Puppets, Muppets and Jedi masters at Dragon Con

It takes at least two people to manipulate a glove puppet, and while the great Frank Oz operated the little green Jedi master’s head and left hand during the filming of “The Empire Strikes Back,” Mullen, a principal member of Jim Henson’s “The Muppet Show,” took care of Yoda’s other hand.

Mullen, one of a crew of distinguished puppeteers and puppet designers appearing at Dragon Con on Labor Day weekend, said the conditions of the shoot were difficult. Yoda’s first scene takes place in a swamp on the planet Dagobah, and Mullen and Oz were up to their elbows in actual mud, rancid water and oily pseudo-fog.

And then there were the snakes. George Lucas insisted on making the swamp realistic, which meant importing some wildlife onto the British soundstage. At one point, one of those snakes was supposed to slither over Yoda’s arm. Oz, who was terrified of reptiles, told Mullen, “That’s on your hand, not mine.”

Those unpleasant conditions led to magic. Yoda, with his mobile ears, odd syntax and squeaky voice, stole the show. Somehow, a handful of foam latex and fabric became a character that Lucas called the “heart” of the movie.

Yoda is only one example of the intersection of the puppetry arts and the science-fiction/fantasy world that is the central focus of Dragon Con, Atlanta’s yearly pop culture convention. Puppets have repeatedly been used in film, television and theater to bring the impossible into reality, and the increased presence of this art form at Dragon Con reflects their role in pop culture.

Beau Brown, who works in marketing with the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, recognized this fact three years ago when he helped organize a “puppet slam” at midnight on the Sunday of Dragon Con weekend. He wasn’t sure who would turn out for a puppet variety show meant for grown-ups, but 2,000 fanboys and fangirls got in line at a hall that held only 250.

Such support persuaded Dragon Con’s organizers to let Brown coordinate a “track” of puppet events at last year’s convention, and this year’s track is even bigger. Among the puppet artists who will attend are Mullen and her husband, Michael Frith, former head of creative services at the Jim Henson Co. Frith is the creator of the Muppets Gonzo, Fozzie Bear and Animal, as well as the “Fraggle Rock” creatures.

The presence of the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta — an organization with strong ties to the Henson family — helped lure Frith and Mullen, 68, to appear at Dragon Con. It’s their first appearance at the convention.

“It’s great that it’s ‘Puppetry Arts,’ plural,” said Frith, 72, speaking from his Manhattan apartment overlooking Central Park. “In puppetry, there’s not an art form that isn’t involved — including set design, music, writing, lighting, everything in theater and in the applied arts and on the creative side.”

Today Frith and Mullen are busy with the No Strings organization (www.nostrings.org.uk/), making puppet movies for at-risk children in Afghanistan, Syria, Haiti and in Pacific Rim countries. The movies help to gently teach children about disaster preparedness, HIV awareness, land mine safety and dealing with the trauma of being relocated to a refugee camp.

This, the 30th anniversary of the children’s HBO show “Fraggle Rock,” will probably draw plenty of nostalgia-seeking baby boomers and Gen X’ers to Frith and Mullen’s events, many bringing their own children along. Younger folks also will enjoy the “Doctor Who”-themed high jinks from Mike Horner’s irreverent “Timey Wimey Puppet Show,” made popular on the Internet.

And many will probably find they agree with Brown, who asserts, “All geeks are fans of puppets, they just don’t know it.”