# Henson puppetry still outperforms CGI **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 25, 2005, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/henson-puppetry-still-outperforms-cgi/305371 "2005-05-25T01:34:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/henson-puppetry-still-outperforms-cgi/305371/21 "2005-05-25T16:31:36Z")
I knew i forgot another film in the list, how could i forget The Dark Crystal… a great example of the skills of Henson puppetry is Farscape, not only do they have 2 Henson animatronic puppets as regular characters, a lot of the incedental characters/lifeforms are Henson puppets, and they look utterly convincing as real creatures (esp. later in the show) Amusingly enough, the Halosians in the “Out of their Minds” episode bear a remarkable resemblance to the Skeksis (in fact, John Crichton refers to them as such later in the show), i’m sure they must have reused the puppets, making minor modifications to them so they didn’t look _exactly_ like the Skeksis up until the Vogons in HHGTTG, the most sophisticated puppet was the Farscape character Pilot (Rygel was a close second), this is a puppet that seems just as real as the humanoid cast on the show, you literally _feel_ for the poor guy yes, early episodes had the “I’m really a puppet” feel to them, but it’s forgivable, as the puppeteers were getting used to the very sophisticated controls, but around Season 2, Pilot’s animations became smoother and more lifelike, from “The Way We Weren’t”\* onward, it’s hard to see him as a puppet, you can sense the joy as he looks to the stars and dreams of travelling amongst the stars, his fear of the unknown as he’s brought onboard Moya, and the guilt and sadness in his eyes when he says that he feels responsible for the fate of Moya’s original pilot, or in “Bad Timing”, when he’s being cut free of Moya, and screaming in agony, you can’t help but feel his agony, both physically and mentally Seeing Aeryn reacting to Kermit in “Kansas” or Rygel watching Kermit was _perfect_ and hillarious the Vogons facial animations are done so well, it’s hard to believe they’re _not_ real, subtleties in the eyes, the lip motion, etc… all look like they’re on a real lifeform \*i know i keep referincing TWWW, but it _really_ is a brilliant episode you can’t get much better than Henson ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/henson-puppetry-still-outperforms-cgi/305371/22 "2005-05-26T16:57:18Z")
Luke: I won’t fail you. I’m not afraid. Yoda: You will be. You will be. For me the fact that Oz is directly working the puppet makes it more compelling. When Yoda points that crumpled up finger and says “You WILL be.” Whew. Oz is a genius. I’ve not seen anything nearly as good from the CGI Yoda (but haven’t seen III yet). ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/henson-puppetry-still-outperforms-cgi/305371/23 "2005-05-26T17:22:40Z")
What does everyone think about CG space ships and such compared to the physical models they used in the original trilogy? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/henson-puppetry-still-outperforms-cgi/305371.md?page=1)