It’s Time to Play the Music
I’m really excited about The Muppet Show coming back, in a way that feels similar to when it first aired. I have grown up on The Muppets. Everything from Sesame Street to The Muppet Show helped shape who I am today. So did the movies—The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan—along with many later iterations.
I don’t know where I’d be without Rowlf the Dog’s constant dad jokes encouraging me to do the same. The sarcasm from Statler and Waldorf didn’t hurt either. And who didn’t love The Rainbow Connection? Such a beautiful song.
This is a post dedicated to the Muppets. Let’s get things started!
Lessons From Frogs, and Pigs, and Chickens, and Things
One of the first toys I had that I absolutely loved was a large stuffed animal of Mr. Snuffleupagus. Growing up on Sesame Street, and seeing all the interactions between people and Muppets, helped form who I am. Who doesn’t remember “a loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter”?
So my mornings were spent watching Sesame Street. One day a week they had a prime time show called The Muppet Show. It was fun to see the reporter Kermit now hosting a show similar to a lot of variety shows in the 1970s. Miss Piggy quickly became one of my favourite characters. She stood alongside Wonder Woman and Princess Leia as one of my early influences. Sweet and gentle one minute and karate chopping her way through the next, Miss Piggy was bold, unpredictable, and utterly delightful.
The movies made a huge impact on me as well. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think fondly of The Rainbow Connection. When I rewatched The Muppets Take Manhattan as an adult, I got more of the innuendos. Janice quickly became my favourite Muppet. One of her lines—about not taking her clothes off for anyone, even if it was “artistic”—made me love her instantly.
Watching The Muppets always made me feel like I was part of their world. They mostly got along well with each other, had vastly different personalities, and felt so welcoming. It was often great to see what shenanigans they would get themselves into, and how Kermit would deal with it. They made it cool to be a weirdo.
Looking back, the Muppets taught me that there’s room for everyone on the stage—even the weird ones.
What Was Sundered and Undone Shall Be Whole
I have mentioned The Dark Crystal before in one of my blog posts, maybe even a couple of posts. It was a wonderful fantasy movie that just captivated me as a kid, and once again as an adult. I even enjoyed the brief series (and really wish they’d make some more of it!)
This movie introduced the idea of a hero’s journey or quest to me. It’s why I’ve named my blog “The Journey”, and it’s one of the reasons why I have come to see myself as the hero of my own story.
The idea of Jen and Kira as child-like—or even Hobbit-like—characters really appealed to me. This movie felt more grown-up to me when I was a kid and had a lovely story to it. Some scenes were a little frightening, like when they stripped Chamberlain down to barely any feathers left. But the message of the movie was not lost on me.
What stayed with me was the idea that there is both good and evil in everyone—and that they cannot exist without each other.
The Lovers, the Dreamers, and Me
I still get excited whenever anything Muppet-related comes out. Yoda was my favourite character in Star Wars because he was clearly a Muppet and voiced by Frank Oz. I’ve watched and loved everything that has come out in the last few years that was Muppet-related. There was a time when I didn’t watch Muppets, I think in the era of the 1990s. That just means they’ll be on my list of things to watch very soon.
Now that the historic Muppet Show is back on Disney+, it has me so excited and happy. Let’s hope they do a “Pigs in Space” sketch, and so many others that were staples. Only one episode in and it feels like the show never went off the air. I watched it just before I went to work last night. Of course that just means I have had the theme song to The Muppet Show in my head ever since. Honestly? I don’t mind it. It’s a fun little song.
Then there’s the Mahna Mahna song… Which enters my mind at least every couple of weeks.
The point I’m trying to make is I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving the Muppets. I’m excited to see where the show goes from here, and any future ideas. Perhaps a new Muppet movie sometime soon.
Hi-Ho! Thanks For the Memories!
This post was intended to be a love letter to the Muppets. Special thanks to Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and everyone else who has contributed to the creation of The Muppet Show. I’ll never stop loving them. I hope they keep coming back. I’ll leave this post where it began—with the opening lines that still make me smile every time I hear them:
“It’s time to play the music. It’s time to light the lights…”
