Jim Henson ' s Creature Shop Jim Henson ' s Creature Shop is a special effects house and puppet workshop that provides digital visual effects , animatronic creatures , animation and soft puppets to the international film , television , online and advertising industries . The Shop is currently based in Los Angeles and New York with satellite shop capabilities . The London Creature Shop ( 1978 - 2005 ) . The London based workshop owned by the Jim Henson Company found at Oval Road , Camden . Distinct from The Muppet Workshop , the Creature Workshop had its roots in the pre - production for " The Dark Crystal " , beginning in 1978 , assembling technicians , sculptors , and production designers , both Muppet veterans and outside talent , to create a realistic , unified world . At the end of this production , the majority of the staff left for other projects , as is common in the film business . Shortly after this , The Henson Company started crewing up for " Labyrinth " - and Henson expressed some regrets that many of the people who had worked on " Dark Crystal " were not available ( since they were working on other jobs ) . As a result , he came up with the idea of opening a workshop that employed people on a long term basis , working on projects when they were available , and on research and development projects the rest of the time . Around this time " The Creature Shop " went from being an informal identifier to a formal one , used to denote the more aesthetically realistic , technically involved " creatures " . Traditional puppetry techniques , while not entirely abandoned , were placed to the side in favor of radio - controlled advancements , animatronic technology , body suit performers , and fleshy latex faces capable of multiple eye , brow , jaw , and teeth movements . Unlike the Muppet Workshop , which seldom accepted outside commissions , the Creature Shop was soon established as a special effects production house , utilized for both Henson films and series and outside , commissioned projects . The Creature Shop name first appeared in the credits of " Dreamchild " , for which the company ' s staff designed , built , and performed Lewis Carroll figures . " The StoryTeller " was the first television series to utilize the Creatures . Though primarily associated with realistic monsters and animals , the Creature Shop also occasionally built figures for Muppet productions , such as " The Ghost of Faffner Hall " or the Christmas ghosts in " The Muppet Christmas Carol " . During this time , the controls became increasingly complicated - the earliest creatures were a mixture of cable operated and radio control - the latter originally based on modified Futaba sets , but later replaced by some custom transmitters ( " Tranimats " ) based on JR hardware heavily modified by McGregor Industries , who were JR ' s UK distributors . These units had a large number of programmable mixes on them , allowing such things as mixing the eye up / down control into the eyelids for a more realistic appearance . Around this time , the decision was made to investigate the possibility of using computer controls to aid this process - this culminated in the development of a unit called SYNN ( a heavily contrived acronym for SYstem with No Name ) - first used for controlling the dog in Storyteller . This was the first iteration of the Henson Performance Control System . Full - bodied reptiles dominated the Creature Shop ' s slate in the early 1990s , creating the title characters in " Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles " and " " , and an array of prehistoric beings in " Dinosaurs " . For these projects , enhancements were made to the Henson Performance Control System , an advancement from the earlier radio controls , allowing puppeteers to create complex facial expressions as well as detailed body movements , such as in finger joints . The team , including Faz Fazakas and Brian Henson , received a special Scientific and Engineering Academy Award in 1992 for this advancement . The London base of the Creature Shop closed in spring 2005 . It has now become a luxury apartment block simply called The Henson . The Los Angeles Creature Shop ( 1990 - present ) . The Creature Shop expanded in the early 90 ' s to help absorb the workload brought on by " Dinosaurs " . The show required a full cast of animatronic characters built by the Creature Shop . The series opened up the pathway to other animatronic projects such as " The Flinstones " , " The Neverending Story " , " The Adventures of Pinocchio " , " 101 Dalmatians " , and " Babe . " The Creature Shop also became increasingly involved in digital puppetry and computer animation , in such projects as " Loch Ness " and " Lost in Space " . Other assignments involved creating realistic animal characters , for use as either doubles for " Dr . Dolittle " and " Cats & Dogs " . In 1999 the Shop moved to the Henson Company Lot on La Brea Avenue . Today , the Henson Digital Puppetry Studio has evolved to become a means of performing computer - generated characters in real time . Puppeteers can create character voices and facial expressions through pre - programmed mechanisms controlled by an animatronic hand rig while body performers outfitted in motion capture suits add the full body movements and activity of the same character . This has been used on such productions as " Frances " , " Sid the Science Kid " , and " " . The LA Creature Shop is the location of the SyFy reality competition series , " Jim Henson ' s Creature Shop Challenge " . The New York Creature Shop ( 2004 - present ) . After selling the Muppets to the Walt Disney Company in 2004 , the Jim Henson Company merged the operations of the Muppet Workshop into the duties of their Creature Shop . Though the workshop is no longer responsible for the creation of Muppet characters , they continue to build the soft puppets required for Jim Henson Company productions as well as " Sesame Street " . The company ' s New York workshop , now a division of the Creature Shop , continues to operate and has since moved to Long Island City , Queens ( near the Kaufman Astoria Studios , the shooting location of " Sesame Street " ) where it is headed by Connie Peterson as Workshop Manager , and Jason Weber as Creative Supervisor . The new , sans - " Muppet " name has also been alternatively credited as Jim Henson ' s Puppet Workshop and Jim Henson ' s New York Puppet Workshop .