Inner Tube



Inner Tube is a 10 minute pilot for The Jim Henson Hour, written in 1987 by David Misch. Directed by Jim Henson, the show includes original music and lyrics by Phil Ramone, Bob Halligan and Phil Galdston.

The show is similar in format to the MuppeTelevision segments of The Jim Henson Hour, but although Kermit and Miss Piggy make brief appearances in the show, the focus is on the new characters.

Although these new puppet characters were made of foam latex (an indication that they might have been created by the Creature Shop), they actually were built by the New York Muppet Workshop. The new characters are performed by Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire (credited as Steve Whitmore), Richard Hunt, Kevin Clash, Camille Bonora, Kathy Mullen, David Rudman, Rick Lyon and John Henson.

The show is a display of (and mostly a celebration of) the magic of modern television technology and technolgy in general. Video special effects are used extensively. For example, characters often travel through TV screens from where they are to the place shown in the TV.

In the Jim Henson Hour pitch, clips from Inner Tube are presented as "Lead Free TV." Jim Henson describes it as "the Muppet Show from the future," and explains that it is one of the four types of programs in The Jim Henson Hour's proposed rotating schedule.

Several scenes from this can be seen in the television special, The World of Jim Henson.

The Mechanics
"Inner Tube," a fly-by-night cable network in the back of an electronics shop, is run by two harried, nutty mechanics:

 Jake, a heavy man with a mustache. He is knowledgeable, patient, and in charge, but not always the most observant.

Henry, a thinner taller man. He is not so smart, and things must be explained to him often, but he frequently notices what's going on before Jake does.

The Band
One of the channels Jake and Henry broadcast is the domain of an unnamed futuristic rock band:

Duke, a big-haired lead male vocalist and a guitarist. He tries to assume leadership of the band but the others, not feeling the need for a leader, tease him about it.

 Maya, a silver-skinned female vocalist and guitarist. She has a sort of Jamaican accent.

Digit, a wire-haired, robot-voiced keyboardist. This character later showed up in the Jim Henson Hour, after his personality, voice, and number of fingers were changed.

The nameless Inner Tube Drummer is a deep-voiced, older-sounding balding man, who seems not too impressed by technology.

The Troublemakers
Crasher: a wild, loudmouthed punk character who likes crashing through things.

Glitch: an animation that would mischievously interrupt transfer.

Zaloom, a live-actor channel pirate with no channel of his own. He hijacks the channels of others, using technology to get his anti-technology message out. He may have been played by Paul Zaloom, a co-producer of Beakman's World.

The Television Viewers
Chet and Babs, an older couple watching TV in bed.

Other Characters
The Salesman, the host of the channel of sales, which is seen selling Denmark by US$200,199,622,122.95.

External Link
The Inner Tube ten-minute pilot on YouTube