The Great (meaning big) Muppet Inquisitorial

So, I'm watching some of the Muppet Movie in anticipation of the movie thats going to come out next thanksgiving, and I'm saying all the lines and singing along, and then I wonder suddenly: I wonder what the largest muppet ever built was.

I want to warn you that, short of writing to Brian Henson myself, this is not an easy question. I think of all the big giant muppets and the list is fairly substantial and I'm only naming a few, without proper specs, I am, in fact, only speculating. But here some of the larger ones stand: Sweetums, Big Bird, Jabba the Hutt, The Skeksis from the Dark Chrystal, The Vogons from H2G2, Bear in the Big Blue House, ... and easily the most impressive and what has been declared as the biggest muppet, multiple times, The Ghost of Christmas Present in A Muppet Christmas Carol. All of these however, are completely lost to the one I have declared unofficially and personally to be the winner of this little research contest with myself. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you:

"Humongous"

Built in 1986 for the production of Labyrinth, Humongous remains, in my eyes, the most impressive Muppet to date. he's 15 feet tall, he's got a big ax, and he will be preventing you and Ludo from entering the Goblin City. It doesn't even matter if he's operated by a teeny tiny little man, He can stand alone. It doesn't look like a muppet, It doesn't sound like a muppet, nor does it move like a muppet, but darlings, it is a muppet. I can't say it like the pro's can:


Quotes:

JIM HENSON: "It seemed like right late in the story what we wanted was for our heroes to come up against some huge obstacle, something worse than anything they'd encountered so
far. And we came up with the idea of building the largest puppet we'd ever built."

GEORGE GIBBS (special effects supervisor): "Jim asked us about last January. He said, 'Boys, I¹d like a fifteen-foot high giant.' We said, 'Oh yeah. Very interesting.' Lots of people had tried to make fifteen-foot giants that walk and throw their arms around. They hadn't been very successful. So it was a challenge, really. So, we decided how we were going to make it and we went ahead and made all the mechanics and everything work wonderfully. When the body was produced in fiberglass, it just wouldn't work, because the fiberglass wouldn¹t flex. Fortunately for us, we had our foam expert. And he developed a foam for us with skin, skin that would flex without looking rubbery. We made the foam look like steel armor."


JIM HENSON: "He weighs . . . I don't know how much. Lots. With all the rig and all the hydrolics, the thing has to be several tons. And so this was the largest, most complicated thing we'd ever built. We didn't have very long to build it, probably two to three months."

GEORGE GIBBS: "One man could operate the whole thing. In the old days, we'd have probably had five or six guys all at different levers, working hydrolics. But one man operates the whole of Humongous all by himself, makes him walk forward, makes his body spin 'round, makes him bow down, makes his arms swing the ax. And it's all done with hydrolics. Every move his arm makes, the arms of Humongous make exactly the same move."

JIM HENSON: "When George first showed me Humongous in action, it was really an amazing thing, to just stand there and have this large thing walk toward you. It's one of the most awesome sights in the world."

See it for Yourself



There it is, from the mouths of the maker's themselves and your eyes only. This thing is huge. And for a thing with only one line, its a miraculous feet to have built him in the first place. That is why, today, in honor of the belated anniversary of Jim's death, I celebrate Humongous and his big ol' giant robotic self.