Best of Muppets: Star Wars crossover, Jim Henson and Muppet Thor tribute

Jim and Jane Henson launched the first Muppets in 1955, and the next 65 years have given the franchise time to expand in virtually every medium, from film and television to music and theater, and even internet memes, Vinesand an AR application. There is a lot of Muppet history to sort through, but inevitably, we all have our favorite Muppet moments. Like the new Muppet TV series, Muppets Now, heading to Disney Plus on July 31, Polygon’s entertainment writers are spend the week looking back on Muppet creations that have meant more to us over the years.

When Polygon decided to name his favorite Muppet moments, I knew it would be terribly difficult to pick just two. Fortunately, they gave me permission to go crazy and complete the week. It’s nice to have an editor who knows that you are very powerful and cannot be stopped, like a karate slice from an angry pig.

Without further ado, here are my three favorite official things the Muppets have done, and five favorite unofficial things.

Official stuff

The Star Wars episode of The Muppet Show

The Star Wars episode of The Muppet Show It’s a twist on the show’s usual format, but it’s also a bit of a secret to Star Wars history. The assumption of the episode is that, for the only time in the show’s career, the guest artist is a muppet: the memorably named Angus MacGonagle, Gargyle Argyle Gargoyle. However, within minutes of the opening, Luke Skywalker, C-3PO, and R2-D2 literally stormed through a wall into the theater. They followed the trail of a kidnapped Chewbacca to this “planet of variety comedy”.

Recognizing a good opportunity when he sees it, Kermit pressures these obviously most famous figures to appear as guests on the show. Luke strongly objects, however, passing the role of interpreter to his “cousin” a guy named Mark Hamill. He plunges off-screen and returns in civilian clothes as himself, and that’s why I thought Mark Hamill had an identical cousin until I was in my teens.

From there, the whole of Mark Hamill is a wonderfully dumb sport like himself, and a subplot of a Luke Skywalker character looking for a complete Wookiee in the Muppet Theater. This strange combination of flavors was not simply facilitated by Frank Oz’s work on Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, but by geography: The Muppet ShowThe Eldon Avenue studios were just a city away from Star Wars‘Elstree Studios. Filming in Empire was up and running, so the Lucasfilm people just jumped in with the props and costumes, doing this episode of The Muppet ShowOf all things, the first time Mark Hamill appeared in a movie in his The Empire Strikes Back costume.

Jim Henson Hour episode on how puppets work

Borrowing a concept from Walt Disney himself, Jim Henson hour was a short-lived primetime series in which Henson and the Muppet Workshop showcased anything weird they’d been working on lately, like a short noir detective movie set in an all-dog world. But if there is an episode of TJH It’s worth a look, it’s the tenth, where, like most Muppet screams of horror, Jim proceeds to divulge all the weird camera tricks and animatronic wonders that allow Muppets to do what muppets do.

You can see what it took Kermit to ride a bike, how the blue screens work, and meet the real dog representing a muppet dog in panoramic shots. The fact that Henson knew that children could have “believe in muppets” and “know how puppets work” in their heads at the same time shows great perception and confidence.

The end of Jim Henson’s posthumous special

Did you know that six months after Jim Henson’s sudden death, Muppet artists decided to film a tribute in which Muppet characters discovered that Jim Henson was dead? on camera?

I hate it. I love it. The television special The Muppets celebrate Jim Henson It was an affair packed with clip stars and celebrity memorabilia, framed by the idea that Kermit was away from the theater and that all the other Muppet Show players should muster a tribute to Jim Henson, a guy they’d never heard of.

The end of the episode has it all: real letters from sad fans who write to comfort Kermit. A beautiful chorus number for all Muppet and Sesame Street players. A help from The Show Must Go On and The Power of Silliness. And, of course, the persistent absence of Kermit, Jim Henson’s most famous character, who finally appears in the hands of Steve Whitmire, the first post-Henson artist to confront the frog.

Unofficial things

The Wilkins Coffee commercials

Before the Muppets took off, Henson and his collaborators made their daily bread in commercial advertising, and of those projects the absolutely cursed Wilkins Coffee campaign stands out.

These commercials have a shocking and threatening vibe, like a sketch comedy show at 3 a.m. 2003, or a multi-million dollar ad campaign designed by geniuses to specifically reach Strange Tumblr and Strange Tumblr only. If he doesn’t drink Wilkins coffee, these ads say he’ll die, and it could be this jumped-up sock puppet that pulls the trigger.

“Things just seem to happen to people who don’t drink Wilkins,” is a real thing that says about a minute and a half on this compilation reel. Than Shit.

The Muppet Show launch reel

The Muppet Show It was not an easy sale at all, as Henson and company discovered when they had to go to England to find a network to finance it. Maybe that fight explains the manic energy at the end of the Muppet Show’s launch reel, in which a generic muppet commentator slowly turns into insanity like Brian David Gilbert’s until he finally stands in front of a replay of the Sistine Chapel ceiling with Kermit in place of Adam and declaring that God Himself will smile at the executives who fund the program.

But this video also reminds us of something very important: that underneath his friendly Kermit exterior, Jim Henson was every inch of weird, long-haired, dirty, cynical hippie.

The green album

Initially I was going to list a series of obscure original Muppet songs here.

Of course, “Rainbow Connection “and” It’s Not Easy Being Green “are legitimate classics, but there is room in everyone’s hearts for original themes like” I’m Going Back There Someday “, about the quiet struggle of knowing that there is a place you belong to and resolving to find it. Or “Wishing Song”, about accepting yourself as you are. Or the peace hymn “Our World” of Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas, or the beautiful reading of AA Milne’s poem “Halfway Down the Stars”, about feeling as if you were, fundamentally, neither here nor there, and being happy with it.

Then I realized that I could talk about The green album, a 2011 compilation of contemporary versions of original Muppet songs, because it has each of those lovely deep cuts. Like a survey of Muppet music, it paints a clear picture of one of the biggest unspoken themes in all of Henson’s work: embracing difference in others and embracing yourself.

Muppet Thor

Image: Caanan

In 2011, cartoonist Caanan Grall tried his luck in a 24-hour comic. The result, Muppet ThorIt took him over 24 hours, but I will forgive him, because it is truly one of my favorite Muppet stories. And to be clear, Grall is not officially affiliated with the Muppets in any way.

This story begins with a very cinematic premise in 2011: What if the Muppets found Thor’s hammer in the desert? Frogs have been Thor before, and Thor has been a frog, but this quick story that Kermit is worthy takes some unexpected turns. Start with a perfect Muppet humor tone, and then use the limitless possibilities of comic book logic to get an emotional punch.

The Grall cartoon versions of the Muppets are also some of the best I’ve seen in between. They work due to their decision not to make them look exactly like puppets, and instead capture a certain essence of form and personality. It is terribly convincing.

History of the Muppets on Twitter

The latter is a short sweet follow-up to Friday: Muppet History on Twitter is a much-needed dose of joy. The young man who runs it has an encyclopedic knowledge of the diverse world of Jim Henson’s productions, and uses it to make relentlessly positive and supportive reminders of many very interesting, moving, or simply interesting things.