Meet the Feebles

Meet the Feebles is a very dark 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 assembled together as members of a theater troupe. However, whereas Henson's Muppets characterize positivity, naive folly, and innocence in humanity, the Feebles present negativity, vice, and other misanthropic characteristics.

Table of contents

1 Plot Summary:

1.1 Character List

2 Cultural Impact
3 Trivia

3.2 Sebastian's Sodomy Song

Plot Summary:

Warning: Plot details follow.

Meet the Feebles tells us the story of the Feebles theatre troupe. They are a group of performers who, that night, are going on live network TV. If they're good enough, they'll 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.

Character List

Heidi (Hippo) - the star of the show. Severely bipolar. When upset, she overeats.
Bletch (Walrus) - The boss. He runs the Feebles troupe. He's in a relationship with Heidi (this is never elaborated on), while in an adulterous relationship with Samatha.
Samantha (Cat) - Bletch's mistress
Harry (Rabbit) - satyristic narrator who contracts "the big one", a fatal STD
Trevor (Rat) - Bletch's enforcer. Directs pornography on the side.
Arthur (Worm) - Stage manager
Seymore (Elephant) - Animal trainer
Sandy (Chicken) - Has Seymore's child out of wedlock. He denies it is his
Robert (Hedgehog) - A new member of the troupe. He has no vices. He falls in love with Lucile
Fly-in-the-sky (Fly) - stereotypical paparazzo bent on breaking Harry's story
Sebastian (Fox) - the Homosexual stage director with a penchant for sodomy - including an entire song about it
Winyard (Frog) - Addicted to "every barbituate known to man"
Lucile (Poodle?) - Singer in the feebles. Robert falls in love with her.
Barry (Bulldog) - Bletch's driver and enforcer
Sedric (Hog) - Tries to double cross Bletch in a drug deal
Mr. Big (Whale?) - Sedric's boss.
Madam Bovine (Cow) - Heavily pierced cow who stars Trevor's porn.
"The Masked Masochist" (Cockroach) - Actor in Trevor's porn. Dies after Madam Bovine unknowingly sits on his face and suffocates him.
Dennis (Unknown - very similar to Gonzo the muppet) - After the "masked masochist" dies, he is convinced by Trevor to take a part in the porn movie.
Louie (Dog) - Sedric's side-kick

The ending sees Heidi go on a shooting spree with a machine gun and kill most of the troupe.

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.

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 includings a game of Russian roulette as a parody of The Deer Hunter.

Sebastian's Sodomy Song

Near the end of the film, Sebastian the fox sings a song illustrating his love of the act of sodomy. Music and lyrics are written by Danny Mulheron.