#Ghost of christmas past muppets movie#

But they found an IP, a first strike inter-positive of that reel. But three or four times a year, I was on them saying, 'You have an obligation to find this. They searched for years and years, and it took all this time. Disney had lost the negative, and they were horrified. So on video, the song was back in, but as soon as high-definition video came along, they needed to go back to the negative to make that better version.

#Ghost of christmas past muppets movie#

And he said, 'Look, this is a fantastic movie but I think it'll be better for the movie in theaters if the song was cut from the theatrical release.' So, the agreement was, as long as the song goes back in after this initial theatrical release and from then on, the movie has the song in it. If I weren't 28, I probably would've not cut it out and just said to Jeffrey, 'Are you demanding I do this?' Because Jeffrey was very respectful. And for one very real reason, kids don't like them. It was super important to me because that was the deal. But I remember Disney was like, 'Are you sure? Is he still working?' And then he was fantastic. I was thrilled to hear that he was up for it. He really responded to the script because it's a story of redemption. And I just thought, 'Well, let's find Paul Williams.' And Paul had become sober recently and really wanted to prove that he was still a great songwriter. I was really quite intimidated by trying to do any musical numbers and who to guide as songwriter. Following a visit from the ghost of his deceased business partner Jacob Marley, Scrooge receives nocturnal visits by three Ghosts. The Ghost is one of three spirits which appear to miser Ebenezer Scrooge to offer him a chance of redemption. I was nervous about because I hadn't done any musicals as a director or even as a performer. The Ghost of Christmas Past is a fictional character in Charles Dickens ' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. But then I found out it's because Paul had become very self-destructive and had gone into a dark period of addiction. I always wondered why my dad hadn't done more with Paul after The Muppet Movie.

The other songwriter whose songs really worked for the Muppets was John Denver. Of everything that my dad had done, it seemed very clear that the songs that worked the best were the Paul Williams songs. We're going to just have to do this with water.' And I said to my producing partner, 'Well, I guess we'll just have to buy more oil.' And he's like, 'Brian, we can't. They turned on the pump, and it immediately pumped the water into the oil and the molecules of the water spread instantly into the oil. Welcome to Muppet Wiki Please visit Special:Community to learn how you can contribute. They had a pump to filter the oil, and it still had pool water in the pump and they didn't realize it. And I thought, 'Let's do something though that's more magical than just flying.' So, we had this mineral oil and it cost a fortune to get a tankful. I wanted to do her under oil because she's flying around. So, pushing it down into the mineral oil, the light didn't refract or reflect off of the rod. Mineral oil is very nearly exactly the same density as clear plastic rods. It was meant to be shot in mineral oil, because I had actually done a bunch of research. Shooting it under water was something that really intrigued me. The Ghost of Christmas Past is about innocence - and innocence lost is the message the character is giving. Christmas Present is largely Dickens' description, and then us realizing that in a Muppet-y way, the halfway between human and Muppet, but Muppet facial features. At one o'clock, Scrooge is visited by the childlike Ghost of Christmas Past, who takes him back in time to his childhood and early adult life, with Dickens and Rizzo hitching a ride too ('Christmas Past'). Imogene Coca plays the Ghost of Christmas Present in A Special Sesame Street Christmas.It is basically Dickens' descriptions.Christmas Carole appears to Oscar the Grouch as the Ghost of Christmas Present in A Sesame Street Christmas Carol.Miss Piggy plays 'the Ghost of Christmas Presents' in 'Yet Another Christmas Carol', a story in A Very Muppet Christmas.

His design was inspired by Kirk Thatcher. Christmas Present is easily the most personable of the three ghosts, laughing heartily, displaying a tendency towards forgetfulness, and repeating his favorite phrase 'know me better, man!' The Ghost visibly ages in his final moments before vanishing. The Ghost possesses the ability to alter his size to fit into any space, and to enter a room by merely touching its exterior walls. A large, jovial figure, the Ghost of Christmas Present reveals to Scrooge the joys of Christmas in the present day. The Ghost of Christmas Present visits Ebenezer Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol. The Ghost of Christmas Present during his last moments