MovieChat Forums > Muppet Babies (1984) Discussion > This show could easily be on DVD!

This show could easily be on DVD!


All they have to do is cut and snip out the unlicensed footage, and unfortunately have to withold a few episodes, but it could still be done.

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[deleted]

Right. I know a majority of footage was of old black and white movies that must be in PD by now.
I know the intro has shots from Indiana Jones and Star Wars. They just need to get George Lucas' permission, and he seems to be cool with this sort of thing. He must have okayed it back in 1984.

"I'm watching gonzo's video show now"

Sadly, that one would have to be skipped, unless the above succeeds.



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[deleted]

Another possibility: the problematic clips could be replaced with new footage created for this purpose, perhaps in the form of realistic-looking CGI to make a clear distinction from the Muppet Babies' cartoon world. Such new footage, as long as it had a certain level of difference from the clips, would be ok under the "parody clause." A precedent for such a strategy is the opening scene of the film Not Another Teen Movie: the filmmakers didn't have the right to show a clip from She's All That so they filmed their own spoof of the clip they wanted and used it as a substitute. Most of the MB storylines, if I recall rightly as my memories from 25 years ago are quite hazy, didn't depend on specific lines or people in the stock footage: the context only demanded "soldiers marching" or "spaceships flying" to make the gag work, and there are plenty of public domain images and easily whip-uppable new footage that could fill the bill. For situations that are more complex (e.g., clips edited so the real person and the cartoon seem to be having a real conversation), the editors could use their imaginations to come up with something new that syncs up with the existing cartoon side of the dialogue.

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Right. And now, Disney owns the Muppets, Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Marvel. So there should be no stopping them.

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It's Disney, they don't give a sh!t about any of the older shows. They owned the Power Rangers franchise for years and refused to release season sets or anything. As soon as they sold it back to Saban Shout Factory released the entire series and it was a huge seller for them. Disney doesn't listen to fans at all, they simply don't care.

Dragonzord! Mastodon! Pterodactyl! Triceratops! Saber Toothed Tiger! Tyrannosaurus!

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Then we simply have to make them realize that if they released these shows, people would buy them. Disney should really make a deal with Shout.

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Yeah right, Disney license out their stuff? That'll be the day!

Dragonzord! Mastodon! Pterodactyl! Triceratops! Saber Toothed Tiger! Tyrannosaurus!

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the majority of the copyrighted footage used was essential to the story line.

cutting it out would mess with the episode's story

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Not in every episode, and the ones that are, I guess can't be included. But now that Disney owns the Muppets, Marvel, Star Wars and Indiana Jones, there should be no stopping this show from reaching DVD.

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True, Disney owns all that and we are probably CLOSER now than we ever were to getting this on DVD, but there's still the references to DC(DC Comic characters like Superman) and Universal(Universal movie monsters). Other than that, I think all the other footage(stock footage) is public domain.

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They could trim any footage or, like they did with The Tick, not include certain episodes that contain material they can't clear?

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I'm sure there are some episodes that could be released on DVD, with 4 episodes on each disc, and called "best of" or a certain theme. We don't need complete seasons just yet, so these would be an excellent way to tide fans over until then.

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Disney should release the remaining seasons of the Muppet Show first!!!! >:(

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