The Strange Disappearance of Jim Henson's Muppet Babies (1984)
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- Опубліковано 16 сер 2023
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Welcome to a journey down memory lane as we delve into the captivating history and perplexing vanishing act of one of the most beloved animated shows of all time - Muppet Babies!
Uncover the enchanting origins of Muppet Babies, tracing back to 1984 when these pint-sized versions of our favorite Muppets first graced our TV screens. Join us in reliving the magic that made us laugh, learn, and sing along with Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, and more, all while exploring the colorful and imaginative worlds they conjured in every episode.
And we'll explore the unexplained disappearance of Muppet Babies from our screens, we'll dive into the theories, rumors, and speculations that have kept fans puzzling for years. What led to the end of this beloved show, and why did the Muppet Babies suddenly vanish into thin air?
SOURCES:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muppet_...)
toughpigs.com/movin-bonus-frith/
slate.com/technology/2017/12/...
muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Muppet...
www.mentalfloss.com/article/5...
www.mentalfloss.com/article/7...
www.cartoonbrew.com/law/muppe...
web.archive.org/web/201504121...
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Loved Muppet babies growing up
I'm a monster, I hate it. I don't know why, near as I can tell it's because I have bad memories from watching it.
It literally makes me cringe when I see stuff from it, but cannot figure out why
Me too, the pop culture tie ins were awesome.
❤
Me too.
Skeeter was just made exclusively for the show.
Not one muppet was made of her.
Hearing the theme song this 41 year old was instantly transported back to when I was 5, watching the show with my little sister at our Grammas. Thank you Dan.
Wow that's cool man I'm 34 now 89 baby here this used to coke on nick ju ior back than early 92 to probably 95 at least from I can remember I was in preschool kindergarten around those times and still😢about it I wish we can ne I the 80s/90s again
Same age. I felt chills. I miss the 1980's. Peak humanity, right there.
@@calanon534 I have The Muppet Babies Rock It To The Stars CD!👶🐸🐻🐷
@@SuperMarioBrosIII ..AND your username is based on the defining video game of the generation..
Gotdangit, I wanna go baaaaaacckk!!
I too miss those times.
My favorite episode of Muppet Babies is the one where the Muppets were saying what they wanted to be when they grew up. While some of the Muppets wanted to be grand occupations like film star, scientist, comedian, and rock star, my boy Kermit shocks the group when he said that he wanted to be a humble taxi driver when he grew up. A nice message to the audience that it's okay to be average.
The episode ends with all the Muppets wanting to be taxi drivers.
I have quite a few. There was the episode with Polly the parrot. Polly talked so much and repeated everything he heard, and it caused problems between the babies. Another episode is when the babies jumped to the wrong conclusions about a conversation Nanny was having about getting rid of one of them when in actuality she was talking about getting rid of one of the old chairs in the nursery. The Snow White and the Seven Muppets is another one of my favorites. It's so many. I can't name them all.
@@josephclegg3562I remember the one about “getting rid of them”. It was a good episode.
Kermit Bickle
God’s lonely frog.
“You talkin to me? I’m the only frog here. You must be talking to me.”
My favourites are the time travelling one and the one where they are on Mercury and Gonzo is Hermes
This show not having a boxed set or live streaming release is a crime against humanity.
Of course, the live-action segments of movies and TV shows like Wizard of Oz, Indiana Jones, Johnny Carson,
the actual Muppets in one of their movies, the Spider-Man cartoon (with an appearance from Stan Lee), and Star Wars
(Amazingly enough, Muppets, Spider-Man, and Star Wars are now all owned by Disney)
back then obviously created a HUGE nightmare if they would have even tried to negotiate
between all of these companies regarding any home media release. Back then, all of these companies truly thought
that this property would only be seen a few times on TV so they allowed this to happen.
It would cost a fortune to get all the licensing agreements renegotiated for a video format.
Disney should have thought about that when they still had money.
@@Attmay It’s also about, is it worth the cost? Is there even enough of an audience where getting the licensing issues worked out would be even profitable? Those are all things that have to be weighed in. It’s a business.
I would love to share this my kids
What made those brief clips from films so special was the limited availability of those films. Back then most people didn't have copies of the films to pop in whenever they wanted. As a kid it was always a treat getting even a glimpse of Star or Wars or Temple of Doom again. I forgot how much I really loved this show when I was a wee kid.
Gods that weekend box office Top 10 was like the keys to my inner mind. Ghostbusters, Karate Kid, Temple of Doom, Search for Spock, Last Starfighter, and Muppets? Crazy how good we had it when it came to movies back then.
Right? Summer of '84, man!
Yeah wow, that really stood out to me. Went back and looked at the lower ones to. Top Secret! and The Natural there to.
@@Luke5100 From the late 70's till about '05 or so was when the world was truly alright. Admittedly, not perfect... but still pretty damn cool.
The series lasted long enough to use footage or ideas from many of those movies
Muppet Babies is yet another example of how great it was to be a kid growing up in the 80's! I enjoyed the show a lot, but my cousin absolutely loved the show and watched every episode every Saturday morning faithfully.
Same here. Waking up at 530 to watch it with my brother.
I caught the last season or two of it on Saturday mornings in the early 90s, but
my strongest memories of the show are from watching the reruns on Nickelodeon every weekday afternoon from ~’92 to ‘96.
This cartoon was awesome in the 1980's! I always remember their Nanny would walk in the room and every Muppet Baby would be on their best behaviour. All we could see was her striped socks. They played the characters in popular movies like Star Wars and Ghostbusters. This cartoon was one of my all-time favourites.
This is why the 80s were such an amazing time. I was 9 when Muppet Babies came out and I was already a fan of the Muppet Show, so it was a no brainer. Jim was such an important creative soul for children's shows with Sesame Street, and pushing the envelope for The Muppet Show antics was nothing short of miraculous. To have the Muppet Babies hit on all cylinders is lightning in a bottle. From that 50s style theme song, the stories, the beloved characters it was truly magic.
I wouldn't like Star Wars if it weren't for Muppet Babies. The first 6-7 years of my life, everything I knew about Star Wars was through the lens of Muppet Babies.
Me too!!!
I'm not surprised this hasn't appeared on any platforms or (to my knowledge) seen a box set release. The show was loaded with movie clips. It would require legal gymnastics to get released.
Man this brings back some serious Saturday morning memories. Muppet Babies, followed by Pee-Wee's Playhouse, then Ghostbusters. It really was the golden era of cartoons and kids shows.
I had a half-sister who I haven't seen since I was a child in the Muppet Babies era but we used to love getting up early and watching the show together. The memory of her is now intrinsically tied to the Muppet Babies. Fantastic work on this episode, thanks for the memories!
Send her this video.
Are you Scooter? Is your sister Skeeter?
Find her before it's too late.
Go get your sister friend.
I loved this show to death when I was a little kid. But the weird thing is I can't remember a single episode of it yet I can recite the entire theme song. That thing was beyond catchy.
Only 2 I remember was the one where they kept being too loud and waking their cop neighbor that worked overnight. And the one where Piggy left a skate out that one of them tripped on and got hurt and she kept hiding it was her. Because of course she did. She was unbearable to me as a kid.
I'm in my 40s and can still sing the theme tune, word for word, with a decent impression of all the Muppets.
Go me 🎉
"When the world feels kind of weird and you wish that you're weren't scared
Just close your eyes and make believe and you cam be anywhere!"
@@NotThatGuy_YepThatGuy "I like adventure, I love romance, I've got great jokes, Animal Dance!"
@@tts8361 "Is everything alright in here?"
The theme songs to Muppet Babies and ThunderCats are the best ever.
YES NANNY! @@kildogery
I never missed an episode of Muppet Babies as a kid. To this day, I wish Skeeter had graduated to adult character in the movies and shows.
I absolutely loved this show and had no idea it actuallly ran until 1991. I loved Animal, and that episode where they do Star Wars is one of the best cartoon episodes ever.
The show was great. The only thing l didn't like was that they replaced Bunsen and Beaker with Bean Bunny. Once Bean was added, Bunsen and Beaker disappeared.
@@josephclegg3562 Production of the Show ended in May 1990, IMMEDIATELY after the Tragic Passing of Jim Henson.
He actually said "and ran until 1990, one year before...." but he speaks really fast and doesn't leave pauses where pauses are needed (i.e. whenever the written version would have a comma or full stop (period)). Even watching at 0.75 speed I couldn't detect a pause between 1990 and one year (no way I could have kept up with him at full speed, and although I started at 0.5 speed I decided to get a bit ambitious and switched to 0.75 part way through the video).
I’ve gotten to know Katie Leigh, who was the voice of Rolf. She’s a very sweet lady who is also a Voice on dungeons and dragons and on so many other TV shows over the years. She still does events and conventions, and she even got to do a really cool Darkwing duck reunion a few years ago because she was the voice of Honker.
My dad told me the nanny was June Cleaver
Barbara Billingsley was June Cleaver & the voice of Nanny, hence the comparison.
Interesting to see Frank Oz's initial reaction to it. I've always been under the impression that when a show makes a "Baby" or "Kid" version it usually changes public perception that the main show is then specifically NOT for kids, since there is a separate show made JUST for kids. It seems like it would have been a great idea to for his goals.
Oz, who make no mistake is a brilliant puppeteer and voice actor and a good director, is a bit thin skinned at times with a very specific vision of what makes the Muppets the Muppets. And with Henson gone, there's really no one around now to mitigate that. Clearly even back then, he was a bit difficult.
@@sdelmonte But Henson wasn't? Oz and Henson MADE those puppets. If anyone should get a say about what happens with them, it's those two--and the original puppeteers, those who are still around.
The Muppets was intended for an adult audience though.
@@LikaLarukuIt was made for the entire family, of various ages... It didn't cater to any specific AgeDemographic.
@@PirateJohnson Sure - though how many of the references did you get as a 5 year old? Or even a 10 year old?
The muppets on the Muppet Show were a stealth delivery for adult, and at times, subversive, humour.
Sesame Street on the other hand was purely for kids.
This was another one of the few shows my sisters and I could agree on. It was a must-watch for us. 👦🏻👧🏻🧒🏻
Plus we also loved so many of the “de-aged” copycats like A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Life with Louie, Tiny Toons, Yo Yogi, and Flintstone Kids. Good times, good times 💜
Life With Louie was more of a cartoon biography (not 100% accurate of course and some changes had to be made for making it more kid friendly) of his childhood and not a de-aged cartoon like those others (Tiny Toons is more fitting in that category than Life With Louie. Even though Tiny Toons shouldn't be there either). And some of the stories and lines are actually from Louie Andersson's stand up routine. RIP Louie Andersson.
Muppet Babies was the original Rugrats!
@@JW666 Technically Tiny Toons wasn't de-aged characters. They had younger COPYCAT characters, but the ACTUAL Looney Tunes were still their normal selves as their teachers. Baby Looney Tunes would be a better example.
@@WOLVERINE25TH You're correct. Been so tired I couldn't think straight, but you're right. Fixed it.
1988-1992 was a great time to be a viewer. Disney put out quality cartoons like Ducktales and Darkwing Duck, Saturday morning was at its zenith, and even Fox was starting to get their act together. I miss those times.
I was introduced to the cartoon first and had no idea about the Muppets Take Manhattan scenes until decades later. It kinda blew my mind.
I love Muppets Take Manhattan.
My sister and I watched the episodes for this one all of the time on Nickelodeon during the summer in the late 80’s and early 90’s. I don’t remember if we ever watched it on Saturday mornings, but we loved this show. I wish I could find it to show my kids the REAL Muppet Babies like I showed them the REAL Duck Tales.
Some of my earliest memories growing up was watching this show in the 90s. What I would give for a complete set of the series.
So would I
Its like some companies just want to see Jolly Rogers everywhere...
@@Sephiroth144 🎶Yo-Ho-Ho and a bottle of rum!🎶
Bootleg versions are not that good, though I tried one. I want a real licensed version.
@@Sci-Fi-Mike Original source material availability is a problem piracy rarely addresses. Somewhere out there may be the animation cells, or a TV station master reel.
I'm actually surprised there hasn't been a Muppets/Gremlins crossover.
Looking back on Barbara Billingsley's role as Nanny Green Socks, I can't help but think of the scene in Airplane where she spoke Jive to a black passenger.
and now I can't shake the image of Nanny speaking jive XD
@@twotonedearly😆
@@twotonedearly "Cut me some slack, Jack!"
I loved this show! It's where I learned why you "knock on wood". (Wood nymphs live in the pores of wood and get ideas for mischief when you talk about bad things. So you knock on the wood to scare them back in)
I absolutely LOVED this series as a kid. It’s the one memory I had of pure childhood enjoyment.
Born in liverpool 1983, Muppet Babies was my beloved intro to the franchise, I loved baby Gonzo & was subsequently scared shitless by the adult puppet version when I first saw it
Muppet Babies wasn't my favorite cartoon, but it was fun to watch. The use of clips and movie parodies were cute. I remember an episode where Piggy was imagining that the nursery was made out of candy and that Nanny's legs were candy canes.
I love all things Muppets. I had a doll of Miss Piggy as a Muppet Baby and a full-grown Kermit the frog with a pull string and his trench coat reporter outfit. I cried when Jim Henson died. I was 10
How does this channel not have a million subscribers? The research, the info, the format, the nostalgia, it’s practically perfect. Awesome content, as always. Thank you!
What do you mean practically lol
Maybe it’s not on cable tv.
People just don't subscribe to channels these days.......
It's so much more watchable than 'the toys that made us' too, which itself has good research but insufferable presentation.
Because, this channel doesn't appeal to the 10 to 15 year old demo, which is the largest watching demo on UA-cam. It's also not super "topical" in what it covers. Therefor the algorithm doesn't push their videos on the home page. Most of the topics they cover are from 30 to 40 years ago, which by it's very nature, means that most of the people interested in watching will be anywhere from 30 to 45 years of age. They also only produce one video a week instead of 3 to 7. That typically translates to slower growth due to longer wait times between new content. I honestly don't think they're really sweating it. Secret Galaxy knows what they're making, and who they're making it for. They'll most likely never get rich or famous, but they can still make some decent money doing something they enjoy.
I remember that catchy theme song and Leave it to Beaver's mom stripes stockings.
Defunctland made an amazing miniseries on the life of Jim Henson. I highly recommend checking it out!
I’m blessed to have been a child of the 80s, as Muppet babies was one of my favorite cartoons. This was when Saturdays were worth getting up early and fixing that week’s preferred bowl of cereal and watching Saturday morning cartoons.
Muppet Babies was awesome. It was great meeting you at Power Con, I was the short guy you chatted with wearing the Sarge & Reds shirt.
I've been trying to find a copy of this show so I can let my kids see it while they grow up. I'm not surprised they got rid of a show that teaches you to use your imagination
Yes I wish I could find this version and not the newer one. I might be 39 but I want to see if again
You can find most, if not all of them on UA-cam.
@@WOLVERINE25THTHANK YOU (great name btw)
You missed the part where he talks about the legal issues that prevent the show from being released today?
The show is hard to find legally because of the movie clips it used.
I loved this show as a kid. When it came out I was a toddler. I felt like this show was made for me. They taught me about the power of imagination.
I had a really rough first few years of life growing up with almost dying, being abandoned, homeless and whatnot. Thanks to my grandparents, I remember my little sister and I watching this. The songs were so catchy. Got to find my Muppet Babies baby blanket now.
When we were little kids in the 80's, Muppet Babies wasn't just a cartoon, it was a way of life. It encouraged us to use our imaginations and make our own adventures for the rest of the weekend.
This channel is one of the best on UA-cam. Even when you guys put out a video of a topic I might not be that interested in... just the thorough research and delivery of information by Dan makes me enjoy it.
The Muppet Babies theme song has been playing in my head for nearly 40 years. Loved it!
I was OBSESSED with this show as a kid. I saw it so long ago that I currently don't remember a thing about it aside from Nanny, Skeeter "not being in The Muppet Show", and a lot of Killer Tomatoes references, for some reason.
Muppet Babies is one of my ultimate favorite 80's Saturday Morning cartoons ever made.
It'll never be remade until the reboot was made for kids even for us adults on Disney Junior and it's very well
entertaining but however, I really missing my 80's as a grown up. However, Disney needs to put on Disney+ for
us old fans to rewatch them again. Cartoons from the 1980's and the 1990's are the best times of my life.
I wish everyone could continue to supporting all cartoons even it's characters enjoying many great moments we grew up when and then.
GREAT VID, MAN!
Always loved Muppet Babies! I would always tune in hoping to see the Raiders of the Lost Ark bits. 😅
Jim liked to blend the real world with make believe and he had the writers and animators incorporate that into the show...he was proud of what they did.
I was born in 87', but growing up in the 90s, I watched reruns all the time on Nickelodeon. One of my favorite episodes is when they played "Pretendo".
Great. Now that catchy theme song is stuck in my head again after playing on repeat for the last 30 some years for me and finally getting it out last week. Thanks a lot! 😂
I LOVED this show when I was a kid! The episode about animation rocked my world. It's pretty much responsible for my career in animation today 😃. Fun fact, I've directed/worked with the voice of Fozzie Bear, Katie Leigh, for one of my series! She's so freaking talented it's unbelievable. She voices every character in the show and switches between in one read. I'm absolutely stunned in every voice session I have with her.
One of the few shows that I would pay full price for.
Muppet Babies was my favorite toon when I was a kid... it's too bad Disney killed it..
Dan thanks so much for doing this video! Your channel is great! I actually had recently searched to see if you had done a video on Muppet Babies before and didn’t see one. I was going to recommend it.
It’s criminal that this show has never had a DVD release or been put on streaming. Especially considering Disney probably owns most of the rights that would be tied up in it. Hopefully some day!
Star Trek, Ghostbusters, Sesame Street, the Peanuts, Superman, Popeye, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Bugs Bunny, The Jetsons, etc. would all like a word with you on that.
This one got me right in the nostalgia! These videos are great, especially when they’re about something I grew up with. 🙂
An old school favorite of mine! I heard it can’t be put on physical media and streaming due to the copyrighted material. I’d love to see it streaming and ty again. Keep being awesome and ty for the content. Hope you will do a video about Superman TAS. That’s always been one of my favorite shows and think there’s lots of material for a video.
Most definitely. Disney probably wouldn't let them use the Star Wars footage from that one episode or the Indian Jones footage
@@Jamessmith-xk3fh Yeah, but Disney now owns the Muppets and most of the things they used footage from. I suppose there could be issues with CBS, but I think Disney would be the ones releasing it. It would be excellent to have on Disney+.
@@brianjl7477 There's also footage from _Star Trek_ (owned by Viacom/Paramount) & _Ghostbusters_ (the dual pair of original films owned by Columbia/Tri-Star Pictures, although the rights to the _Ghostbusters_ name actually default back to Filmation Studios [the same company which animated the original _He-Man_ & _She-Ra_ cartoons of the '80s & in the '90s on into the '00s did the stateside dubbing for the _Dragon Ball_ / _Dragon Ball Z_ / _Dragon Ball GT_ anime], since they actually came with their own version of a ghost-catching brand under that same name years before the popular 1984 film & anything spawned from it was ever developed) and Disney doesn't own those. Also, there's blatant references to other established IPs that go far beyond mere parody, so...that explains the copyright headache that the original _Muppet Babies_ produces, as good as it was.
This was very informative. I have a theory that Jeffrey Scott`s Nanny character was inspired by an Avengers episode called "Something Nasty in the Nursery". In the show, adults would be just chilling at home when a ball would come rolling up to them out of nowhere. Of course the first thing they do is pick it up to look at it. The ball was covered in a hallucinogen that absorbs through the skin and they instantly revert back to early childhood. Then, as they`re sitting on the floor, the camera shows us only the green and white stockings and sensible shoes of "Nanny", our villain, who convinces the "child" to show her where the valuables o whatever she wants to steal are.
I won't diss anyone with a fear of Gremlins. I saw the commercial for it at a formative 10 years old and that maniacal laughter kept me up half the night.
Big fan of Muppet Babies. If I were to map out the 80's, this would be coordinates (0,0). Cartoons that babyfied existing characters sprang from this. Cartoons based off of movies came from here. And the music video which once was just the band playing the song on stage transformed int a visual story told with the song as principle background. (I may be exaggerating that last and/or all of that)
Kudos to the hard-working creatives that made this far more influenetial than it had any right to be. You guys knocked it so out of the park, we are still waiting for it to land.
Coming home after school to watch muppet babies was a great, with that said, I was annoyed that gonzo was such a simp for piggy. Like dude, she's not into you, she's simping for Kermit, and she's a narcissist who blows up when everything doesn't go her way, she's not worth it!
Such a shame, I never missed an episode and now that I'm older I wanted to show it too my niece and nephew and had to deal with the low quality rips.
One of the most amazing things about this show to me was how they could take character voices that were sometimes shrill (Miss Piggy) or grating (Gonzo), put them in a musical number, and have it be not only tolerable, but enjoyable.
I loved the Muppet Babies when I was really little. I liked how they made the show and all the live action segments it contained. I remember it was on right before Pee-wee’s Playhouse.
Muppet Babies made all my dreams come true!
I was a Muppet Babies guy. Awesome Video.
As soon as I saw the title, I sang the entire Muppet Babies theme song aloud, because it's always waiting there in the back of my mind, and bursts out at inopportune (or in this case, opportune) moments. It's a classic.
I can still sing the whole song. Love this show. I miss the 80s so very, very much. We lived through the best of the best. Wish I would've slowed down and soaked it all in more...but we were kids.
I'm just barely old enough that this cartoon wasn't my first exposure to the Muppets, but young enough that I loved this cartoon as a kid. Count me as one of the people who has fond memories of Skeeter and wishes she'd become part of the regular cast.
Hey Disney, pay your writers!
Great video
I loved this show as a kid, and all the movie clips they were able to use amazed me as a kid. Like, "what?! They have a clip from Star Wars in this episode!"
I remember this one! I loved the muppet babies when I was a kid. I was full of imagination & was really drawn to this version of the muppets.
When your world looks kind of weird and you wish you weren’t there, you’re probably in the 21st century. 😐
I absolutely love this channel. Always enjoy the work you put into these. Thanks Dan and all involved !That's all I wanted to say
Muppet Babies was awesome! I also credit it with introducing Star Wars to me. I was blown away when I found out the scary guy (Darth) and the ships that shot lasers in Gonzo's closet gag had a whole movie. I immediately asked if we could head to the grocery store and rent the movie
I'm 48 and I can still sing the entire theme song from memory. That show was so great.
I can’t imagine Saturday morning cartoons without Muppet Babies, a bowl of cereal, and putting off homework. Muppet Babies holds such good memories to me. My own child actually enjoys the cg remake, and I enjoyed it with her.
I loved this show. The intro theme was great - much like many of the 80-90's TV shows.
When i think of the first cartoon show i ever loved so much that I would wake up at 6am on Saturdays for, it was this. I was 5 or 6, and I still remember the joy.
I'm convinced this show gave me my love of referential humor 🙌🏾
Reminds me of Baby Looney Tunes.
Man, I miss the 80s, when creators could just call fellow creators for permission to use their IPs.
Muppet Babies was a core of my childhood. I owe so much of my creative life to it.
Gonzo singing “Camilla” was the cutest thing o ever saw next to Emmett Otter’s Jugband Christmas 😂❤❤
Muppet Babies was one of my all-time favorite cartoons growing up! I’m surprised that they have not made it to Disney+ yet!!!
They're allergic to money
@@NewSquallor There's copyrighted footage of things Disney doesn't own in the original _Muppet Babies_ that Disney doesn't want to pay the copyright holders for the "fair use" of.
Hence, why Disney did a reboot of Muppet Babies, which IS on Disney+.
@@RocStarr913 Exactly. I am still peeved they aged down the demographic for the already "babified" _Muppet Babies_ (comparatively, the 1984 original was for all-ages, not just the designated preschool age like _Sesame Street_ is targeted towards) & Disney decided to have its own character made exclusively for the CGI 2018 reboot, Summer Penguin, more or less take Skeeter's place as the tomboy of the group opposite feminine Baby Piggy.
Sure, Skeeter does appear (albeit, sporadically & unnamed outside of her familial sibling relationship to brother Scooter) in seasons 2 & 3, but it was just in a "special guest cameo" role like Statler & Waldorf (who became semi-recurring characters in later seasons of the 1984 original & they were the only adults whose faces were actually shown, excluding those grown-ups envisioned by the Muppet Babies' hyperactive imaginations, such as appearing on _The Tonight Show_ when Jay Carson hosted it using stock footage of the late talk-show host or the animated take on the mine cart escape scene from _Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom_ [with even Baby Fozzie making the joking quip, "This fantasy is rated PG, we're underage" when the villains of the film visibly intimidate the toddler Muppets]), Bunsen & Beaker (although the founders of Muppet Labs were still just kids themselves & were popular enough to warrant appearing in the opening theme, Bunsen & Beaker only appeared in the early to middle seasons of the 1984 original, as they stopped appearing once Bean Bunny became a de-facto regular cast member in the last batch of seasons), Bean Bunny (who, much like Elmo did on _Sesame Street_ [which is fitting, since Bean Bunny was basically created by _The Muppet Show_ crew to take shots at Elmo supplanting Big Bird as the central character of _Sesame Street_ following the Tickle-Me-Elmo craze of 1996], began to basically become a focal point in the final seasons of the 1984 original, even if he never appears in the opening theme song), and adolescent Janice (whose solo appearance as an older Muppet child capable of reading [much to a jealous Baby Piggy's chagrin] was sadly a one-off & there wasn't much interaction between her & her fellow Electric Mayhem bandmate Animal, who was really the only true infant of the main cast, since he still wore his baby bonnet, whereas the rest were slightly older toddlers) were for the 1984 original.
In addition, Rolf the dog was completely cut from the roster in the 2018 CGI reboot despite appearing in the 1984 original cartoon due to the earlier of the two being directly patterned after Miss Piggy's "I Will Always Love You" dream sequence starring the live-action Muppet Babies (including Rolf, but conveniently missing Skeeter, who was created specifically for the 1984 cartoon, but remains popular enough with fans that many of us genuinely want her in adult Muppet form [and we don't just mean appearing in _The Muppet Show Comic Book: Family Reunion_ issue made by Boom Studios]; To be fair, she does still appear in the _Muppet Kids_ story books that age up the 1984 _Muppet Babies_ to elementary school age, but after that, Michael K. Frith basically canonizes that Skeeter left her fellow Muppets -- including her computer nerd brother Scooter -- to travel the world as an explanation for why she's not with the adult Muppets now) in _Muppets Take Manhattan_ (the final film in the original Muppet movie trilogy, not counting the 1987 Big 3 holiday crossover special _A Muppet Family Christmas_ which brought together the cast of _The Muppet Show_ [along with the live-action Muppet Babies used in new footage perceived as a grainy flashback shown on the video projector depicting "the very first Christmas the Muppets ever spent together" according to Scooter], the _Sesame Street_ gang of the '80s [Elmo's present, but there's a noticeable lack of a speaking role for him], and the core Five -- Gobo, Mokey, Wembley, Boober & Red -- plus Uncle "Travelling" Matt alongside human/Silly Creature inventor Jerome "Doc" Crystal & his pantomime Muppet sheepdog Sprocket all from _Fraggle Rock_ as well as one of the final appearances of Muppet creator Jim Henson near the tail end of the film before his tragic death in 1990).
The Muppet Babies was a huge hit back in the 80’s. I watched when is was on Nickelodeon. And became hits again with a 2018 reboot.
I absolutely loved that show! I felt young for a second watching this.
i loved the Muppet Babies, i had two VHS tapes where Kermit read bedtime stories about the Muppet Babies to Robin
Friday the 13th Part VIII reference? Nicely done
You should do an episode on Camp Candy or Tale Spin or Gummi Bears!!
Muppet Babies is where I learned the dad joke “I’m hungry” “Hi Hungry” made by Piggy & Gonzo in one episode as well as “Cheeseburger cheeseburger” while shaking an object (by Gonzo) during an episode where they try to figure out what a mysterious object is and its purpose (in this case, a handled tea strainer revealed at the end by Nanny).
Muppet Babies is also where I learned of the existence of a few games, especially Fantasy Zone, during an episode they got some video game clips to play. I always think back to Muppet Babies whenever I find myself playing Fantasy Zone on my 3DS.
Such good times. Saw it a lot in the early 90s growing up and I miss those days dearly.
This series brings back so many lovely memories of Saturday mornings at my grandma's place.
I vividly remember being excited to sit on her light green carpet in front of the larger woodgrain console TV (19"?) and watching Muppet Babies was one of the first "good cartoons" that came on.
I had to keep switching back and forth between channels after the first Muppet Babies episode to find the best cartoon for my 6/7/8 year old brain after that.
i'm pretty sure Muppet Babies was first real exposure to Star Wars as a kid. i didn't really get the reference, but i knew it looked cool as hell. also, one of my most memorable childhood toys was a baby Kermit on his skateboard that i got as a happy meal toy.
Right!? I would wish every time that the Star Wars episode would repeat.
Literally 1984
One of my favorite shows growing up
Muppet Babies and Tiny Toons will always hold a place in this 80s baby heart💖
One of the greatest cartoons of all time. Child and Adult. The cross overs with Lucas and Spielberg are amazing. It's insane it hasn't been remastered/released or streamed. They tried a new series awhile back, but it was a cheap grab.. none of the magic. Preschool only stuff.
Well, I blame the overt references to other established IPs as the sole culprit as to why the show's not seen an official release (the genuine stock footage from _Star Trek_ & _Ghostbusters_ as well as the blatant sendups to other well-known properties that go beyond simple parody).
I loved the Muppet Babies as a kid. I caught it in syndication on Nickelodeon. I knew the Muppets more from that series than any of the movies. I'd love to buy a box set of the series like I did work Fraggle Rock to help bring them back into the public eye. The rebooted series was probably OK, but in my eyes nothing will ever out do the original series.
So when are you doing a video on Muppets Tonight?
That JASON insert during The Muppets take Manhattan bit was special. Thank you.
This show was my introduction to the Muppets when I was a kid, I didn't see the Muppet movies until a few years later but this being the introduction has shaped my view of the Muppets overall.
Bewm
Muppet babies! Weeeeeeeeeee!!!
I was too old for Muppet Babies but had a brother five years younger than me, my excuse for getting into or sticking with a lot of things. As a tween, I was impressed with Muppet Babies, because I could tell this was something new. The pop culture references and the imaginative worlds within worlds, along with the retro music, seemed very cool and happening. I think we've taken some of those trends too far this century, but at the time it was a breath of fresh air.
As a Muppets fan, I cannot believe you missed one important detail: Skeeter’s comic book return in The Muppet Show: Family Reunion.
Loved the first season. After that, the animation seemed to suffer. But there was one scene used in one of the later episodes that definitely had me giggling. They used the cryogenic sleeping pod scene from Aliens in one episode. I started to think, who in their right mind would let toddlers watch Aliens?!?
I recall one of the earlier episodes had used material from the Kali Ma scene from Temple of Doom. I was a kid when I watched the episode, but I didn't know the Kali Ma reference until I was older. I don't think most young kids would have seen The Temple of Doom.
@@mattb6522 yep! A lot of questionable choices were made with their viewing habits.
@@mattb6522 Baby Fozzie even makes a quick quip/joke about this fact: "This fantasy is rated PG, we're underage."
@@TherealRNOwwfpooh I forgot that part!😄