Meet The Feebles
Directed by	Peter Jackson
Produced by	Peter Jackson Jim Booth
Written by	Peter Jackson Danny Mulheron Stephen Sinclair Fran Walsh
Starring	Donna Akersten Stuart Devenie Mark Hadlow
Music by	Peter Dasent
Editing by	Jamie Selkirk
Distributed by	South Gate Entertainment
Release date(s)	1989
Running time	94 mins
Country	New Zealand
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Meet The Feebles (1989) is a black comedy film by director Peter Jackson. It features Jim Henson-esque puppets in a perverse comic satire. Like Henson's Muppets, the Feebles are animal-figured puppets (though some were people in suits) assembled together as members of a theater troupe. However, whereas Henson's Muppets characterize the positivity, naïve folly, and innocence in humanity, the Feebles present negativity, vice, and other misanthropic characteristics. Image File history File links This work is copyrighted. ... Peter Jackson CNZM (born October 31, 1961) is a three-time Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA winning New Zealand filmmaker best known as the director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which he, along with his long time partner, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens adapted from the novels... Peter Jackson CNZM (born October 31, 1961) is a three-time Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA winning New Zealand filmmaker best known as the director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which he, along with his long time partner, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens adapted from the novels... Peter Jackson CNZM (born October 31, 1961) is a three-time Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA winning New Zealand filmmaker best known as the director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which he, along with his long time partner, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens adapted from the novels... Fran Walsh and her husband Peter Jackson Frances Walsh MNZM is an Academy Award-winning screenwriter and film producer and also a musician. ... Stuart Forbes Devenie is a New Zealand actor. ... Mark Hadlow is a New Zealand actor and comedian. ... Peter Dasent is a New Zealand musician and composer. ... Jamie Selkirk is a film editor and producer most prominently known for his work on the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... Peter Jackson CNZM (born October 31, 1961) is a three-time Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA winning New Zealand filmmaker best known as the director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which he, along with his long time partner, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens adapted from the novels... Jim Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was the most widely known American puppeteer in modern American television history. ... John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together The Muppets are a group of puppets and costume characters created by Jim Henson and the company he created. ...

Plot Summary

Meet the Feebles tells the story of the Feebles theatre troupe. They are a group of performers who, that night, are going on live network TV. If they are good enough, they will get picked up for a syndicated network show and everyone will get rich. Scenes involving violence, sexually explicit images, drug dealing, back stabbing, date rape, and death (including a snuff film within the film) follow. The title Date Rape is a very general term which has come to represent some very different situations. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A snuff film, or snuff movie, is a pop culture term for any number of possible definitions regarding a motion picture purporting to depict an actual death. ...

Character List

• Heidi (hippo) - A singer and dancer, she is the big star of the show. She is in a relationship with Bletch. She is severely bipolar and when upset, she overeats.
• Bletch (walrus) - The boss. He acts as producer for the Feebles troupe, runs porn and drug businesses on the side, and is mean as well. He's in a long-term relationship with Heidi (or possibly married to her, but this is not elaborated on) while in an adulterous relationship with Samantha.
• Samantha (cat) - A prostitute and Bletch's mistress.
• Harry (rabbit) - Satyristic MC who contracts "the big one", a fatal STD. It is apparently myxomatosis but Harry later finds out it's just "bunny pox."
• Trevor (rat) - Bletch's enforcer. Directs pornography and manages the drug business on the side.
• Arthur (worm) - Stage manager. His appearance resembles a book worm. Is an avid cigar smoker.
• Sidney (Sid) (elephant) - Animal trainer. Though he initially denies being Seymour's father, when Seymour is threatened with death in the slaughter which closes the film, Sid acknowledges him and runs to his rescue. In a parody of contemporary action movies, he is machine-gunned (through the kneecaps) and the individual bullets can be seen striking, and blood squirting from the holes, in slow motion.
• Sandy (chicken) - Has Sid's child out of wedlock. He denies it is his and for this, she is bringing a paternity suit against him.
• Seymour (hybrid) - The baby of Sidney and Sandy. He is a half elephant and half chicken hybrid.
• Robert (Wobert) (hedgehog) - A new member of the troupe. He has no vices. He falls in love with Lucile. Has a minor speech disorder: He pronounces the letter 'R' as sounding similar to the letter 'W'.
• Fly-in-the-sky (fly) - Stereotypical paparazzo bent on breaking Harry's story. After he publishes it, Bletch and Trevor track him down, rip his wings off and flush him down a toilet.
• Sebastian (fox) - The homosexual stage director with a penchant for sodomy - including an entire song about it. It is presumed he lost an eye during the film's events since the epilogue for the surviving characters shows him with an eye patch.
• Wynyard (frog) - Addicted to "every barbiturate known to man". He is a Vietnam veteran who gets flashbacks about the war and throws knives for the show. He accidentally kills himself during his knife throwing performance.
• Lucile (poodle) - Chorus girl who falls in love with Robert after he courts her. At one point, Trevor drugs and attempts to rape her.
• Barry (bulldog) - Bletch's driver and enforcer. After raiding the docks with Bletch and Trevor to gain drugs, a large spider bites his head off.
• Sedric (wild boar) - A Scottish boar who is part of a large gang, a golfer and tries to double cross Bletch in a drug deal. He is killed when Barry stabs him with a knife.
• Louie (dog) - Sedric's side-kick who is a stereotypical "mangy mutt". He is killed by being force fed borax by Bletch after finding out the drug trade was a scam.
• Mr. Big (whale) - Sedric and Louie's boss. Bletch orders Trevor to drive his car through Mr. Big's mouth and they exit out of his anus. It presumably kills him.
• Madam Bovine (cow) - Heavily pierced and large-uddered cow who stars in Trevor's porn. She is never seen again after the filming of the porn with Dennis.
• "The Masked Masochist" (cockroach) - Actor in Trevor's porn. Dies after Madam Bovine unknowingly sits on his face and suffocates him. Trevor feeds his body to a monstruous whale-like creature.
• Dennis (either an anteater or aardvark?) - After "The Masked Masochist" dies, he is convinced by Trevor to take a part in the porn movie. It looks like semen drips from his nose and he has a penchant for sniffing panties. He dies after sniffing up borax.
• Abi (human) - The only human character, an Indian snake-charmer and contortionist who physically appears to be a parody of Gandhi. Gets his head stuck in his rectum and when he pulls it out, a bed of nails crushes him.
• Daisy (dog) - One of the few minor characters of the theater troupe that is given a name. Her name is mentioned by Heidi before the show's debut.
• Dr. Quack (duck) - Harry's doctor who told Harry about his illness but later told him the truth when he found out what it really was.

The ending sees Heidi go on a shooting spree with an M60 machine gun and killing Samantha, Harry, Sandy, Daisy, Trevor and Bletch, among other surviving (nameless) members of the troupe. There is a brief epilogue sequence in which the fates of the notable survivors are shown. Sydney underwent surgery on his kneecap injuries and lives as a struggling horticulturist with his son Seymour. Arthur received an OBE for lifelong service to the theatre and retired to the country. Sebastian wrote a book about the film's events which, it is indicated, may be less than accurate, and is currently negotiating the film rights. Robert and Lucile got married, started a family and Robert became a professional photographer for a women's magazine. Heidi spent a decade in a female penitentiary, was rehabilitated into the community and now works under a new identity at a large supermarket. For other uses, see Bipolar. ... Prostitution is the sale of sexual services (typically manual stimulation, oral sex, sexual intercourse, or anal sex) for cash or other kind of return, generally indiscriminately with many persons. ... Hypersexuality is a desire for human sexual behavior at levels high enough to be considered clinically significant. ... Sexually transmissible diseases (STDs) — also referred to as venereal diseases (VD) or, infrequently, social disease — are diseases or infections that have a significant probability of transmission between humans by means of sexual contact, vaginal intercourse, oral sex, or anal sex. ... Myxomatosis (from the Greek μύξα (mucus), and ματώνω (to bleed)) is a disease which infects only rabbits. ... Bookworm is a popular generalization for any insect which supposedly bore through books. ... For the 2006 game, see Paparazzi (game). ... Homosexuality refers to sexual interaction and / or romantic attraction between individuals of the same sex. ... François Elluin, Sodomites provoking the wrath of God, from Le pot pourri de Loth (1781). ... Barbiturates are drugs that act as central nervous system depressants, and by virtue of this they produce a wide spectrum of effects, from mild sedation to anesthesia. ... In modern usage, a stereotype is a simplified mental picture of an individual or group of people who share a certain characteristic (or stereotypical) qualities. ... PORN can refer to: An abbreviation for pornography Progressive outer retinal necrosis, a disease of the retina Categories: | ... Borax from Persian burah. ... In contemporary usage, a parody is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject. ... Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948) (Devanagari: मोहनदास करमचन्द गांधी, Gujarati મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી), called... The rectum (from the Latin rectum intestinum, meaning straight intestine) is the final straight portion of the large intestine in some mammals, and the gut in others, terminating in the anus. ... A bed of nails is typically an oblong piece of wood, the size of a bed, with nails pointing upwards out of it. ... The M60 (formally the United States Machine Gun, Caliber 7. ... The patella or kneecap is a thick, triangular bone which articulates with the femur and covers and protects the front of the knee joint. ... Concern has been expressed that this article or section is missing information about: horticulture as used in anthropology, a label for agriculture as used in small-scale societies. ... The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross (GBE) Knight Commander... Serge Sudeikins poster for the Bat Theatre (1922). ... Sign in a rural area in Dalarna, Sweden Qichun, a rural town in Hubei province, China An artists rendering of an aerial view of the Maryland countryside: Jane Frank (Jane Schenthal Frank, 1918-1986), Aerial Series: Ploughed Fields, Maryland, 1974, acrylic and mixed materials on apertured double canvas, 52... A chained book in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of paper, parchment, or other material, usually fastened together to hinge at one side, and within protective covers. ... Film rights, like dramatic rights, these belong to the author, who may sell or option them to someone in the film industry - a producer or director, for example (or sometimes a specialist broker of such properties) - who will then try to gather the other professionals and secure the financial backing... This is a list of notable photographers in the art, documentary and fashion traditions. ... For the 1988 film called Prison, see Prison (1988 film). ... This theory of punishment is based on the notion that punishment is to be inflicted on a offender so as to reform him, or rehabilitate him so as to make his re-integration into society easier. ...

Cultural Impact

The movie has become a cult classic, and has enjoyed great popularity since Jackson's success with The Lord of the Rings. During his acceptance speech at the 2004 Academy Awards, Peter Jackson mentioned the movie, noting that it had been "wisely overlooked by the Academy." The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel written by the British academic J. R. R. Tolkien. ... (Redirected from 2004 Academy Awards) 76th Academy Awards Sunday, February 29, 2004 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California Hosts Preshow: Billy Bush, Chris Connelly & Maria Menounos Show: Billy Crystal Crew Producer: Joe Roth Supervising Producer: Michael Seligman Director: Lou Horvitz Duration 3 hours, 40 minutes Network ABC The big...

Trivia

• Money ran out during production, so the flashback to Vietnam was quietly filmed separately (with a different budget) as The Frogs of War. This scene includes a game of Russian roulette as a parody of The Deer Hunter.
• The Jesus Christ in the Feebles universe appears to be a Kermit the Frog-like frog. This is shown in the form of a crucifix held by Harry when he is praying to God to recover from his sickness.
• The dialogue was recorded before shooting began.
• It is commonly 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.
• Tech metal band Meshuggah cited Meet The Feebles as one of their sources of inspiration for their Destroy Erase Improve album in the booklet.
• This is the only Peter Jackson film in which Jackson does not feature as a character or a cameo.
• Brisbane 90's band Feebles Junky was made up of a collective of friends (including Andrew G of Australian idol fame) who were massive fans of this film.
• The film was originally conceived for Japanese television and only belatedly became a feature; as such, the script was hastily re-written to be longer.

This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... For the noise rock band, see Deerhunter. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Kermit singing Bein Green in the first season of Sesame Street. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Meshuggah, whose name is Yiddish for crazy, is a five-piece tech metal band who use extended polymetric passages, complex drum patterns, odd time signatures, angular, dissonant guitar riffs, and harsh, monotonal vocals. ... Destroy Erase Improve is the second album by Swedish tech metal band Meshuggah. ... Martin Scorsese appears briefly in an uncredited role in this scene from his feature film Taxi Driver. ... Andrew G hosting Australian Idol Andrew Jonas Günsberg (Born 1974), popularly known as Andrew G, is an Australian television and radio presenter who is best known as the co-host of the reality series Australian Idol. ...

See also

• New Zealand humour
• Adult puppeteering

New Zealand humour bears some similarities to the body of humour of many other English-speaking countries. ... Adult puppetering is the use of puppets to engage adults. ...

External links

• Meet The Feebles - Fan site