Jim Henson's Muppet Babies
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| Jim Henson's Muppet Babies | |
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 Jim Henson's Muppet Babies title screen |
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| Format | Animated series |
| Created by | Jim Henson |
| Developed by | Jeffrey Scott |
| Starring | Greg Berg Dave Coulier (1986-1990) Katie Leigh Howie Mandel (1984-1986) Laurie O'Brien Russi Taylor Frank Welker Barbara Billingsley |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 107 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes per episode |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | September 15, 1984 – December 29, 1990 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Jim Henson's Muppet Babies is an American animated television series that aired from 1984 to 1990 on CBS in first-run episodes, and then until 1992 in reruns. It was loosely based on a sequence in the Muppet film The Muppets Take Manhattan, where 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 are never addressed). Nanny appears in almost every episode, but viewers never see her face, only the babies' view of her pink skirt as well as her distinctive green and white striped socks.
Muppet Babies was produced by The Jim Henson Company and Marvel Productions and then after Henson's children sold the Muppets the rights to the show were given to Disney-ABC Domestic Television. Although the episodes were 30 minutes (including commercials), it was typically shown in 60 and even 90 minute blocks during its peak popularity. The show outside the United States was distributed by Walt Disney Television Animation.
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[edit] Overview
The Muppet Babies live in a large nursery watched over by Nanny, the only human character in the show. The babies have active imaginations, and often embark on adventures into imaginary worlds and perilous situations from which they are eventually returned to reality by some external event, such as Nanny coming to see what the noise was. They are constantly finding ways to entertain themselves in creative ways, and learning to work together to solve problems and survive their wild imagined adventures.
Each episode included a single storyline. Usually the babies were confronted with a child-like problem, such as fear of the dentist, or a question, such as 'where do muffins come from?' Other times, they were simply finding ways to amuse themselves with old toys or video tape equipment. The babies would then enter into their imaginations, transforming their toys into everything from time machines to pirate ships. Nearly every episode contained one song, and occasionally more than one. After the credits, the episodes would end with Animal shouting out his catchphrase 'Go bye-bye!' usually while Gonzo blasted off into the sky due to some accident he or Animal had caused.
Although the program was a cartoon, live-action film sequences were added in unusual moments. Whenever the babies opened a door, box or book, they were often confronted with anything from a speeding train to a space ship. Foreign landscapes in their imagination were usually photos or bits of stock footage which the babies would walk across, interacting indirectly with the film’s actors. Though much of the live-action came from stock footage and old black-and-white horror/monster films, more recent films such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones were also played and parodied.
The show was drawn from the babies’ point of view, meaning the babies were always looking up to view of the world. Objects like couches and doors were far larger than normal and more momentous obstacles for the babies. As a result of the upward view, the faces of adult characters were never shown. Nanny was only ever seen from the shoulders down as were the adults in the babies’ fantasies. Exceptions were made for Uncle Statler and Uncle Waldorf and a few ‘muppet style’ adults in the fantasy worlds.
[edit] Characters
The series starred Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Scooter, Skeeter, Rowlf the Dog, and Gonzo as the main muppets. Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker made regular appearances as did Camilla in the form of Gonzo's stuffed baby chick. In the final two seasons, Bean Bunny, Statler and Waldorf began making regular appearances.
Several muppets made guest appearances including Janice and Kermit’s nephew, Robin.
The Muppet Baby character Skeeter, Scooter's twin sister, 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 this, Skeeter was always voiced by a male actor.
[edit] Voice cast
- Greg Berg: Baby Fozzie, Baby Scooter
- Dave Coulier (1986–1990): Baby Animal, Baby Bunsen Honeydew, Baby Bean Bunny, Baby Janice, Uncle Statler and Waldorf, and Camilla (Muppet) (occasionally)
- Katie Leigh: Baby Rowlf the Dog
- Howie Mandel (1984–1985): Baby Skeeter, Baby Animal, Baby Bunsen
- Laurie O'Brien: Baby Piggy
- Russi Taylor: Baby Gonzo the Great, Baby Robin and Camilla the Chicken (occasionally)
- Frank Welker: Baby Kermit the Frog, Baby Skeeter (1986–1990), Baby Beaker and Camilla
- Barbara Billingsley: Nanny
[edit] Other appearances
Baby Kermit, Piggy, and Gonzo 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 all the characters except Skeeter also appeared in A Muppet Family Christmas in the form of a home movie which the adult muppets watched during the Christmas Party. The segment was cut out of the home video releases because the rights to "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" could not be obtained.
[edit] Production History
In 1984, The Muppets Take Manhattan, the third full length muppet film debuted. The movie included a fantasy sequence in which Miss Piggy imagined what growing up with Kermit would have been like. While Piggy sang, baby versions of Rowlf, Fozzie, Scooter and Gonzo acted as backup singers. The sequence of so successful that The Jim Henson Company turned the idea into a half-hour cartoon program. In order for 107 episodes to be produced Henson hired two companies; the Japanese-based TOEI Animation for Seasons 1-3 and five episodes of Season 4, and the Korean-based AKOM Productions for Episode six of Season 4 through Season 7.
Muppet Babies proved highly popular and ran from 1984 to 1990, a total of seven seasons. At the height of its popularity it ran in two or three episode blocks.
For a brief run in the second season, the program became Muppets, Babies & Monsters, too!, and a second half-hour was dedicated to a new show called Little Muppet Monsters. This show featured live action puppets and cartoons starring the adult Muppet characters. The program lasted three 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. Muppet Babies later expanded to 90 minutes after The Garbage Pail Kids was cancelled before it aired.
Muppet Babies is noted for starting a trend of 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, The New Archies, and numerous others.
Muppet Babies was voted "Top Cartoon of the Childhood Days" by the Irvin Hall newspaper's weekly review of the Pennylvania State University in 2007.
[edit] Syndication
Muppet Babies stopped premiering on CBS in 1990. Sydication rights were sold to Nickelodeon/Nick Jr. (1992-1999) and Odyssey Network (1999-2000) in the United States with only 96 episodes in regular rotation. In the United Kingdom, it aired in re-runs on Playhouse Disney UK, Disney Channel UK, and Disney Cinemagic with all 107 episodes in regular rotation. In the UK it is best known from its first run on UK TV on BBC 1 on Saturday mornings during Going Live at 8:15am. Muppet Babies has been off the air since 2000. In reruns on Nickelodeon and Odyssey Network, the intro was truncated and the 1984 closing was replaced with the 1985 closing.
[edit] Music
Approximately 100 of the songs were co-written by Alan O'Day and Janis Liebhart. O'Day is a songwriter who was known for writing hits in the 1970s including "Angie Baby" (sung by Helen Reddy) and "Undercover Angel".[citation needed]
[edit] Episodes
[edit] Merchandise
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)
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.
[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] Video and DVD releases
Although not every Muppet Babies episode was released on VHS, a number of them were released between 1993–1995.[citation needed] One series released on VHS called "Yes I Can" included three videos, which featured two Muppet Babies episodes inside. The series focused on Robin the Frog, who asks his uncle Kermit for assistance in different chores he was struggling with such as cleaning his room or doing homework. Kermit would lead off into a Muppet Babies episode which told of a similar situation. Sometimes, he would give examples about achieving Robin's trouble. For example, in one Yes I Can video, Robin is worried about making new friends, and Kermit tells him that sharing is an example of having a good friendship, and leads directly inside a Muppet Babies episode.
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.[citation needed] Recently, a few episodes were made available as bonus DVDs with Muppet Babies plush toys.
[edit] Other information
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- One of the series' writers, Jeffrey Scott, spoke of how he incorporated a Scientology teaching 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."
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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