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Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 5h

I also adore it when an actor like McAdams works SO hard to portray jittery frumpiness that it crosses the line into camp. Is FrumpCamp real? SHE WILL MAKE IT REAL.

Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 5h

I love that I have no idea how it's going to turn out or how many different tones/vibes it will blast through; that's the Raimi I remember lovingly. YES give me an ultraviolent survival thriller slash dark character study slash empowerment comedy; hell, give it a horny chapter too JUST COOK KING.

Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 7h

And that was the perfect, healthy way to treat it! With a joke and a shrug.

Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 7h

I recently saw a clickbait article about "Why (Unreleased Upcoming Media) is DOOMED" and their argument was that judging by the marketing so far, the Media will contain things they like BUT ALSO THINGS THEY DON'T LIKE. And it never occurs to them "That's a You problem, not the Media's problem."

Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 7h

Thinking about how Klingons in OG "Star Trek" didn't have forehead prosthetics before "The Motion Picture" and Gene Roddenberry just said "We didn't have money before" and people were so unwilling to accept this that trying to explain it in-universe became a whole-ass plotline in "Enterprise."

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Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 23h

Well done! That's a huge leap to take.

Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 23h

That's fantastic. Lifetime memories. And hey, the original book is in the public domain. As long as you're not using story elements or characters that originated in the musical, you can make whatever art you want from it!

Kermit and Hopper Showdown - Muppet Movie (1979)

Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 23h

Every night in the world people are making music, telling jokes, dancing in the street, WITHOUT apps or social media. Just acting on the prime purpose of art - to express feelings and form connections with others. So remember how powerful it must be if they're willing to do this much harm to own it

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Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 23h

In the end, Kermit triumphs because the purity of his dream and his gift for connecting with people has attracted a whole found family who will stand by him even in the face of death. I think there's a hopeful, and applicable, lesson there. www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVO0...

YouTube video by Ladd W

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Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 23h

They're sick of needing to pay and put up with us weirdos to forge a path to audiences for them. And they have no moral qualm about stealing EVERYTHING WE'VE EVER DONE and throwing it into the trillion-dollar slurry grinder if it means never hearing about rental costs in L.A. ever again.

a group of stuffed animals are standing on a stage with a red curtain in the background

Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 23h

Commercials have historically been some of the best paying gigs in Hollywood precisely because advertisers want world-class talent and polish but understand that actors, filmmakers, and crews aren't there for the artistic fulfillment. And we can be about as unruly as Muppets sometimes.

ALT: a group of stuffed animals are standing on a stage with a red curtain in the background

Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 23h

Whether it's advertisers, politicians, or tech bros who have come to see us all as lab mice in their neverending dopamine experiment, people with money and power want access to our minds and hearts, and they know that art and storytelling are the most powerful tools for achieving that end.

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Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 23h

Most advertising these days is trying to tell a story. Have you ever learned any hard details about what Progressive Insurance does from its commercials? It's just skits about that funny lady Flo and her pals. It's because advertisers know character and story are better at getting your attention.

Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 23h

But he doesn't understand that Kermit's dream in leaving the swamp for Hollywood is to "make millions of people happy." Doc Hopper is so incapable of seeing beyond his desires, he can't understand why Kermit would find it appalling to sing jingles for a company chopping off the legs of frogs.

Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 23h

Hopper proceeds to chase Kermit and his friends all the way across America, try to get him lobotomized by a Nazi, and even hire a cold-blooded "Frog Killer from the Coast" to assassinate him, all because of his enraged sense of entitlement to Kermit's ability to charm and connect with audiences.

The Muppet Movie: Follow That Frog

Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 23h

The "Muppet Movie" plot revolves around Doc Hopper, owner of a chain of Hopper's French Fried Frog Legs restaurants, who wants the charming, singing and dancing Kermit to be his spokesperson. Kermit refuses, even when Hopper condescends to offer him a whole $500. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fwq...

YouTube video by Muppet Songs

Jim's Red Book "La Choy Wifeless Husband"

Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 23h

I feel like Henson's ambivalence about the hard sell shines through in Wilkins's cheerfully vindictive bloodlust. His La Choy commercials feel like ominous Lynchian satires of Baby Boomer-era advertising that just happen to also function as advertising. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvHY...

YouTube video by The Jim Henson Company

Wilkins Coffee Commercials

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Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 23h

It helps to know this movie is actually a stealth Jim Henson biopic about the pressure to use his creations to sell products. He actually had success for many years making weird, sometimes savagely slapstick commercials featuring characters like Wilkins and Wontkins www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVew...

YouTube video by The Jim Henson Company

kermit the frog says life is like a movie in a scene from the muppets

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Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 23h

Since we're talking Muppets, I'd like to make a case that "The Muppet Movie" actually predicted the current A.I. fight; because at the end of the day, both are about the power of art and storytelling and money's voracious hunger to control it.

ALT: kermit the frog says life is like a movie in a scene from the muppets

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Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 1d

I can see from your Google Maps data that you like to go to STARBUCKS and PETSMART. That is so hot. Would you like to have some private time with me at PETSMART?

Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah, like the technique Henson uses for Rowlf and Dr. Teeth is so similar that Dr. Teeth might as well be Rowlf + LSD, and yet the emotional vibe he imbues them with gives them completely separate and instantly recognizable personalities.

Maniac Cop 2 (1990) Original Trailer [FHD]

Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 1d

And if you haven't seen "Maniac Cop 2," it features some of the most bananas old-school stuntwork you'll ever see, PLUS it's a Christmas movie. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoTG...

YouTube video by HD Retro Trailers

sesame street count von count is singing into a microphone while wearing a tuxedo

Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 1d

I'm watching "Galaxy of Terror" on Shudder and it's like a missing link in the "Alien" franchise - Roger Corman ripping off the original for pennies on the dollar only the production designer is JAMES CAMERON and he's clearly workshopping stuff he'll use later in "Aliens." Plus baby Robert Englund!

Nicholas Thurkettle - Voice Actor @nthurkettle.bsky.social · 1d

The core idea of Muppets is that you should BE YOU and LOVE BEING YOU. That fearlessness makes an impression; yet it's never hostile coming from a Muppet. Exuberant imperfection without aggression. When you're trying to fill a character with life using your voice, that oddity becomes an identity!

ALT: sesame street count von count is singing into a microphone while wearing a tuxedo