Mike Scanlan

Mike Scanlan is a British puppeteer, puppet builder, and mechanical designer who has worked with the Creature Shop on numerous productions. He served as one of the regular dinosaur builders on Dinosaurs and also built puppets for Mother Goose Stories, Aliens in the Family, and Brats of the Lost Nebula. Mike even puppeteered on the Creature Shop film George of the Jungle with Julianne Buescher, Michelan Sisti, Rob Tygner, and Pons Maar. Outside of the Creature Shop, Scanlan worked on animatronics for Little Shop of Horrors, Dream Demon, and Gophers, as well as puppeteering for Monkeybone and providing alien effects for Alien 3. I wonder if this guy has any relation to designer Neal Scanlan as they both share the same last name, but I'll bet the former will deny it in an interview. His latest project with the Creature Shop was on The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance where he was a mechanic for the characters. In addition to the Creature Shop, Mike Scanlan also worked in the Muppet Workshop on two Muppet sing-along videos and is also one of the animators for the Sesame Street segment, Tales from 123. It must have been exciting for him to animate a new segment for such a long-running show. But I'll bet he's more familiar with making mechanical effects for puppets rather than making regular puppets. There are numerous other productions in which Mike got to provide special effects and/or animatronics for ranging from TV shows to feature films. I hope Scanlan continues to work on screen for years to come, because he's become such a master at animatronic effects. He certainly knows what it takes to work in the Creature Shop within many different projects. Maybe someday he'll teach these skills to newcomers in the workshop, and they will end up becoming so masterful like him, you never know. Mike Scanlan, from making puppets to complicated animatronic effects, you've impressed audiences all over the world with your skills. You sure know how to make the creatures you make so lifelike in or out of the Creature Shop. When you decide to have students follow in your footsteps, you'll be seen as a role model when you step down from working. Until then, keep up the great work Mike. You're a mechanical wonder with both animatronics and puppets Scanlan!