h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Please add your suggestions, even researched entries below, and I'll get around to including them and re-submitting a revised entry in time.

Who were YOUR favourite puppets??????

I know in America on MTV right now there is a show called 'Sifl & Olly'. I've never watched it, but it has puppets. Anybody else know anything about this show?

And 'Pee Wee's Playhouse' starring Paul Reubens (aka Pee Wee Herman) was rife with puppets. Some people don't like the show because Mr. Reubens was caught 'wanking it' (as you Brits say) in a XXX movie house, but I always thought the show had a subtle sarcasm and irony that that particular incident fits right into.

Go figure.

The Traveller
ISO-9001 Certified

I wouldn't say they're my favorites (Muppets are #1), but Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop are certainly deserving of mention.

And speaking of the Henson gang, should Sesame Street get it's own section? And what about the Fraggles?

K

Not quite puppets...more like models!!!

can anyone help me to find any VHS copy of any episode ofour all time favourite"CHORLTON AND THE WHEELIES"

THANKS!!!

Let's cover some of our puppet friends in North America!

"Fraggle Rock" is widely regarded as the most ambitious childrens' television program of the 1980's. It aired internationally, and dealt with issues of multicultural harmony every week.

Can't forget "Sesame Street", but before Sesame Street, Jim Henson created "Sam and Friends" in the late 1950's. Sam was the prototype for Kermit the Frog.

Also in the United States puppet scene in the 1950's, there was "Kukla, Fran and Olli". Fran was the lovely live action lady, and that show was enormously popular. "Captain Kangaroo" also began in the 1950's : Mr. Moose, Mr. Bunny Rabbit, and Grandfather Clock were born. The popularity of these characters lived on until the 1980's. "Captain Kangaroo was recently reincarnated in 1998 with a new Captain, and a new take on the puppet characters.

Probably the most famous puppet in the United States during the 1950's was a marionette by the name of "Howdy Doody". 'Nuff said.

"Captain Kangaroo" launched Shari Lewis and Lambchop to stardom. She had numerous series through the 1960's, '70's, '80's and the 1990's!

Mr. Roger's neighborhood features hand puppets in its beloved "Neighborhood of Make-believe. Fred Rogers is the puppeteer for all of them, King Friday, Queen Sara, X the Owl, Henrietta Pussycat, my favorite tiger, Daniel Tiger , andf the nefarious Lady Elaine Fairchild.

We can't forget the puppets of Sid and Marty Krofft. They designed the large, human sized puppets for such obscure classics as "The New Zoo Review" (Freddy the Frog, Henrietta Hippo, Charlie the Owl) and tra-la-la-ed away with the grooviest of them all, "The Banana Splits". They had their own company as well, and created "H.R. Puffnstuff" the various characters of "Lidsville", and "Sigmund and the Seamonsters".

Does anyone recall "The Great Space Coaster"? It was puppet driven, and also was one of the first shows syndicated in the Unites States to feature international animation.

"Vegetable Soup" aired on local PBS stations, and was targeted to a multicultural urban audience. It had lots of puppets, and I remember one great storyline about a group of kid puppets who created a space ship out of trash and spare parts, launched it by accident and got lost in space.

My personal favorite is hard to choose. I love them all, especially "Fraggle Rock"... but before there were Fraggles, there was a great place called "The Magic Garden". Who can forget Sherlock the pink squirrel and Flapper?



And I know that this list is not exhaustive.

I can't believe I forgot them. I should be hung upside down and forced to watch cheesy movies _without_ my 'buds. That would truly be torute without them. The 'buds are of course, Tom Servo, Crow and Gypsy of "Mystery Science Theater 3000". (And possibly Cambot.)

Phew indeed. I've never heard of many of these... and it'll take some work to research enough on each in the same veign as those that already made it. But rest assured that I'll give it my best shot. Even if it does take the kind of time that can hardly be counted in units as small as days...

Chorlton comes under the heading of Stop Motion Animation, as you say - more like models.

Try here:
http://www.h2g2.com/A133679#chorlton

Talkin of puppets I got a few more..don't know if these were ever shown outside of the UK but here goes:

*Camberwick green - with fantastic characters such as windy miller who lived in his rather nice windmill (possibly more animation than puppets)

*Bagpuss - a big fluffy pink and white stripped cat who lived in a pawn shop along with his friends the mice!

*Thunderbirds

*Joe ninety - and his fantastic micheal caine '60's' glasses

*itsy and bitsy spiders - don't know if these count as they were actually glove puppets!

*Bill and Ben the flower pot men - this is one my Mum used to watch!!!They were only ever made in black and white I think and they had a plant for a friend...called weed!


Those are some of my favourites. Watching them brings back memories of being 5 again!!

OK they aren't exactly a kids show, not that there "adult" or anything is just wasn't aimed at kids is/was The Sifl and Olly Show. Possibly the greatest entertainers ever to live on your feet. They are these two sock puppets host of a variety show, with thee sidekick Chester, sing inventive never even considered for song writing subjects songs. Such as a love song to a carrot, and Guns & Roses style ode to Fake Blood, or ever covers such as Don't Rear the Reaper (with a real sock puppet reaper.) They also interview guests that really got any attention from the latenight guys, like Mars, an atom in Elvis' comb, even the Orgasm a few times. In between these major parts of the show, they'll take some Calls from the Public (other socks with interesting problems, or that just want to tell them that it's actually the revesre and is "cresent fresh"). Apparent to pay for all this entertainment , the use the sponsor of Precious Roy, whose products they take a few minutes of each show to display. Product no one knew existed but really need like Pirate Cripplers (beavers trained to gnaw peglegs) and Miracle Dirt.
Olly is the white sock, tends to be very upbeat, takes care of most of the shows responsibilities and moves it along, but sometimes this can bear down on him and can cause him to fly off the handle.
Sifl is the greenish black sock, who's the cooler of the two, stays on top of things better but tends to put his own self before the show, (spending guest funds incorrectly so that a new replacement guest has to be found, and in fact once did not even show up on the show and instead had a robot fill in...which eventually sent Olly into his worst rage ever), he also may be Olly's father, but this was most likely a joke since they grew up together from childhood.
Chester is their buddy they let help them with the show,and he's a few marshmellow bits short of a complete breakfast cereal, so to speak, but he's enthusiastic, condfident and um hilarious even if he doesn't know it.
I'm SUre other fans can fill in what I've neglected.
Industrial Gila Dolphin

What about the Magic Roundabout for wit, sarcasm, cutting remarks - and all for grown ups!

One can't beat a good Thunderbirds episode - was Alan "doing it" with Tintin or not and what about Lady Penelope and Virgil????

Spitting Image was another good programme... sort of puppets!

My little boy loves Wallace and Grommit! (He has excellent taste!)

Details of "Le manège enchanté" can be found here:

http://www.h2g2.com/A133679#magicroundabout

And Wallace & Grommit is also there on the very same page...

Camberwick Green and Bagpuss can ber found here:
http://www.h2g2.com/A133679

Thunderbirds, Joe 90 and Bill and Ben are already in the OGE to which this forum relates.

Now Itsy and Bitsy on the other hand... definitely worth a mention.
And puppets are puppets are puppets. Take Sooty for example.
Fancy expanding on the subject and sharing with us what you know/can remember about them?

zb

I'm surprised that the U. K. researchers omitted (or haven't gotten around to) adding the very adult oriented puppets of "Spitting Image" to the list yet. We had very limited exposure to them in the U.S. during the 1980's, but I remember them. They were puppets created to cariacturize famous cebebs, politicians and just about anyone else in the world they wanted to satirize, skewer, and burn at the stake.

Bagpuss!!! The classic scene where the mice sing "row, row row your boat" whilst rowing across the toyshop floor is worth the cost of the video alone.

A few more notes on The (now sadly off-air) Sifl & Olly show:
This show was created by Liam Lynch and Matt Crocco, who have been friends for an insane number of years and who used to pretend to interview each other when they were six, seven years old and tape the results. Twenty-some years later they got a show suspiciously similar to (though probably much more funny than) this childhood game.

The show was first aired as brief segments on MTV Europe, but was dropped when there was a split in that network, and reappeared in its half-hour format some time later on American MTV. MTV completely neglected to promote the show, airing it usually after midnight and advertising for it not at all. Though despite this situation it gained a fairly large fan base, it was eventually cancelled for television, but will now continue as an online-only production. MTV may be airing all of seasons one and two again as a promotion for the downloadable new episodes.

One of the interesting things about the show is that much of the often-bizarre and usually hilarious dialoge is completely improvised. Liam and Matt - who together do almost all voicing - basically sit about with a tape recorder and go until they've got a show's worth of stuff. Liam also does all the puppetry himself, watching a monitor as he synchs the pre-recorded dialoge with the motions of both main puppets simultaneously. The result is a show that feels less than polished without being unprofessional - a pleasant contrast to many of the over-produced and shiny other programs MTV presents.

Much more info - including show transcripts, songs, behind the scenes photos, and random insanity - can be found at www.sifl-n-olly.com.

Hey thanks for the "behind the scenes" infoI knew I should have had more. I hope this intenet broadcast thing goes well. I guess it could also be mentioned that the fan base (sockheads) have a trbute CD and a convention in the works. Joining the list is easy, just visit www.sockheads.com

I couldn't remember enough about them to do an article. And I couln't find a website for research. The only thing I found was a page with the lyrics to the chicken song. Definitely worth adding, so I'll see what I can find!

zb

The "Land of Confusion" video for the song by Genesis... or was it one of Phil Collins' solo songs? I don't remember. Anyway, it might be one place to start.

K.

P.S. Hopefully I'll get the chance to work on the article before the weekend is over.

KayKay - yes, it was "Land of Confusion", I remember it well...
It also makes me think of the "Frankie goes to Hollywood" video for "War" which I think featured a somewhat brutal fight between the U.S. and Soviet leaders (but not with puppets - I think they were wearing those rubber masks that were popular at the time).
The problem with "Spitting image" was that it lost its edge eventually - the scripts deteriorated badly towards the end. Also, I think it has aged rather badly and doesn't seem as funny now as it did then (but then it was contemporary satire so that's not necessarily a criticism).