Muppet Babies
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Jim Henson's Muppet Babies is an American animated television series that aired from 1984 to 1991 on CBS. Loosely based on a sequence in the Muppet movie The Muppets Take Manhattan, in which Miss Piggy imagined what it would be like if she and Kermit the Frog grew up together, the show portrayed childhood versions of Muppets living together in a large nursery in the care of a human woman called Nanny. Nanny appears in every episode, but viewers never see her face, only the babies' view of her striped socks or stockings.
Muppet Babies was produced by The Jim Henson Company and Marvel Productions.
Overview
The Babies had active imaginations, and often embarked on adventures into imaginary worlds and perilous situations from which they were eventually saved when some external event—often Nanny coming to see what the noise was—brought them back to reality, revealing that, for instance, the giant squid that had them in its tentacles was really just the tail end of a curtain.
As an animated television series, Muppet Babies was unusual in that it frequently incorporated footage from old films, and occasionally spoofed popular fictional characters and Hollywood films, including Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Batman, and Beetlejuice.
A running gag in the show involved one of the Babies, usually Gonzo, opening the closet door in search of something only to meet film footage depicting something scary and unexpected behind the door. His nose would also make a honking sound when someone squeezed it. Another running gag involves aspiring comedian Fozzie trying to tell jokes to an (imaginary) audience, only for them to boo him and throw rotten tomatoes at him. Possibly the most famous running gag from the series was a short clip that ran after the closing credits, in which Baby Animal would appear (usually in an environment related to the theme of the episode) and say something that contradicts what is usually considered Muppet canon, a reference to the "real" Muppets is given in one episode where Kermit wishes his friends would stay together and enter show business—which they did in The Muppet Movie (though the clip accompanying this scene was actually from The Great Muppet Caper), and the movie from which this series was based "The Muppets Take Manhattan" was all about the group staying togther as adults while trying to sell a Broadway musical. Live-action, adult versions of Kermit the Frog, Dr. Teeth and Oscar the Grouch appeared in live-action film clips.
A notable Muppet Babies character was Skeeter, Scooter's twin sister, who only appeared in this series, and was never a real-life Muppet. This was done because the producers wanted another female character added to the cast, despite the fact that Skeeter was always voiced by male actors (first by Howie Mandel and then Frank Welker), almost in the same vein as what was done for most female Muppets on the regular live-action Muppet programming (such as Frank Oz performing as Miss Piggy, for instance).
Bean Bunny, a Muppet who joined the regular Muppet cast in the 1989 TV series The Jim Henson Hour was added as a baby character in the final season of Muppet Babies. Other characters include Bunsen and Beaker.
Although he has usually been referred to as a whatever, in this series characters referred to Gonzo as being a weirdo, as if it was a sort of creature as much as it referred to his behavior. (The movie Muppets from Space delves more deeply into the matter). In one episode, he temporarily believes he is an anteater.
No adults' faces were ever seen, except for those of actors in the live-action clips and Uncle Statler and Uncle Waldorf, both original Muppets.
Baby Kermit, Baby Piggy, and Baby Gonzo also made small appearances in the drug prevention TV special (later released on home video) Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue. A live-action version of the characters also appeared in A Muppet Family Christmas as a home movie. The segment was cut out of the home video releases of the special, however, due to music rights (because they sang the song "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town").
The most notable feature of this show is that it started a trend for relaunching popular character franchises as younger versions of themselves. This trend can be seen in A Pup Named Scooby Doo, Baby Looney Tunes, Flintstones Kids, and numerous others.
After originally airing on CBS, it was later re-run on Nickelodeon, Odyssey Network, The Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney, and in broadcast syndication.
Other information
- In the Drawn Together episode, "Little Orphan Hero", the Muppet Babies are momentarily shown being violently attacked by a pair of pit bulls which were given to them by Foxxy Love.
- For a brief run in the second season, the program became Muppets, Babies & Monsters, and a second half-hour was dedicated to segments featuring live action puppets and cartoons featuring the adult Muppet characters. This format only lasted two weeks before Jim Henson pulled the plug, despite 18 episodes having been made. The show then reverted to an hour of Muppet Babies; however, a portion of the Little Muppet Monsters theme could still be heard in the show's end credits for the remainder of its run.
- One of the series' writers, Jeffrey Scott, spoke of how he incorporated a Scientology belief into a Muppet Babies episode [link]:
- "Hubbard discovered that the number one barrier to study was the MISUNDERSTOOD WORD. He found that the moment a student went past a word he/she didn't understand the rest of the material became more or less 'blank'. [...] So in a 'Muppet Goose' episode I wrote Piggy was reading Little Miss Muffet, and when she read 'sat on a tuffet,' her imagination went blank until she cleared up her misunderstood word." Some have pointed out that the idea that an unknown word might interrupt thought is in no way limited to Scientology.
Voice cast
- Greg Berg: Baby Fozzie, Baby Scooter
- Barbara Billingsley: Nanny
- Dave Coulier (1985–1991): Baby Animal, Baby Bunsen, Baby Bean Bunny, Uncle Statler, Uncle Waldorf
- Katie Leigh: Baby Rowlf
- Howie Mandel (1984–1985): Baby Animal, Baby Bunsen, Baby Skeeter
- Laurie O'Brien: Baby Piggy
- Russi Taylor: Baby Gonzo
- Frank Welker: Baby Kermit, Baby Skeeter (1985–1991), Baby Beaker
Comics
From 1985 until 1989, Marvel Comics produced a monthly comic book of the Muppet Babies with their Star Comics imprint. The series lasted for 26 issues. In 1992, Harvey Comics acquired the rights to produce Muppet Babies comics and produced a further 3 issues (restarting at issue #1).
The Muppet Babies also appeared in Star Comics Digest (AKA Star Comics Magazine). This comic was printed in digest size format, and features a number of short stories in each issue. The series itself lasted for 13 issues from 1986 until 1988. It should be noted that the Muppet Babies appeared in some, but not all the issues. Other short stories contained in Star Comics Digest include Madballs, Heathcliff, the Care Bears, and Top Dog.
See also
External links
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