Monster Maker
Encyclopedia
Monster Maker is 45-minute television special, adapted by Matthew Jacobs
Matthew Jacobs
Matthew Jacobs is a British writer, director and producer. He is known best for his extensive career writing for television shows like Doctor Who and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles...

 from the novel of the same name by Nicholas Fisk
Nicholas Fisk
Nicholas Fisk is the pseudonym of David Higginbottom , a writer of science fiction books, mainly for children. His works include Grinny, You Remember Me, Space Hostages and Trillions...

.

Harry Dean Stanton
Harry Dean Stanton
Harry Dean Stanton is an American actor, musician, and singer. Stanton's career has spanned over fifty years, which has seen him star in such films as Paris, Texas, Kelly's Heroes, Dillinger, Alien, Repo Man, The Last Temptation of Christ, Wild at Heart, The Green Mile and The Pledge...

 plays an American Special Effects expert living in London, who is befriended by a young fan named Matt Banting (played by Kieran O'Brien
Kieran O'Brien
Kieran O'Brien is an English actor.-Biography:O'Brien, who grew up in nearby Royton, began acting at a early age and was the star of a BBC TV series Gruey by the time he was 15. He also featured in several other series at the time in one-off or recurring roles...

). From Jim Henson
Jim Henson
James Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...

's London based Henson Associates
The Jim Henson Company
The Jim Henson Company, an American entertainment organization, traces its origins to the founding of Muppets, Inc. in 1958 by puppeteer Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets. The Muppets helped the company gain worldwide acclaim in family entertainment for more than four decades...

, it was produced by Duncan Kenworthy
Duncan Kenworthy
Duncan H. Kenworthy, OBE is a British film and television producer, and co-founder of the production company DNA Films. He is currently a producer at Toledo Productions....

 and directed by Giles Foster
Giles Foster
Giles Foster has been a British television director since 1975. He specialises in television dramas. He has also directed in Australia and more recently in Germany. He wrote some television dramas in the 1970s....

.

The show aired as a standalone special in the UK. In the US, it aired as an episode of The Jim Henson Hour
The Jim Henson Hour
The Jim Henson Hour was a short-lived television series that aired on NBC in 1989. It was developed as a showcase for The Jim Henson Company's various puppet creations, including the popular Muppet characters. Only nine of the twelve episodes produced managed to air on NBC before the low-rated...

.

Introduction

Jim Henson
Jim Henson
James Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...

 talks about the Creature Shop, showing one of the devils from The Storyteller
The Storyteller
The StoryTeller is a live-action/puppet television series. It was an American/British co-production which originally aired in 1988 and was created and produced by Jim Henson....

as an example of what the Creature Shop can make. A puppet later used as The Predator on Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs (TV series)
Dinosaurs is an American family sitcom that was originally broadcast on ABC from April 26, 1991 to July 20, 1994. The show, about a family of anthropomorphic dinosaurs, was produced by Michael Jacobs Productions and Jim Henson Television in association with Walt Disney Television and Buena Vista...

can also be seen. He then introduces the Monster Maker.

Plot

Teenage Matt wants to work with a famous but eccentric creature/fx (special effects) man, but he gets more than he bargained for when one of the creatures, the giant, dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...

-like Ultragorgon, takes Matt under his wing. Matt is forced to confront his inner monsters while working out his issues with his father.

Closing

Jim Henson mentions that although the creatures look real, they are not actually alive. Jim states that when the viewers see the credits, it will state that it took eight puppeteers to operate the Ultragorgon as Jim also states that his son Brian operated the Ultragorgon's head in the Ultragorgon's neck compartment. He also brings out Kermit the Frog who comments that he liked the special.

Credits

  • Michael Gambon
    Michael Gambon
    Sir Michael John Gambon, CBE is an Irish actor who has worked in theatre, television and film. A highly respected theatre actor, Gambon is recognised for his roles as Philip Marlowe in the BBC television serial The Singing Detective, as Jules Maigret in the 1990s ITV serial Maigret, and as...

     as Ultragorgon (voice)
  • Jonathan Coy
    Jonathan Coy
    Jonathan Coy is a British actor born in Hammersmith, London on 24 April 1953. He has worked since 1975 largely in television, notably as Henry in the long running legal series Rumpole and as Bracegirdle in the television series Hornblower, adapted from the books by C. S. Forester...

     as Teacher
  • Matthew Scurfield
    Matthew Scurfield
    Matthew Scurfield is an actor and the eldest child of the late author George Scurfield and his wife Cecilia in Cambridge, England....

     Vaughn
  • Bill Moody as Reg
  • Grant Bardsley as Ben
  • Alison Steadman
    Alison Steadman
    Alison Steadman OBE is an English actress. She established her career with roles such as Beverley in Abigail's Party and Candice Marie in Nuts in May for the director Mike Leigh, to whom she was once married. In addition to her stage and radio work, she has had lead roles in The Singing Detective,...

     as Perriwinkle
  • Amanda Dickinson as Mother
  • George Costigan
    George Costigan
    -Early life:Costigan was born in Portsmouth and grew up in Irlams o' th' Height and Weaste in Salford. He attended St. Augustine's C of E Primary School on Bolton Road in Pendlebury, then Wardley Grammar School on Mardale Avenue in Wardley near Swinton.-Career:...

     as Father
  • Harry Dean Stanton
    Harry Dean Stanton
    Harry Dean Stanton is an American actor, musician, and singer. Stanton's career has spanned over fifty years, which has seen him star in such films as Paris, Texas, Kelly's Heroes, Dillinger, Alien, Repo Man, The Last Temptation of Christ, Wild at Heart, The Green Mile and The Pledge...

     as Chancey Bellow
  • Kieran O'Brien
    Kieran O'Brien
    Kieran O'Brien is an English actor.-Biography:O'Brien, who grew up in nearby Royton, began acting at a early age and was the star of a BBC TV series Gruey by the time he was 15. He also featured in several other series at the time in one-off or recurring roles...

     as Matt Banting


Ultragorgon operated by Martin Anthony, Tony Ashton, Michael Bayliss, Marcus Clarke, Sue Dacre, David Greenaway, Brian Henson
Brian Henson
Brian Henson is an Academy Award-winning puppeteer, director, producer, and technician. The son of puppeteers Jane and Jim Henson, Brian was born in New York City, New York....

, and Christopher Leith.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK