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The five most perfect things created or performed by Jim Henson, in no particular order:
1. The Muppet Frog Prince. A lot of people may never have seen this, and it has yet to get a DVD release. I had the album...in fact, I think we had TWO copies of the album, for some reason. It is one of three "Tales from Muppetland" that Henson did in the late '60s-early '70s, and it is perfectly wonderful and terrible entertaining through to the very end. (Although the prince that Robin turns into is disappointingly un-hot.)
2. The Harry Belafonte episode of the Muppet Show. I have raved about this on here before, so I will simply say that it is funny, uplifting, and completely beautiful -- the puppets created for the final number were the first puppets Henson did (or, actually, Faz Fazakas did, probably) that pushed the boundaries, as far as puppets-as-art, or puppets-as-cultural-commentary. And watching Fozzie almost crack Harry Belafonte up singing the Banana Boat song makes me happy.
3. The Dark Crystal. The Dark Crystal. The Dark Crystal. I just ordered the anniversary edition of this (which will be the third DVD iteration I have purchased -- damn them with their all-new interviews with Brian Froud and Kathryn Mullen and Brian Henson!), and I'm prepared to cry like a baby, as I do every time. "Heal the crystal."
4. "Dance Myself to Sleep", on Sesame Street. The rhythms of this song and sketch (including Frank Oz-as-Bert improving various staccato bursts of woe as sheep carry him out of his apartment) are permanently lodged in my brain. Runners up for Sesame Street sketches would be "Be My Echo" (Grover and Madeline Kahn) and "The Rhyming Game" (More Ernie and Burt, culminating in the brilliant line "Hey there lamp, that's a nice shade!...you.")
5. The Minstrel song on Fraggle Rock. Beautiful. (Fraggle Rock runners up are Red and Boober, trapped in a rock collapse, singing "The Friendship Song", and "Come and Follow Me" which was in the first episode and has beautiful harmonies by the two most underrated muppeteers -- Jerry Nelson and Dave Goelz.)
1. The Muppet Frog Prince. A lot of people may never have seen this, and it has yet to get a DVD release. I had the album...in fact, I think we had TWO copies of the album, for some reason. It is one of three "Tales from Muppetland" that Henson did in the late '60s-early '70s, and it is perfectly wonderful and terrible entertaining through to the very end. (Although the prince that Robin turns into is disappointingly un-hot.)
2. The Harry Belafonte episode of the Muppet Show. I have raved about this on here before, so I will simply say that it is funny, uplifting, and completely beautiful -- the puppets created for the final number were the first puppets Henson did (or, actually, Faz Fazakas did, probably) that pushed the boundaries, as far as puppets-as-art, or puppets-as-cultural-commentary. And watching Fozzie almost crack Harry Belafonte up singing the Banana Boat song makes me happy.
3. The Dark Crystal. The Dark Crystal. The Dark Crystal. I just ordered the anniversary edition of this (which will be the third DVD iteration I have purchased -- damn them with their all-new interviews with Brian Froud and Kathryn Mullen and Brian Henson!), and I'm prepared to cry like a baby, as I do every time. "Heal the crystal."
4. "Dance Myself to Sleep", on Sesame Street. The rhythms of this song and sketch (including Frank Oz-as-Bert improving various staccato bursts of woe as sheep carry him out of his apartment) are permanently lodged in my brain. Runners up for Sesame Street sketches would be "Be My Echo" (Grover and Madeline Kahn) and "The Rhyming Game" (More Ernie and Burt, culminating in the brilliant line "Hey there lamp, that's a nice shade!...you.")
5. The Minstrel song on Fraggle Rock. Beautiful. (Fraggle Rock runners up are Red and Boober, trapped in a rock collapse, singing "The Friendship Song", and "Come and Follow Me" which was in the first episode and has beautiful harmonies by the two most underrated muppeteers -- Jerry Nelson and Dave Goelz.)
