The Jim Henson Company Preps New Kids’ Series

HOLLYWOOD, January 10: The Jim Henson Company has acquired
the rights to The Skrumps, the vinyl toys created by John Chandler and made
popular by his line of collectible figures and illustrated storybooks, for a
multiplatform property that will encompass online, television, merchandising
and publishing.

The Skrumps has been
in active development as part of the company's slate of animated television
projects. The characters have been developed with puppeteers and performed
using the Henson Digital Performance Studio, the company's proprietary
animation system that allows CG characters to be performed by puppeteers in
real-time. A music video and additional web content have also been created.
Beginning today, audiences can meet The Skrumps, send e-cards, download
coloring pages and see the world premiere of the video, directed by Brian
Henson, exclusively at Yahoo! Kids.

Lisa Henson, the co-CEO of The Jim Henson Company,
commented, "The Skrumps have a
great new look that is very striking. Each character has its own quirky
personality with a rich background and they all share strong relationships that
feel quite real. In this way, The Skrumps demonstrate the very same qualities that have defined our company's
strongest character groups. We are excited to realize these characters and
introduce the world to Skrumpland."