Okay. So why did I post this? I enjoyed it. Well, I agree that it is not the best built puppets, but I think they have a very appealing quality to them. And the puppeteering is not so great, I was a bit distracted by the puppeteers head and a good amount of arm in the shot. However, I like it because it is simple and well lit, as well as well shot (I think I used enough “wells” there). The story was a bit confusing and could have been worked more, but like I said, I enjoyed it. Perhaps someone out there might as well.

I am a huge LOST fan and obviously I love puppets.  Well “lookie” what  I’ve found.  A bunch of LOST The Series Season 6 recaps using toys, cut outs and puppets!  It is called Lost Untangled.  I am not sure who put these out (I assume it is from the people behind LOST.  But it looks like they are being taken off Youtube.  Here are a bunch of videos with Spanish subtitles?  Check them out before they’re gone.  Here is one in the browser for you to see now.

If anyone has more information about who built the puppet and who puppteered, I’d love to know.

It has been a while. I will try to help get caught up with older news items. Check out this awesome video sent in by Patrick Murray. I am very impressed. It goes to show you how entertaining a well made video can be even with simple puppets. What good are beautiful puppets if they are not shown well. Great job Patrick! Oh, and you can see some great outtakes here.

Sadly, Eugene Lambert  died yesterday at the age of 82. Eugene was one of the worlds leading puppeteers whose creations on ‘Wanderly Wagon’ delighted generations of Irish children, and who performed for many celebrities including Michael Jackson.

‘Wanderly Wagon’ began in 1967, and all of the Lambert children worked on the show, which ran until 1982. The puppet characters in ‘Wanderly Wagon’ — Judge the dog, Mr Crow, Foxy Loxy, and the untrustworthy Ssneaky Ssnake are remembered with great fondness by generations.

A native of Sligo, Mr Lambert had a huge passion for puppetry and managed to turn that passion into a lifelong career.

He founded the Lambert Puppet Theatre in Monkstown, Co Dublin, in 1972, and was the force behind the International Puppet Festival of Ireland.

“From his work on RTE with ‘Wanderly Wagon’, to his ongoing commitment to puppet theatre, he inspired a generation of puppet theatre makers, and delighted and entertained generations of Irish children and their parents,” said the council’s head of theatre, David Parnell.

The theatre is home to the country’s largest collection of puppets and hosts family productions throughout the weekend. It holds up to 250 people.

Mr Lambert’s funeral Mass will take place on Friday at 10am at St Patrick’s church in Monkstown. He will be sadly missed.

Eugene Lambert is survived by his wife Mai (they would have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this summer), eight children, 15 grandchildren and five great-great children.

Master puppet builder Terry Angus has posted another amazing creation on Ebay! Check it out before it’s too late!

It’s Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” as you’ve never experienced it before! Philip Hatter (Thistledown Puppets) and Alex Lucas (Mad Flamingo Media) have cleverly created an ebook of the famous poem specifically designed for Amazon’s Kindle. The unique thing about this book is that all the illustrations, 40 of them in all, are actually photos of puppets.

You can purchase the book here for just 99 cents. And don’t worry, you don’t need a Kindle to enjoy the experience. Amazon offers a free download of the Kindle software for your PC,  iPhone, or Blackberry.

You can read more about the creative process and check out more photos on the Thistledown Puppets Blog.

As I’ve said before, I love seeing “how” people do things.  We have written about Matt Ficner’s Creepy Puppet Project before (Warning: This series has scenes with blood and gore).  Here is some great footage that let’s you see how Matt approaches the building of some of his zombie puppets with his amazing creativity.  If you don’t like zombies; then you may want to skip this one.

The team of Furry Puppet studio has recently created an awesome animatronic puppet for Cincinnati Bell phone company – just in time for the holidays.
In addition to five different mechanic movements, this mangy dog got to play with Nick Lachey between takes!

Click on the image below to watch the commercials and a special behind-the-scenes short!

I love behind the scenes of puppet television productions. Here is a great example of what can happen behind the scenes. Here is Kevin Clash playing Baby Sinclair and having fun with the people on set.

I just came across these fun stop motion videos from The Sylverados. It’s classic frame-by-frame stop motion utilizing simple wooden manikins. What I appreciate most about them is that they are extremely simple but very entertaining. It just goes to show that you don’t need a big production budget if you have a good idea. For more info, go over and check out The Sylverados website.