Meet the Feebles

  1. Home
  2. Wiki

Meet the Feebles
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPeter Jackson
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyMurray Milne
Edited byJamie Selkirk
Music byPeter Dasent
Production
company
Distributed byKerridge Odeon
Release date
  • 8 December 1989 (1989-12-08)
Running time
97 minutes[1]
CountryNew Zealand
LanguageEnglish
Budget$750,000[2]
Box office$80,000 (New Zealand)[3]

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 anthropomorphic animals in a perverse comic satire.[4][5] 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.[6]

Plot

[edit]

The Feebles Variety Hour theatre troupe is rehearsing, hoping to be chosen for a syndicated television show. Star performer Heidi the hippopotamus is insulted by Trevor, a rat and pornographic movie director and complains to her boss and lover, Bletch, a sleazy walrus, unaware that he's having an affair with a Siamese cat named Samantha.

Robert, a hedgehog and the troupe's newest member, arrives and immediately falls in love with a poodle named Lucille. 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 and animal trainer, is visited by his ex-fling, Sandy the chicken, who is filing a paternity suit against him after birthing an elephant-chicken hybrid named Seymour. Prior to this, Heidi gets into a confrontation with Samantha, who bitterly reveals Bletch's infidelity with her. In disbelief, Heidi tosses Samantha into a pile of garbage before tearfully running into her dressing room where she gorges Black Forest gateau while flipping through her scrapbook of her fame and youth.

Harry the rabbit is told by his duck doctor Dr. Quack that he's caught a terminal disease after a threeway, which tabloid reporter, the housefly F.W. Fly overhears and publishes in the newspaper. Wynyard, a frog, is looking for money in order to obtain more drugs. Wynyard also suffers from intense PTSD from his time as a Vietnam War veteran.

Trevor drugs and rapes Lucille in order to entice her into being his new star for his pornos, causing Robert to believe that she is being unfaithful to him and dump her. Bletch, while playing golf with his henchman Barry the bulldog, is approached by a warthog named Cedric and his minion, an Australian-accented wolfhound mix named Louie, where they initiate a confidential drug deal.

After a disastrous rehearsal, Heidi is berated by Sebastian, the show's Arctic Fox director, for overeating after finding a piece of Black Forest cherry cake her cleavage, causing her to run into Bletch's office to complain to him again - only to catch him receiving oral sex from Samantha, upsetting her twice as much.

Later on, Bletch, realizing that Cedric provided him borax, decides that he, Trevor and Barry should go to the docks to obtain the drugs themselves after using the borax to kill Louie and Dennis, a perverted, panty-sniffing Aardvark. But before they leave, Bletch is informed by Sebastian that Heidi is refusing to perform but he successfully persuades her by feigning lust for her and the pair briefly have sex.

At the docks, Bletch, Trevor and Barry obtain the drugs after killing Cedric, his boss, a monstrous sperm whale named Mr. Big and several crab henchmen while Barry is killed by a giant black widow spider in their ensuing escape. On their journey 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 informs Bletch that the Feebles were chosen by the network for a syndicated series.

As Bletch celebrates in his office, Heidi attempts to seduce him, only for him to harshly reject her, insult her and inform her that he intends to replace her with Samantha as the star. Humiliated and heartbroken, Heidi decides to commit suicide; after failing to hang herself, she prepares to kill herself using an M60 machine gun in Bletch's office. But before she can do so, Samantha enters to retrieve her purse, spots Heidi and taunts her again, causing Heidi to snap and shoot Samantha dead in response.

Meanwhile, the show gradually goes awry: an ailing Harry vomits all over the stage, Sid is accosted by Sandy in front of the audience, an intoxicated Wynyard accidentally kills himself during his knife-throwing act and Sebastian performs a musical number about sodomy in a desperate attempt to save the show.

Heidi then goes on a violent rampage throughout the theater, killing many troupe members including Harry, right after Dr. Quack informed him that his illness wasn't terminal, and Sandy before shooting Sid in his kneecaps. Before she can kill Lucille, Robert swoops to her rescue, stating that he still loves her with Lucille revealing what Trevor did to her earlier.

Before Heidi can kill Bletch, he tries to calm her down by feigning love for her, but this proves to be a ruse to make Heidi let her guard down so Trevor can kill her. Suddenly, Robert attacks Trevor, allowing Heidi to retrieve her gun and kill both Trevor and Bletch. Arthur regretfully informs Heidi that he has just reported her to the authorities. Accepting her fate, Heidi decides to perform her song one last time before she is arrested.

A photographic postscript reveals what happened to the survivors following the massacre: Sid has become a struggling horticulturalist alongside Seymour following kneecap surgeries, Arthur received an OBE and retired to the countryside, Sebastian wrote an autobiography about the incident and is currently negotiating the film rights, Robert and Lucille married and had two children and Heidi, after serving ten years in a female penitentiary, was rehabilitated into the community and now works as a cashier in a large supermarket under a new identity.

Cast

[edit]

Puppeteers

[edit]
  • Danny Mulheron as Heidi (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

Voices

[edit]
  • Donna Akersten as:
    • Lucille
    • Samantha
    • Dorothy
    • Female Rabbit #1
    • Chorus Girl #2
    • Fitness Tape Voice
  • Stuart Devenie as:
    • Sebastian
    • Madame Bovine
    • Sandy
    • Cedric
    • Eight Bal
    • Seymour
    • Female Rabbit #2
    • Chorus Girl #1
  • Mark Hadlow as:
    • Heidi
    • Robert
    • Barry
    • Chorus Girl #3
  • Ross Jolly as:
  • Brian Sergent as:
    • Trevor
    • Wynyard
    • F.W.
    • Dr. Quack
    • Jim
    • Chuck
    • The Spider
    • Vietnamese Soldiers
  • Peter Vere-Jones as:
    • Bletch
    • Arthur
    • The Baker
    • Newspaper Mouse (Paperboy)
    • The Announcer
  • Mark Wright as:
    • Sid
    • The Masked Masochist
    • Louie
    • Guppy
    • Poodle
    • Snake bartender
    • Crab 1
    • Chorus Girl #4
  • Fane Flaws as Musician Frog (uncredited)

Production

[edit]

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.[3][7]

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.

Soundtrack

[edit]
Meet the Feebles (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Soundtrack album
Released1991
GenreElectronic
Classical
Stage & Screen
LabelQ.D.K. Media

The film's music was composed by Peter Dasent. The soundtrack was released in 1991 by Q.D.K. Media.

Track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Meet the Feebles"2:23
2."One Leg Missing"1:56
3."Guppy Audition"1:07
4."Heidi's Aerobics Tape"2:57
5."Robert's Serenade"1:41
6."Hot Potato"1:51
7."The Best Goddamn Producer"1:19
8."Dirty Movies"1:28
9."Golfing"2:14
10."Fly Gets a Scoop"1:19
11."Wynyard Gets a Fix"1:13
12."Vietnam"5:50
13."Garden of Love"3:18
14."The Dirty Rat"1:57
15."Cake Shop"1:02
16."Hippy Shit!"1:44
17."Sebastian's Rave"1:32
18."Barry's Aria"0:49
19."The Wharf"4:06
20."The Partial Journalist"1:27
21."Kiss Me Bletch!"1:45
22."Sodomy"2:12
23."Massacre Suite"2:14
24."Garden of Love" (Reprise)3:09
Total length:46:33

[8]

Release

[edit]

The film was marketed in some countries with the tagline: "From the director of Bad Taste, comes a movie with no taste at all!"[9]

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.[10]

Reception

[edit]

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."[11]

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."[12] 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."[13]

Legacy

[edit]

Despite being a commercial failure on release (grossing only NZ$80,000),[3] 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."[14][15]

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.[16]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "MEET THE FEEBLES (18)". British Board of Film Classification. 7 October 1991. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  2. ^ Brzeski, Patrick (10 December 2018). "Peter Jackson Returns to His "Naughty Years" With Restoration of Gory Early Films". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 1 February 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  3. ^ a b c "Meet the Feebles – Background". NZ On Screen. 31 August 2008. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
  4. ^ "MEET THE FEEBLES (Peter Jackson, 1989) on Vimeo". 31 August 2018. Archived from the original on 13 September 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  5. ^ The 50 Greatest Midnight Movies of All Time - Flavorwire
  6. ^ "How Peter Jackson's Low-Budget Cult Comedy 'Meet the Feebles' Inspired 'The Happytime Murders'". The Hollywood Reporter. 17 August 2018.
  7. ^ "Sex, Drugs & Soft Toys - The Making of Meet the Feebles". NZ On Screen. 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
  8. ^ SoundtrackCollector.com
  9. ^ Trailer on Video Detective's YouTube channel
  10. ^ "Top ten movies banned in Ireland". IrishCentral.com. 6 November 2023. Archived from the original on 16 November 2023. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  11. ^ "Meet the Feebles". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on 29 August 2024. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  12. ^ James Berardinelli. "James Berardinelli review at Reelviews". Reelviews.net. Archived from the original on 21 March 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
  13. ^ Maslin, Janet (22 February 1995). "FILM REVIEW; Playful Puppetry, for Adults Only (Published 1995)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 6 March 2014.
  14. ^ "2003 (76th) Academy Awards". Academy Awards Acceptance Speech Database. Archived from the original on 10 August 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  15. ^ ""The Lord of the Rings" winning the Best Picture Oscar®-Oscars on YouTube". YouTube. 14 May 2008. Archived from the original on 2 July 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  16. ^ Navarro, Meagan (12 May 2023). ""The Muppets Mayhem" – Peter Jackson's Surprise Cameo Brings 'Meet the Feebles' Crossover to Disney+ Show". Bloody Disgusting!. Archived from the original on 9 November 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
[edit]