'A good time to be Muppets fan'

At this point, the Jim Henson Co.'s biggest competition may be itself.

As part of a distribution deal with the Walt Disney Co., much of the Henson company's Muppets history — including a first-season set of "The Muppet Show" and four Muppets feature films — have been issued, or reissued, on DVD during the past year. (A second-season "Muppet Show" set is planned for release this fall.)

Meanwhile, two different Muppets films — "Muppets From Space" and "The Muppets Take Manhattan" — were re-released by Sony's home-video arm and remain in circulation.

"What can I say?" said Brian Henson. "It's a good time to be a Muppets fan. It's unfortunate that some of our products are available from competing companies, but that's not under our control."

On Tuesday, Disney's Buena Vista Home Entertainment is also releasing a four-disc boxed set ($39.99) that features the first and second seasons of "Dinosaurs," the beloved puppet comedy television series that ran from 1991-94.

Helping supervise that compilation gave the 42-year-old filmmaker an opportunity to revisit the program. "I have some very fond memories of the show," Henson said by phone from the company's Hollywood offices. "There were so many talented people involved, and we had the largest behind-the-scenes crew for anything we've ever done."

In addition to these projects, Henson and his sister Lisa serve as co-chairs of the company created by their late father, Jim Henson. (Their sisters Cheryl and Heather, and brother, John, serve on the company's board of directors.)

During the '90s, the Henson family drastically reduced the size of the company, preferring to focus on film and television production, and their work as an effects house. According to Henson, he and his siblings were happy to turn over distribution responsibilities to Disney and other companies, since that allowed them to concentrate their efforts on developing animation and puppetry technology.

For example, the Jim Henson Co. contributed effects to last year's cutting-edge fantasy hit "MirrorMask," which blended live action and animation. And it has been heavily involved in the development of "digital puppetry," an innovation that allows puppeteers to watch a virtual version of their performance and adjust them accordingly.

"It's very exciting stuff," Henson said. "I believe it will make animated characters and puppets more expressive — more human, if you will."

Henson is also serving as one of the producers for "Power of the Dark Crystal," a sequel to the 1982 fantasy film that will be directed by animator Genndy Tartakovsky ("Samurai Jack," "Star Wars: Clone Wars"). And according to trade reports, he'll be directing "Fraggle Rock: The Movie, " a feature film based on the popular mid-1980s television series.

"We've got some pretty big things in the works, but it's really not my place to say what they are yet," Henson said. "Besides, that's not my deal. I just prefer to be behind the scenes and get behind the camera whenever it's possible."

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