Meet the Feebles
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| Meet The Feebles | |
|---|---|
| Image:Meet the Feebles.jpg | |
| Directed by | Peter Jackson |
| Produced by | Peter Jackson Jim Booth |
| Written by | Peter Jackson Danny Mulheron Stephen Sinclair Fran Walsh |
| Starring | Donna Akersten Stuart Devenie Mark Hadlow |
| Music by | Peter Dasent |
| Editing by | Jamie Selkirk |
| Distributed by | South Gate Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | 1989 |
| Running time | 94 mins |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Meet The Feebles (1989) is a black comedy film by director Peter Jackson. It features Jim Henson-esque puppets in a perverse comic satire. Like Henson's Muppets, the Feebles are animal-figured puppets (though some were people in suits) assembled together as members of a theatre troupe. However, whereas Henson's Muppets characterise the positivity, naïve folly, and innocence in humanity, the Feebles present negativity, vice, and other misanthropic characteristics.
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[edit] Plot summary
Meet the Feebles tells the story of the Feebles theatre troupe. They are a group of performers who, that night, are going on live network TV. If they are good enough, they will 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.
[edit] Character list
- Heidi (hippo) - A singer and dancer, she is the big star of the show. She is in a relationship with Bletch. She is severely bipolar and when upset, she overeacts.(She is based loosely on Miss Piggy.)
- Bletch (walrus) - The boss. He acts as producer for the Feebles troupe, runs porn and drug businesses on the side, and is mean as well. He's in a long-term relationship with Heidi (or possibly married to her, but this is not elaborated on) while in an adulterous relationship with Samantha.
- Samantha (cat) - A prostitute and Bletch's mistress.
- Harry (rabbit) - Satyristic MC who contracts "the big one", a fatal STD. It is apparently myxomatosis but Harry later finds out it's just "bunny pox."
- Trevor (rat) - Bletch's enforcer. Directs pornography and manages the drug business on the side.
- Arthur (worm) - Stage manager. His appearance resembles a book worm. Is an avid cigar smoker.
- Sidney (Sid) (elephant) - Animal trainer. A manic depressive who thinks that he has terrible luck. Though he initially denies being Seymour's father, when Seymour is threatened with death in the slaughter which closes the film, Sid acknowledges him and runs to his rescue.
- Sandy (chicken) - Has Sid's child out of wedlock. He denies it is his and for this, she is bringing a paternity suit against him.
- Seymour (hybrid) - The baby of Sidney and Sandy. He is a half elephant and half chicken hybrid.
- Robert (Wobert) (hedgehog) - A new member of the troupe. He has no vices. He falls in love with Lucile. Has a minor speech disorder: He pronounces the letter 'R' as sounding similar to the letter 'W'.
- Fly-in-the-sky (fly) - Stereotypical paparazzo bent on breaking Harry's story. After he publishes it, Bletch and Trevor track him down, rip his wings off and flush him down a toilet.
- Sebastian (fox) - The homosexual stage director with a penchant for sodomy - including an entire song about it. It is presumed he lost an eye during the film's events since the epilogue for the surviving characters shows him with an eye patch.
- Wynyard (frog) - Addicted to "every barbiturate known to man". He is a Vietnam veteran who gets flashbacks about the war and throws knives for the show. He accidentally kills himself during his knife throwing performance. He could possibly be a parody of Kermit the Frog.
- Lucile (poodle) - Chorus girl who falls in love with Robert after he courts her. At one point, Trevor drugs and attempts to rape her.
- Barry (bulldog) - Bletch's driver and enforcer. After raiding the docks with Bletch and Trevor to gain drugs, a large spider bites his head off.
- Cedric (wild boar) - A Scottish boar who is part of a large gang, a golfer and tries to double cross Bletch in a drug deal. He is killed when Barry stabs him with a knife.
- Louie (dog) - Cedric's side-kick who is a stereotypical "mangy mutt". He is killed by being force fed borax by Bletch after finding out the drug trade was a scam.
- Mr. Big (whale) - Cedric and Louie's boss. Bletch orders Trevor to drive his car through Mr. Big's mouth and they exit out of his anus. It presumably kills him.
- Madam Bovine (cow) - Heavily pierced and large-uddered cow who stars in Trevor's porn. She is never seen again after the filming of the porn with Dennis.
- "The Masked Masochist" (cockroach) - Actor in Trevor's porn. Dies after Madam Bovine unknowingly sits on his face and suffocates him. Trevor feeds his body to a monstruous whale-like creature.
- Dennis (either an anteater or aardvark[citation needed]) - After "The Masked Masochist" dies, he is convinced by Trevor to take a part in the porn movie. It looks like semen drips from his nose and he has a penchant for sniffing panties. He dies after sniffing up borax.
- Abi (human) - The only human character, an Indian snake-charmer and contortionist who physically appears to be a parody of Gandhi. Gets his head stuck in his rectum and when he pulls it out, a bed of nails crushes him.
- Daisy (dog) - One of the few minor characters of the theater troupe that is given a name. Her name is mentioned by Heidi before the show's debut.
- Dr. Quack (duck) - Harry's doctor who told Harry about his illness but later told him the truth when he found out what it really was.
The ending sees Heidi go on a shooting spree with an M60 machine gun and killing Samantha, Harry, Sandy, Daisy, Trevor and Bletch, among other surviving (nameless) members of the troupe. There is a brief epilogue sequence in which the fates of the notable survivors are shown. Sydney underwent surgery on his kneecap injuries and lives as a struggling horticulturist with his son Seymour. Arthur received an OBE for lifelong service to the theatre and retired to the country. Sebastian wrote a book about the film's events which, it is indicated, may be less than accurate, and is currently negotiating the film rights. Robert and Lucile got married, started a family and Robert became a professional photographer for a women's magazine. Heidi spent a decade in a female penitentiary, was rehabilitated into the community and now works under a new identity at a large supermarket.
[edit] Cultural impact
The movie has become a cult classic, and has enjoyed great popularity since Jackson's success with The Lord of the Rings. During his acceptance speech at the 2004 Academy Awards, Peter Jackson mentioned the movie, noting that it had been "wisely overlooked by the Academy."
[edit] Trivia
| Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- Money ran out during production, so the flashback to Vietnam was quietly filmed separately (with a different budget) as The Frogs of War. This scene includes a game of Russian roulette as a parody of The Deer Hunter.
- The Jesus Christ in the Feebles universe appears to be a Kermit the Frog-like frog. This is shown in the form of a crucifix held by Harry when he is praying to God to recover from his sickness.
- The dialogue was recorded before shooting began.
- 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.
- Tech metal band Meshuggah cited Meet The Feebles as one of their sources of inspiration for their Destroy Erase Improve album in the booklet.
- Peter Jackson has a cameo as an audience member dressed as an alien from "Bad Taste".
- Brisbane 90's band Feebles Junky was made up of a collective of friends (including Andrew G of Australian idol fame) who were massive fans of this film.
- The film was originally conceived for Japanese television and only belatedly became a feature; as such, the script was hastily re-written to be longer.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Meet The Feebles - Fan site
Films directed by Peter Jackson |
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| Bad Taste · Meet the Feebles · Braindead · Heavenly Creatures · Forgotten Silver · The Frighteners · The Lord of the Rings trilogy (The Fellowship of the Ring · The Two Towers · The Return of the King) · King Kong · The Lovely Bones · Tintin |
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Categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since August 2007 | Articles with trivia sections from June 2007 | 1989 films | B movies | Films featuring anthropomorphic characters | Films featuring puppetry | Films directed by Peter Jackson | New Zealand films
