Henson Podcasts Shares Comic-Con Q&A

The Jim Henson Company has released yet great another installment of the Henson.com podcast today. This episode shares 15-minutes of audio from the Jim Henson Company’s question-and-answer session at the 2007 Comic Con International convention held in San Diego in July. The pane talk about "The Skrumps", the Henson Digital Performance Studio, "Puppet Up!", the future of puppets and animatronics in the face of computer animation, "Power of the Dark Crystal" and even poop. Brian Henson, Lisa Henson, John Chandler, Halle Stanford, Patrick Bristow, Julianne Buescher and Piddles answered questions asked by select members of the audience. There was one question answered by Henson that hinted at an exciting Muppet project and gave a reassuring update on "Power of the Dark Crystal" (which, after several production delays, is now set for release in 2009).

"...All of this is cloaked in secrecy. Actually the Disney team that is working on the Muppets does have a really great project that we can’t talk about. So there is something good coming along, but we can’t tell you. And the same thing is true with 'The Dark Crystal'. Fans of 'The Dark Crystal' did detect that we were moving a little slowly, and it’s kind of true - we had a little setback but are back on track. The movie will not be coming out until 2009 so we’re not going to be showing anything for a while..."

Fans may be excited to hear more hinting at a big Muppet project in the works. Back in June Muppeteer Dave Goelz (with the help of Gonzo) also hinted at "a really cool project" coming sometime in the next year. And while Henson has confirmed that the release of "Power of the Dark Crystal" has been delayed since their initial announcement, it’s reassuring to hear the company let us know it’s still coming.

You can listen to the entire podcast by clicking here. And I’ll be sure to keep you updated as things develop on all the exciting projects.