A fresh review from The Verge is calling attention to a long-lost Jim Henson teleplay, The Cube, describing it as the Muppet creator's little-known proto-Black Mirror masterpiece. Produced in 1969 for the NBC anthology series Experiment in Television, the 53-minute bottle film is entirely Muppetless and explores deeply unsettling themes.
Rather than the whimsical worlds of The Dark Crystal or The Muppet Show, The Cube represents Henson's most mind-bending and mature work in a career filled with oddities. The show itself was a home for experimental films and documentaries, with one episode famously featuring Marshall McLuhan explaining his thesis that 'the medium is the message.'
According to the review, The Cube stands apart even among such unusual company. The Verge's imaging notes the film's stark visual approach—a man confined to a blank, stark environment—that visually echoes later dystopian television. The review offers no specific box office or viewership data for the lost teleplay.
For fans of modern anthology series like Black Mirror, The Cube represents an important antecedent in television history. Its rediscovery may signal a growing interest in the darker, philosophical corners of Henson's catalog, though no plans for a re-release or streaming debut have been announced.
Critics might argue that labeling an obscure 1969 teleplay a 'masterpiece' risks overhyping a historical curiosity that may not hold up to modern standards.