Peter Jackson's "Meet the Feebles"

[Khephra]

This film seems to have Jackson fans torn apart. A lot of Lord of the Rings fans can't believe this movie was done by the same director. Either you love it or you hate it. What's your take?


Overview
A very dark comedy by director Peter Jackson, Meet the Feebles features Jim Henson-esque puppets, in a perversely comic satire. Like Henson's Muppets, the Feebles are animal-figured puppets assembled together as members of a theater troupe. However, whereas Henson's Muppets characterize positivity, naive folly, and innocence in humanity, the Feebles present negativity, vice, and other misanthropic characteristics.

Plot Summary:
Meet the Feebles tells us the story of the Feebles theatre troup. They are a group of performers who, that night, are going on live network TV. If they're good enough, they'll get picked up for a syndicated network show and everyone will get rich. Scenes involving violence, sexually explicit images, drug dealing, back stabbing, date rape, and death (including a snuff film within the film) follow.

Character List
Heidi (Hippo) - the star of the show. Severly bipolar. When upset, she overeats.
Bletch (Walrus) - The boss. He runs the Feebles troup. He's in a relationship with Heidi (this is never elaborated on), while in an adulterous relationship with Samatha.
Samantha (Cat) - Bletch's mistress
Harry (Rabit) - satyristic narrator who contracts the big one, a fatal STD
Trevor (Rat) - Bletch's enforcer. Directs pornography on the side.
Arthur (Worm) - Stage manager
Seymore (Elephant) - Animal trainer
Sandy (Chicken) - Has Seymore's child out of wedlock. He denies it is his
Robert (Hedgehog) - A new member of the troup. He has no vices. He falls in love with Lucile
Fly-in-the-sky (Fly) - stereoypical paparazzo bent on breaking Harry's story
Sebastian (Fox) - the Homosexual stage director with a penchant for sodomy - including an entire song about it
Winyard (Frog) - Addicted to "every barbituate known to man"
Lucile (Poodle?) - Singer in the feebles. Robert falls in love with her.
Mr. Big (Whale?) - Sedric's boss.
Barry (Bulldog) - Bletch's driver and enforcer
Sedric (Hog) - Tries to double cross Bletch in a drug deal
"The Masked Masochist" (Cockroach) - Actor in Trevor's porn. Dies after Madam Bovile uknowingly sits on his face and suffocates him.
Dennis (Unknown - very simliar to Gonzo the muppet) - After the "masked masochists" death, he is convinced by Trevor to take a part in the porn movie.
Louie (Dog) - Sedric's side-kick
Madam Bovine (Cow) - Heavy pierced cow who does Trevor's porn.

(Don't click this link. It gives away the ending.)


Sebastian's Sodomy Song
Near the end of the film, Sebastian the fox sings a song illustrating his love of the act of sodomy. Music and lyrics are written by Danny Mulheron

Sodomy

You must think it very odd of me
That I enjoy the act of sodomy
You might call the wrath of God on me
But if you try it then you might agree
That you enjoy the act of Sodomy
Don't worry if you feel ashamed; it's been around for years
Thousands more than can be named are interested in rears
Don't worry about Hell, no harm will come to your soul
We're not all Pentecostal, but everybody's got an asshole
Let me tell ya 'bout Sodomy
You must think it very odd of me
That I enjoy the act of sodomy
You might call the wrath of God on me
But if you try it then you might agree
That you enjoy the act of Sodomy
It might just improve your sex; it's a hard act to follow
A fact that fundamentalists find difficult to swallow
So join me as I sing of an activty that's fun
Open up your ring, and try it front to bum
bum bum
bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum
Sodomy
You must think it very odd of me
That I enjoy the act of sodomy
You might call the wrath of God on me
But if you try it then you might agree
That you enjoy the act of Sodomy
SODOMY!!!

http://www.informationgenius.com/encyclopedia/m/me/meet_the_feebles.html

[Screaming Lord Byron]

1. I'm an old-school Jackson fan of about a dozen years standing.

At least since I sat Bad Taste on TV. I appreciate all of his work, even The Frighteners.

[Khephra]

2. Lets see...

if I can out-Jackson you....

The Cane Frogs?

[Pale Blue Dot]

4. Did he do the "Cane Toads" documentary?

Tim Finn wrote a song for that one.

[Khephra]

10. Yeah, but it's not listed under his IMDB entry for some reason

Dunno why...

:shrug:

[Az]

8. Cane Toads a coming

hehe. My GF loves that documentary. But to go deeper have you been able to sit through Bad Taste?

[Khephra]

9. "I'm a Derek and Dereks don't run!"

Longtime Bad Taste fan here.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

12. You probably can.

Cane Frogs are little frogs which are native to Australian and NZ. Isn't it in that fake documentary?

[Screaming Lord Byron]

13. It was about the New Zealand film industry, wasn't it? The founder

of the industry. I've only seen it once.

[ForrestGump]

18. Actually, cane toads

(Bufo marinus) are antive to Central and South America and were introduced to places like Bermuda, Hawaii, Australia (Queensland, initially), and some South Pacific islands. They're typical invasive species -- pests. Big things. None in New Zealand yet.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

19. Then I stand corrected. Thanks.

[Pale Blue Dot]

3. I couldn't take it

I'm not as big a fan when he's in full gross-out mode. However, the "Sodomy" song was pretty good.

[skypilot]

5. I enjoyed it...

...but was appalled by it at the same time. I always seem to remember the fly, who was a reporter, sitting in the toilet with a spoon eating shit. "Mmmm, this tastes like yours..." Oh my fucking God.

[MallRat]

6. Sounds like an NC-17 version of "Avenue Q?"

Based on what I've heard...

-MR

[Az]

7. A lot of people are unfamiliar with Jackson's past

He made a lot of movies that stretched the boundaries of tact. Meet the Feebles is just one example. He made perhaps the funniest zombie horror flick ever called Dead Alive. Funnier than Evil Dead.

Meet the Feebles basically drags the muppet format through the gutters. Everything is thrown in from a drug adicted leader to hookers and gangsters. If you can't embrace the absurdity of the movie its going to offend you. Period. It goes for the gross out factor.

[Khephra]

11. His big shift came with "Heavenly Creatures"

It was still off-beat, but it seems like he suddenly started taking different drugs, if you know what I mean....

[Khephra]

14. Trivia about Bad Taste (Limited Edition):

Director Peter Jackson (I) shot the film on weekends over a four-year period with friends playing the lead roles. Jackson funded most of the film himself until towards the end of the shoot when the New Zealand film commission gave him money to finish his project after being impressed with what he'd already produced. The entire movie was improvised.

All the dialogue in the film was dubbed after the original sound tapes went missing.

Jackson, Peter constructed his own counterweighted steady-cam device for this film that cost only $15.

The movie was banned in the Australian state of Queensland until the early-'90s when the Queensland Censorship Board was disbanded.

Peter Jackson made all masks in his mother's kitchen. The heads of the aliens are bent backwards because otherwise they wouldn't fit in the oven where the latex was hardened.

[reprehensor]

15. Mediocre.

I only rented it because I had just seen 'Dead Alive' and I wanted to see his other work.

I would recommend the 'Frighteners' before Meet the Feebles.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

16. I'm giving this a damn good kick up the arse.

[Deja Q]

17. It was a little too warped for my tastes...

But then again, I like that sort of thing. I'm not sure why it didn't click for me... :shrug: