Meet the Feebles

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use New Zealand English Template:Infobox film Meet the Feebles (also known as Frogs of War in New Zealand as the film's English fake working title) is a 1989 New Zealand adult puppet musical black comedy film directed by Peter Jackson, and written by Jackson, Fran Walsh, Stephen Sinclair, and Danny Mulheron (who also performed the body of lead character Heidi the Hippo). The plot follows a stage troupe of puppet animals in a perverse comic satire,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>The 50 Greatest Midnight Movies of All Time - Flavorwire</ref> in contrast to the positive innocence and naïve folly of The Muppets, the Feebles largely present negativity, vice, and other misanthropic characteristics.

The film is the first Jackson co-wrote with his future partner Fran Walsh, with the two collaborating on all his subsequent films. The film also marked the beginning of Jackson's collaborations with Richard Taylor and Wētā Workshop, as created by Taylor and Tania Rodger, who all worked on Jackson's subsequent films.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

PlotEdit

The Feebles Variety Hour theatre troupe is rehearsing with hopes of finding success through being picked up for a syndicated television show. Star performer Heidi the hippo is insulted by pornographic rat director Trevor, and complains to her boss and lover, Bletch the walrus, unaware that he is having an affair with a cat named Samantha. Robert, a porcupine and the troupe's newest member, arrives and immediately falls in love with a dog named Lucille, where he successfully serenades her with encouragement from Arthur, the show's worm manager.

During the leadup to the show, different members of the troupe experience their own personal troubles. Sid, an elephant animal trainer, is visited by his ex-girlfriend, Sandy the chicken, who is filing a paternity suit against him after giving birth to an elephant-chicken hybrid named Seymour. Harry the rabbit is told by his duck doctor that he caught a terminal disease after a sexual fling, which tabloid reporter F.W. Fly overhears and publishes in the newspaper. Wynyard, a drug-obsessed, Vietnam veteran frog, is looking for money in order to obtain more drugs. Trevor drugs and rapes Lucille in order to entice her into being his new star for his pornos, causing Robert to think that she is being unfaithful to him and dumps her. Bletch, while playing golf with his henchman Barry the bulldog, is approached by a warthog named Cedric, where they initiate a secretive drug deal.

After a disastrous rehearsal session, Heidi is berated by Sebastian, the show's fox director, where she complains to Bletch again. However, she catches him in the middle of his affair with Samantha, upsetting her further. Bletch, realizing Cedric provided him borax, decides that he, along with Trevor and Barry, go over to the docks and obtain the drugs themselves. Before they leave, Bletch is informed by Sebastian that Heidi is refusing to perform, where he successfully changes her mind by feigning love for her.

At the docks, Bletch, Trevor and Barry obtain the drugs after killing Cedric, his whale boss Mr. Big, and several crab henchmen, but Barry is killed by a giant spider in the ensuing escape. On their way back to the theater, Bletch learns of Harry's disease in the newspaper, and kills F.W. for gossiping about it. During the show, Sebastian tells Bletch that they were picked up by the network. As Bletch celebrates in his office, Heidi attempts to seduce him, only for him to start insulting her, confessing that he never loved her and intends to groom Samantha into being her replacement. Humiliated, Heidi decides to commit suicide; after a failed attempt at hanging herself, she prepares to use an M60 machine gun. Before she can kill herself, Samantha arrives and insults Heidi again, causing Heidi to snap and kill her in response.

Meanwhile, the show gradually starts to fall apart: an ailing Harry vomits onstage, Sid is accosted by Sandy, an intoxicated Wynyard accidentally kills himself during his knife-throwing performance, and Sebastian performs a musical number about sodomy in a desperate attempt to save the show. Heidi goes on a violent rampage throughout the theater, killing many troupe members, including Harry and Sandy, and shoots Sid in his kneecaps. Before she can kill Lucille, Robert saves her, stating that he still loves her, with Lucille revealing what Trevor did to her. Before Heidi can kill Bletch, he tries to calm her down by saying he still loves her, but this only proved to be a ruse to make Heidi lower her guard so Trevor can kill her. Suddenly, Robert attacks Trevor, allowing Heidi to grab her gun and kill both Trevor and Bletch. Arthur regretfully informs Heidi that he had just reported her to the police, and Heidi, accepting her fate, decides to perform her song before she gets arrested.

A photographic postscript reveals what happened to the survivors following the massacre: Sid became a horticulturalist with Seymour, Arthur received an OBE, Sebastian wrote an autobiography about the incident and is negotiating the film rights, Robert and Lucille got married, and Heidi, after serving 10 years in a female penitentiary, was rehabilitated into the community and now works at a large supermarket under a new identity.

CastEdit

PuppeteersEdit

Danny Mulheron as Heidi the Hippo (in-suit performer)
Jonathon Acorn - Supervising puppeteer
Ramon Aguilar - Supervising puppeteer
Eleanor Aitken
Terri Anderton
Sean Ashton-Peach
Carl Buckley
Sarah Glensor
George Port
Ian Williamson
Justine Wright

VoicesEdit

Donna Akersten as:
- Lucille the Dog
- Samantha the Cat
- Dorothy the Sheep
- Female Rabbit #1
- Chorus Girl #2
- Fitness Tape Voice
Stuart Devenie as:
- Sebastian the Fox
- Daisy the Cow (Madame Bovine)
- Sandy the Chicken
- Cedric the Warthog
- Eight Ball the Frog
- Seymour the Elechicken (elephant/chicken hybrid)
- Female Rabbit #2
- Chorus Girl #1
Mark Hadlow as:
- Heidi the Hippo
- Robert the Hedgehog
- Barry the Bulldog
- Chorus Girl #3
Ross Jolly as:
- Harry the Rabbit (doing a Mel Blanc impression)
- Dennis the Aardvark
- Abi Bargwan the Contortionist
- Mr. Big the Whale
- Pekingese
- Crab 2
- Vietnamese Gophers 2
Brian Sergent as:
- Trevor the Rat (doing a Peter Lorre impression)
- Wynyard the Frog (doing a Jim Ignatowski impression)
- F.W. the Fly
- Dr. Quack the Duck (doing a Paul Lynde impression)
- Jim the Frog
- Chuck the Frog
- The Spider
- Vietnamese Gophers
Peter Vere-Jones as:
- Bletch the Walrus
- Arthur the Worm
- The Baker
- Newspaper Mouse (Paperboy)
- The Announcer
Mark Wright as:
- Sid the Elephant
- The Masked Masochist (The Weta)
- Louie the Dog
- Guppy the Fish
- Poodle
- Snake bartender
- Crab 1
- Chorus Girl #4
Fane Flaws as Musician Frog (uncredited)

ProductionEdit

The film was originally conceived as part of a television series, and only belatedly became a feature after Japanese investors proposed expanding it; as such, the script was hastily re-written. The dialogue was recorded before shooting began. Made on an extremely low budget considering the time-consuming process of working with puppets, the film went over budget and schedule. The feature was filmed in Wellington, with the majority of the scenes being filmed on multiple constructed sets places, in an abandoned railway shed (Shed No. 12 to be exact) at the dockyards. Some scenes were filmed outside the goods shed, such as a few external and internal scenes that were filmed at The St. James Theatre. During filming, some scenes, including the Vietnam flashback, were funded by members of the film crew, and filmed secretly under the title Frogs of War. The Vietnam flashback includes a game of Russian roulette as a parody of The Deer Hunter. An initial application for Film Commission money was rejected by executive director Jim Booth, who a short time later became Jackson's producer. The Commission eventually granted the production two-thirds of its $750,000 budget, though relationships between the funders and the production soured and the Film Commission removed its credit from the film.<ref name="nzonscreen"/><ref name = "Sex, Drugs & Soft Toys - The Making of Meet the Feebles 1989">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

It is often mistakenly stated that there are no human characters in the film; the character Abi is a human. However, there are no real-life human characters in the film. Director Jackson has a cameo as an audience member dressed as an alien from Bad Taste. Every vehicle seen in the film is a variation on the Morris Minor, including a specially constructed limousine. Morris Minors also appear in Jackson's Bad Taste and Braindead. By presumed coincidence, one of the characters, Harry the Hare, shares a name with the title character of James B. Hemesath's short story "Harry the Hare" (himself a Bugs Bunny pastiche), written for Harlan Ellison's anthology Again, Dangerous Visions in 1972.

SoundtrackEdit

{{safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst-infobox||$params=italic_title,name,type,longtype,artist,cover,border,alt,caption,released,recorded,venue,studio,genre,length,language,label,director,producer,compiler,chronology,prev_title,prev_year,year,next_title,next_year,misc|$extra=italic_title,longtype,border,caption,language,director,compiler,chronology,year,misc|$aliases=italic title>italic_title,Italic title>italic_title,Name>name,Type>type,image>cover,Cover>cover,Border>border,Alt>alt,Caption>caption,Longtype>longtype,Artist>artist,Released>released,Recorded>recorded,Venue>venue,Studio>studio,Genre>genre,Length>length,Language>language,Label>label,Director>director,Producer>producer,Compiler>compiler,Chronology>chronology,Misc>misc|$flags=override|$B={{#ifeq:{{#invoke:Is infobox in lead|main|[Ii]nfobox [Aa]lbum}}|true|{{#if:Template:Has short description | |Template:Short description|noreplace}}}}{{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template other Template:Category handler Template:Main other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox album with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y|italic_title |type |name |image |cover |border |alt |caption |longtype |artist |released |recorded |venue |studio |genre |length |language |label |director |producer |compiler |prev_title|prev_year|next_title|next_year|chronology|year|misc}}{{#if:{{#invoke:String|match|error_category=Music infoboxes with Module:String errors|A|1=soundtrackMeet the Feebles (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)1991Electronic
Classical
Stage & ScreenQ.D.K. Mediax|2=</?t[drh][ >]|nomatch=}}|Template:Main other}}Template:Main other}} The film's music was composed by Peter Dasent. The soundtrack was released in 1991 by Q.D.K. Media.

Track listing

Template:Track listing <ref>SoundtrackCollector.com</ref>

ReleaseEdit

The film was marketed in some countries with the tagline: "From the director of Bad Taste, comes a movie with no taste at all!"<ref>Trailer on Video Detective's YouTube channel</ref>

Meet the Feebles was given its public premiere at a fantasy film festival in Hamburg, in April 1990.

From then on, the film was released theatrically in Japan (7 December 1990); Portugal (February 1991); Australia (March 1991); Sweden (April 1991); Germany (May 1991); France (July 1991); United Kingdom (April 1992); and the United States (February 1995 in New York and September 1995 nationwide).

The film was banned in Ireland and remains banned as of 2023.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

ReceptionEdit

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 72% based on reviews from 25 critics, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The site's consensus reads "Dark and vulgar, Meet the Feebles is a backstage comedy featuring puppets that offers proof of Peter Jackson's taste for sheer outrageousness, even if it often lapses into pure juvenilia."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

During a limited theatrical release in North America in 2002, critic James Berardinelli touched on aspects of the film which likely helped ensure it limited release in cinemas. "The stories of these ... characters are told in a disgustingly graphic, obscenely offbeat, and caustically funny manner. Meet the Feebles is for those with a strong stomach and a seriously warped sense of humor. The film is so off the beaten track that it makes Monty Python seem mainstream."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Janet Maslin of the New York Times gave it 2 out of 5 and wrote that it was "Destined to stand as an unfortunate footnote to Mr. Jackson's career."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

LegacyEdit

Despite being a commercial failure on release (grossing only Template:NZD80,000),<ref name="nzonscreen"/> the film went on to develop a cult following, gaining new fans after the success of Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. During his acceptance speech at the 2004 Academy Awards, Jackson joked that both Meet the Feebles and Bad Taste had been "wisely overlooked by the Academy."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The titular Feebles are briefly mentioned in the seventh episode of the 2023 television series The Muppets Mayhem during a cameo by Jackson. Floyd Pepper notes the Electric Mayhem had not crossed paths with Jackson "since that night in Wellington...when we met the Feebles," with Jackson remarking that two Feebles were now in witness protection, and the remainder in prison.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

External linksEdit

Template:Sister project links

Trailer on YouTube
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