Friday 17 January 2014

Flashback Friday - Muppet Babies



Muppet Babies


When your world looks kinda weird and you wish that you weren't there 
Just close your eyes and make believe and you can be anywhere 




Muppet Babies was a spin off from the hugely popular "The Muppets". Surprisingly "The Muppets" didn't catch my enthusiasm until much later in life when I discoved "The Muppets Christmas Carol" and even now as much as I like the films I'm not a fan of their TV series. The Muppet Babies on the other hand now that was avid TV viewing once Nickalodeon got it in 1992. The rights are now held by Disney.

Muppet Babies (or more recently called Jim Henson's Muppet Babies) was an American TV series that started over there in 1984! It portrayed childhood versions of the most popular muppets living together in a large nursery, cared for by a human called Nanny (sounding familiar? Don't get it confused with the Looney Toon Kids!). Although Nanny appears in every episode it is only her voice you heard or her clothes, her face was never shown.

If you have watched The Muppets Take Manhatten you may remember the babies from a dream
sequance, this launched the spin off 2 months later and explains why Kermit and Miss Piggy (who only just meet) are suddenly shown growing up together.

The episodes were 30 minutes long (including adverts).

The idea of the episodes was always the same with the Muppet Babies finding creative ways to entertain themselves and learn to work together to solve problems and survive their imagined adventures. Usually the babies were confronted with a childlike 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.
Nearly every episode contained one song, and occasionally more than one.

Although the program was a cartoon, live-action film sequences were added in unusual moments. When 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 films.

The main stars of the series were: Kermit The Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Scooter, Skeeter, Rowlf the Dog and Gonzo.


"Go bye bye"



2 comments:

  1. Oh wow what a flashback!! I started reading this and had Miss Piggy's voice in my head! hehe. Thanks for sharing! x

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  2. glad you enjoyed. for me the memory voice is always the "go bye bye"from animal.

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