Muppet Babies
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| Jim Henson's Muppet Babies | |
|---|---|
 Jim Henson's Muppet Babies title screen |
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| Genre | Animated series |
| Creator(s) | Jim Henson |
| Developer(s) | Jeffrey Scott |
| Starring | Barbara Billingsley Frank Welker Laurie O'Brien Greg Berg Russi Taylor Howie Mandel (1984–1985) Katie Leigh Dave Coulier (1985–1991) |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 107 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes per episode |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS Television Network |
| Original run | 1984 – 1991 |
| Links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
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 film 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 the Muppets living together in a large nursery in the care of a human woman called Nanny (the whereabouts of their parents is never addressed). Nanny appears in every episode, but viewers never see her face, only the babies' view of her green and white striped socks.
Muppet Babies was produced by The Jim Henson Company and Marvel Productions. Although the episodes were 30 minutes, it actually was typically shown in 60 and even 90 minute blocks during its peak popularity.
Contents |
[edit] 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.
[edit] Film spoofs
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, Ghostbusters, The Three Stooges and Beetlejuice.
[edit] Running gags
A running gag in the show involved one of the Babies, usually Gonzo, opening the closet door in search of something or looking down a dark tunnel or something similar only to meet film footage depicting something scary and unexpected behind the door or tunnel, such as a huge monster roaring or a train barreling towards him. Gonzo's nose would also make a honking sound when someone, usually Miss Piggy, 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, "Go bye-bye!!!" 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 together 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.
[edit] Noteworthy characters
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 guest appearances of Bunsen and Beaker and Statler and Waldorf (as adults).
Although he has usually been referred to as a "whatever", characters in this series 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 film clips and Uncle Statler and Uncle Waldorf, both original Muppets. One exception to this was where the Muppets have to overcome their fear of going into the basement in a search for Baby Animal, in which they believe it is the Temple of Doom. As with most of their imagining situations based on movies, live action clips from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is interspersed with animation. An animated Mola Ram shows his face when he tells the Muppet Babies he has them trapped in a dead end.
[edit] Other appearances
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").
[edit] Trend starter
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.
[edit] Syndication
After Muppet Babies stopped airing on CBS, it was later re-run on other channels.
- Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel (1992 – 1998)
- Odyssey Network (1999 – 2000)
- Non-network syndication (2001 – present)
Whenever an episode ended (or when a 60 or 90 minute block of Muppet Babies has concluded), Baby Animal would always say, "Gooooooo bye-bye! Ya-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba!!" If there is still another episode coming up in the block, Baby Gonzo would always say "Don't go away, we'll be right back."
[edit] Other information
- 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.
- Sometimes Baby Gonzo has envisioned himself as the superhero "Super Gonzo", in which he was "Cluck Kent" when his superhero duties were not required. In one episode explaining the Muppet Babies heritage, Baby Gonzo claims he was from the planet "Cruton", a planet of weirdos like him but doomed to being transformed into a normal planet. Gonzo's parents sent him to Earth to escape this fate, where he is adopted by two chickens "Ma & Pa Cluck". Gonzo clearly imagines himself just like Superman, who is a licensed character of DC Comics, a rival of Marvel Productions.
- The show later expanded to 90 minutes after The Garbage Pail Kids was cancelled before it aired.
- One of the series' writers, Jeffrey Scott, spoke of how he incorporated a Scientology belief into a Muppet Babies episode:[1]
- "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."
- Also in 1992, after the last aired Muppet Babies episode in 1991, an episode book collection of Muppet Babies was produced from the book company Grolier. It was called The Muppet Babies Press Books. The book talked mostly about character traits and learning for young children. It was produced and ended in 1992.
- In the Season 4 episode The Muppet Broadcasting Company, Rowlf states that he is the oldest baby.
- In the mid 1980's PVC Muppet Babies Toys were available as prizes in McDonalds' Happy Meals. Each non-articulated character came with a wheeled vehicle (IE: Baby Kermit came with a skateboard, Baby Gonzo had a big-wheel, etc)
[edit] DVD Releases
Although the show was (and still is) quite popular, there have been no plans announced of any DVD releases of Muppet Babies. One possible reason is that clips from other TV shows and movies (such as Star Wars) were used extensively in the Babies' imagination sequences and closet opening scenes and thus could pose difficulties in terms of resolving possible copyright issues.
[edit] 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
[edit] 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 (also known as 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 included Madballs, Heathcliff, the Care Bears, and Top Dog.
[edit] Episodes
[edit] External links
| Formerly Broadcast Animated Nickelodeon Shows of the 1980s |
|---|
| Channels on the Nickelodeon Network: TV Land | Nick Too | Nick GAS | Nicktoons Network | Noggin / The N |
| Premiered between 1983-1989:
Bananaman | DangerMouse | Belle and Sebastian | Star Trek: The Animated Series | The Little Prince | The Smurfs | Mysterious Cities of Gold | Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea | Adventures of the Little Koala | Heathcliff | Jim Henson's Muppet Babies | Inspector Gadget | Maple Town | Count Duckula | The Alvin Show on Nickelodeon | Beetlejuice | Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics | Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon | Noozles | The World of David the Gnome |
Categories: Muppet television series | Television spin-offs | 1980s American cartoons | 1990s American television series | Child versions of cartoon characters | CBS network shows | Television programs featuring anthropomorphic characters | Marvel Comics animation | 1984 television program debuts | 1991 television program cancellations
