much to the distress of my parents). Watching the Sesame Street clip above, it's no wonder Lewis made such an impression on me. The coordination is effortless, it's off the planet. Lamb Chop is real and my brain won't accept any alternative.

 

[Kirin]

I also never saw much of Lamb Chop, though I either forgot or never knew that she was a spin-off from Captain Kangaroo, which I do remember!

The Fireys, meanwhile, are a tour de force of the puppetry technique of having actors dressed in black manipulate large puppets manually from the outside. It’s a technique that’s long been used in live stage shows by darkening the background and/or relying on audience suspension of disbelief, and nowadays would just be done with digital green-screening. Here they take advantage of a dark forest background and just outright cutting to a black void for parts of the musical number so you never see the puppeteers. The Fireys basically exist just to showcase this particular kind of acrobatic puppet action, and it’s a lot of fun to see.

 

[Lokii]

Every puppet from The Labyrinth deserves a spot (I didn't have room for the worm but very glad he landed a spot), but there’s no way I wasn’t going to chilly down with the fire gang. Through matte suits the puppeteers are able to not only make the Fireys dance and caper, but also fall apart and reconfigure in fanciful shapes. They make an ostrich out of heads and limbs at one point! By far the wildest thing in the film. And as you know, when your thing gets wild:

Chilly down.

 

[Bulgakov]

The Fireys are a great example of a puppet that can take full use of the advantages of being a puppet. I love 'em.

 

[Lokii]

Also, the song is like not... traditionally good? That's on purpose because it's representative of the Firey's chaotic nature, so it's fine. But it's also like extremely catchy and compelling. So it is traditionally good? Just like a girl who can't take off her head it's a paradox.

Edit: I think it's the piano riff that makes it work. Hell of a song.

 

[Purple]

I'm trying to remember if I actually voted for ANYONE from Labyrinth but yeah, there s no shortage at all of great choices there.

 

[Issun]

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THE SWEDISH CHEF
69 Points; 3 Votes; Issun (#5), Bulgakov (#14), Johnny Unusual (#20)

Totally borked
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Swedish Chef bits are always short, sweet and ridiculous. They follow a formula, you usually kind of know what to expect, and yet watching him flail around and speak his pseudo-Swedish gibberish (which I've been known to launch into whenever something relating to Scandinavia in general comes up in conversation) and often get foiled by the very food he's trying to cook. The absolute absurdity of it always makes a welcome addition to any episode of The Muppet Show.

The Chef is one of the more unique Muppets, in that his head was operated by Jim Henson (who also provided the voice), while the hands were Frank Oz's. According to Jim's son Brian, the nonsensical mock-Swedish actually came from a tape that Jim had nd would constantly mouth along to in the car.

 

[Issun]

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THE THING

72 Points; 3 Votes; Dracula ([Crawling Head] #4); Octopus Prime ([The Final The Thing] #16), Falselogic (#16)

It could be any one of us

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It's a testament to Rob Bottin and Stan Winston's creature effects throughout The Thing that multiple incarnations got a mention here. Both the crab head and the final, ultimate form both got votes, but there's also the mutated dog, the parisitic version, and so many others. By all accounts it got pretty overwhelming, which was why Winston was called in to help (mainly with the doggo, which was, in fact, a hand puppet), but each form of the Thing is fully realized, and while it occasionally looks a bit cornball, more often it manages to be truly terrifying.

CW: Gore & body horror

Spoiler

 

[Purple]

... I forgot to vote for The Thing.

I will of course turn in my badge and gun immediately.

 

[Dracula]

One of the most frustrating things I've ever heard regarding a movie involves the 2011 prequel to The Thing. The effects team created lots of animatronic/practical effects for that film, but the studio didn't have faith in them, so they hired another VFX team to cover it all up with CG. Insulting. I've heard that movie is pretty decent, but I refuse to watch it on principle.

The VFX studio went on to use the reel of their unused effects for The Thing to hype up their own Kickstarter-backed movie, Harbinger Down, which was intended to celebrate their practical effects abilities.

 

[Octopus Prime]

Well, now I’ve adde that to my movie backlog

 

[Jeanie]

while the hands were Frank Oz's.

Please note that it's not that Frank Oz was operating the Muppet hands, the Swedish Chef has human hands.

 

[Issun]

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FIZZGIG
74 Points; 5 Votes; Kirin (#13), Issun (#17), Torzelbaum (#19), Purple (#23), Dracula (#24)

Chompy Floof
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Ferocious, loyal Fizzgig is nobody's absolute favorite puppet, but he is loved by many. It's not hard to see why. He is remarkably expressive for what is, essentially, a hand puppet, and he is adorable, even when he opens his maw to reveal his rows of sharp teeth. His method of locomotion (rolling around as a ball) is endearing as well.

He is the pet of Kira, one of the protagonists, and protects her as best he can. He takes a while to warm up to anyone else. It is revealed in the prequel that he is part of a species that can also sing, apparently.

Fizzgig was operated by Dave Goelz and his borks were performed by Percy Edwards.

 

[Issun]

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GREMLINS 1 GREMLINS
76 Points; 4 Votes; Johnny Unusual (#13), Torzelbaum (#14), Stripe: Beta Metroid (#18), Kirin (#23)

He'll stop the world and melt with you
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When one looks at the designs for the Gremlins in the first film versus the second, one will notice two things: First, that the gremlins in the first film are a bit more menacing than in 2, and second, that there's much less variety in the first film. The reason is pretty obvious. While both are horror comedies, one landed more on the scary side, and the one gremlin that stands out in movie #1 brings that home. All the gremlins' harm comes mostly from just being mischievous, like a particularly nasty child, but Stripe often seems to harbor actual malice towards others, be it humans, animals, or even fellow gremlins. His actions show this to an extent, but the puppeteers and designers also managed to give him a body language that communicated that he was about more than just doing harmful things to see what would happen.

We can thank special effects master Chris Walas for these icons. A combination of hand puppets, stop motion and animatronics made them seem truly alive, and he even considered how to make visual connections between mogwai and gremlins so that the transformation seemed natural, the most obvious trait being the ears.

 

[Kirin]

That clip has a puppet-operated puppet! How apropos.

Fizzgig is the best puppet with, like, one point of articulation. (Okay technically he can move his feet.)

 

[Dracula]

As is somewhat well-known by now, Gremlins started off as a much more straightforward horror comedy, with emphasis on horror. There were to be more gruesome deaths and the starring mogwai would have been transformed into a mischievous gremlin just like all the others. Director Joe Dante got his start in horror and B-movies working for Roger Corman, then cut his teeth on his own monster flicks like Piranha and The Howling. Speilberg pushed the production of Gremlins in a more family-friendly direction, resulting in Dante's biggest success and a career of directing oddball family pictures thereafter.

Part of me would be interested in seeing the more R-rated version of what Dante had in mind for Gremlins, but the other part of me knows that that film's existence likely would have meant no Gremlins 2, so I think in this case we got the better timeline.

 

[Daikaiju]

Will Topo Gigo be making an appearance?

 

[Torzelbaum]

I guess I can't fault Issun for making a judgment call but my vote was for all Gremlins.

14. GremLins (Gremlins 1 & 2)

I commented on them specifically from Gremlins 1 back in the Top 50 Horror Movies that was ran by Dracula.

Gremlins [1]
Nothing quite matches how watching these nasty malevolent little assholes will make you howl in terror and with laughter.

Fizzgig is the best puppet with, like, one point of articulation. (Okay technically he can move his feet.)

The stampy little feet are one of the best things about Fizzgig.

We can thank special effects master Chris Walas for these icons. A combination of hand puppets, stop motion and animatronics made them seem truly alive, and he even considered how to make visual connections between mogwai and gremlins so that the transformation seemed natural, the most obvious trait being the ears.

That's pretty cool. I don't think I ever consciously noticed or realized that but I think it did maybe register on a subconscious level.

 

[Issun]

I guess I can't fault Issun for making a judgment call but my vote was for all Gremlins.

I actually missed that when I was tabulating your list. Sorry.

But yeah, there were a few selections that I had to make decisions on, gremlins being one of them.

 

[Issun]

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MISS PIGGY
82 Points; 3 Votes; Violentvixen (#4), Johnny Unusual (#10), Issun (#12)

The Karate Pig
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Jim Henson was the creative genius behind the Muppets, but Frank Oz was certainly the comedic genius, and no character he performed on either The Muppet Show or Sesame Street played more to those strengths than Miss Piggy. The extravagant flourishes, the shuttling back and forth between demure debutante and coarse, no-nonsense city girl, and of course the physical comedy. Not only was her flouncing hilarious, but sending other Muppets flying with a hearty "Hi-yah" made for some excellent slapstick. She also gave another avenue for Kermit's straight-man act. While he normally just reacted to the wackiness around him, with Piggy there was actual interplay. Yes, much of their banter reinforced tropes that were already stale by the time the show started airing, but Oz and Henson managed to deliver the lines so snappily that it was funny in spite of itself.

If you have an hour I highly recommend diving into Miss Piggy's backstory. It's as convoluted as any Zelda timeline.

 

[Issun]

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BEAKER (feat. DR. BUNSEN HONEYDEW)
88 Points; 3 Votes; Octopus Prime (#3), Violentvixen [with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew](#7), Issun (#10)

Blinded (among many other things) with science
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The Muppets on The Muppet Show all take a lot of abuse, but none more than poor Beaker. If I listed every horrible thing that has befallen him, this post would be far too long. Suffice it to say, there's a reason Beaker seems terrified every time he interacts with one of Dr. Honeydew's inventions, especially considering the good doctor often takes Beaker's mishaps a little too much in stride.

Bunsen was solo the first season of the show, but when Beaker was added was when Muppet Labs became one of the most anticipated sketches. Beaker's other notable quality is his method of speech, which is a series of adorable "meeps".

Beaker was operated and voiced by Richard Hunt.