|
''The Land of Gorch'' is a recurring skit in season one of ''Saturday Night Live''. This segment featured Jim Henson's Muppets. Prior to ''Sesame Street'', Henson had initially created puppetry work for a more adult audience, including his show ''Sam and Friends''. His characters were regular appearances on the late-night-comedy scene including ''The Ed Sullivan Show''. After ''Sesame Street'', Henson feared that he would become typecast into working on children's television series. His talent agent Bernie Brillstein, who represented Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, and John Belushi, helped him transition to ''Saturday Night Live''. The premise of ''The Land of Gorch'' featured Muppet characters in a far-away locale, who were members of a royal family. They behaved boorishly, with frequent references to drug abuse, sexual innuendo, and intake of alcohol. Characters included King Ploobis and Queen Peutra and children, and servants Scred and Vazh. These characters often consulted their oracle Mighty Favog for advice. The staff of ''Saturday Night Live'' clashed with Henson's vision for the program. Writers Michael O'Donoghue, Alan Zweibel, and Al Franken often tried to avoid writing the weekly sketches. Henson felt they were trying to write for situational comedy as opposed to staying within his intended story. Frank Oz agreed in the end that the match was not perfect between Henson's team and the writers, and was thankful they moved on to ''The Muppet Show''. ''The Land of Gorch'' had a significant impact on later Muppet works, including the feature film ''The Dark Crystal'' and television show ''Dinosaurs''. Commentators agreed that the reception for ''The Land of Gorch'' was universally bad — ''The A.V. Club'' wrote that it was an in-joke that nobody wanted to keep the sketches on ''Saturday Night Live''. ''San Francisco Chronicle'' called the characters the opposite of Kermit the Frog, and compared them to trolls. ''DVD Talk'' called the feature the worst mistake made in the first season of the ''Saturday Night Live''. Academic Michael J. Bernsten wrote in his essay "The Muppetry of Nightmares" that the idea failed because the characters were irredeemable and unfunny. ==Premise== ''The Land of Gorch'' takes place within its own world far away from contemporary society.〔〔〔 〕 The locale where the characters reside is a swamp-like alien planet in a fictional fantasy genre.〔〔 The set includes volcanoes and prehistoric themes.〔 The environment is dismal and the puppets have grotesque physical appearances.〔 Creatures each have a unique cultural identity and are imbued with a sense of loyalty towards their inherent traditional practices.〔 The main characters consist of a royal family which includes King Ploobis, Queen Peutra, a male child named Wiss, a male servant Scred and female servant Vazh, and a rock prophet referred to as Mighty Favog.〔〔〔 Scred acts as a fervent supporter of King Ploobis, who is seen portrayed as dim-witted.〔〔 Vazh displays flirtatious qualities.〔〔 ''The Land of Gorch'' segments deal with a number of racy issues; characters use euphemisms to refer to their sex drives and often consume alcohol. The characters are often contradictory and oppose each other, act obnoxious, and behave in a lascivious manner.〔 They grapple with adult issues including death, sexual intercourse, and alcoholism. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Land of Gorch」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|