Photo: James Duncan Davidson
“Bye, Lisa, I’m off to the TED Conference!” That’s what Scooter announced just before being grabbed by a hook and pulled into a series of wonderful events.
So, there was a delay, but he made it. And what he didn’t mention in the movie is: He was a speaker!
On stage at TED2012 — the “Academy Awards for nerds,” as he put it — Scooter laid out his question: “Can Tactile Icons Survive in an Integer-Driven Environment?” In other words, MUPPETS vs. CGI! (Or “Formulas vs. Felt.”) In a breathtaking intellectual throwdown only a 2-foot-high Muppet could deliver, Scooter laid out a series of trenchant arguments that demolished the notion that computer-generated characters have surpassed puppets:
-CG can do 3D? Muppets have always been 3D.
-CG can do motion capture? Hand moves, puppet moves. Motion: captured.
-Artificial intelligence? “In all the years I’ve been with the Muppets, we’ve never done anything intelligent, artificial or otherwise.”
And the best part of being at TED: JJ Abrams promised him he could play a Vulcan.
