Meet the Feebles

Meet the Feebles
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Peter Jackson
Written by	Peter Jackson Danny Mulheron Fran Walsh Stephen Sinclair
Produced by	Peter Jackson Jim Booth
Starring	Mark Hadlow Peter Vere-Jones Donna Akersten Stuart Devenie
Cinematography	Murray Milne
Edited by	Jamie Selkirk
Music by	Peter Dasent
Production companies	OPEIU WingNut Films
Distributed by	Kerridge Odeon
Release date	8 December 1989 (1989-12-08)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	New Zealand
Language	English
Budget	$750,000
Box office	$80,000 (New Zealand)

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 puppet animals in a perverse comic satire, 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.

Plot

The Feebles Variety Hour theatre troupe is rehearsing with hopes of finding success through being picked up for a syndicated television show. Star performer Heidi the hippo is insulted by pornographic rat director Trevor, and complains to her boss and lover, Bletch the walrus, unaware that he is having an affair with a cat named Samantha. Robert, a porcupine and the troupe's newest member, arrives and immediately falls in love with a dog named Lucille, where he manages to serenade her with encouragement from Arthur, the show's worm manager.

During the leadup to the live performance, different members of the troupe experience their own personal troubles. Sid, an elephant animal trainer, is visited by his ex-girlfriend, Sandy the chicken, who is preparing to file a paternity suit against him after she gives birth to an elephant-chicken hybrid named Seymour. Harry the rabbit, after a sexual fling with two other rabbits, is told by his doctor that he caught a terminal disease, which tabloid reporter F.W. Fly overhears and publishes in the newspaper. Wynyard, a drug-obsessed, Vietnam veteran frog, is looking for money in order to obtain more drugs. Trevor, after his latest porno fails, sets his eyes on Lucille, and proceeds to drug her to entice her into being his new star, causing Robert to think that Lucille was unfaithful to him and dumps her. Bletch, while playing a golf game with his henchman Barry the bulldog, is approached by a warthog named Cedric, where they initiate a secretive drug deal.

After a disastrous rehearsal session, Heidi is insulted by Sebastian, the show's fox director, where she once again complains to Bletch. However, she catches him in the middle of his affair with Samantha, causing her to fall into further depression and refuses to perform. Bletch, realizing the drugs Cedric provided are actually bags of borax, decides that he, along with Trevor and Barry, go over to the docks and obtain the drugs themselves. Before they leave, Bletch is informed by Sebastian about Heidi's situation and manages to win her over so that she can perform, thus allowing the show to continue.

Arriving to the docks, Bletch, Trevor and Barry manage to obtain the drugs after killing Cedric and several crab henchmen, but Barry is killed by a giant spider in the ensuing escape. On their way back to the theater, Bletch learns of Harry's disease in the newspaper, and proceeds to kill F.W. for gossiping about it. During the performance, Sebastian tells Bletch that the show was picked up for a syndicated series by the network. As Bletch celebrates in his office, Heidi attempts to seduce him, only for him to start insulting her, confessing that he never loved her and intends to groom Samantha into being her replacement. Humiliated, Heidi decides to commit suicide; after a failed attempt at hanging herself, Heidi is prepared to use an M60 machine gun. Before she can kill herself, Samantha arrives and insults Heidi again, causing Heidi to snap and kill her in response.

Meanwhile, the show gradually starts to fall apart: an ailing Harry vomits onstage, Sid is accosted by Sandy, and an intoxicated Wynyard accidentally kills himself during his knife-throwing performance. In an attempt to save the show, Sebastian performs a failed musical number about sodomy. Heidi goes on a violent rampage throughout the theater, where she kills many troupe members, including Harry and Sandy, and shoots Sid in his kneecaps. Before she can kill Lucille, Robert saves her, stating that he still loves her, and Lucille reveals what Trevor did to her. Before Heidi can kill Bletch, he tries to calm her down by saying he still loves her, but this only proved to be a ruse to make Heidi lower her guard so Trevor can kill her. Before Trevor can kill her, Robert attacks him, allowing Heidi to grab her gun and kill both Trevor and Bletch. Arthur tells Heidi that he had just reported her to the police, and Heidi, accepting her fate, decides to perform her song before she gets arrested.

A photographic postscript reveals what happened to the survivors following the massacre: Sid became a horticulturalist with Seymour, Arthur received an OBE, Sebastian wrote an autobiography about the incident and is negotiating the film rights to it, Robert and Lucille got married, and Heidi, after serving 10 years in a female penitentiary, was rehabilitated into the community and works at the checkout counter of a large supermarket under a new alias.

Cast

Puppeteers

• Danny Mulheron as Heidi the Hippo (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

• Donna Akersten as:
  • Lucille the Dog
  • Samantha the Cat
  • Dorothy the Sheep
  • Female Rabbit #1
  • Chorus Girl #2
  • Fitness Tape Voice
• Stuart Devenie as:
  • Sebastian the Fox
  • Daisy the Cow (Madame Bovine)
  • Sandy the Chicken
  • Cedric the Warthog
  • Eight Ball the Frog
  • Seymour the Elechicken (elephant/chicken hybrid)
  • Female Rabbit #2
  • Chorus Girl #1
• Mark Hadlow as:
  • Robert the Hedgehog
  • Heidi the Hippo
  • Barry the Bulldog
  • Chorus Girl #3
• Ross Jolly as:
  • Harry the Rabbit (doing a Mel Blanc impression)
  • Dennis the Aardvark
  • Abi Bargwan the Contortionist
  • Mr. Big the Whale
  • Pekingese
  • Crab 2
  • Vietnamese Gophers 2
• Brian Sergent as:
  • Wynyard the Frog (doing a Jim Ignatowski impression)
  • Trevor the Rat (doing a Peter Lorre impression)
  • F. W. Fly the Fly
  • Dr. Quack the Duck (doing a Paul Lynde impression)
  • Jim the Frog
  • Chuck the Frog
  • The Spider
  • Vietnamese Gophers
• Peter Vere-Jones as:
  • Bletch the Walrus
  • Arthur the Worm
  • The Baker
  • Newspaper Mouse (Paperboy)
  • The Announcer
• Mark Wright as:
  • Sid the Elephant
  • The Masked Masochist (The Weta)
  • Louie the Dog
  • Guppy the Fish
  • Poodle
  • Snake bartender
  • Crab 1
  • Chorus Girl #4
• Fane Flaws as Musician Frog (uncredited)

Production

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.

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

Meet the Feebles (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Soundtrack album
Released	1991
Genre	Electronic Classical Stage & Screen
Label	Q.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.	Title	Length
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

Release

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

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.

Reception

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."

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." 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."

Legacy

Despite being a commercial failure on release (grossing only NZ$80,000), 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."

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 hadn't 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.

See also

• New Zealand humour
• Adult puppeteering
• Midnight movie
• Avenue Q - An adult-themed musical play featuring human and puppet actors.
• The Happytime Murders - Henson Alternative's first film.
• The Deer Hunter
• The Exorcist

External links

• Trailer on YouTube
• Meet the Feebles at IMDb