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A Muppet Family Christmas

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Directed by: Peter Harris
Eric Till
Written by: Jerry Juhl
Release date: December 16, 1987
Running time: 48 minutes (uncut)
42 minutes (edited)
Characters: Kermit the Frog
Fozzie Bear
Gonzo
Miss Piggy
Rowlf the Dog
Big Bird
Ernie and Bert
Oscar the Grouch
Available on: VHS
DVD
Jim Henson's cameo appearance.

A Muppet Family Christmas is a television special that first aired on ABC. It is notably the only Christmas special that features characters from Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and Fraggle Rock.

Contents

Synopsis

The special kicks off with a majority of the cast of The Muppet Show driving through a blizzard in a pickup truck, singing "We Need a Little Christmas". They have decided to spend Christmas at the old farm where Fozzie Bear's mother, Mrs. Emily Bear, lives. And since his mother loves surprises, they haven't called to tell her they were coming. Unbeknownst to them, Mrs. Bear is planning to spend Christmas in Malibu, and to make sure her farmhouse stays in one piece while she's gone, she's rented it to Doc and his dog Sprocket from Fraggle Rock. Considering how much Sprocket keeps trying to alert him of something on their show, Doc is looking forward to having "a nice, quiet Christmas" in the countryside.

Immediately following Doc and Sprocket's arrival, the Muppets themselves show up, all the while slipping on an icy patch at the door (which is a running gag in this special), and Emily is pleasantly surprised with the appearance of her cub and "his weirdo friends", despite the fact that she now has to cancel her trip to Malibu, and willingly allows them to stay. Doc, on the other hand, is a bit ticked off that the house he rented has just gotten so many funny-looking unexpected visitors, and asks Sprocket if they're "anything like these Fraggles you keep telling me about". Then the telephone rings, and Animal answers. It's Miss Piggy, wanting to speak to Kermit. She is calling to thell him she has a photo session underway and needs to get it done before she can join them.

The Swedish Chef shows up at the farmhouse, telling Fozzie he's here to cook the Christmas turkey. After Kermit helps clear the kitchen so the Chef can work in there, he and his nephew Robin start up the second song sequence of the special. Their pleasant singing of "Jingle Bells" is quickly interrupted by the Electric Mayhem performing "Jingle Bell Rock". While that's going on, Gonzo greets a real live Muppet turkey, who was apparently convinced by the Swedish Chef to come, claiming it to be a nice vacation. Gonzo tries to tell the Christmas Turkey that this is a dangerous place for him to be, but the Turkey is assured that he won't end up in the oven.

Later, Fozzie is outside building a snowman while some of the other Muppets chop down a tree to bring inside when Rowlf the Dog shows up (and slips on the icy patch). He engages in a friendly conversation with Sprocket, and then, sticking to his tradition of playing piano in everything he's in, sits down to Emily's out-of-tune piano and starts playing "Sleigh Ride". Fozzie starts singing along, during which the snowman he's building comes to life and starts up a comedy act with the bear. When they get a positive reaction from some woodland creatures watching their act, Fozzie runs inside to try to tell Kermit about his new act with the Snowman, slipping on the icy patch on the way in, but Kermit doesn't get a chance to see the act, for he then puts up with another phone call from Piggy. This time, she's doing some last-minute Christmas shopping, which doesn't seem to be difficult for her despite the fact that it's Christmas Eve. Elsewhere in the house, the Swedish Chef has been tricked by the Christmas Turkey into believing that Sprocket is an even bigger turkey. Doc corrects the Chef on which animal is which, and then the Turkey begins hitting on Gonzo's girlfriend, Camilla the Chicken.

Scooter stumbles upon an old home movie of the first Christmas the Muppets ever spent together, so the Muppets sit down to watch it. The old footage shown, based on Muppet Babies, shows the baby versions of Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie, and Gonzo singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", all the while the fully-grown characters give commentary. At the end, when the baby Animal rips through a gift box in the film, the fully-grown Animal tears through the screen.

Right after the film ends, Gonzo catches sight of the Christmas Turkey flirting with Camilla and picks a fight with him. But then Kermit barges in on the argument and brings them outside. There, they see that the entire Muppet cast from Sesame Street coming up, performing a short medley consisting of "Here We Come Wassailing" and "Deck the Halls" (with the exception of Oscar the Grouch, who naturally refuses to sing along). Once they're finished singing, they all come inside, slipping on the icy patch as they do so. During this, the Swedish Chef manages to nab the Turkey, who tries to get out of being cooked by claiming he's a different animal altogether, but the Chef isn't fooled, and proceeds with the fitting. But the Turkey manages to save himself by pointing out Big Bird, whom the Chef decides would make an even better Christmas dinner. At that moment, the Muppet Newscaster appears on TV to report about a terrible blizzard forming outside, saying that barometers will be falling sharply; he then literally gets attacked by falling barometers. Scooter looks outside and sees that the Newscaster is right, and Count Von Count starts trying to count as many snowflakes as he can while Kermit becomes more worried about Miss Piggy.

Later, Fozzie and his mom are figuring out the sleeping arrangements for all the guests, while Oscar decides to let Rizzo the Rat spend the night in his trash can. Then Janice brings out some Christmas cookies she just baked, only for Cookie Monster to gobble them all down. The Sesame Street characters then perform their Christmas pageant of The Night Before Christmas. Ernie provides narration while Bert is forced to play the mother mentioned in the story. After Grover pops in as the mouse who is not stirring (literally, he is holding a mixing bowl and his hand is not touching the spoon), Ernie signals for the sleigh. The curtain behind opens to show the sleigh being pulled by the reindeer, all played by monster Muppets (such as Herry Monster and Elmo), and the Two-Headed Monster appears as St. Nick (to which Sam the Eagle replies, "Is nothing sacred?").

Miss Piggy calls Kermit one more time to tell him that her limousine is stuck in the snowbank, and that she's going to take a taxi cab to the farmhouse. Then, while Piggy gets caught in the wind, Fozzie tries to cheer Kermit up by introducing him to the Snowman. In a piece of irony, the Snowman comes inside to warm up 'cause it's so cold outside. Fozzie brings the Snowman in for the rest of the gang to see, but then he takes notice of Statler and Waldorf, who it turns out are friends of Fozzie's mom who come to visit her every Christmas. Fozzie and the Snowman try their best at their routine, but they keep getting interrupted by Statler and Waldorf's heckling, until finally the Snowman, realizing he's starting to melt, heads back outside.

The Swedish Chef calls Big Bird into the kitchen and starts shaking salt all over him. Big Bird, completely unaware of the Chef's intention to cook him, gives him a handful of homemade chocolate-covered birdseed. The Chef is touched by this gift, and he becomes even more touched when Big Bird begins singing "The Christmas Song", which moves him to tears so much, that instead opts to serve shredded wheat and cranberry sauce, which happens to be Big Bird's favorite. Meanwhile, Doc, having taken notice of how worried Kermit is about Miss Piggy, offers to go find her and help her get to the farmhouse, telling the frog that he's warmed up to the Muppet and now finds this better than the lonely vacation he and Sprocket would've had if they didn't show up.

After Doc leaves to find Miss Piggy, Kermit heads down to the cellar to find that his nephew, Robin, has found a hole leading to Fraggle Rock. Robin's always wanted to meet the Fraggles, so Kermit goes in with him. In the cave, the frogs soon stumble upon the main characters of Fraggle Rock and wish them a Merry Christmas, and also explain the holiday to them because the Fraggles don't really know what it is. What the Fraggles do have, though, is a time when they give each other pebbles and pass them on to other Fraggles. They explain their ritual in a number called "Pass It On" (which comes from the Fraggle Rock series episode "The Perfect Blue Rollie"). Before the frogs head back upstairs, one of the Fraggles gives Robin the Fraggle pebble used in their demonstration.

When Kermit and Robin return, they're just in time to witness Miss Piggy's arrival. They see her arriving with Doc, wearing a Mountie uniform, bringing Miss Piggy up on a sled and dog team. Piggy then begins to sing "(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays" as Kermit brings her in with the other Muppets singing along. Right as she finishes, though, she slips on the icy patch, taking Kermit down with her, and everybody else says, "Careful of the icy patch!"

With the entire Muppet menagerie all there, they proceed to sing a medley of Christmas songs, where everybody (except of course for Oscar) gets a chance to sing at least one line, including the Snowman and the forest critters outside. Over the course of the medley, the overhearing Fraggles come up to watch. Once they finish singing, Fozzie's mom puts his stocking up on the mantle; Fozzie tells her that he's a grown bear and doesn't need to have his stocking hung, but allows her to put it up anyway. Kermit then presents Miss Piggy with his gift for her - a mink, though not what Piggy expects. She is at first surprised when she sees that Kermit has gotten her a live mink (named Maureen), but quickly warms up when the mink says she's her biggest fan. Then Robin gives the Fraggle pebble to Grover. Then Doc gives out presents dressed as Santa Claus while they all sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", during which Jim Henson himself appears, watching this from the kitchen. The special ends with Kermit reluctantly returning Miss Piggy's affection under the mistletoe before saying "Merry Christmas" to the viewers.

Edits

When the special originally aired, the full rights to the songs were only secured for television. As a result, commercial video releases of the special in the US cut out several scenes. These scenes, however, are retained on the PAL video releases. Among the scenes that were cut:

  • Fozzie and the Snowman rehearsing their comedy act while singing "Sleigh Ride".
  • The Muppets watching the home movies of their first Christmas together. In the edited version, Animal seems to rip through the screen immediately after they start watching.
  • Miss Piggy's performance of "Home for the Holidays". This, unfortunately, meant cutting out the topper to the icy patch running gag.
  • The original 1987 airing of the special had a brief shot of Fozzie and Elmo turning on the Christmas lights; this was cut in all subsequent broadcasts.
  • In the caroling medley at the end, the problem with the music rights cuts out Kermit and Miss Piggy singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", and Statler and Waldorf singing "I Heard the Bells on Christmas".
  • The scene with Fozzie and his mom hanging stockings was removed from later TV broadcasts. Henson remastered the special in the 1990s for television reruns, and had to cut this scene to make room for commercials.

Cast

External links


Muppets
 
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